Packed and Powder

Coming by - made you smile!

Our usual interaction with other skiers on Baldy Mountain:
Jack & Rudy flying on by as the skiers step aside to smile and watch
the cool sled dogs cruise on by!

We had a really fun "packed and powder" skijor on Baldy Mountain this morning. We spent the majority of the time on the main Baldy Mountain Trail which had a nice packed track just wide enough for Jack & Rudy to fit side by side:

Zooming along the packed & fast main trail.

If you look closely above, you can see that the snow outside of the packed track was quite fresh and deep. How deep? Well, we went "off trail" a handful of times to veer away from the main trail before returning to it. The side trails were DEEP and untouched - see for yourself:

Jack & Rudy breaking trail as they bust through 2+ feet of untouched powder!

Now come along for a fun video clip putting it all together. The clip starts with us on one of the side trails as we are making our own path through the deep snow. Then, we intersect with the historic Iowa Mill. The mill is a popular "meet & congregate" point on Baldy, so you see lots of random tracks going every which way that Jack & Rudy pick their way through. Finally, we cut around the mill and onto the fast packed main trail and off we goooooo! Wheeee! Powder to Packed fun.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Of course, all that work in the deep side trails means you need to roll & cool off at any break along the way :)

The "stop, drop & roll" goofballs doing their thing!

Back to the trailhead to meet up with retired Zorro and let him know Jack & Rudy were in goofy moods all day long :)

"I'm right here!" declares wonderfully focused Zorro.
"We are playing king of the mountain!" says Rudy.
"I'm king... No, wait, end of run treats? I'm ready!" adds silly Jack.

A beautiful morning to do a couple of laps on Baldy Mountain with the occasional POW powder side trail added in for fun: 8.2 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 56 days on the trails covering 446.1 miles with 42,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Long Jump

They are at it again, aren't they Zorro? :)

"Yes, and I want it on record that, despite being the veteran, I did NOT teach this!"
adds happy Zorro looking back to me while the kids do their usual
snow angel antics at our turnaround point.
"I introduced it to EVERY skijor and I taught it to Rudy!!!!" says comical, goofball Jack.
"Rolling, rolling, don't care whose idea it was! Rolling!" contributes snow rolling Rudy.

Surprisingly for April, we have not had a "spring crust" skijor in almost 2 weeks! That is usually unheard of for this time of year as the crust usually has the best conditions. Why no crust skijoring for almost 2 weeks? Well, it has snowed (a little to a lot) every day for almost 2 weeks straight! Yesterday was the first real let up from the recent snow and, as a result, the warm days/cold nights brought the crust back to life. We'll happily trade 2 weeks of crust for 2 weeks of fresh snow to add to our snowpack to propel us through May and into June!!!

Come along as we are back to skijoring the spring crust on this beautiful April morning. A few fun things to watch in the video. Note the frozen snowmobile track crossing perpendicular to us about 7 seconds into the clip. Zorro & Jack both want nothing to do with this frozen track and watch as they both execute a beautiful long jump over the track (Rudy does a mini long jump too, but he's not as averse to the frozen track as Zorro & Jack). Then, watch as the kids politely look back to see that I have crossed the track safely (veteran Zorro can feel I'm over the track, but the kids need to peek :)  Finally, look at the deep ski tracks we are running between and to the side of. Some poor people forgot to go out early enough to ski the crust and had to slog along breaking through. But, not us, we were smart enough to be up early this morning to get the perfect crust!!!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

In realtime, I thought I was going to get an incredible shot of a synchronized long jump from Zorro and Jack. But, once I check in slomo, it turns out they were just barely out of sync. Darn...

Here we have Jack in a beautiful long jump over the snowmobile track as Zorro is just beginning to start his long jump:

Flying Jack!!!

Then, milliseconds later, and Jack landing his long jump as Zorro is taking flight. A few milliseconds from a synchronized long jump...

Flying Zorro - go, Z, go!!!!!

After doing a crust skijor around and through the vast meadow you see above, it was time to drop off Zorro with Nancy while the kids and I went out for a bit more exercise.

"Done with my leg - that sure was fun!" says happy Zorro.
"Thanks for leading us big  bro Z, but us kids need a little more!' adds the happy
and ready to continue kids :)

The kids, Jack & Rudy, and I proceeded to go out & up Prospect Hill, then down the backside of Prospect Hill before turning around coming back up the backside and down the frontside.

There's not much to see (except fun white butts in front of me) on the initial up. But, once we got to the backside of Prospect Hill, the view and vast terrain is breathtaking:

Wide angle shot to showcase the vast and virtually untouched backside
of Prospect Hill!

Once we returned to the frontside of Prospect Hill, you get great views that were behind us on the way up. Such a pretty shot of the mountains and ski runs of Breckenridge Ski Resort across the valley from us:

Jack & Rudy hovering over the solid spring crust as we take in
the stunning views of the ski resort!

Done giving the kids a some extra exercise and back to enjoy the end of the outing with Zorro:

"Ready for 'end of run' treats!" says focused Zorro.
"Me too!" claims barely visible (but very focused) Jack.
"You can't miss me!" adds big dude Rudy :)

Back to the Spring Crust this morning as we did "meadow tours" with Zorro, Jack & Rudy and the Prospect Hill tours with Jack & Rudy: 6.9 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 153 days on the trails covering 1046.0 miles with 95,200 feet of elevation climbed.

Goofballs

Max & Zorro got a "case of the goofball puppies" on this morning's skijor outing :)

Okay... Let us review...

(1) Proper Skijor Form:

Flying (literally) in a 21 MPH sprint along the trail - wheeee!

(2) Improper skijor form:

"I'm faster than you! Ha ha!" says silly Max.
"Are not, ARE NOT!" exclaims silly Zorro.
Hard to skijor with such unapproved conversations going on! :)

Here's video footage of Max & Zorro engaging in "improper skijoring behavior". We are flying along the fast trail when I start to see a "goofball wrestle fest" starting to unfold (and Max & Zorro start exchanging "that look"). I start calling out "ah ah" to correct the situation (which usually works); but it takes many corrections before I am (barely) able to right the skijor ship and get my nuts going forward again. What goofballs...

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

What does Max think of his behavior?

"What 'improper activities'? I'm having a GREAT day!" says my goofy lead dog.

I had a morning meeting, so we only had time for a quick skijor. I guess knowing I was cutting the outing short is what brought out the goofiness in my partners: 6.2 miles with 500 feet of elevation and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2016/2017 Season to Date: 23 days on the trails covering 167.3 miles with 16550 feet of elevation climbed.

Ruppy

Goofball Max decided to take over today's skijor outing :)

Great shot of "proper skijoring" along the spring crust in an open meadow.
A rare shot for the day :)

Max woke up this morning in a goofy mood. From the time we got up, he was bouncing off the walls acting like a silly puppy. I was joking (I thought) when I said, "Sure hope this behavior does not carry over onto the trails!" Well...

Ruppy [defn]: A red colored Siberian Husky who loses control and gets a case of the "puppy brains".

Ask yourself if this looks like proper skijoring form...

"Hehe, hey little bro - I'm feeling FRISKY!" declares ruppy Max dorking with Zorro as Zorro
and I try to skijor this morning.

Now, why would someone decide to hurdle his brother while skijoring? Must be a ruppy...

"Wheeeee - I can fly!" exclaims silly Max suddenly deciding to hurdle Zorro as we were skijoring.
You can see my skis cutting into a snowplow to try and stop while the hurdling ruppy loses it again!

Here is Max the Ruppy in video action. Listen as I am calling out repeatedly to try and correct the "broken red rudder" until we finally turn a corner and "right the ship" into a real skijoring team again! Now, it may look like Zorro is participating; but, believe me, I was there, Max was starting it all day long. Poor, innocent Zorro is just trying to deal with the big ruppy pest :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We used to call today's behavior a visit from Planet Z as it was so common our first year skijoring when Zorro was a 1 year old puppy brain. Today the 9 year old Ruppy Max paid a visit to Planet Z before bringing a case of the puppies to the trails.

"Who me?" asks innocent acting Max.
"So tough being the 'face of reason and composure' in this pack!" declares Zorro.
If you know Zorro, you laughed as hard reading that last comment as I did writing it :)

I guess there could be worse things than having your 9 year old act like a 9 month old all morning long... 8.3 miles traveled (yes, we did shed the ruppy occasionally :) with 950 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2015/2016 Season to Date: 127 days on the trails covering 1068.9 miles with 117,850 feet of elevation climbed.

Trail Talk

A bit of "unapproved trail talk" on the outing this morning :)

Beautiful "synchronized sprint tuck" as we fly along the main Baldy Mountain Trail.
Very approved...

What do I mean by "unapproved trail talk"? Well, let's take a look.

Unapproved...

Kissing your brother at 20 MPH might seem impressive. But it is still unapproved trail behavior :)

Approved...

Synchronized, airborne Siberians - very approved!

Unapproved...

While having a conversation at 20 MPH may seem impressive, it is still unapproved trail talk!

Get the idea? If not, watch it in video below as the first 25 seconds or so are dominated by "unapproved trail talk" that I keep calling out to correct before we finally settle into a proper synchronized skijoring sprint!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

A mostly perfect day on the trails with one extended section of unapproved trail talk: 8.6 miles covered with 950 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2015/2016 Season to Date: 36 days on the trails covering 300.2 miles with 31200 feet of elevation climbed.

Goofballs

Nice shot from the front as we arrive at the trailhead after a day of puppiness on the trails :)

"We had a great outing - do not believe what the human is going to say!"
express the happy pair finishing the day in perfect form and all smiles.

It does not happen often, but it does... A few times a season my usually perfect skijor partners lose it on the trail and think "skijoring" means "wrestling"... What goes through the Siberian Mind when both decide that today is wrestle day instead of skijor day? It is so hard to concentrate on giving correction and not falling over in laughter (and, thus, completely encouraging the unapproved behavior)!

Today's quick video clip shows what happens when two Siberians decide that today is wrestle day on the trails. Once I see it starting I call out "Hey!" a few times as this usually snaps everyone out of their goofy train of thought and back into skijoring train of thought. Today's HEYs do nothing and I resort to calling out "Max!" hoping my usually dependable lead dog will right the ship (it is not that Max is the only instigator; it is just that he is the more reliable un-instigator). Well, the MAXs fail and all puppiness breaks out on the trail as I resort to reeling in the wild animals by the gangline before getting everything back in order and starting again. Goofballs!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Okay, well that video clip was a disaster :)   Let's review everybody...

Proper skijor behavior:

Perfectly synchronized & sprinting skijor form - aahhh!!!!

Improper skijor behavior:

Uh, Max, how are we supposed to make forward progress with you running sideways and
dorking with your brother? IMPROPER...

Uh, Zorro, how are we supposed to make forward progress with you hanging off your
brother's neck? IMPROPER...

Review over, everybody got it?

"Uh yeah, tackle your brother. Hee hee!" says giddy Max not fully accepting my review.

"Uh, can we go over that again? I was chewing on my brother and think I missed some
of the review!" states silly little Zorro.

So much for the review... An interesting day running up & down Boreas Pass with multiple improper skijor maneuvers and, apparently, multiple misunderstood reviews of proper behavior. Goofballs!

8.8 silly miles with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH (we did have some nice stretches of proper behavior :)

2014/2015 Season to Date: 102 days on the trails covering 883.0 miles with 93,800 feet of elevation climbed.