Merry Christmas

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

Merry Christmas!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

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

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

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

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

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Jack & Rudy, the happy little elves, towing me in my Santa hat to the end of this morning's holiday skijor.

The jolly kids always have a smile on their faces when skijoring!

This morning's outing took us back to French Gulch which we skijored yesterday.  Why return to the same trail two days in a row? Well, as expected, French Gulch got plowed after we were done skijoring yesterday. But, there was light snowfall and cold temperatures all day yesterday and last night. This meant we had a nice layer of new snow on the otherwise plowed, but frozen, ground. There was just enough new snow and minimal trail damage due to cold temperatures to open up the throttle again and again...

They flying kids floating over the trail.
Note we are laying fresh tracks in new snow in this shot and you can also
see our "out tracks" to our left.

Enough new snow for flying means enough new snow for hovering :)

The hover huskies catching air.

Now come along for some video fun from the morning. We start this clip with Jack & Rudy towing me up a gentle rise in the trail. Why pull the human up the rise? Well, because the other side of a rise is a downhill run; so let's get the human up quickly so we can sprint the other side!!! Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

As with yesterday (and every trip to French Gulch), eventually Jack & Rudy catch the scent of moose in the area (usually more than once). When the smell is strong, you must pause to peek into the gulch for the big moose!

"We smell moose!" declares the moose seeking kids.
As with yesterday, we did spot a moose in the deep snow across the
gulch but it was too far away to show up on camera.

Back to the trailhead and time of end of run Christmas treats! I somehow misplaced my red Santa hat this past year, so I'm now decked out in my blue Denver Bronco Santa hat.

"We were very good boys today and this ENTIRE year!" says the happy,
fun kids.

The only downside of this morning's outing? Well, it was -11 F outside when we started our skijor and -10 F when we finished (yes, that is "11 below zero"). As a result, I cut the outing shorter than usual to preserve the human in such cold temperatures (Jack & Rudy thought it was lovely out): 5.2 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 44 days on the trails covering 366.4 miles with 34,700 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Jack 5000

Jack & Rudy, the "powerful, miniature reindeer" towing me to the finish in my Santa hat this Christmas morning :)

Santa would certainly accept these two in his reindeer team :)

Today marked a very impressive milestone. 5 year old Jack surpassed 5,000 career skijor miles (5,006.3 miles to be exact). Now, put that in full perspective, he has amassed the majority of these miles since turning 1.5 years old as he was a baby and growing and then doing very short training runs before that. Then, factor in some of those evil summer months without snow and he's put together an impressive 5,006.3 miles in that time! Wow Jack! Impressive!!!!

For the curious, Rudy is roughly 5 months younger than Jack and roughly 175 career miles behind Jack. So, we'll certainly have a "wooing as surpassing 5,000 miles" post for Rudy in January :)

Back to this morning's fun Christmas run. We started the day laying fresh tracks on backcountry trails as Jack & Rudy love to do:

Laying fresh tracks as the ski runs of Breckenridge Ski Resort come into
view across the valley.

We did and "out & back" in the backcountry to start the outing. So, we had a turnaround point on this leg of the outing. As impressive as Jack's 5000 miles is the fact that he has rolled at least 1 snow angel on EVERY skijor outing of his life (and often more than one). It is safe to say that Jack LOVES snow angels. Rudy loves them too, but his snow angel tally is at about 90-95% of his lifetime outings compared to Jack's 100%!

"You expected anything different?" asks goofy Jack looking back to me.
"Ah, digging my snow angel today!" adds soothing Rudy.

After our backcountry out & back, we dropped onto the groomed trails of Gold Run Nordic Center. Much to our surprise and pleasure, we were first tracks on the freshly groomed trails! From backcountry fresh tracks to groomed country first tracks, it doesn't get much better than that!!!

Flying Jack & Rudy - see, Santa would accept these flying Siberians
to join his flying reindeer.

The kids were really into being first tracks on the freshly groomed trail and FLOORING it this morning. Top speed in this skijor clip? 24 MPH. Zoom! I'm actually surprised the GPS did not clock us at 26 MPH (our usual season top speed), it sure felt that fast to me on skis!!! If your volume is up you'll hear some "whees" from me as we go over little lifts in the trail. Each "whee" from me adds more energy and juice to Jack & Rudy! :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We were going so fast, that we redid the groomed trail twice. Second pass same as the first, just swapped in position...

Second pass, switch sides, same results. Zoom!

Jack & Rudy: what an impressive pair of miniature, flying reindeer.

"We had a flying blast!" declares the happy, happy kids.

Fast, fun day: 11.1 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 47 days on the trails covering 396.5 miles with 34,200 feet of elevation climbed.

5 year old Jack's skijor career to date: 5006.3 miles and counting! Go Jack Go!

White Christmas

It was a very merry white Christmas on Baldy Mountain this morning!

Jack & Rudy putting smiles on other festive skiers we encountered
on the trail.

That is quite the festive Christmas photo above. We have: 1 skier wearing a Christmas bulb necklace, another wearing a Christmas hat, Rudy the Red Nosed Siberian, 1 musher (me) wearing a Christmas hat (see the last photo below) and 1 right jolly young elf (Jack, who is about the jolliest guy you'll ever meet :)

With almost 2 feet of snow falling the last 48 hours, it was a right jolly White Christmas on Baldy Mountain this morning. Unfortunately the GoPro Camera I wear was apparently on the naughty list as it kept turning off all outing long.

Anyway, we did three laps in fresh snow around Iowa Mill on Baldy Mountain. The first lap found us carving up the terrain in a ton of fresh snow; yet the naughty camera failed to capture that. But, the naughty camera did capture a bit of our last (of three) laps on Baldy.

Flying along Baldy on our final of 3 laps along this stretch of trail.

With such a naughty camera, the only video highlight I could salvage goes along with the prior photo. Come along for a brief stretch of "operating camera" as we fly along the fast & fun Baldy Mountain Trail. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to enjoy 'end of run' treats in the back of the Jeep with Zorro:

Festive musher in a Christmas hat.
Rudy the Red Nosed Siberian.
Jack the right jolly young elf.
Zorro the right jolly old elf.
What a festive Christmas party :)

So thankful for the recent snow to allow us to skijor Baldy Mountain on this festive Christmas morning: 7.4 miles traveled with 1100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 43 days on the trails covering 338.3 miles with 32,300 feet of elevation climbed.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas

 Jack can get some of the silliest and most comical facial expressions while rolling snow angels:

Goofy look from goofy Jack :)

We started this morning's Christmas skijor on narrow trails winding through the trees:

Zipping along through the forest. Wheeee!

After some winding through the trees, we eventually dropped onto on of our favorite "groom loops" that is part of Gold Run Nordic Center. While a bit blurry (since we are going so fast :), I still love this photo of out-stretched and FLYING Jack & Rudy as they launch me along the trail:

Flying!!!!

Due to some early season issues, the nordic center is not able to get the snowcat groomer out on this section of trail yet. So, instead, they are using a snowmobile towing a "groomer sled" to make passes over the trail and give it some grooming. The only downside of the snowmobile groomer is that it is not heavy enough to flatten out rises or bumps in the trail. The result? Come along for today's video clip and notice the frequent "rises" in the trail that Jack & Rudy launch me up & over (I kept expecting to "catch air" over one of the rises)! There are 10 such rises in this 45 seconds of skijoring. Talk about giving the human's legs a workout!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Now on to our annual Christmas tradition: getting a shot of the "sled dog elves" towing me in my Santa hat to the finish of the day's outing:

Happy kids towing Santa to the finish :)

Finally, let's add in elder Zorro to complete the Christmas tradition:

Merry Christmas!

A "ho, ho, ho" fun time on the trails this morning: 8.7 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 39 days on the trails covering 304.8 miles with 28,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the right jolly old elves (Zorro & me) and the right jolly young elves (Jack & Rudy) on the trail this morning!

"Ho, ho, ho!" says Rudy.
"Wheeee - Merry Christmas!" says Zorro, Jack and myself.
Note the Santa hat I am sporting on my head :)

We got everything we wanted for Christmas on the trails at Gold Run Nordic Center this morning.

We got a synchronized hover husky trio flying along the perfect groomed terrain:

All three airborne as we hover along the trail!

Jack and Rudy got to roll snow angels at every pause on the trail:

"Rub a dub dub!" demonstrates the silly kids.
"Goofballs!' declares onlooking Zorro.

Silly Jack & Rudy got to dig and search for rodents in the snow!

"Dunk!" performs Jack.
"Incoming!" declares Rudy - not his best rodent swan dive; but still a dive :)
"I'm going to check if they really got anything!' adds Zorro.

We got to entertain and put smiles on all the people we encountered on the trails:

"Hi, bye - made you smile!" says the performing trio.

We got to top 23 MPH skijoring the fast terrain. Come along and watch as we are flying along the recently groomed upper trail at Gold Run Nordic Center. This is the second time this week that elder Zorro has topped 23 MPH skijoring this section of trail (23 today and 24.8 a few days ago). He is really getting into the groomie zoomie this season!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We got 'end of run' treats from festively clad dad:

"Merry Christmas - now dish them out!" says the happy & focused trio.

Merry Christmas to all from the three happiest sled dogs around! 6.6 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 50 days on the trails covering 334.9 miles with 32,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Second Tracks

Merry Christmas from me in my Santa Hat and Zorro, Jack & Rudy doing their best reindeer imitation towing me on the trails this morning!

"Merry Christmas!" say the happy trio as we end the morning's fun run.

We decided to skijor Gold Run Nordic Center for a Christmas treat. The trails had been freshly groomed this morning and we were the second tracks on the groomed track. Who was first tracks? A MOOSE!!!!!

Those are two-toed moose tracks to our left going down the groomed trail. Guess the moose
wanted a fast groomed day too!
"Fresh, fresh - let's go!" demonstrates Zorro kicking it up a notch and setting the lead to
go find the moose!

Did we find the moose? No, but we did find EXACTLY where it left the groomed trail to saunter off into the deep snow and trees:

"These tracks are VERY fresh!" declare Jack & Rudy submerging themselves in the moose
track trough.
"I know, I know... Scanning, scanning - where are you?!?!?!" says intense Zorro.

Outside of the fun moose tracks, we were first tracks on the groomie zoomie most of the day.

Wheeee we go as we have flying Zorro in the middle and hovering Jack & Rudy on
each side of him.

A Christmas treat for all: a rare "from the front" video of the whole team (me included :)  Most of our video footage is from the GoPro on my chest to you get the sled dogs from behind. But, every once in a while Nancy is able to capture a fun arrival video of the whole team. Often one (or all) of them slow or veer towards Nancy, but today we get a fun arrival video as we all gallop on by.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Merry Christmas to you and your family from the three happiest sled dogs around:

"Merry Christmas!" declare the happy trio at the end of our day's outing.

A fast & fun "Rudy scale" Christmas run: 3.8 miles traveled with 250 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2018/2019 Season to Date: 24 days on the trails covering 126.3 miles with 11,250 feet of elevation climbed.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Max, Zorro & I on the trails this morning!

Ho, ho, ho from Santa Me and my two little Elves!

A message from Max & Zorro:

And a Merry Christmas to you too sweet Max (and sweet Zorro):

"Fun day dad! Love skijoring on Christmas!" says Max

Oh yea, we did skijor too...

Pretty shot as we cruise by Sally Barber Mine.

A peaceful morning run on the Sally Barber and French Gulch trails covering 8.7 miles with 850 feet of elevation climbed.

2014/2015 Season to Date: 45 days on the trails covering 371.5 miles with 40,150 feet of elevation climbed.

Merry Christmas

"Merry Christmas Everyone!" from my favorite little helpers Max & Zorro!

Musher in his festive Santa Hat while the jolly helpers are very focused on receiving their
"end of run" hotdog treats!

We have officially started a new skijoring tradition: getting out early on Christmas Day and doing an early morning fun run before all the tourists wake up. Last year was our first such "Early Morning Christmas Fun Run" and doing it again this year has now established it as a tradition :-)

"Hey little bro - let's open the throttle and take this human for a real ride!" whispers Max
to Zorro as we crest over our high point of the day at Sally Barber Mine.

"Yeah - let's take him for a 20+ MPH ride!" demonstrate the Siberians.
This is the same section of trail that produced one of our rare oops moments just
2 days ago. This video is how we typically perform on the trails :-)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

A fun, fast & short early morning Christmas sprint up & over Sally Barber Mine with a side extension up & down French Gulch before trotting along French Gulch Rd to the BnB trailhead. 6.5 miles with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.