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Such a happy pair of young sled dogs at our turnaround point on the trails this morning!

"We are having a GREAT time!" exclaims the happy pair!

Zorro joined us for a "long Zorro run" yesterday, so he got most of today off. I took the youngsters, Jack & Rudy, on a fun tour on the trails around and on Prospect Hill. We started the day on a soft snowmobile trail to open up the throttle:

Airborne kids hovering over the trail as we open up the skijoring engine. Wheeee!

A little further along and the reality that Jack & Rudy are still goofy 2 year olds came to show itself. As we were going along, Jack gave Rudy a little bump with his left shoulder and then threw himself off trail into a snow angel as if saying, "Tag, you're it - come and get me!" Well, you do not have to tag Rudy more than once to get a response from him. He quickly launched himself towards Jack showing he can do rodent dives to play with his brother in addition to hunting for rodents :)

"Come and get me - I dare you!" says goofy Jack to Rudy.
"Incoming, I'm going to tag you too!" demonstrates Rudy in a beautiful "dive into Jack".

Oh those silly kids. I separated the two and put a stop to the game of tag. We then had a team organization meeting to review the concept of skijoring (e.g., it does not involve wrestling :)

The team meeting went well and we were able to restart and explore the mining relics on Prospect Hill. Here is a fun old mining cabin that Jack & Rudy took time to evaluate for us to use as a second home :)

"Roof looks strong & intact!" says roof inspector Jack.
"Walls look strong and the front door is open inviting us in!" adds building inspector Rudy.

We did an "out & back" route this morning, the "back direction" always has pretty views of Breckenridge Ski Resort across the valley:

Jack & Rudy cruising along in a snowmobile track as Breckenridge
Ski Resort is in view across the valley. Nice views!

Eventually we made it back near the trailhead and added Zorro in the team for a short run to the finish as a full team. Ok, Zorro, take us to the finish!

Power Zorro leading the way for the trio to tow me to the end of the day's run.

Finally, as we end every day - some well-earned 'end of run' pork treats!

"All eyes on you!" says the focused trio :)

A fun day cruising around Prospect Hill with Jack & Rudy with a short moment of unapproved trail wrestling and then a fun run to the finish with Zorro: 8.1 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 115 days on the trails covering 779.2 miles with 71,400 feet of elevation climbed.

Frisky

Everyone was a tad bit frisky to be back on snow after two LONG days off :)

"Hehe, want to play 'tag & tackle'?!?" suggest the silly pair to one another.

Unfortunately our 2016/2017 Skijor Season is starting to show signs of ending. We returned to Rabbit Ears Pass this morning which is usually the second to last of our trails to dry up for the season. Compare and contrast the following two photos showing the conditions down low versus up high...

1) Open patch of dirt, mud and puddles down low:

Ugh! Luckily Max & Zorro know to stop at the edge of the snow. The will automatically stop
and wait for me to figure out how to cross (either take the skis off or backtrack a little if there
is snow to our right or left to cross). Smart guys!

2) But still perfect up high:

Zooming along the perfect upper elevation terrain.

Today's short video clip goes along with the prior photo. Watch and see how nice the snow still is up high! Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Bonus moment of the morning's outing: fresh moose tracks!

"Sniff, sniff, moose in the area!" say my moose track inspectors.
Max & Zorro's noses are in a moose track and you can see another moose footprint in
the bottom/center of the photo (between the two ganglines attached to Max & Zorro).

Despite needing to be creative getting in & out of the upper terrain, there was still enough great snow up high to get an 8.4 mile skijor with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2016/2017 Season to Date: 167 days on the trails covering 1390.3 miles with 146,900 feet of elevation climbed.

Giddy

Max & Zorro were absolutely GIDDY to find fresh snow and cool temps at Vail Pass this morning!

So frisky that we could not contain ourselves and had to celebrate the snow with a silly siberian wrestlefest!

"Hehehe, new snow, hehehe!!!!! Let's wrestle!!!!!" say the silly giddy pair stopping on the trail
to get frisky with one another!

It was an absolutely incredible late April morning as we found ourselves laying fresh tracks all day in 2-4 inches of new snow!

We had fun laying fresh tracks going north...

Wheeee! Look at this incredible terrain. 2-4 inches of untouched, fresh snow as far as the
eye can see!

We had fun laying fresh tracks going south...

It really is late April, right? Oh my, how beautiful!

We had fun stopping to roll and thoroughly cover our bodies in the fresh snow! Most of the time Max & Zorro roll snow angels to cool off. But sometimes it is merely to "enjoy the snow" I can tell the difference between a "cool off roll" and a "we love snow roll". Today's was the latter - neither was hot but both were giddy to have new snow!

"Must get the new snow ALL OVER our bodies!" declare the silly snow rollers :)

We simply had fun, fun, fun all day! Come along for a short video clip showing us laying fresh tracks on perfect conditions in late April! Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

A day to get giddy in the fresh snow: 9.1 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2016/2017 Season to Date: 133 days on the trails covering 1114.2 miles with 117,600 feet of elevation climbed.

Friskies

Max & Zorro had a "case of the friskies" on the trails this morning. Silly Siberians :)

"Hey bro - wanna play 'tag & tackle'?!?" says Max & Zorro simultaneously to each other.

Anyone with a Siberian Husky knows what happens after two sibes exchange a look like the one shown in the prior photo.... Tag & Tackle!

"Coming in for the tag!" declares 'coming low' Zorro.
"Back at you with a tackle!" declares 'coming high' Max.

The "friskies" were out between these two most of the morning. Usually this means they are going to break out into a wrestlefest as we are sprinting along the trails. Amazingly, though, I was able to 'catch and correct' all imminent wrestlefests! Watch today's short video clip for an example of what I was seeing all day long... Partway along the fast terrain and I see unapproved glances starting so call out "Forward" to remind everyone what we are supposed to be doing. Then a "Hey, Hey" to keep everyone focused and finally a "Good" compliment once they abandon this attempted wrestlefest. It was all morning long - it's a wonder I didn't lose my voice :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Of course, all sibes are proud of their frisky behaviors...

"What?!? We are having a great frisky day!" say my innocent & happy partners at our turnaround
point of the outing.

Frisky run out & back in French Gulch: 8.4 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2016/2017 Season to Date: 81 days on the trails covering 660.2 miles with 71,400 feet of elevation climbed.