Surprise

There was a lot to be excited about on this morning's skijor, right guys?

"Yes! My head is covered in snow and I love it!" declares happy Jack.
"WOO! I LOVE SNOW! WOOOOO!" belts singing Rudy.

The excitement? Well, the forecast last night was "a slight chance of a dusting of snow" overnight. But, the reality was 3-5 inches of fresh powder! We love surprise powder days!

With the surprise new snow, we headed to the backcountry at Dry Gulch to enjoy the powder:

POW - the fun kids blasting through 5 inches (or more) of snow at this
point in the backcountry. Wheeee!

While fresh snow is great for powder blasting, it is also great for rolling snow angels with gusto!

The funny kids launching snow all around themselves as they
roll with vigor!

Then, as we like to do in this location, it was time to floor it on the trails at Gold Run Nordic Center after our aerobic romp through the backcountry powder. The groomer had been out on the trails recently, but there was also a fresh layer of new snow atop the groomie zoomie nordic trail. The kids were having a blast!

The fun kids catching air on the groomie zoomie with cool snow poofs
coming off their feet from the light layer of new snow atop the groom.

Today's video highlight? Well, it HAS to be blasting through the surprise powder. Come along for the fun! Note near the end of the video where I almost wipe out as my ski cut through the fresh snow to hit what was exposed ground just yesterday. But, I'm still standing!!!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

What a surprise! What a treat! Who had fun?

"We had a BLAST!" says the ecstatic kids atop a nice snow wall
to receive end of run treats.

What a fun "surprise powder" day this morning: 4.6 miles traveled with 300 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 49 days on the trails covering 300.4 miles with 31,900 feet of elevation climbed.

Perfect Day

It was a perfect day to catch some air flying along snowmobile trails around Walton Peak at Rabbit Ears Pass. Wheeee!

The hover huskies doing their thing!

With such great conditions, Jack & Rudy were in a real groove going uphill, downhill and cruising along endless sections of flat trail:

Peacefully gliding along a great flat section of trail. Whee!

The downhill sections are, of course, Jack & Rudy's favorite where they can uncork the skijoring engine and go, go, go!

Making full use of the wide trail as the kids kick into into overdrive
on a downhill pitch of trail. Zoom!

Now come along for today's video highlight. Watch as we are peacefully gliding along a nice flat section of trail until we make a slight right and FLOOR it as we transition to a downhill grade. Fun kids!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Of course, all that flying around means you REALLY need to roll snow angels to cool your jets at any and all turnaround points of the outing!

"Ah, rub a dub dub, cooling our jets!" goes the funny snow rolling kids.

To complete the day, Jack & Rudy found a snow wall taller than me to scale for treats! I had to coax them back down a little to get to my head level to receive treats :)

"We love climbing snow walls! We LOVE end of run treats!" declares
the kids atop a very tall snow wall!

A perfect day for a 7.7 mile skijor with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 47 days on the trails covering 291.4 miles with 31,200 feet of elevation climbed.

Yay Snow

Yay for fresh snow to gallop through in the backcountry this morning!

The fun kids "kicking up powder" as they gallop through the
morning's fresh snow!

Now come along for the video counterpart to the prior photo. It is so much fun to get out in fresh snow on skis with Jack & Rudy. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Our outing this morning started by laying fresh tracks in the backcountry as you saw above. We then continued to lay fresh tracks going out & back on a side trail. Well, any "out & back" means we turned around at some point. So, of course, we had turnaround antics from the comedians:

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes always snow rolling Jack.
"WOOOO! I love fresh snow!" adds singing Rudy.

The nice thing about doing an "out & back" in fresh snow is that you get to make use of your out track to go fast on the way back!

Jack & Rudy making use of our "out track" to pick up the speed on 
the way back. Smart kids!

Then, the reward for all that fun but very aerobic skijoring through fresh snow was to drop onto the newly groomed trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. Jack & Rudy know what to do with a groomie zoomie!

The hover huskies catching air as they floor it on the groomie zoomie trail.

Finally, as we were nearing the end of the outing, we got to flirt with this fun family coming up the trail. Jack & Rudy were as entertained by the dad towing his kid as the family was entertained by seeing Jack & Rudy towing me :)

"Cool dude! We could tow that kid for you!" offers curious Jack & Rudy
as the family looks on in all smiles.

A wonderful "fresh tracks to groomed zooming" this morning, right guys?

"Yes. We had a BLAST!" says the happy & focused kids awaiting
end of run treats atop a snow wall.

Today's tally: 5.8 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 46 days on the trails covering 283.7 miles with 30,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Bluebird

A beautiful bluebird morning to get a postcard photo of Breckenridge Ski Resort across the valley from us!

Beautiful view, beautiful sled dogs, beautiful morning!

While the morning was beautiful, we are starting to see the "end of season" realities. It's been a horrible snow year in Colorado (snowpack less than 50% of normal), so ground that we do not usually see until late April or May is already starting to show in early March. Yikes!!!

We did have a dusting of fresh snow overnight, as you can see by Jack & Rudy's
footprints. But, yikes, look at all that exposed ground to our left that is
typically not visible until late April or May. Yikes!!!

We did our favorite combination route this morning of starting in the Dry Gulch backcountry before dropping onto the trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. If you've been reading along this season, you probably recognize this location with Jack & Rudy rolling snow angels. It's called the Jumbo Overlook (for its views) and it is a natural point to turnaround from Dry Gulch onto Gold Run. Well, since I said "turnaround", you now know why I get so many photos like the following on this route!

"Turnaround! Roll Around!" goes the snow rolling sillies who have NEVER
failed to roll at snow angel (or 2 or 10) at the Jumbo Overlook :)

Once the snow angels were done, it was time to floor it on the fast & wide nordic trails. Whee!

The hover huskies catching air on fast & wide nordic trails!

Now come along for today's video fun as we glide to the finish of the day's outing. If you can take your eyes off Jack & Rudy, notice what a gorgeous bluebird morning it was!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

If you can also take your eyes off Jack, Rudy and the gorgeous morning, you'll notice Nancy on the side of the trail at about 35 seconds into the prior clip. It was a great day for her to get out and try to capture a front shot of us gliding to the finish. Success!

Smiles all around! "Hi Mom!!!!" says the flirtatious kids

Things may wind down sooner than usual this season, so let's enjoy it while we can, right guys?

"Yes! We don't want summer!!!!" says the happy kids giving me their
full attention for end of run treats.

A beautiful morning to get out for short skijor amidst dwindling conditions: 4.6 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 45 days on the trails covering 277.9 miles with 29,900 feet of elevation climbed.

What Is It?

We smell moose in the hood, can we venture off trail to find it?

The silly moosers trying to take me off trail to follow the scent of moose
that was clearly in the air.

Nice try guys, I vetoed the suggestion that we venture off trail into deep snow in search of a moose! But, I could tell by their intensity and their noses tipping up in the air that the scent of moose was clearly amidst. Unfortunately (for Jack & Rudy) we never saw the source of their noses' interest.

We did a short but fun skijor this morning starting on the backside of Sallie Barber Mine and skijoring up to the mine before coming down the frontside. As we approached the mine, Jack & Rudy floored it to get going down the fun frontside. Wheeee!

Zipping by the mine. Whee!

Once onto the frontside of the trail, it was pedal to the metal for the fast kids:

Zooming!

Eventually, though, all was interrupted by a dogstacle. This is my new word I came up with this season for loose dog obstacles in the trail - dogstacle.

"It's so small, is it even a dog?" questions curious Jack.
"Sniff, sniff, smells like a dog, but what use is something this small?" asks Rudy.

Ok, now let's put it all together into today's video highlight. Watch as we are happily cruising along the trail, winding through some fun curves, until we finally come upon the dogstacle and are forced to stop for everyone's safety.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

You have to laugh at how the dog's owners have NO idea they have "lost their dog" back with Jack, Rudy and I (this is common, sigh). They did notice eventually and called fluffy, but it sure took them a while to notice their dog was missing!

Oh well, one dogstacle can't stop us from having a blast, right guys?

"Oh yes! Fun! But, seriously, what was that little thing?" asks the
happy kids.

One dogstacle interruption aside and we had a great day flying around Sallie Barber Mine: 4.7 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH. 

2025/2026 Season to Date: 44 days on the trails covering 273.3 miles with 29,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Front

Great "shot from the front" of a happy skijor trio finishing this morning's awesome run!

Whee!

We had a light layer of new snow overnight (1-2 inches). But, any amount of new snow makes narrow side trails safe to skijor with my pals. It's such an experience to be tugged & towed through narrow, tree lined trails!

This is only safe with some amount of new snow to both slow Jack & Rudy
down and give me some braking control with my skis. 
But, we love winding through the trees when we can!

After the narrow, side trail treat, it was onto the more established (thus wider) backcountry trails. Once again, what a perfect layer of light new snow to safely uncork the Jack & Rudy skijoring engine:

Love all the snow flying up around them as we romp through the
fresh snow.

I'll take the prior photo as the lead in to today's video highlight. Come along to watch us laying fresh tracks in a light layer of new snow in the backcountry. Such a fun morning!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Our next leg was to drop onto the trails of Gold Run Nordic Center. But, this transition comes with a turnaround point, so you know what that means!

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes the comical snow rolling kids.

Snow angels completed and now time for the nordic center. No groomer had been out on the trails since yesterday and only a few skiers had been out before us. So, it was a light layer of slightly used fresh snow over a "yesterday groomed" fast trail. Jack & Rudy knew what to do with these nice conditions:

The hover husking flooring it to catch air along the nordic trail. Zoom!

As I said, a very entertaining outing, right guys?

"Yes, we LOVED it all!" says the happy kids patiently awaiting their
end of run treats.

A nice combination of single track, backcountry and nordic trails to yield 6.2 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 43 days on the trails covering 268.6 miles with 29,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Angels with a View

Rolling Snow Angels with a View!

Beautiful postcard shot of the slopes of Breckenridge Ski Resort across the
valley from us as Jack & Rudy roll around in the snow instead of taking
in the stunning views :)

We have not done a lot of side trail or single track skijoring this season as the snow has not been great. But, with some good snowfall the past week, we were able to venture off the main trails and onto one of our favorite single tracks this morning. Fun!

Winding through the trees on a narrow, single track ski trail. You need good
snow to risk skiing through the trees!!!

After the fun side trail, it was back to the main backcountry trail at Dry Gulch. Jack & Rudy love flooring it along this wide albeit unmaintained trail. Whee!

The fun kids kicking up snow as they pack themselves in tight to 
zoom in the backcountry.

The next leg of our outing was on the trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. Jack & Rudy love encountering oncoming skiers to flirt with and fly on by:

"Coming through! Made you smile!" says the fun kids putting a smile
on the face of the oncoming skier as they fly on by.

The kids also love encountering oncoming machinery to flirt with and fly on by. Today was a mini snowcat groomer coming up trail.

"Still coming through! Made you smile too!" says the entertaining kids
putting a smile of the face of the oncoming snowcat driver.

Now let's put it all together for today's video highlight. We start out zipping along, then we encounter and fly on by the oncoming skier, then we encounter and fly on by the oncoming mini snowcat and finally we are clear of traffic and on good snow so the kids FLOOR it and off we goooo! Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Fun day, right guys?

"Oh yes, that was a blast!" says the happy, happy sled dogs.

We sure packed a lot of activity into today's relatively short outing! 4.2 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 42 days on the trails covering 262.4 miles with 28,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Snowing

Have I said this before? "Oops!"

Oh those silly kids and their unauthorized game of tag breaking out
along the trail this morning!

There was a lot to be excited about this morning as we woke to a nice layer of fresh snow with active snow still coming down. Jack & Rudy approved!

"WOO, I APROOOOOOVE!" belts wooing Rudy at our turnaround point.
"Stop, drop and roll! I love snow!" adds snow rolling Jack.

The day started with light snow falling in the backcountry:

You can make out a few snowflakes against Jack & Rudy's fur while the
haze in this photo is active falling & blowing snow.

Okay, so sometimes a still shot cannot really capture active snowfall. So, come along for today's video highlight of us skijoring in the backcountry with very visual active snowfall in the video. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

But, as the snowfall increased in intensity, the still shots started to capture it as well:

Look at all those snowflakes you can see falling around us. Fun!

Did I mention increased intensity of snowfall? How about this:

You know it is DUMPING when a still shot captures this much
active snowfall. What a winter treat!

Finally, how about end of run treats in the active snowfall treat? Yay for Snow!

"Ready!" says the snow loving Siberian Huskies :)

A quick outing in the active snow, but fun, fun, fun: 5 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 41 days on the trails covering 258.2 miles with 28,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Frisky

Jack & Rudy were a bit frisky & playful with happiness to be back at Rabbit Ears Pass this morning!

Uh-oh, unauthorized game of tag & tackle about to break out on the
trail from the frisky & giddy kids.

We have not skijoring Rabbit Ears since May of 2025! With a slow start to the season in Colorado this year, we missed our typical October and November skijors atop Rabbit Ears Pass. As you see in the photo above, the kids were thrilled to be back at Rabbit Ears and the conditions did not let us down!

It was zooming due South for a while:

The kids catching air as we skijor towards Walton Peak at Rabbit Ears Pass.

Then it was time to turnaround and come back the same path we took out. Did I say turnaround?

Yep - turnaround, roll around from the snow rolling sillies.
Where does Rudy end and Jack start? It's hard to tell amidst this
comical conjoined snow angel :)

Then it was zooming due North on the way back. Whee!

The hover huskies at it again. Impressive kids.

Now come along for a glimpse into the great conditions. Jack & Rudy were in a real running groove this morning!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Finally, back to the parking lot and the kids found a great snow wall to climb for end of run treats!

Scaling a snow wall to accept end of run treats from me in a standing
position. How polite :)

A fun return to Rabbit Ears Pass this morning: 8.1 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 40 days on the trails covering 253.2 miles with 27,600 feet of elevation climbed.