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!

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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.

 

Headless

Oops!

Sometimes, "Oops!" is all you can say about unauthorized tag & wrestler
breaking out on the trail between the two comedians.

Prior photo aside, it was a great day of fresh & first tracks out on the trails this morning. Come along for the ride...

First it was laying fresh tracks in a couple of inches of fresh snow in the backcountry:

Wheeee! Love the snow poofs coming off Jack & Rudy's feet as we enjoy
the morning's new snow!

Then it was first tracks on the recently groomed trail at Gold Run Nordic Center!

Such a treat to be first tracks on the groomie zoomie trail.
Jack & Rudy know what to do with a fresh groom! ZOOM!

To add to the fun, it was then stepping off trail to roll snow angels in fresh snow at the Jumbo Overlook:

Some of us take in the views at the overlook - ME!
Some of us take the overlook turnaround as a chance to stop, drop and roll
in the fresh snow - Jack & Rudy!

Today's video highlight will be the flying fun on the groomie zoomie! Come along as we are ZOOMING along this wonderful trail. Then, we come to a hard left in the trail which causes me to crouch into a ski tuck to try and keep pace with the kids around a tight corner. Finally, it's opening it back up to zoom, zoom, zoom!

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Did you notice the snowshoer coming up trail in the video as we rounded the corner? Usually I get fun shots of oncoming skier/snowshoers smiling and waving in awe at Jack & Rudy launching me on by. But, today I was in a "23 MPH ski tuck", so we miss the onlooking smiles. It was there, I was just trying to keep pace at fast speeds :)

"Coming through!" goes Jack & Rudy who are swinging to the right to fly
by the oncoming snowshoer. I caught his smile (even though the camera did not)
and he said, "COOL!" as we zipped on by.

I have an excuse for the headless shot above - you try cornering over 20 MPH on skis and see if you don't dip into a tuck too! Nancy, on the other hand, has no excuse for cutting most or all of my head off in today's end of run treat shots :)

At least she got 1/2 my head in this shot - I was headless in most of the
other shots she took!
"You going to babble on or dish out the treats?" asks curious Rudy.
"You have my FULL attention!" adds focused Jack.

Despite how pretty today's photos & video look, it was quite cold this morning with starting temperatures around 5 degrees (F) with a breeze bringing the wind chill below zero. So, the wimpy human (ME) kept the outing short - better to save the human today for more fun on another day! 4.8 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 39 days on the trails covering 245.1 miles with 26,900 feet of elevation climbed.

Catch and Pass the Groomer

Zipping along in the morning's fresh snow in the backcountry. Wheeee!

Having a blast with my hover husky pals.

We started this morning's outing in the backcountry with a light layer of new snow and active snowfall coming down around us. After doing a few backcountry laps, we dropped onto the groomed trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. Despite heavy falling snow by the time we got on the nordic trails, I could see fresh groomer corduroy lines on the trail. This meant the groomer had been here just minutes before us. I looked to my pals and said, "Oh boy, I bet we can play catch & pass the groomer! You guys ready?"

"READY!!!!!" declares happy, snow covered Jack.
"WOOOO!! ME TOOOO!!!!!!" belts wooing Rudy.

So, then it began.... First we flew:

"Where's the groomer? Floor it!" goes Jack & Rudy.
Notice some of the groomer corduroy you can make out in the bottom
center of this photo. The groomer must be near!!!

Then we caught the groomer!

"You cannot outrun us! Whee!" says the fast & fun kids who LOVE
catching a groomer in front of us.

Finally, we passed the groomer!

Coming on through!
Jack likes to pass right by the groomer while Rudy likes to swing a little
further away from the big machine.

We know the groomer drivers from years of skijoring these trails. When they see us come up behind them, they will always slide right or left when the trail is wide enough and stop to let us pass. We swing to the wide side and trot on by. I always smile and wave to the driver who is always smiling and waving back.

So, let's put it all together in today's video highlight: 1) flying... 2) catching... 3) patiently trotting behind... 4) passing... and FINALLY, 5) flooring it again once past the groomer. Wheeee! We love this fun game. Oh, and notice the nice, heavy snow falling throughout this video. Yay for Snow!!!!

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Fun day, right guys?

"Yes, we LOVE catch & pass the groomer!" says the happy & focused kids.

Today's tally: 5.2 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 37 days on the trails covering 236.3 miles with 26,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Fresh, First and More

Laying fresh tracks in the backcountry! Wheeee!

About 2" of new snow all to ourselves! Nice!

It was a great morning out on one of our favorite network of trails. Despite being a usually busy Saturday, we were thrilled to find the terrain all to ourselves almost all morning long! We started by laying fresh tracks in the backcountry and shown above and then we finished by being first tracks on the recently groomed trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. It doesn't get much better than this!

First tracks on the recent groom despite being a typically busy Saturday.
Wow!!!

How could we top "fresh tracks to first tracks"? Well, Jack & Rudy can always add more :)

To start with, there was an addition of hopping off trail to wrestle in the deeper snow:

Unauthorized snow wrestling! Silly kids!

Then there was an addition of lunging and diving off trail to search for rodents under the snow. There is ALWAYS time to add rodent hunting to any outing :)

"Lunge, dunk, where are those pesky rodents?" asks searching Jack.
"I'll find them! INCOMING!!!!" adds beautiful rodent diving Rudy.

But, aside from one episode of unauthorized wrestling and one hilarious search for rodents, it was a wonderful morning to go, go, go! Come along for a glimpse into the skijoring fun for yourselves:

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Fresh tracks, first tracks, wrestling and rodent hunting - which was your favorite guys?

"ALL OF IT!!!!!" says the happy kids proudly awaiting end of run treats
atop a snow all.

A nice and peaceful fresh tracks to first tracks outing: 5.4 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 36 days on the trails covering 231.1 miles with 25,500 feet of elevation climbed.

24 MPH Day

Aerodynamics at their best:

All four ears across Jack & Rudy tucked tightly against their
heads to achieve maximum aerodynamics. Impressive!

We had a fast & fun day on the upper elevation trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center this morning. Jack & Rudy kept flooring with maximum aerodynamics on the groomie zoomie straightaways:

The aerodynamic hover huskies in perfect form. Impressive again :)

What happens when you keep achieving maximum aerodynamics? Well, the GPS clocked us topping 24 MPH skijoring is that happens! Come along for today's fun clip were we topped 24 MPH somewhere along the first half of this clip (before we come to the tight right in the trail where the camera dips as I struggle to keep upright and corner with the speed demons :) Whee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Sometimes, though, you need you ears up to hear upcoming "treats" along the trail:

Ears up as we round a corner with a little squirrel in the trail.
The black dot up and to the left of Rudy is a little black squirrel.
Squirrels are quite small at 10,000+ feet elevation in Breckenridge.
But, all squirrels are potential "trail food". Unfortunately for Jack & Rudy,
it scampered off trail before they got to it.

With all that fast aerodynamic running this morning, rolling snow angels to cool off was definitely needed at our turnaround point of the outing:

"Rub a dub dub!" goes snow rolling Jack.
"Aaahhh, I LOVE snow!" adds happy Rudy who is just completing his roll.

Finally, the ears are ALWAYS up for full attention to get end of run treats!!!

"You have our FULL attention! Ready!" says the happy & focused kids.

A zippy day on fast nordic trails: 7.4 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 35 days on the trails covering 225.7 miles with 25,1000 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Safety Dust

Nice wide angle view of the ski runs of Breckenridge Ski Resort across the valley from us this morning!

The fun kids in the morning shade while Breck Ski Resort is in
full sun across the valley from us. Postcard shot :)

Today was a "safety dust" outing for us on Dry Gulch, one of our favorite trails. A snowmobile had run along the trail a day or two ago. With warm days and cold nights, such tracks become very icy and almost unskiable each morning. But, we had a light dusting of new snow overnight. All we need is such a dusting to turn unskiable icy snowmobile tracks into safe to ski tracks. I refer to this as the "safety dust" :)

Just enough of a dusting of new snow to make the "unskiable yesterday"
snowmobile track skiable today! Yay!

Now come along for the video counterpart to the prior photo. It is so much fun to have the safety dust so I can let Jack & Rudy uncork the skijoring engine. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

After a fun ride along the backcountry safety dust, it was time to transition to the groomed trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. Well, the transition came with a pause, so the pause came with a stop, drop & roll from the comedians:

Hopped off trail to "stop, drop & roll" in the untouched new snow.

Next it was time to entertain the oncoming skiers at the nordic center. Jack & Rudy love flying on by skiers and putting smiles on their faces:

"Hi! Bye! Coming through!" says the entertaining sled dogs.

Then, when we had the whole trail to ourselves, it was time to floor it. Wheeee!

Pedal to the metal on the groomie zoomie nordic trail.

Finally, it was the usual ritual to end the day: climbing a snow wall to receive end of run treats:

"What a fun day! Ready for the treats!" says the happy, happy kids.

From backcountry safety dust to nordic groomie zoomies: 7.6 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 34 days on the trails covering 218.3 miles with 24,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Zoom

What 24 MPH skijoring often looks like:

The kids catching air on a recently groomed nordic speedway!

What is slightly unusual about the prior photo? Well, you cannot see much in front of Jack & Rudy as I'm in a tight ski tuck myself trying to keep pace & upright with the speed demons! Talk about working the human's legs!!!!

When I'm not in a tight ski tuck to save my life, I am able to rock back a bit and enjoy the scenery:

Ah, just a mild 20-22 MPH so I can rock back and take it all in.
Jack & Rudy catching air again as we round a slight left in the trail.

When we get on open straightaways, I can really rock back and relax:

The fun kids still catching air as I'm able to rock back and catch my breath!

When off trail antics break out, then I'm really able to stand upright and watch the comedians:

"Rodents under the snow! Must dig!" says rodent lunging Jack.
You can see Jack's first dunk into the snow behind him.
"What? Rodents? INCOMING!" adds the always high arching, rodent
diving Rudy.

It really was a beautiful morning to glide along behind the power kids. We were second on the freshly groomed trail as only 1 skate skier had been out before us. Come along and see the wonderful & peaceful morning for yourselves:

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Such fun, right guys?

"Zoom, that was FUN!" says the proud speed demons awaiting end 
of run treats atop a snow wall.

Today's groomie zoomie: 7.4 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 33 days on the trails covering 210.7 miles with 23,500 feet of elevation climbed.