Hello

Yesterday morning was a PERFECT day to follow groomer tracks up, down and around the Buffalo Park area of Rabbit Ears Pass. Wheeee!

Cool wide angle shot of Jack & Rudy towing me for miles & miles1

We were pleasantly surprised to find that the groomer trail created Tuesday morning was still relatively untouched 24 hours later. While we only had time for a short outing, we certainly made use of this groomer track. Apparently most people think it is Spring and the snow season is over. Ha, not us! :)

Jack & Rudy catching air as we top 23 MPH along this perfect trail.

Now come along for a cool video clip showcasing a variety of highlights. We start with Jack & Rudy in a gentle jog as they are towing me along a winding trail through the forest. So nice of them to keep the speeds down while I work the skis to stay with then through the bends in the trail. Then, we come upon an open straightaway. Without any command from me, the two fun kids know "straightaways are speedways" and they really open up the throttle! Note that as we enter the speedway, Jack & I are thinking the right side of the trail is "best" while Rudy is centered down the middle. It only takes a few seconds for Jack & I to notice that Rudy is right and we both move to the middle to join Rudy and top 23 MPH. Zoom!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Even with the great speed track trail, you cannot ignore rodents stirring under the snow. The hunters had to stop for one session of rodent excavation:

"Digging, digging, gotta find the rodents!" says digger Jack.
"Incoming, rodent excavation!" adds diving Rudy.

Partway through the excavation and time to check our progress :)

"Hello (hello, hello - echoing)!" calls the goofy kids.
"No need to worry, just a couple of innocent predators up here!" adds
innocent little sled dogs ;)

Despite such fine excavation work, we failed to come up with any rodents from under the snow. Well, we might as well settle for 'end of run' treats with retired mentor Zorro instead:

In tight, centered, focused & READY for 'end of run' treats!!!

A wonderful short but speedy day atop Rabbit Ears Pass again: 6.4 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 147 days on the trails covering 1239.1 miles with 115,900 feet of elevation climbed.

Perfect

Near perfect stretch of groomed corduroy for Jack, Rudy and I to zoom, zoom, zoom!

Perfect corduroy along the left edge of this wide trail to uncork the skijoring
engine. Note the angle of the gangline puts me & my skis on the corduroy.
Perfect conditions for me to safely let Jack & Rudy set the speed & pace!!!

We spent yesterday morning doing a quick tour of the main snowmobile trails in and around Dumont Lake at Rabbit Ears Pass. The local snowmobile club grooms the main trails to keep them from getting too beat up and bumpy over a season of daily snowmobile traffic. Jack, Rudy and I are members of this local snowmobile club (Routt Powder Riders) as Jack & Rudy ARE snowmobiles after all and we love to share these trails :)

Usually you will find snowmobile tracks the entire width of the main trail within hours of a new groom. This still makes for very fun & fast terrain for Jack & Rudy as you see below:

Snowmobile tracks the full width of the trail at this point with
Jack & Rudy catching air.

A little further along and we still have snowmobile tracks the full width of the trail. But, notice anything in common between the following photo and the prior two?

How about: the synchronized & airborne Hover Huskies in all three shots. This tells you how fast, easy and fun it is for the kids to get out an run on snowmobile trails!

3 for 3 "hover husky" shots from yesterday morning's skijor!

While snowmobile tracks are perfect & easy for Jack & Rudy to run along; they can get a bit bumpy, uncontrollable or icy for me occasionally. "Uncontrollable?" you ask? Well, yes, if both my skis get caught in the runner tracks from snowmobiles, then I am locked in a frictionless ride, unable to slow down, until I get at least one ski out of the runner track! Back to the first photo above and notice what we found. For a nice extended stretch, the left side of the wide snowmobile trail was virtually untouched by tracks, leaving it as a virtually untouched groomed corduroy! You better believe I moved the team to the left of the trail as soon as I saw this to put myself on perfect stretch of groomie zoomie!

Come along for the video counterpart to what I was just describing: skijoring a "perfect stretch" along the left of the snowmobile trail near Dumont Lake. Notice that we have moved far left on the trail to use the perfect stretch of groomed corduroy that has been virtually untouched by the snowmobile traffic you see going along the middle of the trail. Cool!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

As usual, we had the goofballs rolling snow angels to cool off at our turnaround point of the day. Did you ever wonder what Jack & Rudy think/discuss while they roll snow angels and I stand and watch?

"You'd think he'd get down and join us! So refreshing!" says Jack to Rudy.
"No kidding, dumb human doesn't know what he's missing!" responds Rudy.
And, no, I have never yet been tempted to 'stop, drop, & roll' with them :)

While I do not join in rolling snow angels, I do participate in 'end of run' treats! Ok, I don't eat any, but I do hand them out!

"Nice treat bundle!" says Zorro focused on my stash.
"Yes, that looks like just enough!" adds inspector Jack.
"I'll take any & all treats!" replies mellow Rudy.

A great skijor on wide snowmobile trails at Dumont Lake with a wonderful perfect groomed stretch along the way: 7.8 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 100 days on the trails covering 836.8 miles with 78,800 feet of elevation climbed.

Compliment

First tracks on the newly groomed speed track atop Rabbit Ears Pass. Wheeee!

First tracks on the groomie zoomie!

What a difference a day can make. Yesterday we skijored the meadows of Spring Crust around Walton Peak as the set trails were really beat up and icy. Well, 24 hrs later and the groomer had come out to smooth over the main snowmobile trails. So, today found Jack, Rudy and I being first tracks on the newly groomed speed track!

Flying along the groomie zoomie!

Come along for some video fun from the morning as we are skijoring along gently rolling terrain. Love gliding behind these two!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We did an "out & back" on the groomed track. So, we eventually had to turnaround. We stepped off track to turnaround and, well, I stopped to turn my skis around. Stopped...

"You stop & turn; we stop, drop & roll!" demonstrates the snow rolling goofs.

Funny interaction we had with some skiers on the way back. We encountered them as we were flying around a bend in the trail. They had a tiny loose dog with them, so I instructed Jack & Rudy to stop. The group then wanted to talk about skijoring.

If you have ever cross country skied, then you know you have to fan your skis out to propel yourself uphill and to go fast on flat stretches. Well, apparently this group had been discussing for miles how there could be a parallel set of cross country ski tracks going uphill. "What kind of machine was making these parallel uphill tracks?" they told me they'd been wondering. I laughed, pointed at Jack & Rudy and replied, "It's all them, they are a powerful machine!" The skiers also laughed and said, "At least we know the machine was sled dogs, makes sense now! Your parallel uphill tracks were quite impressive." 

"Is that really a dog?" asks Jack & Rudy looking at the tiny
thing on the other side of the skiers stopping to admire
the impressive sled dogs.

What a nice compliment from this group of skiers about Jack & Rudy's ability to propel me uphill with parallel ski tracks. Right guys?

"Piece of cake. All in a day's work!" adds the happy kids.

Back to the trailhead to relive the outing with elder Zorro who also impressed many a curious onlooker during his skijoring career!

"Remember, me first!" Zorro nudges me.
"Glad we were able to put on a show!" adds happy Jack & Rudy.

A fast & fun groomie zoomie day: 9.4 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 131 days on the trails covering 1072.0 miles with 89,800 feet of elevation climbed.

Kids

Paying attention and catching air along a fast groomed trail this morning!

Wheeee a groomie zoomie trail!

What did I mean by "paying attention" above? Well, Rudy was in a goofy mood at home this morning, walking around wooing for no apparent reason. Nancy and I immediately commented, "I wonder if this goofiness is going to carry over onto the trails?" Like we had to ask...

"Play with me! Play with me!" Rudy suggests to Jack.

Did Jack take the bait and fall for it? Ha, you bet. Play is contagious when you are three years old :) How contagious? Well, the silly kids broke out into a tag, tackle and wrestle session twice on the trail this morning. Here we are in incident number two:

Yes, Jack has Rudy's arm in his mouth.
Yes, Rudy LOVES it :)

When I was able to get the silly kids upright and paying attention, we had a wonderful skijor on beautiful groomed trails this morning. We started on perfect wide trails as you see in the first photo. We then transitioned to a stretch of narrow trails that is groomed by a skinny, mini groomer:

Zipping along laying first tracks in the skinny mini groomer track!

Come along for the video counterpart of the prior photo. Jack & Rudy galloping away as they tow me along the mini groomer track. Super fun stretch of trail!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We then transitioned onto Gold Run Nordic Center and found ourselves being first tracks on this wonderful wide trail:

Catching air again. First tracks on the groomie zoomie!

Back to the trailhead to report the kids silly play antics to Zorro.

"I didn't teach them that!" declares Zorro.
Right, Zorro, I have plenty of video/photo evidence of you 
doing the same with Max over the years :)
"We are just giddy goofy!" adds the silly kids.

Goofy Rudy baiting Jack into the same this morning with some excellent skijoring in between: 8.3 miles traveled with 450 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 111 days on the trails covering 907.5 miles with 77,950 feet of elevation climbed.

Sunrise

 Cool shot of the morning clouds atop the mountains in front of us:

Cool clouds topping the mountains in the background with fast running
Jack & Rudy in the foreground.

We had some appointments to make this morning so started our skijor just after sunrise. We did a quick out & back at Breckenridge Nordic Center. On the return leg we were skijoring into the morning sunrise, making for some cool sun shots:

"Hello big sun!" rising over the mountain in front of us.
A nice shot of airborne Jack & Rudy as we fly by the Kathy's Viewpoint
warming hut.

A little further along, a little more sun:

Same mountain as the prior photo but a slightly different angle.
The big morning sun is now a few degrees higher than the last photo.
Jack & Rudy flying by the Hallelujah Warming Hut this time :)

Today's video fun: starting in the morning shade then finishing in the morning sun after we round a bend in the trail. Impressive Jack & Rudy FLYING by the oncoming skier we encounter. Turn up your volume about 32 seconds in and you can hear me driving my skis into the snow to maintain pace with Jack & Rudy as we round a bend on fast packed terrain - working the human!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Flying on fast trails means you really need to cool the jets at turnaround time :)

"Rolling, rolling, cooling the jets!" demonstrates the snow rolling twins.
We drifted off trail a bit to get in some deeper snow to roll in.

It seems that since Rudy turned three (December 29th) that I've been getting a dual happy face shot from Jack & Rudy every outing! The dual shots were rare before the 29th as one or both of them were usually rolling instead of smiling. But, the two mature three year olds are now flashing their dual smiles daily:

Those beautiful, synchronized, happy faces!

As usual, ending the day with our favorite elder, Zorro:

Group party = fun group shot :)

A quick sunrise outing this morning: 7.2 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 47 days on the trails covering 366.9 miles with 33,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Catching Air

 Happy, happy kids looking up to me during a pause on the trails this morning:

"We are having the BEST time skijoring today!" exclaims the happy pair!

Our outing took us to the upper elevation trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center. The trails were pretty tracked up near the trailhead. But, after a couple of miles, most of the humans had turned around and we found ourselves second or third tracks on the recently groomed trails far away from the trailhead. It was perfect conditions for Jack & Rudy to really uncork the skijoring engine and catch some air:

Pretty views to the right, hovering sled dogs down the middle :)

A little further along and second verse, same as the first:

I'm seeing a theme for today :)

The result of "catching air" again and again? Well, the GPS clocked our top speed just over 24 MPH. Come along for a glimpse at the fast and fun outing:

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

The other result of "catching air" again and again? Well, everyone needs to roll in the snow to cool their jets at every pause during the day:

"Ahhh, need to roll around and cool the jets!" declares the fast running duo.

Let's go tell retired Zorro about the fast & fun day:

"I taught them well!" says Zorro proud of the impressive Jack & Rudy he
raised and trained.

Closing out 2020 in style: 9.9 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 45 days on the trails covering 352.9 miles with 32,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Sun

Cool shot of Jack & Rudy hovering over the trail as the morning sun has just risen over the mountain in front of us:

Pretty sled dogs, beautiful snowmobile trail, awesome sunrise. Trifecta :)

We started today's outing on some pretty thin snow cover with the goal of climbing quickly to (hopefully) better snow cover. As you see in the photo above, success! The conditions were incredible once we got up a bit in elevation. We found some fairly fresh (so not icy) snowmobile tracks to follow for miles and miles! I stopped once to assess our location and determine our path to continue. Well, I stopped, so:

"You stopped, we roll! Hehehe!" demonstrates silly Jack.
"Come on, you KNOW you want to join us!" Rudy is telling me.
The day I "stop, drop & roll" a snow angel too is the day everyone
should really worry about me :)

Location assessed, time to restart. Zoom:

The fast flying skijor team! Wheeee!

Nice photos of fast Jack & Rudy, huh? Come along for an impressive video counterpart:

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

I stopped a second time to send Nancy a text to change our pickup point to meet up with her and Zorro. Since the goofballs had already rolled snow angels at the previous stop, it was time to search for rodents during the second stop. Jack was convinced there were rodents to be had, Rudy did a quick dunk and declared the mission should be aborted:

"Where are the rodents?" asks buried Jack.
"False alarm, coming back to skijor instead!" says happy Rudy plowing
back onto the trail to restart.

Sometimes the lighting isn't be best, but we have to have our "photo with elder Zorro" in every blog:

"Front & center!" says focused Zorro.

Great day following endless snowmobile tracks once we got up high enough in elevation: 7.1 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 40 days on the trails covering 311.9 miles with 28,800 feet of elevation climbed.

Freshies

Cool shot of Jack kicking up fresh powder as we fly along in the morning's new snow!

Fresh snow flying off/behind Jack as we sprint along!
Same for Rudy, but the gangline is obscuring most of his kick dust

We had a blast laying fresh tracks in 1-2 inches of new snow on the trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center this morning. 

The GPS registered our top speed as 21 MPH; but I sure felt faster to me! How fast? Well, I cannot answer that, but look at "how fast" this looks:

Jack the Airborne Bowling Ball :)
Rudy the Flying Missile :)
Looks darn fast to me!

Come along for the video counterpart to this photo. Zoom, zoom, zoom!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

But, alas, the GPS said "21 MPH" so that's what will go with for the day' outing. It was plenty fast enough for Jack & Rudy to take a dip in the snow to cool off at our turnaround point:

Well, ok, so they roll snow angels to cool off at every
turnaround point :)

We had an early morning appointment that made our run shorter than typical. Funny evidence of this at our end meeting up with Zorro:

"I'm ready for 'end of run' treats!" declares reliable, retired Zorro :)
"We are going to burn some more energy digging a hole in the snow
first!" demonstrates the silly kids.

What were they digging for in the snow? Who knows with these two goofballs. But, once I reminded them we had 'end of run' treats, they do know what is more important:

"Finally children!" says Zorro.
"Reporting for duty!" says the now focused Jack & Rudy

A fun albeit quick morning run laying fresh tracks for 6.4 miles with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 15 days on the trails covering 110.6 miles with 10,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Whee

Another BEAUTIFUL May Morning to skijor the great snowpack still available atop Vail Pass!

The "happy foursome" cruising to the end of a beautiful morning!
Three happy, happy sled dogs + one smiling human :)

This time of year, you need to get out early in the morning and, when the temperatures are right, the spring crust is incredible! Today was a great example of perfect May crust skijoring. Temperatures got below freezing atop the pass for roughly 10 hours last night and into this morning. That much time under freezing makes for a solid crust over the snowpack!

We started the day doing a quick "out & back" with Zorro as we made our own trail up and down the crust. Despite a quick stint with Zorro, Jack says an "out & back" is a "stop, drop & roll" regardless of distance ;)

"Can you believe this cracker jack?!?" says Zorro.
"Yeah, what a cracker, who needs to stop/drop/roll after a short stint?" suggests mature Rudy.
"A stop to turn around is a stop. A stop is ALWAYS a stop, drop & roll!" demonstrates goofy Jack.

Once we got Jack upright, it was the return on the firm crust with the fun threesome:

Flying Zorro! Wheeee!
Hovering Rudy! Woooo!
Cruising Jack! Woo Hoo!

After a quick & fast initial run with Zorro, we handed the elder fun guy off to Nancy and I took Jack & Rudy out for a longer run higher up on Vail Pass. After cruising up for a few miles, the trail levels off for a distance and you find yourself on what seems to be an endless shelf of snow as far as the eye can see!

The fun kids cruising west atop this endless shelf a few miles up from the trailhead!

The kids and I did a longer "out & back" on Vail Pass. While Rudy was trying his hardest to be upright and mature on Zorro's "out & back", he reverted to the usual comical 2 year old with Jack on the longer "out & back":

"Okay.... turnaround = roll around!" demonstrates silly Rudy.
"Haha, I knew you'd join!!!" says goofy Jack.

Upright and turned around and here we are now flying eastward back towards the trailhead. Flying, west, flying east - flying kids all morning long!

Look closely and you can see some fun "snow poofs" coming off Jack & Rudy's feet. And a fun Rudy footprint in the lower left of this shot:

Flying Rudy! Zooom!
Hovering Jack! Wheeee!

We close today with a nice combo video clip. Come along for the initial leg of the outing as we are flying along the solid crust with Zorro, Jack & Rudy. Then, the video transitions to Jack & Rudy "flooring it" on the incredible crust high up on the pass this morning! Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Perfect crust all morning long: an initial out/back with elder Zorro and then a longer out/back with just Jack & Rudy: 7.3 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 163 days on the trails covering 1113.9 miles with 101,700 feet of elevation climbed.

Lap 1, Lap 2

No fooling here - we really had a freshly groomed speed track atop Rabbit Ears Pass this April Fool's Day!!!

Flying Jack & Rudy on the fresh groomie zoomie!
Look closely to our right to see the "rabbit ears rock formation" atop the
peak to the far right. You can just barely make out the gap between the
two rocks atop the peak - each rock is one of the ears
(try enlarging the photo to get a good view).

Given this year's strange COVID-19 events, you do not know when trails may or may not be groomed again this season. Some trails have announced they are done, while others are holding on and doing the occasional groom as long as crowds do not collect to violate group counts and/or social distancing.

Each groom we encounter from now until June will be a complete and wonderful surprise. We started the day with Jack & Rudy with the plan to add Zorro onto the team about 1/2 way through. When the kids and I saw the freshly groomed trail, we almost fell over with excitement. But, instead of falling over, we FLOORED it. Jack & Rudy topped 25 MPH skijoring this incredible trail treat this morning:

Oh my, look at that lift off the ground from the super fast youngsters. Zoom!!!

The kids and I did an "out & back " on this perfect trail. Once we met up with Zorro, we KNEW we were going to do another "out & back" on the same trail. A perfect groomie zoomie trail is an extreme treat for 11-3/4 year old Zorro. I was convinced that we were done with such groomed treats this season. With Zorro in the team, it was the same as the first lap out & back: ZOOM!

Woo Hoo - look at airborne Zorro!!! Airborne Jack in the middle and
"one foot shy" of a triple hover husky Rudy to the left.

Today's video highlight was fun to make. I have spliced together a segment of "lap 1" (with the kids) and "lap 2" (with the trio) on this incredible trail. What is really fun is that I ended the clip of lap 1 exactly were I started the clip of lap 2. So, what you are watching is 40 seconds of flying along a contiguous section of trail but the first 20 seconds is Jack & Rudy while the next 20 is Zorro, Jack, & Rudy. Fun clip to watch!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

It was an "out & back" both laps, so you know what that means... Here we are turning around in lap 2 and we have the ears of Rabbit Ears Pass in the background. As with the first photo, look closely and/or enlarge this shot. The rock formations atop the peak in the background are the ears. You can just make out the space between the two rocks atop the peak. Each rock is one of the ears :)

"I know all about the ears. But what about this FUN groomie zoomie?!?" declares happy Zorro.
"Zoom, zoom - gotta roll and cool our jets before restarting!' demonstrate the silly kids.

Zippy, zoomy laps on a fast track really makes you appreciate your 'end of run' treats!

"Fuel up - that was a fun day!" says the focused trio.

What an April Fool's Surprise this morning - topping 25 MPH with the kids and then topping 22 MPH with elder Zorro: 7.1 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 25 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 137 days on the trails covering 934.0 miles with 85,000 feet of elevation climbed.