Flirts

Can't you just feel the power behind strong Jack & Rudy in this photo?

The power twins putting all their strength into their shoulders to
launch me along. Wheeee!

We returned to Vail Pass again this morning. As with two days ago, we got out on the terrain before 7am in hopes that the Spring Crust was still firm early in the morning. Well, as you see in the photo above - success! The early morning crust was perfect again today as we were able to abandon set trails and skijor any and every direction we chose. 

Along the way and... It's a bird, it's a plane, it's super Jack & Rudy:

The power kids literally flying along. Beautiful airborne shot of Jack
and nice power shot of Rudy (looks at his shadow to see he is all four
feet off the ground too).

One of the fun attractions at Vail Pass is the backcountry huts where groups snowshoe and/or ski to and stay overnight. But, since we have to get out early in May for the crust, it is hit or miss whether any of the overnighters are up when we cruise by early in the morning. Well, today was "hut success" as we encountered quite a few overnighters up & about early. Jack & Rudy LOVE to flirt with the crowds and the crowds love to meet them too!

It started off with two kids - one for each :)

The flirts, Jack & Rudy, each taking one kid to play with!

Then the crowd grew. So many people to flirt with. What to do? Well, Jack will take multiple kids at once and Rudy will entertain the entire group singing his beautiful woos :)

"I'll take as many kids as want to touch me!" says cool Jack.
"I'll WOOOOO to entertain EVERYONE at once!" belts singing Rudy.

Once done flirting at the huts, it was time to head back to the trailhead. We had power and flying Jack & Rudy in the photos above, so let's add a hover husky to complete the day's action:

The hover huskies catching air with pretty Rocky Mountain views in front
of us.

Today's video highlight contains the previous hover husky shot. Come along and watch the kids having a blast flying along the perfect crust. Top speed in this clip? 22 MPH - wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the parking lot and the sillies found one of their tallest snow walls of the season to climb. I had to climb partway up too in order to get to their height!

"Treats taste better atop snow walls!" declares the funny kids.

Another wonderful Vail Pass crust morning with some great flirting along the way: 9.3 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 151 days on the trails covering 1275.7 miles with 126,800 feet of elevation climbed.

Vail Pass

Look who was very excited to be back on snow after a couple of days off:

"We are THRILLED!!!!!" states the super happy kids.

As we enter May, we have to start getting creative with our skijor outings. This time of year you will typically find us skijoring high mountain passes or high peaks. Well, today was Vail Pass and the conditions were perfect once we got up in elevation a bit:

Beautiful morning, beautiful Spring Crust, beautiful sled dogs :)

Now come along and witness the great conditions for yourself. Sure there were a few snowmobile tracks and ski tracks to cross. But notice now my pals know to cross these as close to perpendicular as you can. The smart kids know my skis have to be close to perpendicular for me to cross the frozen tracks safely. Smart and great partners!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

After an initial climb from the trailhead, we come upon the Shrine Huts - a series of backcountry huts that people rent by the night for a getaway into the backcountry (you have to ski or snowshoe to the huts as snowmobiles are not allowed). Sometimes we encounter some of the overnighters up mulling about in the morning. It is always fun to flirt with the hut occupants. But, today we were out pretty early as I wanted to be done before the temperatures got too warm and the Spring Crust softened. So, today we were going by the huts before 8am, so nobody was out & about for Jack & Rudy to flirt with. Oh well, we did see a handful of people waving at us from inside one of the huts.

Having fun jogging by one of the huts; but unfortunately we were too early
for anyone to be out & about yet.

After some fun cruising around all the huts, it was time to head back towards the trailhead. My timing was perfect for the Spring Crust as it held firm our entire outing and we were able to abandon set trails and go any direction we wanted. Fun!

Whee - what a perfect Spring Crust!

With warm May days, you know what we were going to get from Jack & Rudy at any pause or turnaround point.

"Stop, drop and ROLL!" goes the silly kids cooling their jets rolling on the snow.
Note the markers to the right: past the markers are the huts and the markers
designate the boundary for snowmobiles as they are not allowed to cross
and get to close to the huts.

Finally, back to the trailhead parking lot and the silly kids found one of their tallest snow walls of the season to climb for end of run treats. I had to climb partway myself just to get to their level :)

"We LOVE snow walls! Now how about those end of run treats?" asks the
snow climbing acrobats.

Gorgeous bluebird morning with a perfect Spring Crust on Vail Pass: 8.8 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 143 days on the trails covering 1218.1 miles with 120,700 feet of elevation climbed.

Z Memories

Snow angels with a view from the comedians, Jack & Rudy, this morning :)

I guess I was the only one awestruck by the views from here :)

Our initial plan this morning was to skijor the spring crust to the backcountry huts on Shrine Pass above Vail Pass this morning. This initial plan was a great success:

Trotting by one of the backcountry huts.
Despite how nice the huts look from the outside, they have no water or
electricity and only fire for heat inside. Thus a backcountry hut.

Our main goal of the day was to get to the huts to sprinkle some of Zorro's ashes. Zorro LOVED skijoring to the huts all his life. He always had so much fun flirting with the overnighters in the huts who would often come out to see the crazy guy on skis with the pretty sled dogs. Jack, Rudy and I skijored around this particular hut and then paused to sprinkle Zorro. As expected, the event got woos for Rudy and smiles from Jack - that's how they interacted with Zorro :)

Sorry, I didn't realize that Jack was not completely on camera until I got home.
Anyway, Zorro's ashes coming out of the bag in the upper right of this photo
while Rudy sings a tribute and Jack flashes his beautiful smile in honor
of wonderful Zorro.

Skijor up the spring crust to the huts, success. Sprinkle wonderful Z's ashes, success. Our final plan was to then skijor back down the crust which is usually very solid this time of year.

Looking good to begin with.

Unfortunately the crust was not nearly as solid as we had hoped. It was nice at our highest point of elevation (see the photo above); but started getting soft within a few hundred feet of our planned descent. Once Jack & Rudy started punching through the crust, it was time to abandon this plan as that is dangerous to their feet, ankles, hips and shoulders. 

What to do? Well we gently trotted over to the main snowmobile trail that goes nearby the huts. The snowmobile trail is well packed from a season of grooming and snowmobiles. Yet, grooming operations are winding down at Vail Pass and with warm days and ongoing snowmobile traffic, the trail was pretty beat up. But, better to put wear & tear on my knees than Jack & Rudy's hips & shoulders :)

But, we did find this "minute of nice trail" where the right shoulder had not seen too much snowmobile use. Come along and watch this rare stretch of nice trail we had on the way down. Hey, a minute of nice is better than none at all :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Nice shot of airborne Jack & Rudy clipped from the prior video:

Boy do my knees wish the whole trail down was as nice as this stretch!

Back to the trailhead and there is still enough of a snow wall in the parking lot for Jack & Rudy to climb for end of run treats. I think Zorro would have really gotten a kick out of the kids new "climb snow walls for treats" this season. I'm sure Zorro would have said, "What a great idea!" and joined in!

"Don't overuse those knees, we'll come to you!" says the polite kids.

Not the best outing due to a punchy crust and rough snowmobile trail; but a great outing to spread a little of Zorro on one of his favorite skijor trails: 8.4 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 137 days on the trails covering 1216.0 miles with 111,200 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Vail Pass Crust

Young Jack & Rudy's first visit to the huts on Shrine Mountain at Vail Pass.

Zorro's 45th visit to the Shrine Mountain Huts :)

"Hey, cool!" say Jack & Rudy glancing at one of the huts as we jog by.
"We are too early, nobody is awake yet." adds veteran Zorro.

Zorro loves to skijor to the Shrine Huts and flirt with the backcountry skiers staying overnight. But, we got out on the trail early this morning as temperatures where going to get above freezing by 8am. So, unfortunately, Zorro was right in the prior photo. Despite seeing lots of skis outside the huts, nobody was awake and milling around outside yet. Typically we go by the huts a little later in the morning and get to flirt with the crowds who LOVE seeing the sled dogs who towed the human to the huts.

The reason to be out so early? Well, the snowmobile trails at Vail Pass get pretty choppy in the warm spring temperatures, so we want to abandon trails and ski the spring crust instead. You need to be out before temperatures get above freezing for the crust to support us. While we failed to flirt at the huts, we were VERY successful skijoring the endless crust:

A firm spring crust as far as the eye can see. Perfect spring skijoring!

We were able to abandon choppy & icy trails and stay on the crust all morning long!

Jack & Rudy synchronized with Zorro running alongside as we continue to ride
the crust up & down Vail Pass.

Today's short video clip showcases the firm & endless crust at Vail Pass. What fun...

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Time to turnaround and guess what? The youngsters now patented "springtime goofball antics" when we stopped to turn my skis around.

"Could they get any goofier?" asks happy Zorro.
"Stopped... Rolling!" demonstrate the goofs :)

Finally, all smiles at the end of the day's run.

"We had a BLAST!" declares the happy trio.

Jack & Rudy still don't know the "flirt fun" to be had at the Shrine Mountain Huts; but they do know the fun to be had on the spring crust at Vail Pass: 7.1 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2018/2019 Season to Date: 93 days on the trails covering 521.9 miles with 47,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Four Activities

We found this incredible freshly groomed speed track atop Vail Pass this morning! Zoom!

Wow - what pristine terrain. Flying!

So much fun to have atop Vail Pass. We experienced four different activities all on one outing. Come along as we show the fun we had in the order it occurred...

(1) Cruising up Shrine Pass on the snowshoe/cross-country ski trail.

Cresting at the top of Shrine Pass as we see endless winter terrain as far as the eye can see!

(2) Flirting at the huts. Max & Zorro love to tour by the backcountry huts on Vail Pass. They are such a hit with the overnight hutters and its hard to tell who is having more fun: Max & Zorro getting all this attention or the hutters getting to give all this attention! Such flirts :)

"Oh, nice, rub the shoulders - love it!" says docile Max getting a nice shoulder rub.
"The ears, the head and the shoulders all at once - love it!" declares flirty Zorro.

(3) Springtime always brings a third fun activity to life: cruising atop the spring crust! After skijoring past the huts, we found the crust up high was untouched and solid enough to hold our weight. So, off we went sprinting the spring crust. Wheeee!

Solid enough to hold a sprinting Max & Zorro as they leave fun footprints behind them.

(4) The final fun activity: connecting with the snowmobile trails to uncork the skijoring engine.

The first photo above and the following video showcase today's sprint track. We found this freshly groomed snowmobile trail high atop Vail Pass. It was a mix of gentle & steep downhill grades as we put the pedal to the metal. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Four fun activities in one outing, what a great day: 9.4 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2016/2017 Season to Date: 113 days on the trails covering 945.3 miles with 100,300 feet of elevation climbed.

Max Birthday

Today is Max's birthday, we celebrated with a 9.4 mile skijor at Vail Pass!

"Now that is MY kind of birthday present!" says happy Max at the end of the day's run.
It sure does not look like he just ran 9.4 fast miles, does it? :)

We got to do two of Max's favorite things for his birthday: flirt & fly (these are also two of Zorro's favorite activities).

Here we are approaching one of the Shrine Mountain Huts. When this group of 10 or so saw us approaching, everyone was frantically scrambling to get out their cameras to get a photo of Max & Zorro.

"Hi everybody, there's enough of us to go all around!" say Max & Zorro approaching the group.
Look closely and you can see just about everyone has a camera or phone out getting a shot.

Flirting with the hutters always gets you a few good back rubs, ear rubs, or head pats:

"Aahh, thanks!" says happy little Zorro digging his back rub.
"Hey, what's in the bag?" asks nosey Max to one of the hutters who had lowered her backpack.

Love flirting at the huts, right Max?

"Hehe, yes, what a fun birthday flirt!" says happy Max.
"CHEESE!" says flirtatious Zorro posing for the camera in front of him :)

Done flirting at the huts and it was on to our other favorite Vail Pass activity: flying!

Sprint-tuck Max levitating over the trail with sprint-stretch Zorro flying too. Wheeee!

Max may have turned 10 today; but you are only as old as you act...

Wow - nice form Max! What a beautiful out-stretched & sprinting Siberian Husky!

A "happy birthday" run for Max (the best thing Zorro and I could give him): 9.4 miles traveled with 1100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2016/2017 Season to Date: 84 days on the trails covering 687.0 miles with 74,400 feet of elevation climbed.

Vail Pass Fun

Greeting from "top of the world" at Vail Pass :)

Trotting along a packed ski trail as we take in the great views all around us!

The great views were only the 3rd best highlight of the morning's outing. What could top skijoring the "top of the world"? Well...

1) Flirting with the overnighters at the backcountry huts. Max & Zorro love touring the huts and getting attention from the crowds. They are such flirts! It started with a gentle encounter with a little girl near the huts:

"Why hello! Yes, I will take a head pat!" says social Max.
"One kid is small potatoes, I see CROWDS ahead!" says picky Zorro wanting more than one!

Well, Zorro was right (to nobody's surprise) as there was a huge group that went along with the previous solo encounter. As we approached the hut, the crowds gathered as an entire group of young girls came pouring out to see & pet Max & Zorro.

"Ahh, told you there were more! Yes, rub the shoulders please!" says silly Zorro taking in a nice
back rub.
"Yes, yes, you were right!" says Max taking in a nice shoulder rub of his own.

Within seconds of the prior photo, we had a group of about 8 girls surrounding and petting Max & Zorro (no photo as you could no longer see Max & Zorro through the circle of kids around them :)

2) Next best thing about Vail Pass: flying along the fast groomed terrain on the main trails:

Catching air as we fly and tow the human on the Shrine Pass Trail.

Today's video clip is a short teaser - it gives you a quick idea of how ridiculously fast & fun the main trails really are. Imagine this clip for "miles & miles" and that is what we were doing. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Flirting & flying - Max & Zorro's two favorite activities at Vail Pass: 9.4 miles traveled with 1200 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2016/2017 Season to Date: 78 days on the trails covering 631.5 miles with 68,400 feet of elevation climbed.

Untouched

Something you do not often see in mid-May: untracked & untouched snow as far as the eye can see! Wow!

Laying fresh tracks in an untracked & untouched utopia on the back side of Shrine Pass.

There was light snowfall yesterday (as well as Sunday and Monday); but Vail Pass is a very popular snowmobile area with the Shrine Pass trail being one of the most heavily used. So, imagine our surprise after we climbed to the front side of Shrine Pass to find an untouched snow utopia on the back side. We all had to pinch ourselves before having a great run laying fresh tracks up & down the back side. Wheeee!

After laying fresh tracks on the back of Shrine Pass, we went on to tour the Shrine Mountain Huts that are used by backcountry skiers and snowshoers. As we came around a corner to one of the huts, we came upon a girl who was thrilled to see Max & Zorro...

"HI!" says bold and flirtatious Zorro (any one who has met Zorro knows what I mean :)
"Ah, thanks for the head pat!" states calm and collected Max.

The rest of this girl's group was not far away and you know what is going to happen when a group of girls see their friend with Max & Zorro.... Fluff Party! Zorro really is in this photo - you can see his white tail while he has submerged the rest of his body in the crowd.

"Aaahhh, that's the spot!" declares Max digging the head rub he is getting.
"Loving it!" states attention grabbing Zorro.

Done touring the huts and time to head back down the front side of Shrine Pass. As you can see, snowmobile tracks all over; thus the reason we were so surprised to find the untouched snow utopia on the back side of Shrine!

Nice views as we look down upon Colorado from atop Vail Pass.

Fun day to be a Siberian Husky: laying fresh tracks in May AND flirting with the hut overnighters - all in one outing! 9.4 miles traveled with 1100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2015/2016 Season to Date: 135 days on the trails covering 1132.3 miles with 124,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Flyers

Beautiful morning to trot by the Shrine Mountain Huts.

Trotting by the biggest of the 8 or so backcountry huts. 

Max & Zorro always have a blast cruising by all the huts atop Shrine Mountain. The huts range from simple yurts to large cabins (as shown above) with just about every size in between. The only way to access the huts in the winter is by ski or snowshoe, making for a peaceful backcountry vacation getaway.

We did a quick skijor climb up Shrine Pass, weaved our way by all the huts, explored miles of untouched terrain atop Shrine Mountain and then zipped back down Shrine Pass. Once you ski by all the huts, you are treated to pretty much endless opportunities to skijor all around Shrine Mountain atop the solid spring crust. With such endless terrain, we decided to play "fly games". Who do you vote for in today's fly contest?

Nice form from flying Zorro. 

Not to be outdone, check out the flying Max!

So tough to pick a winner from today's fly games... But, I think I'll go with Max as today's winner. Both are impressive; but Max's shadow is incredible too! :)

Everyone having a good time?

"You bet!" exclaims happy Max as I called out, "Who's having fun?"
"A blast!" states happy little Zorro.

A fun day playing on Shrine Mountain: 8.8 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2015/2016 Season to Date: 133 days on the trails covering 1117.2 miles with 122,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Spring

Well, it is the first full day of Spring...

"Never been so hot! Rolling snow angels to cool off!" declare Max & Zorro taking a quick
break to cool themselves at our midpoint of the outing.

This morning's outing took us to Vail Pass. The route we took lets us travel through a mix of trail types. We start with narrow, backcountry trails as we climb Shrine Pass and then tour around the huts sprinkled throughout the forest. We then drop out of the hut system and onto the groomed, wide and fast snowmobile trails to open up the throttle and really fly. Such a fun mix for the day!

Narrow, backcountry trails leading to and connecting the huts:

Nice wide angle view shot as we trot along the hut system trails. So peaceful!

Out of the hut trails and onto the groomie zoomie snowmobile trails - wheeee!

Fun "hover husky" shot of airborne Max & Zorro. The terrain and angle of the sun at Vail Pass
always leads to at least one nice hover husky shot during the outing!

Today's video highlight starts by showcasing how perfect the conditions were at Vail Pass as we are flying along beautifully groomed terrain. Near the end of the video we get some nice "action" as we encounter a set of snowmobiles. The trail is wide enough that we do not need to stop for the snowmobiles. But, watch as Zorro (who does not like to be on the 'inside track' for snowmobile encounters) slows himself, then ducks under the gangline and finally speeds up right back into perfect form (but now on the 'outside track'). Very talented!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Fun day, right?

"You bet!" exclaim the happy & satisfied Max & Zorro looking up at me when I asked if
everyone was enjoying the day.

Narrow hut tours to wide open groomie zoomies - today had it all! 8.9 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2015/2016 Season to Date: 100 days on the trails covering 848.9 miles with 91800 feet of elevation climbed.

Flirts

Having fun "flirting with the crowds" at Vail Pass this morning...

"Flirt? Who me?" asks happy Max.
"Who wouldn't want to be flirted with by ME?" smirks cute little Zorro.

For our skijoring uses, Vail Pass is primarily a network of fast & groomed snowmobile trails. For humans, though, Vail Pass also offers a network of backcountry huts. Groups will take the entire morning or afternoon to ski to the huts and then stay overnight before heading back another day. Every once in a while we leave the fast & groomed section of Vail Pass to go tour the huts and flirt with the overnighters. Today was one such flirtatious day.

Below is a nice shot of one of the many, many huts on Vail Pass. These "huts" look so nice from the outside, it is hard to imagine that they really do not have electricity or running water and the only source of heat is wood burning stoves!

"Hey - nice hut!" states Zorro as we trot by.
"Lets go find people and flirt!" suggests Max.

We encountered 5 different groups of hut overnighters (or hutters) this morning and Max & Zorro took the opportunity to flirt with each group. Below is the best flirt encounter...

We came around a corner to find this large group of hutters.
"I bet they melt in our hands!" state Max & Zorro preparing to flirt with the crowd.

This set of hutters turned out to be a bunch of teenage girls (with an adult at the front and back). That is putty to Max & Zorro :)  Everyone in the group reached out to pat & stroke Max & Zorro as we passed by.

Hand stroking down Zorro's back. Max accepting a pat from the right with the outstretched
hand to the left that just finished stroking down his back.
"Love to flirt and get all this attention!" declare the flirtatious Max & Zorro.

But, remember our primary use of Vail Pass - fast & groomed terrain. After finishing our flirt tour of the huts, it was back to pedal to the metal:

Catching air as we fly along the fast Shrine Pass Trail. Zoooom!

A day of flirting and sprinting: 9.1 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2015/2016 Season to Date: 84 days on the trails covering 716.6 miles with 75700 feet of elevation climbed.