Downed Tree Obstacles

Fun Jack & Rudy running on by two skiers with their smart phones out to record the impressive sled dogs towing the crazy human on skis along the trail :)

"Coming through! Glad you are enjoying the show!" says Jack & Rudy to the
skiers who pulled out their phones to video us as we approached and glided on by.

But, wait, what is that ahead of us across the trail? Is that a tree? Well, YES it is. For context: Wednesday night, all of Thursday and into Friday morning was RIDICULOUSLY windy here in Breckenridge. Power was out for roughly 24 hours, trees were blown down all over the place and the top wind gust was recorded at 113 MPH!!!!! So, that meant we had a lot of downed trees to navigate amidst on this morning's skijor outing. Come along and see...

We had small trees across the trail that I could ski over cautiously. Jack & Rudy would hop over then wait for me on my verbal command and then take off once I was over and gave a verbal release.

Yes, I can ski over a tree this size if going slowly. But, Jack & Rudy listen
and obey perfectly so these small trees were all passable.

We had to slow so I could duck or crouch under downed trees shorter than me across the trail. Again, Jack & Rudy could fit just fine, but they listen perfectly to me to slow while I crouch or duck to try and glide through.

Approaching two trees hanging across the trail. Jack & Rudy could trot
through just fine but I had to crouch to fit. A few steps after this photo and
the camera was pointing down to the ground while I crouched.

We also had to navigate through narrow openings to fit past down trees too tall to ski over but with just enough room to squeak around.

Can't ski over this one, so slow a bit and drift to the right to squeeze through
the narrow opening my skis will slide through.

Now let's put it all together in today's video highlight. Come along as this clip starts rounding a corner into one of our favorite fast straightaways. But, then, as we pass the two skiers taking videos of us on their phones, we come across one small downed tree. Watch as Jack & Rudy hop over then gently wait me to ski over. Next we have to slow while I crouch under a tree across the trail. Then we have to swing right to go around another downed tree. Finally, we come to a stop where the trail is impassible (and you'll see a trail worker with a chainsaw out working to clear the downed trees).

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

I stopped the video as we got to what looked impassible at first sight. We paused and talked to the trail worker who was clearing this large collection of trees with a chainsaw. Then, we saw that we could step up and off trail to ski around this big obstacle too. Despite all the downed tree obstacles we encountered this morning, I was surprisingly able to keep my skis on the entire way and navigate over, under and around every obstacle. Jack & Rudy are such great listening pals!!!

Back to the trailhead for end of run treats. Despite a ton of tree obstacles, who had a fun time today?

"We did! We did! Obstacles are fun too! We love to skijor!" says the happy,
happy kids atop a small snow wall to receive their treats.

A short, but very entertaining and technical outing amidst trees, trees, everywhere: 4.1 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH (we never had a stretch open long enough to top this speed).

2025/2026 Season to Date: 13 days on the trails covering 78.2 miles with 9400 feet of elevation climbed.