Season Opener

Opening the 2022/2023 Skijoring Season with a trip to the summit of Boreas Pass!

Happy Jack flashing his beautiful smile at the summit of Boreas.
Happy Rudy swooshing his tail in approvement :)

We have been "climbing the walls" this October waiting for mother nature to give us snow to start the season. We've been lucky to start the season in September a few years; but have ALWAYS started by this time in October for the last 12 years. Temperatures have been plenty cold overnight, we just have not had any moisture. Well, Sunday FINALLY brought some snow to Colorado. The forecast was for at least 6 inches and upwards of 18 inches in places. Well, that did not happen and the storm only delivered a few inches in most places. But, we were determined to get out and start the season.

We drove partway up Boreas Pass (it is open to vehicles through October and then closes for skiing and snowshoeing) hoping for some good snow as we got up in elevation. Yet, the best we found was a few inches. This is not enough snow to ski on safely but it is enough to use the dog sled. The sled can run over frozen & exposed ground whereas skis need a good snow base. Here's a photo of some of the best conditions we found:

Jack & Rudy towing the dog sled along a nice stretch of snow.

Unfortunately, the prior photo was the exception to the outing. We kept encountering stretches of frozen ground but wind blown void of snow! Yuck! Anyway, Jack & Rudy can pull the sled just fine over frozen ground but I have to get off the sled and run with them (my weight on the sled is too much on frozen ground). So, I got quite the workout today running behind my pals!

Approaching the summit of Boreas Pass. What a wind-blown mess!!!!!

Despite very hazardous conditions, the kids still had a blast. Towing a sled over frozen ground is better than summer :)

"Yep, we approve!" says happy Jack.
"Yes we doooooo!" adds always wooing Rudy.

On reaching the summit, I pulled a bag of Zorro's ashes out to sprinkle on the ground. Zorro, of course, had been to the summit many, many times over his long skijoring career. I started sprinkling his ashes and said his name. Upon hearing his name, Jack & Rudy snapped to attention and wanted to know why I was using their beloved mentor's name. They then watched intensely as I sprinkled some ashes.

Zorro!!!!! I have a small bag of some of his ashes coming from my
right hand as Jack & Rudy watch closely.

We'll end today's post reliving Zorro's last trip to the summit of Boreas Pass on October 9, 2018. His first trip to the summit was in the fall of 2010!

October 9th, 2018: Zorro training young Jack to skijor as we reached
the summit (Rudy was too young to make it this far yet :)

Well, it wasn't the prettiest of outings with tons of wind-blown exposed ground and having to use the sled instead of skis; but we FINALLY got the 2022/2023 season started! 5.4 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 14 MPH.

Pray for Snow, we need so much more!!!

Season Opener

 Let the 2021/2022 Skijoring Season begin! Wheeee!

Pausing with Jack & Rudy to celebrate reaching the top of
Boreas Pass on the Continental Divide this morning!

While skijoring is our primary activity in the winter, sometimes we have to use the dog sled instead of skis to get out in early season conditions. Frequently our initial 1-3 outings are on the dog sled as the conditions are not good enough for skis. The sled can glide over frozen ground and bounce among exposed rocks, the skis cannot! 

But, it turns out that this was actually young Jack & Rudy's first time ever hooked to the dog sled. The lucky kids had me on skis every other season opener of their lives (Jack is 4, Rudy is 3). What did Jack & Rudy think of the sled? 

"If it glides on snow, we pull it!" demonstrates the youngsters in 
perfect form on their first ever sled outing.

Most of my footage usually comes from the GoPro on my chest. But, as you see above, when I'm on the sled, a lot of the action is blocked by the sled and my arms and Jack & Rudy are often completely blocked from view. No problem, though, look at what I have mounted on the sled handlebar above - a secondary camera! So, with the sled, I often get better shots from the secondary camera than the primary on my chest:

Nice shot from the secondary camera of Jack & Rudy flying
along near the summit of Boreas Pass.

Today's video highlight goes along with the prior photo and comes from the secondary camera. Come along as we are gliding along the trail near the summit of Boreas Pass. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Today was Jack's 485th "skijor outing" (ok, 484 skijors and 1 dog sled outing :) - well, he kept his record intact, he has rolled at least one snow angel on every single one of the 485 outings. What a silly goof!

"You didn't really think my streak would stop, did you?" says
silly Jack as he rolls his patented snow angels.

Back to the trailhead to meet up with our favorite retired mentor, Zorro. The 13 year old still loves joining us for "end of run treats" after every outing!

"Yum, just as good as I remember!" says treat taking Zorro.
"Me next!" Jack is telling me.
"I see the stash in your hand!!!!" declares Rudy.

A fun dog sled run to the summit of Boreas Pass and back to start the 2021/2022 season: 6.2 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 14 MPH.

Pray for Snow!

Boreas Summit

 Beautiful bluebird morning skijor Boreas Pass at & above treeline!

Cruising the trail above treeline with awesome views on  a
beautiful bluebird morning!

We returned to Boreas Pass once again this morning knowing the trail would still be in excellent condition as it was very cold all day yesterday and we had some light new snow later in the day. While we were still below treeline, we found some elk tracks to energize Jack & Rudy towing me up the pass (as if they need extra energy :)

I thought this shot would be more clear. Oh well, there ARE elk
tracks going up the trail in front of Jack & Rudy. Add a little elk
juice to the skijor engine and it's extra ZOOM :)

How did we know they were elk tracks? Well, eventually the tracks left the trail and we were able to inspect them very closely:

"Yep - elk tracks and they left the trail RIGHT HERE!" declare
the track inspecting hunters 

While the elk tracks were great entertainment, the highlight of the day was reaching the summit of Boreas Pass. This was Rudy's first ever skijor to the top of Boreas! It was only Jack's second as he did it with Zorro 2 years ago before Rudy was old enough to come along. What to do at the top of the pass? Well, frolic around the pass marker. The summit of Boreas Pass is on the Continental Divide; so cool that snow on the left of the sign flows to the Pacific Ocean while snow on the right flows to the Atlantic:

"Yum, the Atlantic snow tastes good!" says snow rolling & eating Rudy.
"Back feet in the Pacific, front feet in the Atlantic!" demonstrates talented Jack.

We turned around from the summit sign to get ready to skijor back down and Jack snapped to attention. I followed his gaze to discover a moose standing in the distant clearing in front of us! He was clear as day to Jack and I (we could even make out the antler basket). Rudy's nose was going as he clearly smelled moose in the vicinity. But, young Rudy's "moose direction" skills still need improvement. Jack is laser focused on the direction of moose as soon as he picks up the scent:

The red arrow shows the moose, or just follow Jack's gaze!
"Where, where? I smell it; but where???" says amateur Rudy.

Rudy eventually followed Jack's lead and saw the moose in the clearing too (I was trying to get my phone out to take a zoomed pic, so my arms were blocking the video). Once Rudy saw him, he let out one of his moose screams and the moose took off into the cover of trees.

Done playing around at the summit and time to head back down. Here we go for a fun "skijor minute" as we begin our descent from the Boreas Pass Summit:

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Finally, back to meet up with Zorro and Nancy to end the outing. You might wonder if Zorro is enjoying his new life in retirement. Well, what do you think:

"Yea, retirement is FUN!" says super happy Zorro.

Done rejoicing with Zorro and time for the 'end of run' treats:

"Ready!!!!" exclaims the super focused trio.

A glorious morning for young Rudy's first trip to the Boreas Pass Summit: 8.7 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 5 days on the trails covering 28.5 miles with 2700 feet of elevation climbed.

Pray for Snow!

Season Opener

We started our 2018/2019 Skijor Season this morning high up on Boreas Pass!

Wheeee - so fun to be back on snow!!!

Nice shot of the good conditions up high. Jack and I are riding in "side powder" while
Zorro jogs along in the tire track.

As you can see from the prior photo, Boreas Pass is still open to vehicles. But, the road is wide and not many venture up high when it snows. This lead to "perfect October conditions" as I could ride the deep snow on the shoulders while Zorro and/or Jack could dip into the packed tracks if they wanted easy speed.

Jack was VERY excited to be back on snow. So frisky....

"Hehe, love snow! Hey bro, want to play?!?!" says silly Jack to Zorro.
"Kid, I'd flatten you!" declares Zorro.

We had to drive partway up Boreas Pass before the snow was good enough to get on skis. The bonus of driving up meant that we could reach the summit before the day got too warm and the snow started getting sticky. Fun brothers at the summit:

"Love making it to the summit! So happy to have a real skjior partner again!" states happy Zorro.
"I see endless, untouched snow this way!" declares happy Jack.

Come along for a short & fun clip as we cruise along high up on Boreas...

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

I was wondering if Jack would remember "what to do" during a skijor break. Yep...

"You are stopped, I am rolling snow angels!" demonstrates funny Jack.
"Tasty snowcones too!" declares Zorro.

A few notes on this fun season opener.

First, you may be asking "where is little Rudy?" Well, take a close look at the conditions in the photos and video. There was just barely enough snow to skijor. Zorro is an expert and Jack has some good training miles under his belt (in good to bad conditions). Rudy, on the other hand, has not been in a skijor hookup yet. It is not safe (for him or ME) for his first hookup to be on sketchy to bad conditions. Don't worry, though, Rudy will be coming along as soon as the snow permits a newbie.

Second, look at how Jack has grown into a real sled dog over the summer. Today was Jack's longest skijor of his young life: 7.2 miles. I see some real distance potential in young Jack once the snow is good!

A fun day to open the season on October 9th with Zorro & Jack: 7.2 miles traveled with 950 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 15 MPH.

Pray for Snow!

Season Opener

We got a large dump of snow overnight and, as a result, we were able to start our 2017/2018 Skijor Season on Boreas Pass this morning!!! Woo Hoo to the "October 2nd start"!!!

Great conditions up high with active snowfall all around us.
Normally you get a stunning view of the Rocky Mountains around us from this high on Boreas.
But, today only gives you a stunning view of snow covered Max & Zorro and incredible
conditions for October 2nd.

We had to drive partway up Boreas Pass to get to cooler temperatures so that the dirt road would be frozen under the snow (the road is open through October if you are brave enough to drive it when it snows :) But, once we got partway up, it was near perfect as we took out the skis and Max & Zorro towed me up Boreas Pass.

Here's a fun little video clip from the morning's outing. Such a great "first outing" of the season while the conditions were good! Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We made it to the summit of Boreas in pretty good time, so we went down the backside a little before turning around to go back up and then down the pass. Clearly I am out of practice in getting the GoPro on my chest aligned properly to capture happy Max & Zorro. But, at least we have Max's happy face in the summit shot:

Happy boys posing at the summit sign while the 'out of practice' human forgets how to get
both Max & Zorro in view :)

What could make an October 2nd skijor even better? How about adding fresh moose tracks to the outing?!?!

"Oh my, these moose tracks smell VERY fresh!" declares track sniffing Max.
"I know, I know, must be nearby - but WHERE?!?!?" asks intense forest scanning Zorro.

Despite active snowfall and cloudy skies, on our final descent, the road eventually started to warm under the snow, letting mud and sticky snow surface. I had to take my skis off 3 times to remove the slush & mud buildup. Well, if the human is going to stop, you know what that means...

"Rub a dub dub, rolling snow angels while we wait for you!" demonstrates silly Max.
"You humans and your inferior equipment!" states 'I want to GO' Zorro.

Here's to hoping an early October 2nd start is a foreshadow to a great snow season!

A fun run up Boreas + a fun frolic around the summit + a fun run down the upper terrain - a slow & sticky finish to the day. Oh well, we'll take that for October 2nd any day: 8.8 miles traveled with 1100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 16 MPH.

Just Enough

Just enough "snow over frozen dirt" to pull the dog sled up & down the upper section of Boreas Pass this morning!

Laying fresh tracks in an inch or so of new snow atop frozen ground.
Just enough to pull the sled!

The second half of October in Colorado found us sweltering in record high temperatures with record low precipitation. In other words, we've been dying waiting for snow to return! We woke this morning to a fresh inch or so at home and all exclaimed, "Snow, snow - we finally have snow! We are going to use if even if it kills us!" :)   The plan: drive up Boreas Pass until the ground was frozen enough under the layer of fresh snow that we could trot pulling the dog sled up & down Boreas. Success!

The day started with low clouds and fog all around us. No problem, that was sheltering the ground from warming in the morning sun...

Laying fresh tracks as we haul the dog sled up Boreas Pass.
Again, "just enough" to trot and glide.

Our goal was to make it to the top of the pass and then head back down. Well, we accomplished the goal - yay!

Exchanging happy talk with my fun partners at the Boreas Pass Landmark. Snow under Max's
back legs flows to the Pacific Ocean whereas snow under his front legs flows to the Atlantic :)
"Snow, snow, I love snow - having a great time!" declares happy little Zorro.
"Down in front - I am having a blast too!" declares ecstatic Max (I could see his smile even
though Zorro is blocking it in this photo)

It may not have been much snow; but after the hot & dry second half of October, we'll take it!

"Aaahhhh, toes on snow - so happy!" declare my gleeful partners looking back at me in approval.

Just enough snow (over frozen dirt) to trot up/down Boreas with the sled: 6.2 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed.

2016/2017 Season to Date: 8 days on the trails covering 53.9 miles with 5000 feet of elevation climbed.

Let's hope this morning is a foreshadow of snow to come in November! October was painful.... Pray for Snow!

Cruising Boreas

Beautiful conditions for a dog sled run high up on Boreas Pass this morning!

Gorgeous morning and incredible packed trail (for Oct 7th) near the summit of Boreas Pass.

We received a nice layer of snow in Breckenridge yesterday morning but then the temperatures started warming before the day ended. As a result, we could not skijor or dog sled on the lower terrain today. But, we got the great idea to drive halfway up Boreas and pray for good conditions starting higher (Boreas Road is open to cars through hunting season and is then closed to vehicles for the rest of winter). Our prayers were answered as we found a mix of snow-packed and ice-packed terrain for the upper half of the pass. Not enough snow for skis but perfect conditions to take out the dog sled for a run up & down the pass....

Same shot as above but zoomed out to show more of the beautiful morning.

Now for the action equivalent of the previous two photos. Here we are having absolutely serene trot & glide atop Boreas. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

A quick break at the summit of Boreas as we exchanged pleasantries before heading back down:

"Having a GREAT morning!" declare my focused partners.
Notice we are at the Continental Divide. Snowmelt under Max & Zorro goes to the Pacific Ocean
whereas snowmelt under me goes to the Atlantic!

Can I say it again? Beautiful day for a sled run on the upper portion of Boreas Pass: 7.2 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed.

2016/2017 Season to Date: 5 days on the trails covering 30.0 miles with 3200 feet of elevation climbed.

Windy Summit

Today's skijor outing can be summarized by 3 highlights:
(1) Our longest single skijor run ever - 15.7 miles! Woo!
(2) One of our windiest sections of trail ever around the Boreas Summit. Brrrr!
(3) An extremely calm and peaceful trail as long as we stayed below tree line. Wheee!

Coming "out of the woods" to connect onto Boreas Pass Rd at Bakers Tank.
Once we got on Boreas, the wind was tolerable gusts until we got above tree line and
it changed to a constant blow with huge gusts.

The photos (and video) of the day display these 3 highlights:

Having a great time cruising the trail to Bakers Tank. We are completely sheltered
from the wind by the trees - little did I know we'd hit some of our strongest winds
to skijor in when we got to the Boreas Summit.
[watch on youtube if now video loads below]

The #1 highlight of the day - our longest single skijor run ever. Almost 16 miles! Fun!

Approaching the Boreas Summit. The "haze" you see along the ground is blowing snow as
the wind was gusting into the 40 mph range! The "exposed road" to the right is not from
lack of snowfall (we've had 2 feet of snow in the last week), but it is an indication of how
windy it has been at the Boreas Summit.

A little closer to the Summit, even more blowing snow all around us.

Taking a glance as the "Boreas Summit" sign before quickly dipping down the other side
of the summit to get out of the intense wind!

On our initial path back down from the Windy Summit. You can still see the haze of
blowing snow all around us. We are skijoring head-on into the wind at this point - see
the Siberians' ears pinned back as they drive into the strong gusts.

All around, what a great day: 15.7 miles, 1600 feet of elevation climbed, a top speed of 17 MPH and some incredibly strong winding blowing around the Boreas Summit.

Breckenridge to Como

At the summit of Boreas Pass - very wind blown terrain.

The plan for the day sounded perfect - sometimes reality sucks! ;-)

We were going to start on the Breckenridge side of Boreas Pass and skijor up to the summit and then down the other side of Boreas Pass to the town of Como. This would be a 15 mile route climbing a total of 1850 feet in elevation - a fun workout for all. Skijoring from Breckenridge to Como - it sounded so perfect...

It even started perfect...

(1) The "up route" was incredible. We ascended up Boreas in about an hour and 20 minutes - 7 miles of "all up" and 1600 feet of elevation climbed. When you factor in the elevation, we were flying! Everyone was in top skijoring form!

It even started perfect on the Como side of Boreas...

(2) The first 2 miles starting down from the Boreas Summit towards Como was awesome. No existing tracks on the trail (except for the occasional fox or snowshoe hare tracks) and we were breaking trail in 8-12 inches of untouched snow for 2 miles. "This is going to be a fun, wild ride down!" I thought. Silly me...

Then disaster set in - the final 6 miles of the route to Como was a wind blown mess!

(3) Over the next 2 miles, I had to take the skis off twice and hike down as the trail had every trace of snow blown off it. We were skijoring for at most 1.5 miles of this section and hiking over exposed terrain for over 1/2 a mile. "Ugh, we want to skijor not hike!" I moaned. Little did I know...

(4) The final 4 miles to Como was horrendous! We skijored at most 2 miles in this section and had the skis off hiking over completely snowless terrain for over 2 miles. To make matters worse, it was not as simple as 2 miles of snow then 2 miles without. Instead, we had what seemed like a million short sections of snow and then short sections of no snow: repeated "on & off" of the skis and repeated hiking interruptions - never a chance to open up the "skijoring vehicle" for some downhill speed! The Como side of Boreas Pass was indeed a wind blown disaster with so much exposed terrain you would have thought it was October or May, not February.

Anyway... We did complete the entire 15 mile route with a nice 1850 feet of elevation climbed (1600 on the initial up and then 250 of occasional upswings on the way down). But, we had the skis off for about an hour of the route to hike over snowless terrain - BOO! Oh well, it was still a fun workout for all even with the extended hiking interruptions.

Vital Stats: 15 miles; 200m total time; 120m skijoring time (60m hiking time; 20m of repeated equipment "on/off" time and route planning time); 16 MPH top speed (we never had an extended down section to open up the throttle); 1850 feet of fun elevation climbed!

It was quite windy with big gusts atop Boreas Pass. Usually we stop and take
a break at the Summit. Too windy today, I just snapped a shot of the "Summit
sign" as we skied on by to get back in the cover of some trees to escape the wind.

We stopped for a quick break about 1 mile down from the Boreas Summit towards
Como. Look at this beautiful, untouched terrain in front of us! Breaking trail in
8-12 inches of snow. Little did I know we only had about 1 more mile of this pure
bliss before disaster terrain set in...

A 180 from the previous shot - looking back at our trail breaking tracks coming
down from the Summit.

At our break point - there is a squirrel in the trees in front of us. You cannot see
the small squirrel in the photo; but the "crouched hunting" posture of Max should
tell you all you need to know about what is in the trees!

Mixed Bag of Situations

On the return approach to the Boreas trailhead.
Happy, smiling, cruising Huskies!

Today's skijor outing had quite the mixed bag of situations to maneuver through. Our plan was to skijor from the Boreas Pass winter trailhead up Boreas Pass Rd to the Boreas Summit and then return the same route - a nice 13-14 mile outing. We had some fresh snow fall last night and Max, Zorro & I were the first to the trailhead today - breaking trail and laying fresh tracks in (mostly) 3-5 inches of untouched powder all the way up to the summit! But, the following 4 "situations" lead to some interesting events on our outing...

1) Situation 1: Exposed terrain
We are still waiting for that Nov/Dec storm to dump 1+ feet of snow (all at once) and pave the backcountry trails for the rest of the season. As a result, we are still skiing "storm to storm" as we get 3-5 inch teasers. Unfortunately, Boreas Pass Rd has a few exposed areas that are subject to high winds. On the way up to the summit, we encountered two long sections that were so wind blown that the snow had been completely removed from the trail (along with 4 more sections with a very light layer over sheets of ice). I had to remove the skis and hike/jog up the trail over these 2 sections. I also had to make a mental note of the "sheet of ice" sections as I'd be re-encountering these on the way down at Siberian down speed!

2) Situation 2: Snow Physics
If the wind has blown to expose or leave less than an inch on parts of the trail - well, where does that snow go? Into snowdrifts, of course. The counterpart to "situation 1" - we encountered about 6 areas of prolonged snowdrifts 8-12 inches in depth (corresponding to the 6 areas of exposed terrain and sheets of ice). Snowdrifts are, of course, extremely fun for us to skijor through; but they do introduce some extra exercise to our 14 mile outing...

3) Situation 3: Extreme Cold
It was 2 degrees outside when we left the heavily wooded trailhead. Now, factor in that we skijored up 1600 feet to terrain above treeline with increasing winds. 2 degrees + 1600 feet up + above treeline + high winds == a windchill of probably 20-30 BELOW zero at the Boreas Summit. As we crested onto the summit, I could feel the bitter cold; so we skijored past the summit and a little ways down the backside until we found a group of trees to huddle next to. This represented our "break point" and I gave Max & Zorro their skijoring hotdog rewards at this point and changed into my warmest gear (oh did those warmer gloves feel GREAT!). We do not have many pictures for today's outing primarily because of the extreme cold - the human needs to take a glove off to get pictures and the hand refused to relinquish its glove.

4) Situation 4: Equipment Issues
So, we are on the way down and I know there will be 2 sections where skis need to be removed (the same 2 sections as the way up). We get to the first section and stop to remove the skis and .... my right boot will not detach from the ski! "You've got to be kidding," I thought, "this cannot be happening!" The skis I was using were my "new" pair that I bought used at the local Nordic Ski Swap a few weeks ago. I knew one of the bindings (the one on my right ski) was in less than perfect shape; but the skis were an incredible deal and useable under initial tests/outings. Well, today was apparently too much and the binding was locked to the boot and would not release. Okay, so my right ski will not come off, the exposed terrain is not skiable - now what? Well, I removed my left ski, raised my right foot, and hopped with Max & Zorro over the bad terrain until I could restart skiing. Add up the 2 sections of "remove skis and hike - er, I mean hop" and I spent about 25 minutes navigating terrain on one leg - ow... These skis will be making a trip to the ski repair shop next week!

Despite all of these challenging situations, it was still a great fun day for the 3 of us. We hit 14 miles as our total distance (longest outing of this 2011/2012 season) and cruised at a very nice pace when both skis were on!

Vital Stats: 14 miles; 190m total time; 129m skijoring time, 15m uphill hiking without skis, 25m downhill hopping on one (now sore) leg, 21m stopped time (our mid-break and ski inspection & cursing ;-) ... 16 MPH top speed and 1600 feet of elevation gain along the outing.

One time I dared take off a glove to take a quick shot.
Not a very interesting shot, but the hand wanted back in its glove!

Second (and last) time I dared to remove a glove and snap some pictures.
A look at the structures at Boreas Summit as we ski by heading for more
cover to hide from the wind and take a break before heading back down.

In The Weeds

2 of the more "interesting" stretches along Boreas
today. See, there is snow along the shoulders in
the weeds. Just enough snow to keep us going
until we got to the better condition up higher!

Oh Yes, We Did Ski This! - that was the motto of the day. Max, Zorro & I decided to test Boreas Pass Rd today for some skijoring fun.

The trailhead did have sufficient/packed snow to give us confidence to go. But, look at the pictures to the left - some of the "sun exposed" lower sections of Boreas were, well, sketchy at best. That won't stop our skijoring team, though, we saw snow in the weeds on the shoulders of the road. So, position the skis in the snow and on we go!

You can divide the path up Boreas Pass into 2 parts: (1) the trailhead to Bakers Tank; (2) Bakers Tank to Boreas Summit. The first section, to Bakers Tank, was on & off between acceptable conditions and "sketchy at best" conditions. But, we were determined to go, so Max, Zorro & I carefully navigated the sketchy patches and joyfully ran the acceptable patches. As we reached Bakers Tank, I knew there was no way we would be able to ski back down this section, so I made a "mental note" of this and onward we continued. The second section (Bakers Tank to the Summit) was very enjoyable - a few icy patches with some exposed rocks but mostly snowpacked terrain. We cruised up this section of Boreas at a nice uphill pace. Arriving at Boreas Summit, we called Nancy to ask her to drive to Bakers Tank to pick us up. Then, regroup and sprint downhill from the Summit to Bakers Tank.

Comical Event of the Day: You may have heard me mention before that one of Zorro's life principles is "none shall pass". Boreas Pass Rd is still open to cars this time of year (it closes to cars in late Nov for the rest of the snow season). Well, as we where skijoring up Boreas, a 4wd truck came up on us from behind. I guided Max & Zorro to the shoulder so the truck could pass. As soon as the truck passed by, Zorro exclaimed "NONE SHALL PASS" and dropped into sprint mode to chase the truck! Hilarious.

The Route: Start at the Boreas winter trailhead and then skijor up Boreas Pass Rd to Boreas Summit (6.7 miles); take a break; skijor back down Boreas Pass Rd from the Summit to Bakers Tank (3.7 miles).

Vital Stats: 10.4 miles (6.7 up/3.7 down); 125m total time, 110m moving time; 1300 feet of elevation gain; 19 mph top speed (and an impressive top uphill speed of 14 mph!)

Starting off from the Boreas winter trailhead. Note the conditions: packed snow
and somewhat icy - but still SNOW! See, we were not crazy to start off on this
route today - even though we had to "ski off the shoulder & in the weeds" to make
progress in some of the very sketchy patches not far from here.

Upper sections of Boreas Pass Rd (well past Bakers Tank). Nice packed conditions,
a Siberian Speedway!

Zorro reading the Continental Divide marker at the Summit of Boreas Pass.

Taking a break at the Boreas Pass Summit. Max choosing the left side of this ice
patch to "continue on". Zorro choosing the right side of this ice patch. The darned
human picked "turnaround and back down" as the path to continue - wimp, Max & Zorro
could have continued further for hours!