Angels and Ears

Angels with "the ears" in the background at Rabbit Ears Pass yesterday morning:

The silly kids doing "their thing" rolling snow angels to cool off at our
turnaround point of the day. But, we also have Rabbit Ears Peak centered
in this photo with "the ears" (the two rocks atop the peak for which Rabbit
Ears Pass is named). Nice postcard photo :)

I was secretly hoping for our first "Spring Crust" skijor of the season yesterday morning. But, unfortunately, the crust was not firm enough yet to support Jack & Rudy running as they would punch through. So, we quickly abandoned the attempt to skijor the crust and returned to established (i.e., well packed) snowmobile trails. Not to fear, a great time was still had by all!

It was "packing it in tight" to catch air on the nice shoulder of an established trail:

The "tightly packed" Jack & Rudy skijor engine. Whee!

Then it was catching air to cruise along established trails along the shores of Dumont Lake:

Whee!

Finally, it was catching air to complete the day's fun outing:

Still catching air as we are arriving at the trailhead to complete
the day's outing.

Now come along for today's "fun to the finish" skijor as we are flying towards the trailhead until I call out a "left" and we turn to slow to the finish. What fun and perfect skijor partners!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

As usual, look who is perched atop a snow wall and ready for end of run treats!

"You have our FULL attention!" says the focused, fun kids.

A short outing but still a great time had by all: 4.7 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 52 days on the trails covering 316.2 miles with 33,400 feet of elevation climbed.

Markers

Who was having a great time out on the trails this morning?

"I'm ecstatic with the day's new snow!" declares happy Jack.
"Me TOOOOOO, WOOOOO!" adds singing Rudy :)

Today's outing took us to the Walton Peak area at Rabbit Ears Pass. There was about an inch or so of fresh, new snow and no skiers or snowmobiles had been out on the trails before us. This made for an interesting trail finding outing:

Zipping along laying fresh tracks in new snow over packed snowmobile
trails. But, can you see the trail? Neither could I!

While we've skijored this area at Rabbit Ears Pass many times, today was pretty interesting as you could not identify the set trail most of the day. I only knew we were off trail when we would sink in deep snow versus knowing we were on trail when you could feel (although not see) a firm, packed trail under the new snow. There are occasional trail markers on the pass, and we really appreciated them today!

Cruising along once again with no clear sign of the actual trail except
the orange trail marker poles you see (one on the right edge of this photo
and 2 more directly up from Rudy). Without these markers, it was not
clear we needed to veer left through this section.

Whenever we could feel, but not see, the packed trail under the snow, we knew it was time to uncork the skijoring engine. Zoom:

The fun kids catching air heading towards the right leaning trail marker
you can just make out in the upper center of this photo. 

Now come along for today's video highlight as we are "skijoring from memory" of this trail as the terrain looks identical all around us! As the clip comes to an end, we finally encounter a trail marker letting us know we are on the right track. Interesting day!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

I stopped twice to try and re-find the trail when we got off track. Well, you know what comes with stopping with Jack & Rudy!

"Stop, drop and ROLL!" goes the snow angel rolling goofballs.

A fun, but very interesting, trail tracking day, right guys?

"Yes, fun indeed, now how about those end of run treats?" says the
happy, happy kids.

Today's "trail finding" tally: 7.1 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 51 days on the trails covering 311.5 miles with 33,000 feet of elevation climbed.

 

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.

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.

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!!!!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

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.

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.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from me in my Santa hat and my adorable miniature flying reindeer, Jack & Rudy :)

Merry Christmas!

Did I say "miniature flying reindeer"? Well, yes, see for yourself:

Jack & Rudy may be smaller than a reindeer, but they can fly just
as well as any on Santa's team :)

Our outing this morning took us to the upper elevation trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center. As we hoped, the groomer had been out on the trails just before us. While the groomer had not groomed all of the terrain, we did find a few stretches of fresh and untouched groom. Yes, we were first tracks on these sections of trail! We did encounter one other skier along the way, but she was gliding in the classic ski tracks, so that still left the entire width of the trail freshly groomed and untouched for us!

"Coming through! Made you smile!' go Jack & Rudy and they love to 
entertain oncoming skier by flying on by and putting smiles on their faces.

But, aside from that solo skier in the classic tracks, we were first tracks for an extended duration. So fun:

The fun kids catching air as we are first tracks on the fresh groomie zoomie.

Eventually, though, the fun came to a minor pause. Come along for today's video highlight. Watch as we are zipping & cruising along the freshly groomed trail having a blast. Then, we come upon a trail intersection and, boo, there is a loose dog standing in the middle of the intersection. I start to snowplow to slow us down while we see what Fluffy is going to do. We've encountered this dog before, so I wasn't too worried, we just wanted it OUT OF THE WAY! Well, watch as Fluffy finally moves enough to give us an escape gap. I release Jack & Rudy by putting my skis parallel, I don't have to say anything. The great kids feel the release and know they can now run on by Fluffy. Jack & Rudy have absolutely no use for loose dogs, all they do is cause slow downs or stoppages. Sled dogs hate stopping, sled dogs LOVE running :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

It was a bit of a warm morning with temperatures in the 30s (F) but above freezing. So, I knew what I'd get from Jack & Rudy at our turnaround pause of the outing:

Yep, rub a dub dub, need to roll in the snow to cool our jets.
It's hard to tell which legs are Jack's and which are Rudy's as they are
a conjoined snow angel :)

A wonderful Christmas outing: 9.2 miles traveled with 1200 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 17 days on the trails covering 104.1 miles with 12,700 feet of elevation climbed.

Sniff

Jack smells moose in the neighborhood!!!

"Sniff, sniff, moose in the hood!" declares moose detecting Jack.
"Where? Where?" asks curious Rudy.

While we never spotted an actual moose, I know Jack was right and one must have been nearby camouflaged in the trees. I know from experience that Jack is an EXTREMELY accurate moose detector. Rudy, on the other hand, can get equally bothered by the scent of a moose to the scent of a moth; but not Jack, he's moose accurate!!!!

Back to skijoring, we had a great morning on the highest elevation trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center. With a busy Saturday on the trails yesterday, we knew we had to get to the highest elevations for the trails to not be too tracked up. Success, very few humans had made it as far as us yesterday. Yay!

The fun kids catching air near the highest point of our outing.

We were dipping in & out of sun & shade all morning long. I love this contrast shot with me (and the camera) still in the shade while Jack & Rudy are glowing in the bright sunlight:

What a fun "shade to sun" contrast shot!

We are on "dogs allowed" trails of course. So, that means we often encounter loose dogs along the way. Very few others skijor like us; most people are cross country skiing on their own power with loose dogs accompanying them - how boring!

Anyway, Jack & Rudy are great and have no problems with other dogs. But, every loose dog we encounter is a wildcard - some are friendly, some are scared (of the fast sled dogs) and some are downright aggressive and should NOT be loose out on the trails. Today, as we came around a corner as loose dog appeared ahead of us. First it downed when it saw us (not always a good sign) and then it got up and started trotting to us. So, with the dog in the middle of the trail, we had no choice but to stop.

Here comes fluffy meandering down the middle of the trail. Ugh.

Now come along for the video event of the loose dog obstacle. The clip starts out with us happily galloping along the great nordic trail. Then, about 30 seconds into the clip and the dog appears. It then starts coming up trail towards us and things go "out of view" as I'm stopping us to wait and see what kind of dog fluffy actually is (nice or not). Well, fluffy was nice, so, as you'll see, Jack & Rudy only give it a passing sniff (it was in the middle of the trail after all) and then they have no use for fluffy and would rather pass on by and FLOOR it again. I love skijoring with these guys, they love SPEED over loose dog any day!!!!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead and a different section of the wonderfully high snow wall we climbed yesterday for end of run treats.

The happy kids perched up high for end of run treats - fun!

A great outing with a mild "loose dog obstacle" to glide on by: 8.4 miles traveled with 1100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 11 days on the trails covering 67.8 miles with 8100 feet of elevation climbed.

 

April Powder

Guess who was excited to find upwards of 18 inches of powder on our trails this morning?

"We are THRILLED!" exclaims the happy kids looking back to me
when we paused briefly to catch our breaths from deep powder skijoring!

As I mentioned the other day, Breckenridge Nordic Center decided to stay open for an additional week (this week). We had a marvelous April snowstorm yesterday and went back to the nordic center to enjoy the fresh powder this morning. On Thursday, the nordic center only groomed a little over 2 miles of their upper elevation terrain. I was expecting they might do a little more today with all the fresh snow. But, alas, they did not and only groomed the same 2 miles. But, with all the fresh snow, Jack, Rudy and I did the full nordic loop on our own, breaking trail for roughly 3.5 miles! At our highest point of the trail breaking fun, we found ourselves blasting through upwards of 18 inches of fresh powder!!!

Pow, POW, POWDER day!

Nobody had been out in the deep snow before us and we were thoroughly enjoying the aerobic workout. But, we did have to stop to inspect moose tracks crossing the trail at one point. You HAVE to dip your nose in deep moose tracks, you know :)

"Sniff, sniff! MOOSE!" says the moose inspectors.

I knew we'd eventually reconnect to the groomed stretch of trail and this would be our reward for breaking trail earlier. Sure enough, Jack & Rudy knew what to do once on nordic trails :)

Zoom! Rudy the missile and cannonball Jack flooring it.

Now come watch a fun video clip of us transitioning from deep snow to snowcat tracks to a groomed sprint track with an inch or two of fresh snow on top. For context, we had just been breaking trail in upwards of 18 inches of fresh snow. But, I knew we'd eventually connect with the groomed trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center to reward our hard trail breaking work with a sprint to the finish. Fun watching Jack & Rudy transition from the deep to the snowcat tracks. They sniff a little and then it's like they said, "Hey, wait a minute, we can SPRINT on this!!!" and off we goooooo without me having to say anything :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

As I said, Jack & Rudy know what to do with the nordic sprint track:

Catching air laying fresh tracks in a light layer of new snow over
a groomed nordic sprint track.

What a fun and aerobic day, right guys?

"Oh yes, that was FUN!" states the happy kids awaiting end of run treats.

Some aerobic trail breaking work combined with some nordic sprinting made for a 7 mile outing with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 96 days on the trails covering 735.3 miles with 71,700 feet of elevation climbed.a

Smooth Shoulder

Wonderful conditions on wide snowmobile trails on the Harrison Creek Trail at Rabbit Ears Pass!

Nice, wide trail with soft snowmobile tracks to gallop in. Wheeee!

We did an "out & back" skijor at Harrison Creek this morning. So, that means we got the typical antics from the comedians at our turnaround point :)

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes the snow rolling sillies.

Once done rolling, it was time to run back. Zoom!

The fun kids catching air as we zoom along.

Then, I stopped to check our time out on the trails to decide which direction to follow at a juncture. Well, this second stop was met with protest from Rudy :)

"WHY ARE WE STOPPED?!?" asks singing Rudy.
"I'll wait patiently for you to restart." adds mellow Jack.

Once restarted, Rudy and I found a wonderful stretch of trail to use. Watch how Rudy and I are on a bit of untouched corduroy to enjoy on the left shoulder of the trail. Meanwhile, Jack keeps dipping his head to sniff the moose tracks going down the center of the trail. Talented "sniff & run" Jack without breaking stride :) The moose tracks must not have been very fresh as Rudy was not interested; but they were definitely fresh enough for Jack to keep sampling with his nose.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Then it was "all business" to end the day. 

"Almost done? We need to floor it to empty our tanks!" says the fun
kids running fast to the finish.

Finally, everybody ready for some end of run treats?

"You bet!" says the happy, focused & fun kids.

Today's tally: 7.6 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 89 days on the trails covering 690.5 miles with 65,800 feet of elevation climbed.