Lane Change

Fresh powder in the backcountry this morning! Yay for Snow!!!

The fun kids blasting through some nice powder.

Technically, we only got about 1-2 inches of fresh snow overnight. But, it was also VERY windy. As a result, we encountered many deep, wind blown snowdrifts to blast through in the backcountry this morning. Come along for today's video highlight to see what I mean.

I really love the start of this video. Jack starts on the right of the team but then decides he wants to change lanes. Watch as he perfectly backs off, dips under the gangline and then thrusts forward to be back even with Rudy (but on the left side now) - TALENTED!!!! I love watching these occasional lane changes at high speeds from these talented kids! Then, after the lane change, watch as we gallop along while blasting through the occasional wind drift. Talented again - whee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Of course, blasting through wind drifts is quite aerobic and warrants rolling snow angels to cool off when the opportunity arose:

"Aaaaah - rolling to cool the jet!" goes the snow rolling sillies.
I Love the snow Rudy has generated all around his head by dipping it in the
snow before flipping it up. Can't you just see the expression of bliss on
his happy, snow covered face!

Then, after blasting through wind drifts and rolling snow angels, it was time to floor it on the trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. The kids know what to do with a groomed nordic trail - zoom!

Catching air on the groomie zoomie!

It turns out we were FIRST tracks on the freshly groomed trail! It's hard to see that in the prior photo, but we were first tracks. As if often the case, if we are first tracks, then there is a groomer not far ahead of us to chase and catch. Jack & Rudy love catching up with the groomer!

"Caught it, caught it! We caught the groomer!" says the speedy kids.

As I've described and shown many times in the past, the groomer drivers know us from years of skijoring these trails and, eventually, they will pull over and wave us on to pass. But, we have to wait until the trail is wide enough to do so safely. As you see in the prior photo, the trail was exactly "one groomer wide" between trees when we caught the groomer. As a result, we had to slow down and trot behind for a bit before the trees thinned and the groomer paused to wave us on, so the video is pretty boring to watch until we can pass. As usual, as we passed, I gave the driver a wave & smile and he gave an enthusiastic wave & smile back.

While the wind gave us some nice drifts to blast through, it was also still blowing while we were out. Temperatures were near 10 (F) when we started with the wind chill being well below zero, probably approaching -10 (F). As a result, the wimpy human cut today's outing a little short to save himself. But, still a fun time had by all:

The freezing human handing out end of run treats to the perfectly
comfortable Siberian Huskies! :)

A fun albeit temperature shortened skijor: 4 miles traveled with 300 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 50 days on the trails covering 304.4 miles with 32,200 feet of elevation climbed.

Surprise

There was a lot to be excited about on this morning's skijor, right guys?

"Yes! My head is covered in snow and I love it!" declares happy Jack.
"WOO! I LOVE SNOW! WOOOOO!" belts singing Rudy.

The excitement? Well, the forecast last night was "a slight chance of a dusting of snow" overnight. But, the reality was 3-5 inches of fresh powder! We love surprise powder days!

With the surprise new snow, we headed to the backcountry at Dry Gulch to enjoy the powder:

POW - the fun kids blasting through 5 inches (or more) of snow at this
point in the backcountry. Wheeee!

While fresh snow is great for powder blasting, it is also great for rolling snow angels with gusto!

The funny kids launching snow all around themselves as they
roll with vigor!

Then, as we like to do in this location, it was time to floor it on the trails at Gold Run Nordic Center after our aerobic romp through the backcountry powder. The groomer had been out on the trails recently, but there was also a fresh layer of new snow atop the groomie zoomie nordic trail. The kids were having a blast!

The fun kids catching air on the groomie zoomie with cool snow poofs
coming off their feet from the light layer of new snow atop the groom.

Today's video highlight? Well, it HAS to be blasting through the surprise powder. Come along for the fun! Note near the end of the video where I almost wipe out as my ski cut through the fresh snow to hit what was exposed ground just yesterday. But, I'm still standing!!!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

What a surprise! What a treat! Who had fun?

"We had a BLAST!" says the ecstatic kids atop a nice snow wall
to receive end of run treats.

What a fun "surprise powder" day this morning: 4.6 miles traveled with 300 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 49 days on the trails covering 300.4 miles with 31,900 feet of elevation climbed.

Yay Snow

Yay for fresh snow to gallop through in the backcountry this morning!

The fun kids "kicking up powder" as they gallop through the
morning's fresh snow!

Now come along for the video counterpart to the prior photo. It is so much fun to get out in fresh snow on skis with Jack & Rudy. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Our outing this morning started by laying fresh tracks in the backcountry as you saw above. We then continued to lay fresh tracks going out & back on a side trail. Well, any "out & back" means we turned around at some point. So, of course, we had turnaround antics from the comedians:

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes always snow rolling Jack.
"WOOOO! I love fresh snow!" adds singing Rudy.

The nice thing about doing an "out & back" in fresh snow is that you get to make use of your out track to go fast on the way back!

Jack & Rudy making use of our "out track" to pick up the speed on 
the way back. Smart kids!

Then, the reward for all that fun but very aerobic skijoring through fresh snow was to drop onto the newly groomed trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. Jack & Rudy know what to do with a groomie zoomie!

The hover huskies catching air as they floor it on the groomie zoomie trail.

Finally, as we were nearing the end of the outing, we got to flirt with this fun family coming up the trail. Jack & Rudy were as entertained by the dad towing his kid as the family was entertained by seeing Jack & Rudy towing me :)

"Cool dude! We could tow that kid for you!" offers curious Jack & Rudy
as the family looks on in all smiles.

A wonderful "fresh tracks to groomed zooming" this morning, right guys?

"Yes. We had a BLAST!" says the happy & focused kids awaiting
end of run treats atop a snow wall.

Today's tally: 5.8 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 46 days on the trails covering 283.7 miles with 30,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Bluebird

A beautiful bluebird morning to get a postcard photo of Breckenridge Ski Resort across the valley from us!

Beautiful view, beautiful sled dogs, beautiful morning!

While the morning was beautiful, we are starting to see the "end of season" realities. It's been a horrible snow year in Colorado (snowpack less than 50% of normal), so ground that we do not usually see until late April or May is already starting to show in early March. Yikes!!!

We did have a dusting of fresh snow overnight, as you can see by Jack & Rudy's
footprints. But, yikes, look at all that exposed ground to our left that is
typically not visible until late April or May. Yikes!!!

We did our favorite combination route this morning of starting in the Dry Gulch backcountry before dropping onto the trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. If you've been reading along this season, you probably recognize this location with Jack & Rudy rolling snow angels. It's called the Jumbo Overlook (for its views) and it is a natural point to turnaround from Dry Gulch onto Gold Run. Well, since I said "turnaround", you now know why I get so many photos like the following on this route!

"Turnaround! Roll Around!" goes the snow rolling sillies who have NEVER
failed to roll at snow angel (or 2 or 10) at the Jumbo Overlook :)

Once the snow angels were done, it was time to floor it on the fast & wide nordic trails. Whee!

The hover huskies catching air on fast & wide nordic trails!

Now come along for today's video fun as we glide to the finish of the day's outing. If you can take your eyes off Jack & Rudy, notice what a gorgeous bluebird morning it was!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

If you can also take your eyes off Jack, Rudy and the gorgeous morning, you'll notice Nancy on the side of the trail at about 35 seconds into the prior clip. It was a great day for her to get out and try to capture a front shot of us gliding to the finish. Success!

Smiles all around! "Hi Mom!!!!" says the flirtatious kids

Things may wind down sooner than usual this season, so let's enjoy it while we can, right guys?

"Yes! We don't want summer!!!!" says the happy kids giving me their
full attention for end of run treats.

A beautiful morning to get out for short skijor amidst dwindling conditions: 4.6 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 45 days on the trails covering 277.9 miles with 29,900 feet of elevation climbed.

Front

Great "shot from the front" of a happy skijor trio finishing this morning's awesome run!

Whee!

We had a light layer of new snow overnight (1-2 inches). But, any amount of new snow makes narrow side trails safe to skijor with my pals. It's such an experience to be tugged & towed through narrow, tree lined trails!

This is only safe with some amount of new snow to both slow Jack & Rudy
down and give me some braking control with my skis. 
But, we love winding through the trees when we can!

After the narrow, side trail treat, it was onto the more established (thus wider) backcountry trails. Once again, what a perfect layer of light new snow to safely uncork the Jack & Rudy skijoring engine:

Love all the snow flying up around them as we romp through the
fresh snow.

I'll take the prior photo as the lead in to today's video highlight. Come along to watch us laying fresh tracks in a light layer of new snow in the backcountry. Such a fun morning!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Our next leg was to drop onto the trails of Gold Run Nordic Center. But, this transition comes with a turnaround point, so you know what that means!

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes the comical snow rolling kids.

Snow angels completed and now time for the nordic center. No groomer had been out on the trails since yesterday and only a few skiers had been out before us. So, it was a light layer of slightly used fresh snow over a "yesterday groomed" fast trail. Jack & Rudy knew what to do with these nice conditions:

The hover husking flooring it to catch air along the nordic trail. Zoom!

As I said, a very entertaining outing, right guys?

"Yes, we LOVED it all!" says the happy kids patiently awaiting their
end of run treats.

A nice combination of single track, backcountry and nordic trails to yield 6.2 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 43 days on the trails covering 268.6 miles with 29,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Angels with a View

Rolling Snow Angels with a View!

Beautiful postcard shot of the slopes of Breckenridge Ski Resort across the
valley from us as Jack & Rudy roll around in the snow instead of taking
in the stunning views :)

We have not done a lot of side trail or single track skijoring this season as the snow has not been great. But, with some good snowfall the past week, we were able to venture off the main trails and onto one of our favorite single tracks this morning. Fun!

Winding through the trees on a narrow, single track ski trail. You need good
snow to risk skiing through the trees!!!

After the fun side trail, it was back to the main backcountry trail at Dry Gulch. Jack & Rudy love flooring it along this wide albeit unmaintained trail. Whee!

The fun kids kicking up snow as they pack themselves in tight to 
zoom in the backcountry.

The next leg of our outing was on the trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. Jack & Rudy love encountering oncoming skiers to flirt with and fly on by:

"Coming through! Made you smile!" says the fun kids putting a smile
on the face of the oncoming skier as they fly on by.

The kids also love encountering oncoming machinery to flirt with and fly on by. Today was a mini snowcat groomer coming up trail.

"Still coming through! Made you smile too!" says the entertaining kids
putting a smile of the face of the oncoming snowcat driver.

Now let's put it all together for today's video highlight. We start out zipping along, then we encounter and fly on by the oncoming skier, then we encounter and fly on by the oncoming mini snowcat and finally we are clear of traffic and on good snow so the kids FLOOR it and off we goooo! Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Fun day, right guys?

"Oh yes, that was a blast!" says the happy, happy sled dogs.

We sure packed a lot of activity into today's relatively short outing! 4.2 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 42 days on the trails covering 262.4 miles with 28,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Headless

Oops!

Sometimes, "Oops!" is all you can say about unauthorized tag & wrestler
breaking out on the trail between the two comedians.

Prior photo aside, it was a great day of fresh & first tracks out on the trails this morning. Come along for the ride...

First it was laying fresh tracks in a couple of inches of fresh snow in the backcountry:

Wheeee! Love the snow poofs coming off Jack & Rudy's feet as we enjoy
the morning's new snow!

Then it was first tracks on the recently groomed trail at Gold Run Nordic Center!

Such a treat to be first tracks on the groomie zoomie trail.
Jack & Rudy know what to do with a fresh groom! ZOOM!

To add to the fun, it was then stepping off trail to roll snow angels in fresh snow at the Jumbo Overlook:

Some of us take in the views at the overlook - ME!
Some of us take the overlook turnaround as a chance to stop, drop and roll
in the fresh snow - Jack & Rudy!

Today's video highlight will be the flying fun on the groomie zoomie! Come along as we are ZOOMING along this wonderful trail. Then, we come to a hard left in the trail which causes me to crouch into a ski tuck to try and keep pace with the kids around a tight corner. Finally, it's opening it back up to zoom, zoom, zoom!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Did you notice the snowshoer coming up trail in the video as we rounded the corner? Usually I get fun shots of oncoming skier/snowshoers smiling and waving in awe at Jack & Rudy launching me on by. But, today I was in a "23 MPH ski tuck", so we miss the onlooking smiles. It was there, I was just trying to keep pace at fast speeds :)

"Coming through!" goes Jack & Rudy who are swinging to the right to fly
by the oncoming snowshoer. I caught his smile (even though the camera did not)
and he said, "COOL!" as we zipped on by.

I have an excuse for the headless shot above - you try cornering over 20 MPH on skis and see if you don't dip into a tuck too! Nancy, on the other hand, has no excuse for cutting most or all of my head off in today's end of run treat shots :)

At least she got 1/2 my head in this shot - I was headless in most of the
other shots she took!
"You going to babble on or dish out the treats?" asks curious Rudy.
"You have my FULL attention!" adds focused Jack.

Despite how pretty today's photos & video look, it was quite cold this morning with starting temperatures around 5 degrees (F) with a breeze bringing the wind chill below zero. So, the wimpy human (ME) kept the outing short - better to save the human today for more fun on another day! 4.8 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 39 days on the trails covering 245.1 miles with 26,900 feet of elevation climbed.

Catch and Pass the Groomer

Zipping along in the morning's fresh snow in the backcountry. Wheeee!

Having a blast with my hover husky pals.

We started this morning's outing in the backcountry with a light layer of new snow and active snowfall coming down around us. After doing a few backcountry laps, we dropped onto the groomed trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. Despite heavy falling snow by the time we got on the nordic trails, I could see fresh groomer corduroy lines on the trail. This meant the groomer had been here just minutes before us. I looked to my pals and said, "Oh boy, I bet we can play catch & pass the groomer! You guys ready?"

"READY!!!!!" declares happy, snow covered Jack.
"WOOOO!! ME TOOOO!!!!!!" belts wooing Rudy.

So, then it began.... First we flew:

"Where's the groomer? Floor it!" goes Jack & Rudy.
Notice some of the groomer corduroy you can make out in the bottom
center of this photo. The groomer must be near!!!

Then we caught the groomer!

"You cannot outrun us! Whee!" says the fast & fun kids who LOVE
catching a groomer in front of us.

Finally, we passed the groomer!

Coming on through!
Jack likes to pass right by the groomer while Rudy likes to swing a little
further away from the big machine.

We know the groomer drivers from years of skijoring these trails. When they see us come up behind them, they will always slide right or left when the trail is wide enough and stop to let us pass. We swing to the wide side and trot on by. I always smile and wave to the driver who is always smiling and waving back.

So, let's put it all together in today's video highlight: 1) flying... 2) catching... 3) patiently trotting behind... 4) passing... and FINALLY, 5) flooring it again once past the groomer. Wheeee! We love this fun game. Oh, and notice the nice, heavy snow falling throughout this video. Yay for Snow!!!!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Fun day, right guys?

"Yes, we LOVE catch & pass the groomer!" says the happy & focused kids.

Today's tally: 5.2 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 37 days on the trails covering 236.3 miles with 26,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Fresh, First and More

Laying fresh tracks in the backcountry! Wheeee!

About 2" of new snow all to ourselves! Nice!

It was a great morning out on one of our favorite network of trails. Despite being a usually busy Saturday, we were thrilled to find the terrain all to ourselves almost all morning long! We started by laying fresh tracks in the backcountry and shown above and then we finished by being first tracks on the recently groomed trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. It doesn't get much better than this!

First tracks on the recent groom despite being a typically busy Saturday.
Wow!!!

How could we top "fresh tracks to first tracks"? Well, Jack & Rudy can always add more :)

To start with, there was an addition of hopping off trail to wrestle in the deeper snow:

Unauthorized snow wrestling! Silly kids!

Then there was an addition of lunging and diving off trail to search for rodents under the snow. There is ALWAYS time to add rodent hunting to any outing :)

"Lunge, dunk, where are those pesky rodents?" asks searching Jack.
"I'll find them! INCOMING!!!!" adds beautiful rodent diving Rudy.

But, aside from one episode of unauthorized wrestling and one hilarious search for rodents, it was a wonderful morning to go, go, go! Come along for a glimpse into the skijoring fun for yourselves:

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Fresh tracks, first tracks, wrestling and rodent hunting - which was your favorite guys?

"ALL OF IT!!!!!" says the happy kids proudly awaiting end of run treats
atop a snow all.

A nice and peaceful fresh tracks to first tracks outing: 5.4 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 36 days on the trails covering 231.1 miles with 25,500 feet of elevation climbed.