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!
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?"
"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!!!!
Look at all the snowflakes (white speckles) in today's opening shot for our skijor outing!
Active snowfall in late April. Yay!!!!
We had a light dusting of snow overnight, so I decided to head out to the trails on Peak 7 with Jack & Rudy this morning. This time of year, the trails start to get very slick and beat up. But, all I need is a dusting of snow to make the conditions safe to ski again. I call this the "Safety Dust" and this morning's plan was to use the overnight safety dust to skijor Peak 7. But, much to our pleasure and surprise, it started snowing moments after we started the outing and continued all morning long. This added to the safety dust and made for an incredibly enjoyable outing. Let's try and showcase some more of the active snow:
All the white speckles you see against Jack & Rudy's fur and the trees ahead and to our left are active snowflakes. Yay for Snow!
Ok, let's try another:
More white snowflake speckles on Jack & Rudy and more speckles against the trees. Whee!
Ok, enough trying to capture active snow in a still photo. Let's get to the video highlight of the morning. Come along and watch as we have wonderful and quite active snowfall coming down on us as we skijor Peak 7. Yay for Snow!
Our last two skijor outings the temperatures were above freezing, so we got the comedians rolling snow angels to cool off at any break point. Well, today was below freezing, so I knew Rudy was going to switch from rolling to singing. Jack, of course, ALWAYS rolls. Sure enough:
"Stop, drop and roll!" declares always rolling Jack. "Woooo! I love snow!" belts singing Rudy.
Back to the trailhead and I think I was talking about the fun outing too much instead of handing out the end of run treats:
"You going to chat away or dish them out?!?" asks perplexed, head cocked Rudy. "I can taste them in anticipation, come on!" adds slurping Jack.
A beautiful morning skijoring with a layer of safety dust and active snowfall: 5.7 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.
2024/2025 Season to Date: 101 days on the trails covering 772.3 miles with 75,900 feet of elevation climbed.
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.
It was a "Fresh Tracks Friday" on the upper elevation trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center this morning!
Out-stretched Jack & Rudy having a blast laying fresh tracks in a shallow layer of new snow!
To our amazement and pleasure, just about everywhere we skijored, we were first tracks on the morning's new snow. What a treat:
Whee - Friday Freshies!
We did see other tracks twice: our OWN "out tracks" on two sections of trail where we skijored out and back :)
Still laying fresh tracks down the center of the trail as you see our "out tracks" to the left. We like to hug the right shoulder of a trail on the way out & up so that we can still lay fresh tracks down the middle on the way back. Fun!
Ok, here we go with today's video counterpart to the prior photo. Come along as we are laying fresh tracks down the middle with our "out tracks" to the left. Fast & fun Jack & Rudy!
Now that you know the left tracks are our "out tracks", go back and watch the video again. Do you notice anything unusual? Well, what happened at seconds 25-28 in the video as you see Jack & Rudy's footprints all over the trail (not lined out as our usual out tracks). Second, why has Jack backed off the gangline from seconds 28-32 in the video? Interesting, huh? Well, here's your answer. The kids caught the "scent of moose" on the way out and HAD to pause and drift towards the (apparently very strong) scent:
"I SMELL MOOSE! Must scan the forest!" says inspector Jack. "Sniff, sniff! Me too! Where's the moose?" adds Rudy taking in the apparently very strong scent of moose in the air.
So, there's the answer to the questionable parts of the video. First, Jack & Rudy's footprints all over the trail go along with the prior photo as they caught a very strong scent of moose. Second, Jack has backed off the gangline in the video at the same point where they caught the scent on the way out. He was clearly slowing a bit in hopes of finding that elusive moose until the scent dies down and he picks up the pace again. Silly moose hunters :)
Great day, right guys?
"Oh what fun!" exclaims the happy, happy kids at our first turnaround point of the outing.
Another enjoyable day, another snow wall to climb for end of run treats:
"READY!" says the happy & focused kids perched atop a snow wall to receive end of run treats.
A great day of Friday Freshies: 9.1 miles traveled with 1200 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.
2024/2025 Season to Date: 75 days on the trails covering 585.2 miles with 55,500 feet of elevation climbed.
For the third day in a row, Jack, Rudy and I found ourselves breaking trail in over a foot of fresh, new snow! Wheeee!
Look at that power as Jack & Rudy are blasting through almost 2 feet of fresh powder at this point of the outing!
When you are skiing, snowboarding and/or snowmobiling in deep snow, it is often referred to as "snorkeling" as your head is often barely above (or below) the deep snow. Well, today we have a classic shot of Jack snorkeling as he & Rudy are breaking trail in snow about as deep as they are tall:
Love Jack's nose up in the air to keep above the "Jack deep" snow he is blasting through. Snorkeling!!!
In addition to wonderful deep snow this morning, it was also actively DUMPING snow all outing long. The only drawback of active, heavy snowfall? Well, the camera continually collects snow and gets blurry. Both photos above are clear as I had just wiped the camera clear of snow. Most of today's footage looked like the following photo:
Jack & Rudy blurred by two things: 1) snow collecting on the camera; and 2) deep snow they are submerged in while blasting through!
How hard was is to keep the camera clear, well today's video highlight shows you. This clip starts with a blurry camera which I wipe clear after about 3 seconds. Then you get to see the beauty of Jack & Rudy romping through a foot of snow until less than 50 seconds later when the camera is blurred by snow again.
Perfect day for Jack, Rudy & I; rough day for the camera :)
I did wipe the camera clear at our turnaround point of the day and, well, the kids did their turnaround usual :)
"Stop, drop & ROLL in the wonderful deep snow!" goes the snow rolling sillies.
What a wonderful snow day, right guys?
"Oh that was FUN!" says my snow covered pals awaiting end of run treats atop a tall snow wall.
An aerobic day of breaking trail in deep snow amidst active, heavy snowfall: 4.6 miles traveled with 300 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 17 MPH.
2024/2025 Season to Date: 57 days on the trails covering 426.8 miles with 40,600 feet of elevation climbed.
Cresting on the trail to fly by the historic Sallie Barber Mine from the 1800s mining days in Breckenridge.
Jack & Rudy love to "crest and go" to fly by the historic mine.
It was a wonderful snowy morning to be out on the Sallie Barber Mine Trail. With fresh snow and existing snowpack, we were able to lay fresh tracks on the less popular (and much steeper and rockier) backside of this trail. Wheeee!
Laying fresh tracks on the backside of Sallie Barber Mine. What fun!
Notice anything special about the prior two photos? Well, it's really hard to see in still shots but it was actively snowing all through our outing this morning. If you look closely at the first photo, all the white speckles you see on the mine are snowflakes. If you look closely at the second photo, the white speckles on Jack and Rudy are also snowflakes.
I know it's hard to appreciate active snowfall of "white on white" in a still photo. So, let's put it to a video. Come along as we crest at the historic mine and then take off down the other side. You can see the wonderful light to moderate snow falling around us in a video. Yay for Snow!
We did our usual route at Sallie Barber: up the frontside, down & back up the backside and then down the frontside. On the first pass, the sillies almost always roll snow angels to celebrate reaching the mine after the initial climb. You need to cool off after a climb after all :)
Stop, drop and roll to cool off on the first pass by the mine.
You may have noticed that in most of my photos and video, Jack is on the right and Rudy on the left. This is their typical configuration. I don't enforce it, it is just what they prefer. But, occasionally they'll switch sides to mix it up (there is even one stretch of trail at Gold Run Nordic Center where they ALWAYS switch for some reason, you'll have to ask them why :)
The infrequent "Jack on the left & Rudy on the right" with the same results: zoom!
A wonderful, snowy morning, right guys?
"We LOVE snow! Now how about those end of run treats?" says the happy, fun kids.
A "yay for snow" skijor day: 7 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.
2024/2025 Season to Date: 26 days on the trails covering 204.2 miles with 19,600 feet of elevation climbed.
Do you think Jack is enjoying upwards of 2 feet of fresh powder on Baldy Mountain this morning?
"I'm having a BLAST!" exclaims ecstatic Jack. "Me too, but why are we stopped?" adds Rudy. That is the historic Iowa Mill in the background from the Breckenridge mining days. We are stopped as I needed to wipe frozen snow off my sport sunglasses so I could see (Rudy didn't like that explanation :)
This was our first skijor on Baldy this 2024/2024 season. This terrain is very steep in places and extremely rocky when bare. So, we need a lot of snow to cover the rocks and then I need a lot of powder to slow Jack & Rudy down on the steep descents. Well, 2 feet of snow falling overnight made Baldy a dream skijor!
We stuck to the main trail for most of the outing. A few other powder hounds had been out on the trail before us, so we had some very soft but set tracks to run in on the main trail:
Cruising along in an existing track. As you can see, very few had been out so the set tracks were still very soft & fluffy!
We did venture off the main trail once to go snorkeling in deep, deep powder. Wheeee!
Jack & Rudy blasting through roughly 2 feet of fresh, untouched snow on a side trail. Powerful kids!
But, as I said, we did spend most of the outing on the main trail. Come along for today's video fun as snow is dumping all around us as we hop, skip and glide in the soft terrain. Yes, the video gets pretty blurry from snow collecting on the camera partway through this clip. I'm happy to report it was near impossible to keep the camera clear of snow for very long :)
Now I get to pat myself on the back and show that I have some use (other than vetoing moose hunting) on the trails. In the prior video you see lots of existing tracks for Jack & Rudy to fit in side by side. But, occasionally there were stretches where all the previous humans had followed one another. We did an out & back on the main trail this morning. On the out direction, every time the trail condensed to a single set track, I would ski out of the track to pave they way for Jack & Rudy to fit comfortably on the way back. See, I have something to contribute!!!
Rudy in the set track from people out before us. Jack in MY track I set on the way out so both could fit side by side on the way back. Nice job human :)
All this fresh snow meant for some very frisky kids all morning long. Two unauthorized games of "tag & wrestle" broke out during the outing - 1 started by Rudy (that's typical) and 1 started by (usually perfect) Jack. Of course both joined in the "tag & wrestle" - it doesn't matter who starts it, both contribute :)
"Just try and touch me!" says play bowing Rudy. "I'm going to flatten you!" responds silly Jack.
With all the new snow, the "snow walls" are starting to come together everywhere for Jack & Rudy to climb for end of run treats:
The fun kids climbing a snow wall to get even with my hands for easy handing out of the treats.
Skijors on Baldy always trade off distance for elevation (it is very steep as I mentioned): 5.1 miles traveled with 1300 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.
2024/2025 Season to Date: 15 days on the trails covering 115.8 miles with 11,400 feet of elevation climbed.
First time skijoring the back side of the Sallie Barber Mine Trail this season! Wheeee!
Jack & Rudy packed in tight to fly along in a set track on the back side of Sallie Barber Mine.
We have done the popular, front side of Sallie Barber already this season. But, the back side is much steeper and very rocky in places; so, we need good snowpack before the back is safe to skijor. Well, we are in amidst of a multi-day Thanksgiving snow event this week and, thus, the back side has finally become skiable! Yay!
As we typically do, we start out going up the front side of this trail. When we get to the mine, Jack always rolls snow angels and Rudy either woos in happiness or rolls with Jack. Today it was woos from Rudy:
"Woo! I approoooove!" states wooing Rudy. "Launching into my snow angel!" adds goofy Jack. Notice that Rudy is walking towards me while wooing. By the time Jack was fully into rolling his snow angel, he we eclipsed on the camera by big dude Rudy, so this is the best shot of Jack's angel that I got :)
We then go down and back up the back side of the mine trail to finally fly back down the front side to end the day. Jack & Rudy love to fly by the mine on the second pass as they know the fast & fun return down the front side is about to happen!
Cruising by the historic mine as we prepare for the final sprint down the front side of the trail.
It was a peaceful morning with fresh snow and active falling snow to glide along behind Jack & Rudy:
Wheeee!
How peaceful? Well, come along for today's video highlight as Jack, Rudy & I run & glide along the perfect trail!
Finally, we ended the day, as always, sharing end of run treats with my happy pals:
"That was fun! Ready for treats!" says the happy pair.
Sallie Barber is one of our shorter outings, but Jack & Rudy really like this route: 6.8 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.
2024/2025 Season to Date: 14 days on the trails covering 110.7 miles with 10,100 feet of elevation climbed.
Nothing like rolling angels in fresh snow amidst active snowfall - see for yourself :)
"Ah, rub a dub dub!" declares the snow rolling sillies.
We are thrilled to report that we have very little usable footage from this morning's skijor outing? "Why?" you ask? Well, it was dumping snow all morning long and the camera kept getting blurred over from snow collecting on it! Yay for Snow!
I wiped the camera clear of snow multiple times all morning long. But, within seconds it would start collecting snow again and within minutes it was a total blur.
10 seconds after I cleared the camera of snow and Rudy is already in a "snow induced blur" on the camera :) But, look at all those wonderful snowflakes you can see in the clear parts of this photo (especially against Jack's black fur)!
Then, 2 or so minutes after clearing the camera of snow and we got this:
Rudy in a total snow blur, Jack in a developing snow blur. The gangline in a snow blur, etc. etc. Yay for Snow!
Now come along for a fun, albeit some what blurred, finish to today's skijor outing. You can see the wonderful active snowfall in any of the clear parts of the camera. Finally, you have to love how Jack & Rudy automatically know slow to take me through the narrow exit at the end of the clip. I do not have to say anything as they do this automagically - just a "Good boys!" from me after we get through the narrow opening. Great partners!
At least Nancy's camera was not collecting snow, so we get a clear 'end of run' treats photo:
The brim of my hat covered in snow. A wonderful big snowflake in the center of this photo. Tons of snowflakes all over. Yay for Snow!
Consider this: 96 hours ago (last Sunday morning), Jack, Rudy and I were moping around the house complaining about the lack of snow this season and how boring it was to go for a hike instead of a skijor in November. Then, it started snowing Sunday afternoon and has been going off & on EVERY day since! So, we have this wonderful scenario: from "no snow last Sunday morning" to Breckenridge Ski Resort opened today and Breckenridge Nordic Center opens tomorrow! What a magical 96 hours it has been. Yay for Snow, Let it Snow!
Today's outing was actually on the upper elevation trails of Breckenridge Nordic Center. While they do not officially open until tomorrow, the did groom the trails a day or so ago to pack and preserve all the wonderful new snowfall: 9.4 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.
2024/2025 Season to Date: 4 days on the trails covering 29.1 miles with 2700 feet of elevation climbed.
