Surprise

Look at the surprise we came across atop Rabbit Ears Pass this morning!

A recently groomed trail! Wow, what a WONDERFUL surprise!!!

These grooms are known to happen now and then on Rabbit Ears Pass in May; but it is not something announced or scheduled. You just show up and occasionally get this lucky! It is members of the US National Nordic Team that do (and use) these occasional, surprise grooms and Jack, Rudy & I LOVE to come across it!

Now come watch how the surprise groom unfolded in today's video highlight. We start this clip with us on a narrow, leftover corduroy between snowcat tracks. I was expecting this (the narrow between the cat tracks) once I saw it and that was just fine for Jack, Rudy & I. But, then watch as about 35 seconds into the clip and the snowcat turned and lowered its grooming blade. Well, Jack & Rudy know what to do with a recent and wide groomed trail. So, ZOOOOM we go. What fun!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

The groom only lasted about 1.5 miles. But, that is ok, after zooming on the groom, we headed out towads Walton Peak on backcountry ski trails. Once we got to the base of the peak, I paused to assess whether we could abandon set trails and skijor the spring crust. Did I say pause? Yep...

"Stop, drop & roll!" goes the 'if you stop, we roll' sillies.

I did determine that the crust could hold our weight, so we set out so skijor across vast snow covered meadows. I realize it looks very bumpy in the prior photo; but that is because we were at the edge of the meadow. Once we got into the center of the meadow, it smoothed up a bit for some fun "no set trails" skijoring:

See, not as bumpy once we got into the open. Whee!

We then connected onto marked snowmobile trails to begin our return to the trailhead. This type of trail gets very packed by snowmobiles running all winter and, as a result, it was still in perfect condition especially for May! Yay!

The kids opening it up on packed snowmobile trails. Fun!

To complete the day, we got back on the surprise groom and sprinted across it in the reverse direction to arrive back at the trailhead.

The hover huskies catching air on the surprise groom!

What an enjoyable and great surprise today, right guys?

"Oh, I had a blast!" declares Jack who is laying down atop a nice snow wall.
"Yes, we love Rabbit Ears!" adds giddy Rudy.

A really nice outing for mid May: 9.4 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 104 days on the trails covering 792.1 miles with 78,300 feet of elevation climbed.