Dive

Skijoring an uplowed road in this season's first super snowstorm.Yay for snow!!!

Cruising along the unplowed Sallie Barber Mine Road on the way to the
trailhead of the Sallie Barber Mine Trail. We love to get out before the plows
and enjoy some road skijoring :)

Now come along for the video counterpart to the prior photo. We start the clip with Jack & Rudy calmly awaiting my release command. Then, once I say, "OK", off we go! Whee! Again, the video is a bit bouncy as I'm still using my old, cheapo video camera since my gopro died. But, a new camera with video stabilization has arrived; so our videos should start looking smooth again once I get that camera setup!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

As I mentioned, we started today's outing on the road leading to the Sallie Barber Mine Trail. Once we got on the trail and started climbing in elevation, the snow got deeper and deeper. So fun:

Breaking trail at higher elevation in about 8-10 inches of powder!

Along the way, we got our first rodent dive of the season from Rudy. He does the most beautiful, high arching, fox-like rodent dives to search for rodents off trail under the snow.

First rodent dive of the season from Rudy - incoming!!!

As I've mentioned in past seasons, Jack does low angle "rodent lunges" as opposed to Rudy's high arching dives. Which is more effective, a lunge or a dive, well judge for yourself:

Looks like a lunge is just as effective as a dive to dunk deep in the off trail
snow searching for rodents :)

Neither came up with a rodent in his mouth, but it was NOT from lack of trying! Ok, rodent interlude over, time to continue skijoring. How about breaking trail to cruise on by the historic Sallie Barber Mine?

Whee - what a fun powder day!!!

Back to the main trailhead parking lot for end of run treats to finish the outing and this trailhead (versus the one we started from) has been plowed so had snow walls to climb for end of run treats!

"Ready!" says the happy kids atop a snow wall to receive their treats.

What fun powder skijor day at the Sallie Barber Mine: 5.1 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 17 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 7 days on the trails covering 36.9 miles with 4200 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Surprise Joy Ride

Everyone was thrilled at this morning's surprise joy ride out on Prospect Hill!

"We are having a GREAT time!" declares the happy pair looking back at
me during a quick pause.

"Surprise joy ride?" you ask. Well, yes. We set out to skijor the backcountry on Prospect Hill this morning. This network of trails is historically unmaintained backcountry terrain all winter long used by both skiers and snowmobiles. But, today was quite the surprise. A groomer had recently run up the main Prospect Hill Trail and down the backside of the hill for a little ways before turning around. Look at this beautiful trail:

A recent groom on Prospect Hill! We've never encountered this before!!!!
As you see, Jack & Rudy know what to do with a groom - ZOOM!

So, what we thought was going to be a highly technical skijor on backcountry trails instead turned into a groomed joy ride; thus the Surprise Joy Ride! 

On the backside of the hill, where the groomer turned around, we were able to leave the set trail for a short distance and romp through some nice powder before reconnecting with the groomer track:

Some nice powder as we cut a diagonal between the groomer trail for
a short distance.

But, we spent most of the day on the surprise groomed trail. We actually did the Prospect Hill route twice we were having so much fun on the surprise groom: out & back once and then out & back again. Along the way we get some nice views of Breckenridge Ski Resort across the valley from us:

Jack & Rudy zipping along as the ski runs of Breckenridge Ski Resort
come into view across the valley.

As I said earlier, Jack & Rudy know what to do with a groomed trail - zoom! Come along and watch the fun. The nice views of the ski runs of Breckenridge Ski Resort come into view across the valley from us after the first left in the video. Finally, watch the end as I have to navigate a sharp hairpin right on pretty beat up snow while Jack & Rudy slow automatically to let me navigate the hard right before opening up the throttle again. I don't have to say anything, they magically know to slow so I can navigate this on skis. Perfect partners!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Since we did the out & back route twice, we had numerous turnaround points to add some comedy to the outing. Jack & Rudy always deliver on the comedy :)

Some (i.e., me) take in the nice views at a turnaround point.
Some (i.e., Jack & Rudy) dig & dunk their heads into the snow looking for
rodents at a turnaround point.

What a surprise joy ride, right guys?

"Oh that was FUN!" declares the very happy and satisfied kids
awaiting end of run treats atop a nice snow wall.

Stats for today's surprise joy ride: 9.2 miles traveled with 1200 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2023/2204 Season to Date: 116 days on the trails covering 996.1 miles with 97,600 feet of elevation climbed.

  

Nice Up High

Cool action shot of Missile Jack and Cannonball Rudy!

The flying Siberians with cool snow poofs coming off Jack who is on the
softer, less packed edge of the groomed trail.

The groomer last ran Saturday morning on the trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center. After a busy weekend day yesterday, I was wondering what conditions we'd find on Sunday morning. To be expected, the trails were very tracked up and slick near the trailhead. So, I directed Jack & Rudy towards the steepest climb at the nordic center to take us up, up and away from the slick terrain. The result? Success! The trail far and high away from the trailhead had very little prior use and plenty of corduroy to let me safely let Jack & Rudy uncork the skijoring engine!

Ah, perfect - enough corduroy to safely floor it!!!

We had so much fun up high, that we redid this stretch of trail twice. Steep climb, turnaround and fly - repeat :) Second pass same as the first pass:

Catching air again on the nice conditions up high.

Come along for the video counterpart to the prior photo. Just enough corduroy on the trail far, far away from the trailhead to safely open up the skijor engine with Jack & Rudy. Not many mere humans make it this far on their own power, phew! So fun to have Jack & Rudy tow me out to where few go so we can really open it up :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

But, all good things come to an end and eventually we had to go back to the trailhead and the super slick conditions near there. My legs were burning on the slick terrain trying to keep the skis under control at Jack & Rudy speeds. I had to stop twice to simply let the burning subside before restarting. Well, we all know Jack & Rudy use any stoppage on the trail as a chance for a comical interlude. Today was hopping off trail to dig & dunk for pesky rodents under the snow :)

"You stopped, we dig & dunk for rodents off trail!" demonstrates the silly kids.

The comedians also love to play "king of the mountain" for end of run treats if there are high snow walls for them to climb!

"We'll take our treats up here!" declares the silly mountain climbers.

Beautiful up high, super slick down low; so we spent most of the outing up high: 10.4 miles traveled with 1200 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 85 days on the trails covering 743.1 miles with 68,350 feet of elevation climbed.

 

New Year

New year, same antics at a break on the trail :)

I paused briefly at the Hallelujah Warming Hut to check our time out
on the trails. Well, I paused... "Stop, Drop & ROLL!" demonstrates my
goofball partners.

New year, same results on fresh, untouched snow on great trails :)

Zoom! Laying fresh tracks in about an inch of fresh snow.
Nice views to our right too!

New year, same kids distracted by rodents under the snow :)

Uh, guys, look at that beautiful, untouched trail in front of us!
"Rodents... Busy... Be with you in a second!" reply my hunters
searching for rodents that clearly caught their attention under the snow.

We spent the morning cruising around the upper elevation trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center. As you see in the photo above, we were first on the trail with 1-2 inches of fresh snow. We did not see another soul the first 75% of our outing. The only tracks we came across were our own when redoing sections of trail! It wasn't until we got back near the trailhead that we encountered any tracks other than our own all morning long! Fun!

Riding along the track we set on the way out on this trail.
Oh, that is Peak 6 of Breckenridge Ski Resort in the foreground.

Come along for some video fun. Ride behind Jack & Rudy as they tow me along this high elevation trail near treeline. As I mentioned before, the tracks you see in the snow are our own "out tracks" on this same trail. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

New year, same happy kids sharing 'end of run' treats with me at the trailhead!

Such happy, fun partners!
Another nice mountain view in the background if you can take your
eyes of handsome Jack & Rudy :)

A fresh tracks morning at Breckenridge Nordic Center: 9.7 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 53 days on the trails covering 450.8 miles with 40,300 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Ears

Happy, happy kids at the end of this morning's 10+ mile skijor!!!

"We had SO much fun!" declares the happy kids.

Part of today's skijor outing was spent frolicking around the ears for which Rabbit Ears Pass gets its name. There is a peak at the pass, Rabbit Ears Peak, and the two rocks atop the peak are referred to as the "rabbit ears"; thus the ears of Rabbit Ears Pass.

We started out a bit of a distance from the peak:

Upper left in this photo are the rock ears atop Rabbit Ears Peak.
Beautiful groomed trail too! Zoom.

A little further along and the ears are closer....

Better view of the two rock ears in the upper left here.
Oh, zooming again for Jack & Rudy :)

A little further along and even closer...

Straight up from Jack's head are the rock ears.
Did I mention "zoom" from Jack & Rudy on the perfect trail?

I kept saying the phrase "rabbit ears" as we were skijoring around the peak. Eventually Jack & Rudy decided there must be a rabbit under the snow for me to keep saying that word so often...

"Dunk! Hel-loooo? Any rabbits under here?!?" says the silly kids
probing for rabbits under the snow.

It was a BEAUTIFUL morning for a 10+ mile skijor on great trail conditions. Come along for this glimpse into the fun. If you can take your eyes off impressive running Jack & Rudy, you'll see Rabbit Ears Peak (and, thus, the ears) coming in & out of view multiple times in this video clip.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Fun day playing with the rabbit ears: 10.2 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 43 days on the trails covering 362.2 miles with 31,250 feet of elevation climbed. 

Dive, Dig, Dunk

Jack & Rudy were in rare comical form on the trails yesterday morning!

Both silly kids dunking their head in the hole in the snow they dug
searching for rodents!

It did not help that we had tons of "wildlife distractions" to egg on the two silly kids. They do not need extra motivation to be goofy, but had PLENTY of it out on the Harrison Creek Trail yesterday!

Come along for today's comedy show. Notice my parallel, on trail, skis as the video clip starts. We were trotting along nicely until this comedy act broke out. Watch as both Jack & Rudy are simultaneously distracted off trail by rodents under the snow. Then watch as the goofballs proceed to dig & dunk in the snow in their quest for rodents. Silly kids....

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

As I said, the number of wildlife distractions on the trail only egged these two on :)

Both goofs drifted off trail again to stand in moose tracks as they
scan the trees for the moose.

A little further along and those pesky rodents were clearly very busy and loud under the snow yesterday morning...

"Digging!!!!" demonstrates silly Jack.
"INCOMING!" contributes Rudy with a beautiful rodent swan dive.

Even when I got them on trail to skijor, it was still distractions everywhere. Notice anything unusual in the following photo?

Next to my right ski - those are frozen elk footprints in the trail.
Notice the elk prints go down the center of the trail.
Jack & Rudy certainly noticed :)

Ok, we really did skijor more than hunt. Here's one beautiful stretch of distraction free trail:

Whee! Skijoring! :)

Of course, Jack & Rudy are quite proud of their behavior and antics. It's rare that BOTH are in super comical moods on the same outing...

"Hey, we heard you laughing! You loved it!" proclaims the proud goofballs.

7.2 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed, a top speed of 20 MPH and many, many comical wildlife distractions.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 12 days on the trails covering 81.3 miles with 6750 feet of elevation climbed.

Dunk

Our first "spring crust" skijor of 2022. Wheeee!

Using the crust to "make our own path" up, down and around
Walton Peak at Rabbit Ears Pass.

The arrival of the spring crust is always an exciting event. With hot days and cold nights, the endless "off trail" snow gets soft in the afternoon to then refreeze into a firm crust every night. So much fun to use the crust to make our own path and go every which way for miles and miles.

While the arrival of the crust was exciting for all three of us, Jack & Rudy had a second major event for the outing: rodents moving under the snow!!! Spring also means the rodents are starting to stir and move around more than in the dead of winter. At one point, Jack & Rudy drifted off trail after smelling/hearing rodents they were determined to find them under the snow!

"I smell them RIGHT here!" says inspector Rudy.
"No, no, we have to dive & dig!" declares rodent searching Jack.

Rudy was quick to follow Jack's lead as the rodents must have been deep under the snow :)

"Gotcha! Dive & dig!" says Rudy backing up for a rodent dive/dig
into the snow.

Once through the crust and into the snow, it's time so search for those rodents in your holes!

"Where are they? WHERE are they?!?!?!" says the dunk brothers.

Nobody came up with a rodent; but it was still a very fun exercise to dunk, dig and search :)

With the search for rodents over, it was back to skijoring the spring crust. Wheeee!

The hover huskies "doing their thing" atop the wonderful spring crust.

Technically, the crust was still a bit soft in areas. Whenever that happened, we would slow and/or maneuver around it. But, when it was solid, all three of us "got it" and off we went. Come along for a short glimpse into skijoring the spring crust. We can hardly wait for it to firm up a bit more for endless crust exploring!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Finally, everybody in tight for 'end of run' treats including our favorite retired mentor, Zorro:

"We are all READY!" declares the up close fun trio.

Our first crust skijor of the year with a little rodent hunting mixed in for extra entertainment: 9.4 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 122 days on the trails covering 1033.9 miles with 97,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Dunk

Happy kids on this morning's wonderful skijor!

"Having a blast!!!!" declares the happy, happy pair :)

We spent the morning touring the upper elevation trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center. We've had on & off snow for the past 3 days, so were thrilled to find a fresh layer of new snow over the wide nordic trails to safely uncork the Jack & Rudy skijoring engine. Wheeee!

Pedal to the metal for Jack & Rudy. What a wonderful trail with a light
layer of untouched new snow as far as the eye can see!

Cornering with these two impressive kids is always a challenge for me! Jack & Rudy can take corners very tight and fast. I, on the other hand, really have to ride the skis hard to try and corner with them. Cross country skis are not designed for tight corners like Jack & Rudy :) I often find myself drifting out left or right behind them as I try to keep pace through corners!

Jack & Rudy far right as we are coming out of a tight right on the trail while
I am drifting far, far left despite riding the skis as hard as I can to keep with them!

As we were cruising along the trail, Jack & Rudy suddenly hopped off trail and started to "dig to China" in the snow. What were they searching for? Well, knowing these two, it was one of three things deep in the snow: an animal (small rodent), an animal part (deer/elk/moose carcass or limbs) or some food a person had accidentally dropped long ago and was now buried. I was shocked when they came up for air and had nothing in their mouths! So, must have been a live rodent deep down that scurried away :)

Where's Rudy's front half? He's digging DEEP!
Jack is joining in too (although not as deep as Rudy yet!).

That's an impressive dunk for neither of them to come up with anything in their mouths!

Ok, back to skijoring. This peaceful video clip is fun for me to watch because we usually do this particular trail in the other direction than we are going today. But, Jack & Rudy are quite flexible, they can flip directions and go any direction on any trail.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

What a peaceful outing as we did not run into another soul all morning long! Time to celebrate with retired mentor Zorro:

"Ready!" says wonderfully focused Zorro.
"Great day!" adds happy Jack.
"Serve them up!" declares slurping Rudy ready for 'end of run' treats.

Peaceful morning with Jack & Rudy surprisingly coming up empty on a deep dunk in the side snow: 10.7 miles traveled with 1200 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 95 days on the trails covering 792.7 miles with 75,200 feet of elevation climbed.

Content

 There is nothing quite as content as a Siberian Husky or two covered in snow :)

"Ahhh, covered in snow!" says the content pair.

Why are they so covered in snow? Well, they just did a pair of rodent dives and dunks into the deep snow off the side of the trail:

Dunking for rodents as we get buried and covered in snow :)

Besides dunking and diving for rodents, we did do some wonderful skijoring today!

Come along for a fun ride as the GPS registered our top speed at 23 MPH as we laid fresh tracks in the morning's new snow on Gold Run Road. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Some more fun photos of the fast kids. Zooming along the wide "main trail":

Flying Jack next to sprint tucked Rudy.

Note the short fence we are approaching on our right in the photo above. There is a trail on both sides of this fence and it serves to keep the two paths separated at their closest point. Do you see the trail to the right of the fence? Well, how about now:

Flying along on the lower trail now as we approach the same short fence.

Pretty cool to see why this short fence exists as a trail separator when you look at Jack & Rudy flying by on each side.

Back to the trailhead and we have the most focused 'end or run' treat threesome I have ever seen!

So focused, but so patient too! Good boys!

Great day laying fresh tracks on and around Gold Run Road: 7.4 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2020-2021 Season to Date: 50 days on the trails covering 391.3 miles with 34,700 feet of elevation climbed.

Blizzard Skijor

Skijoring Baldy Mountain this morning amidst heavy falling to blizzard scale snowfall!

Start of the day's outing and you can see the heavy falling snow against
the backdrop of trees in front of us.

Is that a house in the prior photo? Well, not exactly - it is the shell of an old, abandoned mining cabin from the 1800s or early 1900s. Baldy Mountain has tons of these old, abandoned mining structures in various states of stability or decay.

As I said in the introduction, the snow was DUMPING all outing long. We had the occasional stretches of blizzard scale whiteouts!!!!

You can barely see Jack & Rudy 6 feet in front of me and you certainly
cannot make out the trail in front of us! Blizzard!

Our outing had us laying fresh tracks to breaking trail up steep Baldy Mountain. We decided to do a short run given the conditions. Time to turn around, everyone having a good time? Love snow covered Rudy in this shot (Jack had just shook the same amount of snow off his body too). Love the happy faces on the fun kids.

"You bet - but WE could keep going!" says the happy pair.

What does skijoring amidst heavy snowfall look like? Well, come along and watch. The tracks you see are the tracks we laid on the way up. As you can see, nobody else was out on the trail this morning. With just one set of "up tracks" and heavy falling snow, you see Jack & Rudy really bouncing and plowing through the powder. Impressive kids! Oh yeah, look at that snowfall dumping around us!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Ok, now watch the video again and pause it at around 27-28 seconds in. I said the tracks you see were our "out tracks", but what is the huge mess in the snow to our right at 27-28 seconds? Well, it was the rodent hunters silly antics on the way up, as you see below:

Hopping off trail momentarily to dunk and search for rodents.
Rudy is thoroughly immersed in his rodent hunt.
Jack is coming up for air after a deep dunk of his own :)

Now, here is what was amazing about this morning. In the video you see our "out tracks" as the video clip was immediately after our turnaround. 5 minutes after our turnaround and you get what I show below. Do you see any "out tracks"? Nope, they were completely buried by fresh falling snow in roughly 5 minutes! Wow!

Our "out tracks" are completely buried, so it's breaking trail again!
Breaking trail all the way up and most of the way down - what a aerobic outing!
Look at all the snowflakes coming down around us.

If you thought the prior was an impressive "5 minutes later" for the heavy falling snow, take a look at the following photo. This photo is about "20 minutes later" as we set fresh tracks on this section of trail just 20 minutes ago. There is no evidence anybody had been on the trail recently! Blizzard!

Kicking up powder and breaking trail in deep snow despite
the fact that we had come up this trail just 20 minutes earlier!

This was young Jack & Rudy's first "blizzard skijor". They have had a couple of "heavy falling snow" skijors, but today was another level! The only downside was that it was snowing too hard to add Zorro the team to end the day. He came to the trailhead with us but was happier remaining behind with Nancy in the Jeep and skipping the blizzard day.

Oh well, Zorro will be out again with us soon once the snow lets up. As for Jack & Rudy, an impressive day of powder plowing: 4.6 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 17 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 105 days on the trails covering 710.8 miles with 65,600 feet of elevation climbed.