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.

Packed Leftovers

Look who was enjoying "toes on snow in mid-May!"

"We LOVE toes on snow!!!" exclaims the super happy kids thrilled
to still be on snow in mid-May.

We returned to Rabbit Ears Pass for another skijor this morning. We started the day by skijoring yesterday's surprise groomed trail. We just HAD to do this wonderful stretch again today!

The kids flying along yesterday's surprise groomed trail. Wheeee!

After flying along the 1.5 mile groomie, we changed our route from yesterday to follow leftover snowmobile trails towards Walton Peak. There is a network of "primary trails" on Rabbit Ears that get tons of snowmobile and snowcat traffic all winter long. These heavy machines really pack the snow. As a result, the leftover snowmobile trails remain skiable far into May even though conditions off trail are quickly deteriorating. Here's what I mean:

The fun kids catching air as you can make out the packed leftover trail in
front of us as compared to the choppy mess off the trail. Nice leftovers!

Now come along for the video example of what I am talking about. Watch as Jack, Rudy and I are having a blast skijoring the packed leftovers at the base of Walton Peak at Rabbit Ears Pass. What fun!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

This particular network of trails has one "guardian" to how far into May you can use them. There is a "snow bridge" crossing Walton Creek that is formed by snowmobiles and snowcats continually running over snow covered Walton Creek. There is no real bridge, just a bridge of packed snow. Once this bridge melts, there is no way to cross the creek and we have to abandon this route. We are happy to report that the packed snow bridge was still intact this morning!

You can see exposed Walton Creek to our left. Directly in front of us is
a bridge made out of packed snow allowing us to still skijor over the creek.
It's melting fast, but still intact this morning!

We did an "out & back" on the snowmobile leftovers. So, you know what that meant happened at turnaround time :)

Turnaround, roll around!!! You are pretty much guaranteed to get the
comedians rolling dual snow angels once we get into warm May days :)

Back to the trailhead and the kids found a mini snow wall to climb for end of run treats:

"We love snow walls! We LOVE snow!" says the happy kids awaiting
their end of run treats.

A wonderful mid-May skijor this morning: 9.6 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 105 days on the trails covering 801.7 miles with 79,200 feet of elevation climbed.

Snack

Look at what we stumbled upon at Rabbit Ears Pass this morning!

Whoa, a FRESH groom! Holy smokes!

Yes, the local snowmobile club had groomed some of the trails late last night and we were first on the new groom for miles and miles this morning! We pay yearly dues to the snowmobile club, so it is perfectly fine that Jack, Rudy and I were the first snow machines out on the groomed trails this morning. What a fun late April surprise!

The fun kids catching air again on the fresh groomie zoomie.

Eventually the surprise groom did end. But, conditions were still perfect to keep skijoring the packed snowmobile trails for miles.

No more fresh groom, but still perfect late April conditions!

While the surprise groom might seem like the highlight of today's outing, it was upstaged by another event at one point. A suicidal squirrel darted across the trail in front of Jack & Rudy and nearly became a trail snack for them!

What a stupid crazy squirrel to dart in front of two meat eaters!!!

Now let's put the squirrel event to video. Come along and watch as we start out galloping along until the suicidal squirrel darts across the trail, barely making as Jack & Rudy are on the hunt once they see it! Nothing like a squirrel near miss to add a little extra juice to the Jack & Rudy skijoring engine!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

It was above freezing all morning long, so I knew this would happen at our turnaround point:

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes the silly kids rolling in the snow
to cool their jets :)

Since we (barely) missed the squirrel, how about some pork end of run treats instead?

"Ok, we'll take the pork; but that squirrel would have been tasty!"
says the fun kids.

It is not often we come across conditions good enough for a 10 mile skijor in late April: 10.4 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 99 days on the trails covering 757.5 miles with 74,200 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Snowing

Here's what Jack & Rudy think of the "warming huts" out on the trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center :)

"Silly! We need to roll snow angels to COOL OFF! What's a warming hut?"
says the snow rolling sillies in front of one of the warming huts we pass
on the trails.

Notice the nice snowfall you can see against the hut in the prior photo. Increasing snowfall was the theme of the day!

We started amidst light snowfall laying fresh tracks on fast nordic trails:

Clear shot of Jack & Rudy leaning into a tight right on the trail.
I cannot take corners as tight as Jack & Rudy and have to swing way out
left to then glide around the corner at their speed!

Within 10 minutes or so, the snowfall started increasing:

Still pretty clear photo; but you can see active snowfall if you look very
closely (I know, "white on white" is hard to see :)

Then, within another 15 minutes or so and it was dumping! It was snowing so hard that it kept collecting on the camera leading to blurred footage:

Snow covered camera delivering blurry footage.

How hard was it snowing? Well come along for today's video to see for yourself. This clip starts with us slowed while I wipe the camera clear of snow. Once clear, I give an "Ok, here we go," to Jack & Rudy to let them know it is ok to speed up again. Speed up we do and watch how fast the camera gets covered in snow again and Jack & Rudy become blurry objects.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

No complaints here, we LOVE new snow - it is just hard to keep the camera clear to get any footage!

Finally, back to the trailhead and at least Nancy's camera was clear of snow :)

Happy kids awaiting end of run treats with visible against my coat and
Jack & Rudy's black & red fur.

Yay for fresh snow! 9.6 miles traveled with 1300 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 81 days on the trails covering 637.1 miles with 60,800 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Trail Hazard

Our first skijor on the Gluteus Maximus Trail at Breckenridge Nordic Center this season:

The fun & fast kids tucked into a tight right on a steep section of trail.
The clumsy human, though, has to swing far out to the left to be able
to maneuver such a tight swing in the trail!

While we have skijored Breckenridge Nordic Center plenty of times this season already, today was our first time on the Gluteus Maximus Trail which intersects with the rest of the nordic center trails. This particular trail is know for steep inclines, steep declines and wicked tight curves along the way. I am often amazed I come out the other end upright, haha!!!

Anyway, after zipping along Gluteus Maximus, we transitioned onto the main upper loop at the nordic center. This started with a long climb to the top of the loop. We always pause after the climb so I can catch my breath before getting behind the speed demons on the way down. Well, a pause...

"Stop, drop & roll!" go the snow rolling goofs cooling their jets after
the big climb while I catch my breath.

Ok, human has his breath, kids have rolled to cool their jets, so off we goooooo!

Zoom behind cannonball Jack and missile Rudy!

Notice anything special about the prior photo? Well, we are first tracks on a freshly groomed nordic trail! It turns out we were the first on the upper loop at the nordic center and, thus, were first tracks on the fresh groom this entire duration of the outing. Jack & Rudy know what to do with a fresh groom:

Catching air on the groomie zoomie!

I was thinking (to myself) yesterday that we haven't had one of Rudy's patented rodent dives in a while. Well, among his many other talents, apparently Rudy is a mind reader too. So, here we go from the entertaining redhead:

"Rodents under the snow!" declares Jack lunging off trail to dig for prey.
"Oh boy - just what dad was thinking about yesterday. Incoming!" adds 
beautiful rodent diving Rudy.

Today's video highlight features one of the trail hazards we encounter on our outings. What hazard? Well, an ill-mannered loose dog who jumps into the middle of our team. Jack & Rudy prefer to run on by any dogs we encounter (loose or not). But, if the dog comes into the middle of the trail (and, thus, our team), we have to stop for everyone's safety. Watch as we tolerate the annoyance until we can finally get on by. Once on by, it is flooring it again. Jack & Rudy would MUCH rather run than meet some random dog - it's a sled dog thing, you know :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Some additional comments on that video clip. First, Jack & Rudy do enjoy other dogs, they have fun meeting them on walks or in parks; but they would rather run than stop for boring fluffy on skijor outings! Second, the rules at Breckenridge Nordic Center are dogs must be under "voice & sight" control. Haha, if your volume is up, you can hear the lady calling the dog's name and yelling "treats" to no avail. It takes me to guide the dog towards the owner so we can finally get on by. Oh well, Jack, Rudy & I expect this to happen. We don't mind except we all HATE stopping when we were going so fast :)

Finally, back to the trailhead and time for some well-earned end of run treats for my perfect pals:

"Groomie zoomie - we had so much fun today!" says the happy kids.

What a beautiful day for a super fun skijor: 9.5 miles traveled with 1300 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 49 days on the trails covering 368.4 miles with 34,400 feet of elevation climbed.

Dusting

We got an early morning dusting of snow allowing us to lay fresh tracks on the upper elevation trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center this morning!

Look at those wonderful "fresh tracks" in the snow behind Jack & Rudy.
Oh yeah, nice views to our right.

It was actually a warm day as temperatures were above freezing all outing long. With temps above freezing, I knew what I'd get from the comedians at a turnaround point of the outing:

"So hot! Must roll snow angels to cool off!" demonstrates the comedians
who took themselves off trail to get deeper snow to roll in :)

We did two different out & back segments at the highest elevations (and furthest from the trailhead) at the nordic center. Since we were far from the trailhead, we were able to enjoy the dusting all to ourselves and lay fresh tracks both directions on each out & back. Here's the fun kids catching air on one of our return legs:

Whee - zipping along with our "out tracks" to our left. With wide nordic
trails, we were able to lay fresh tracks both directions. 

Notice you can see a bit of groomer corduroy in the prior photo. We were near treeline in that photo and there was a gusting wind blowing the new snow off parts of the trail.

But, once we got back down into thicker trees, the fresh snow was protected from the wind. Come along for today's video fun as we are laying fresh tracks in the fun dusting of new snow. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

I mentioned we did two different out & back segments. Well, that meant we turned around twice. I knew it would be snow angels both times from Jack. I actually expected two snow angels from Rudy too since it was warm. But, don't ever think you can figure Rudy out - he's the constant wildcard! 

"Still warm, still rolling!" goes consistent Jack.
"WOOOO! You thought you had me figured out! No way! WOOO!"
sings wildcard Rudy.

Finally, back to the trailhead and we have happy kids atop a snow wall for ent of run treats with some nice mountain views in the background.

Treats with smiles and a view :)

A surprise dusting of new snow allowing us to lay fresh tracks most of the morning: 9.5 miles traveled with 1100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 46 days on the trails covering 341.5 miles with 31,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Authorizations

Beautiful views, beautiful bluebird morning, beautiful fresh groomed trail, beautiful sled dogs - that about sums up today's great skijor outing :)

Cannonball Jack next to Rudy the Missile as we fly along the freshly
groomed nordic trail with great views in front of us and to our right.

Jack & Rudy covered all ranges of authorizations (or lack thereof) on today's outing. Let me show you what I mean.

First, we had unauthorized play bowing and wrestling on the trail:

Double play bows from the sillies about to launch into a wrestling
match on the trail. Unauthorized!!!

Second, we had authorized but not encouraged diving for rodents off trail under the snow. The rodent dives are always fun to watch, thus authorized. But, I say "not encouraged" because if I did encourage this behavior, Jack & Rudy would spend all day off trail digging for rodents and we'd never skijor :)

"Dunk! I sense rodents under the snow!" declares dunking Jack.
"Really? Well, then, INCOMING!" joins Rudy with one of his patented
high arching rodent dives. Authorized but not Encouraged!

Third, we had authorized hover huskies catching some serious air while topping 24 MPH skijoring on the freshly groomed nordic trail. 

Whee! Look how high off the trail the speed demons are! Zoom!
Authorized and ENCOURAGED!!!!

Today's video highlight goes along with the prior photo. Come along as we are skijoring at around 12,000 feet in elevation on a freshly groomed nordic trail topping 24 MPH behind wonderful Jack & Rudy on a gorgeous bluebird morning. It doesn't get any better than this!!!!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

The only slight letdown of the day's perfect outing? Well, not much of a snow wall to climb for end of run treats at the trailhead. There was one good wall, but the car parked next to it had an obnoxious dog barking nonstop inside of it - not fun to be right next to such a loud and annoying creature. So, we settle for what little wall we could find:

Rudy on a little bit of a perch but only Jack's rear end was able to fit
on any sort of incline. Oh well, we still very much enjoy end of run
treats at ground level :)

All authorizations exercised by the comedians today as we covered 9.6 miles with 1100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 29 days on the trails covering 224.9 miles with 21,600 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Hovering

Great views of Jack, Rudy and the snow covered Rocky Mountains from one of my favorite "take in the view" stretch of trail at Breckenridge Nordic Center.

Fast running Jack & Rudy with nice Rocky Mountain views ahead and
to our right. Wheeee!

This morning's outing took us to the upper elevation trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center. The trails had been freshly groomed this morning; but others had been out before us, so while we were not first tracks most of the outing, the terrain was still in PERFECT shape. How perfect? Well, Jack & Rudy barely touched the ground all morning long. Cone along and see what I mean :)

Even though we are on the "upper elevation trails", the lowest of the terrain (near the trailhead) is still in a heavily wooded forest. So, it was catching air to hover on the well shaded Otter Slide Trail:

The fun kids hovering over the trail in the shade.

Next, at the mid elevations of the outing, you get a mix of trees and sun. Here we are on the mid elevation Heaven's Gate Trail. Different trail, same results!

The fast kids hovering again as we fly along in & out of the bright morning sun.

Then it was on to the highest elevation trail of the nordic center. This trail is at around 12,000 feet elevation, so the trees are pretty thin as we are near treeline. This highest trail is named Elk Dance: different trail, same results :)

Whee! Hovering again!!!
The highest elevation trail is also furthest from the trailhead. So no
humans had made out this far yet and we were first tracks on the
fresh groom!

Today's video highlight has to go with the prior photo. It was a beautiful bluebird morning to be first tracks at the highest point of Breckenridge Nordic Center. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

In order to get 9+ miles of skijoring on this network of trails, we have to redo stretches of the trails a few times during the outing. Jack & Rudy are all for the redos to keep going; but each redo comes with a turnaround point. Well, you know the drill with these two: turnaround, roll around!

"Ah, need to cool our jets before restarting!" says the silly kids rolling
in the snow to cool off before restarting.

Fun day hovering all over the place, right guys?

"All in a day's work! Now how about those end of run treats?" asks the happy
kids up on a mini snow wall.

A bluebird morning on the nordic groomie zoomies: 9.6 miles traveled with 1100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH (I actually expected more than 22 - sure felt faster to me, but that is what the GPS reported).

2024/2025 Season to Date: 18 days on the trails covering 141.9 miles with 14,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Classic

A rare photo with one of my skis in the "classic ski track" as I fly along behind Jack & Rudy!

Right ski in the classic track. Shift my weight to the right leg and we FLY!
Shift my weight to the left leg to regain some control and braking :)

I use classic (versus skate) skis to skijor with Jack & Rudy. Why is the prior photo rare? Well, the ski in the classic track (my right in this photo) becomes an almost frictionless device. Jack & Rudy are trained to go as fast as they can propel me unless I verbally ask them to slow down. So, a ski in the classic track turns me into an almost weightless resistance object and Jack & Rudy GO! You'll never see me with both skis in the classic track, that would be pure suicide. But, I occasionally put one ski for fun knowing that I can shift my weight to the other ski if we start going too fast!

Back to this morning's outing. We had a blast skijoring the recently groomed upper elevation trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center. While we were not first tracks on the recent groom, very few others had been out before us. Along the way, we get some really nice views such as the following:

Zipping along with miles of snow capped Rocky Mountains ahead and
to our right. Wheeee!

The recent groom allowed Jack & Rudy to run hard & fast (their favorite activity). But, zooming all day means you need to take a break at one of the warming huts along the route. What do Jack & Rudy, the Siberian Huskies, do with a warming hut? Well, see for yourself:

"Rub a dub dub, need to roll around in the snow to cool our jets!" says the
silly kids. Yes, Jack & Rudy view the warming huts as cooling devices :)

Then, at one point the kids came to a halt. Why? Well a moose had crossed the trail and exited into the forest. You must stop for moose tracks! 

"Moose went this way. We should too!" suggests the silly moosers.
I, of course, vetoed this proposal :)
Notice the snow on Jack's head. He first dipped his head in the tracks
to sniff them and popped right up as to say, "These are FRESH, we should follow!"
Nice try, Jack: VETO!

Since the bummer human wouldn't let us wander into the forest to find the moose, we might as well floor it again :)

Catching air on a perfect nordic trail.

Now come along for the video counterpart to the prior photo. As you can see, we were really zooming around the trails this morning!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead and time for some well-earned end of run treats:

"That was FUN! We sure earned our rewards today!" says the happy,
happy kids.

A nordic zooming day: 9.8 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 12 days on the trails covering 95.8 miles with 8700 feet of elevation climbed.