Firm-ish

Nice view of Breckenridge Ski Resort across the valley as we trot along a firm-ish Spring crust.

Nice views!
Firm-ish crust that can support a trot but not a sprint...

Our goal this morning was to find (and skijor) a solid Spring crust in the open meadows in the Golden Horseshoe open space. Unfortunately, the best we found was a "trot crust" but not a "sprint crust". The difference, you ask? Well, a firm-ish crust can support Jack & Rudy trotting but they will bust and posthole through the crust if they try to go too fast. I kept directing us different directions in search of a sprint firm crust; but all we found was a "trot crust" or worse. When the crust got too punchy, it was time to turnaround and search in another direction. Jack & Rudy, as usual, made proper use of each turnaround :)

"Solid enough to support snow angels!" demonstrates the goofy kids.
But, notice the footprint postholes leading up to each snow angel. This
punchy surface is what caused me to turnaround (and Jack & Rudy to 'stop,
drop & roll' while I turned around :)

While we never found a Spring crust strong enough to support a sprint. We did find many stretches firm enough to support a trot. Jack & Rudy are so smart, I never had to say anything. They both auto-magically adjusted into a gentle trot all morning long and abandoned thoughts of sprinting within minutes of our start, after punching through the snow a couple of times.

"We can't sprint, but we sure can get into a nice trot!" demonstrates the smart kids.
Oh, and another nice view of Breckenridge Ski Resort across the valley from
us again.

Come along and watch the fun as Jack & Rudy have settled into the EXACT speed that the crust will support and not even a smidget more. Beautiful morning for a gentle trot & glide....

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead and Jack let me know he appreciated my search for a perfect crust even though we were only able to find a firm-ish trot crust :)

"Thanks for trying dad!" says affectionate Jack.
"Hey, I appreciate the effort too!" adds cute & happy Rudy.
"But, the 'end of run' treats are right in front of ME!" declares locked Zorro.

A gentle trot around the backcountry with my favorite kids: 6.2 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top trot speed of 18 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 131 days on the trails covering 1111.5 miles with 103,400 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Oops

Flirting as we run by a paused dog sled team on the trails this morning. "Hi Friends!" says Zorro.

"Look at me, wheeee!" says flirtatious Zorro to the paused team as we pass on by.

Passing and being passed by the dog sled teams from Good Times Adventures on the trails at Swan Valley is one of Zorro's favorite skijoring activities. Typically all the "on by" encounters go perfectly by both us and the dog teams ("on by" is the dog sled term for ignoring & passing other teams). Yet, every once in a rare while, things do not go as planned. Today a team was coming up the trail so Zorro and I pulled to the right to pause and let them pass. But, the team forgot its manners and swerved left to meet & greet with Zorro instead. Oops!!! :)

"Hi fun looking guy! Can we come play with you?!?" say the 2 team lead dogs who have
ignored their "on by" command and decided to get close & flirty with Zorro :)

Close encounter with the flirting team over and back to real action as Zorro hops off trail to pause and watch another team go down a parallel trail:

"Wheeee! Wait for meeeee!" says Zorro :)

Today's video highlight: doing our favorite skijor activity at Swan Valley. Come along and watch as we run & search for dog sled teams then find a team to "flirt on by". Listen closely as we pass the paused team and you can hear all the sled dogs on the team wooing out, "Hey, let us come with you!!!" to Zorro as we go by :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

End of the day and we've reconnected with little Jack to celebrate the morning's fun run:

"Smack! I had fun watching you, Zorro and the dog teams run!!!" says affectionate Jack.
"Let's get to the 'end of run' treats!" declares Zorro in the background :)

A flirtatious day skijoring around Swan Valley: 8.1 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2017/2018 Season to Date: 35 days on the trails covering 257.2 miles with 22,700 feet of elevation climbed.

---

Max Kiss

Another great morning laying fresh tracks atop Buffalo Pass!

Beautiful, snow-covered trail as far as the eye can see!

Yesterday found us laying fresh tracks on the steep ascent and descent of Buffalo Pass - it was fresh snow all day! Well, the snow let up yesterday afternoon and it was a windy day up high. As a result, we were worried how much wind damage would be on the trails. If you look at the prior photo, you are thinking, "No wind damage at all - yay!" But, the damage was there as we encountered many stretches where the wind had blown the snow off the ice under layer:

Frozen layer of ice, so the sled could still glide; but "sledding on ice" is always tricky!

What to do when you encounter a stretch of ice, like above? Well, I grab a tight hold of the sled and pretty much "close my eyes" until I feel the sled come in contact with snow again. It's too scary to watch :)

So, the day had a mix of "laying fresh tracks" and "sliding over ice" (mostly fresh tracks, thank dog)! Yet, it was toes on snow in early October, so no complaints from any of us:

"What ice? We are having a GREAT day!" exclaim the happy pair at our turnaround point
of the morning.

How fun was it? Well, Max told me..

"Smack (or lick) - I love snow!" says Max giving me an approving kiss at our turnaround point.
"Loving it too; but how about using that free hand to rub my ears!" suggests silly Zorro leaning
into my free hand.

Not sure if Max really loves snow? Well, he has now rolled 2+ snow angels on every outing of this early 2016/2017 season :)

"Look at me 'roll & eat' this lovely snow!" demonstrates talented Max.
"Waiting for this silly brother, again!" suggests Zorro.

Laying fresh tracks and sliding over ice for a daily total of 5.7 miles with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 16 MPH.

Soon, we hope, we'll be on skis instead of the sled and start getting our normal 9-10 mile runs! But, we will take snow for 4 shorter sled outings by Oct 5th any year!

2016/2017 Season to Date: 4 days on the trails covering 22.8 miles with 2700 feet of elevation climbed.