New Snow, New Camera

Today was our first "perfect conditions" skijor of the 2025/2026 season.

Let me tell you, Jack & Rudy knew it too, they were FLYING around the trails today!!!

Oh, and my new "high quality" camera arrived to replace the dead gopro, so we have crispy & clear photos and smooth video footage again today! Yay!

Fun kids laying fresh tracks atop a recently groomed trail at the
highest elevations at Breckenridge Nordic Center.

We have had on the order of 20+ inches of new snow in the last 36 hours. As a result, Breckenridge Nordic Center was able to finally open all the wonderful upper elevation trails. Jack, Rudy and I LOVE skijoring these trails. To make it even more exciting, the groomer had run about an hour or so before we got to the trails and it had snowed in the meantime. So, we had a light layer of fresh snow to enjoy atop our first groomie zoomie trail of the season.

As you see in the prior photo, we out skied all humans on these trails and found ourselves laying fresh tracks at the highest elevations of the outing. At the mid elevations, only one or two skiers had been out before us, so it was still laying fresh tracks with 1 or 2 existing tracks to the side:

Catching air at the mid elevations. You can see two pre-existing ski tracks
to Rudy's left (close and far left); but still plenty of untouched trail for us
to continue laying fresh tracks on the right side of the trail. Whee!

With so much wonderful new snow, even the well-used lower portions of the nordic center were still a safe treat to continue flooring it:

Despite lots of traffic/tracks on the lower trail, there was still plenty
of soft snow for me to keep upright and in pace with the fast kids!

When we got to the highest elevation point of the outing, we paused for a moment to rest from the climb before zooming back down. Well, we paused...

"You stop to rest, we stop to Drop & Roll!" says the snow rolling sillies.

Now come along for the video treat of our highest point of the day. Nobody had made it this far before us, so we were first tracks on a recently groomed trail with a light layer of new snow. What a great day!

Now, for something to watch for in the video. Remember we have had 20+ inches of new snow in 36 hours. While the groomer had run to pack this wonderful new snow, it was still a LOT! Think of a groomer machine like a tank, it has two treads supporting the heavy machine. So, what happens is the trail is the most packed & firmest where the groomer treads had been and it is somewhat soft in between and outside of the tread lines. 

Okay, now watch the video again and you can see smart Jack & Rudy moving side to side to find the hardest packed groomer tracks to run atop. You'll notice the softness in between the tracks when one moves from one side to the other. Such smart kids to automatically find the firm groomer tread lines to run in. Impressive!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Our most enjoyable outing of this early 2025/2026 season, right guys?

"Oh we had a BLAST! Zoom!" says the happy, happy kids awaiting end
of run treats atop a nice snow wall.

What does the first "perfect conditions" of the season yield? Well, 9.7 miles traveled with 1200 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH - wheeee!

2025/2026 Season to Date: 8 days on the trails covering 46.6 miles with 5400 feet of elevation climbed.