Let's Dance

Fresh snow in May - Yay! Let's Dance!!!

Jack & Rudy doing a "fresh snow celebration" dance :)

Fresh snow in May is always such a treat! Today we found ourselves laying fresh tracks in 1-2 inches of fresh snow on the upper elevation trails on Peak 7. It was a beautiful May Day for a skijor!

Laying fresh tracks in May! Yay!

This time of year I prefer to do "out & back" skijor outings with the out direction being more up than down. This way, on the way up (going a little slower) I am able to see all the obstacles I'll need to avoid coming back down at much faster speeds. But, with the wide trail on Peak 7, we were able to lay fresh tracks both directions by hugging the right side of the trail on the way up and the flying in the center on the way down.

Freshies down the center of the trail with our "up tracks" to our left.
What a fun May Day!

Now come along for the video highlight of the day. I had so much fun video footage to choose from, I chose the following for the fun curves in the trail along the way. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

The snow was a bit wet and heavy (as it usually is in May) and temperatures were right around freezing (maybe a little below to start the day and a little above to end), so I was expecting snow angels to cool off from the comedians at our turnaround point of the day. Yep...

"Turnaround, roll around! Need to cool our jets!" goes the snow
rolling sillies.

What a May Day treat, right guys?

"Yes, that was FUN!" declares the happy & focused fun kids.

A fresh tracks May Day covering 5.2 miles with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 102 days on the trails covering 777.5 miles with 76,700 feet of elevation climbed.

Let's Dance

Let's dance, put on your furry white shoes and dance :)

Apologies to Davie Bowie fans out there, but I've had this modified version
of his song on my mind all day since this dance broke out between Jack & Rudy
on the trail this morning :)
Oh, nice view of Breckenridge Ski Resort in hazy, light clouds across
the valley from this dance party too.

Today's outing was another backcountry then groomed nordic combination run. We started on Prospect Hill and found ourselves laying fresh tracks in the morning's new snow all the way out. Eventually we turned around to head back down. Well, the dance party above broke out moments after Jack & Rudy finished rolling snow angels. Rolling snow angels to then transition into a dance party - talented :)

Ok, dance session over and it was time to come back down in the tracks we set on the way up:

Nice skijoring action (instead of dance action) with Breckenridge Ski
Resort still in view across the valley to our left.

Now for some video fun from our skijor back down Prospect Hill. Along the way we encounter 5 very sharp/tight hairpin turns. One such turn happens about 33 seconds into this clip. Notice how Jack & Rudy automagically slow approaching the tight turn as they know I can navigate such a sharp turn only so fast on cross country skis. Then, once through the turn and the smart, fun kids take off fast again. Fun time, fun partners!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

After our backcountry romp on Prospect Hill, it was time to get on a seldom used backcountry connector to Gold Run Nordic Center. How "seldom used" is this connector? Well, you'd have no idea anybody had used it at all this season :)

Jack & Rudy BLASTING through deep powder on this seldom used
connector trail. You can see my right ski riding in Jack & Rudy's plow
path while my left ski is buried in snow to the side. Fun deep snow skijor!

The reward for blasting through all that snow is dropping onto the groomed trails at Gold Run Nordic Center to end the day. I did not realize until looking at this footage later that a large piece of snow flew off Jack or Rudy's feet and onto the upper right of the camera. Luckily is was "upper right enough" to not block images of the fun kids:

Zooming in the shade as a reward for blasting through deep powder.

A couple of turns later and we broke out of the shade of dense trees and onto the sun soaked nordic speed track. Zoom!

Flying in the sun as only a couple of other skiers and dogs had been on the
daily groom before us. Wheeee!

Backcountry fresh tracks, deep snow trail breaking and then groomed nordic zooming - all in one outing! What a way to earn end of run treats!

"We loved it ALL!" says the happy, happy kids once again awaiting
end of run treats from atop a nice snow wall.

A pretty day riding behind the pretty sled dogs: 7.8 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 76 days on the trails covering 636.5 miles with 61,400 feet of elevation climbed.

April Freshies

Always a treat to lay fresh tracks in 3-4 inches of fresh snow in April!!!

Trotting along in the April Powder Treat.

We were all quite excited to wake to the day's fresh snow and got out early to lay fresh tracks all morning. But, some of us got a little too excited about the April Freshies:

"Shall we dance in the fresh snow instead of skijor?" suggest the goofballs losing control of
themselves with a case of the 'fresh snow giddies'...

Once we got over the 'fresh snow giddies', it was back to real skijoring as we flew around the trails:

Hard to lay fresh tracks when you don't touch the ground! Wheeee!
At least my skis were gliding through the day's freshies!

Untouched terrain all to ourselves!

A nice synchronized 'sprint tuck' from Max & Zorro as I happily glide along behind!

The total outing covered 8.8 miles and we repeated one 1.5 mile fast stretch. 7.3 miles of laying fresh tracks and 1.5 miles of being the second tracks to ourselves. What an April Treat!

Out-stretched & airborne again as we launch the human up a lift in the trail!
You can see my left ski riding in the track we laid on the first pass along this section of trail.

April Freshies covering 8.8 miles with 650 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 25 MPH.

2014/2015 Season to Date: 114 days on the trails covering 988.0 miles with 104,100 feet of elevation climbed.