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.

Soft

Fun shot from the front of the happy, happy sled dogs towing me to the finish of today's skijor outing.

Smiles all around - such happy kids to be towing me in the snow!

We started the day laying fresh tracks in the backcountry. I was a bit surprised how much fresh snow there was as we had less than an inch or so at home. But, we'll take any and all fresh powder!

Wheeee - fresh tracks fun!

After touring around the backcountry, we dropped onto the wide trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. The nordic center's traditional big, heavy snowcat groomer is out of commission; so they are using snowmobiles towing grooming sleds to maintain the trails until the snowcat is repaired. As we dropped onto the nordic trails, we came across one of the snowmobile groomers:

"Hey, cool setup!" says impressed Jack.
"Interesting!" adds curious Rudy.
You can see the "grooming sled" behind the snowmobile that is being
towed to try and maintain the nordic trails.

There is one primary drawback of a snowmobile + grooming sled versus a grooming snowcat: the snowmobile is no where near as heavy as a snowcat. We have had upwards of 4 feet of new snow fall in the last 4-5 days; so the lightness of the snowmobile really shows. While a heavy snowcat packs snow pretty firmly, a light snowmobile leaves a very soft trail behind when there has been a lot of new snow. The result? Well, it is quite a workout for my pals to gallop through soft terrain. No complaints from anyone in our team, it is just quite a workout - compare this to running in sand!

Impressive Jack & Rudy still catching air despite the very soft trail
conditions. These kids are professionals :)

Now come along for the video counterpart to what I described above. Watch as Jack & Rudy are running hard and getting quite a workout on the soft trail (notice all the snow poofs and their footprints deep in the snow to get an appreciation for how soft it was). What a fun workout for all!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

The trails at Gold Run are in a known moose habitat. Along the way, Jack & Rudy pulled a sharp right off the trail to inspect a deep moose trough leading into a very moosey meadow:

Only a big moose can walk through snow this deep and not leave any
indentations in the snow from its belly - just deep moose legs posts!
"Moose went this way! We should too!" suggests silly Jack & Rudy.
I vetoed this suggestion :)

Since we failed to get any moose meat, we might as well settle for our pork end of run treats instead:

"Ok, we'll accept the pork; but why couldn't we go find the moose?" asks
the happy kids.

A little backcountry fresh tracks fun followed by a nice workout on soft nordic trails: 9 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 58 days on the trails covering 435.8 miles with 41,400 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Footage Issues

Fun "shot from the front" of the happy, happy kids towing me to the finish of this morning's skijor!

Wheeee - smiles all around!

We started out the outing laying fresh tracks in a light layer of new snow over a mini groomer track in the backcountry. A mini groomer is a snowmobile towing a grooming sled, so the resulting "groomed trail" is the width of a snowmobile. 

Whee - laying fresh tracks in the mini groomer track!
Nice shot of my skis too: shift weight to my right leg (in track) to
speed up and shift weight to my left leg (out of track) to slow down
and/or get under control :)

Today's video highlight will go along with the prior photo. Come watch as we are galloping along in this mini groomer track and, then, watch Jack & Rudy kick it into "high gear" and really take off for the last 20 seconds or so of this clip. Fun time!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Shortly after the prior video clip, the following happened: an unapproved game of "tag, tackle & wrestle" broke out :)

"I double dog dare you to try and tag me!" says instigator Rudy.
"Easy kid! Here I come!" responds Jack who immediately leapt into Rudy
right after this posturing :)

Well, apparently my GoPro did not approve of this unsanctioned episode of play either as it shut off shortly after this point and would not turn back on for the rest of the outing. Well, it would turn ON but it would record for about 2-4 seconds and then shut off again. So, the rest of today's awesome outing was lost due to issues with the GoPro :(

Then we get to the second "footage issue" of the day. Nancy has a new, fancy iPhone to take "end of run" shots with. Well, she was operating fine at first (see the first photo above). But, once it got time to share end of run treats, she was, well, way too close to capture us properly. She cut off most of Jack and most of me. I guess Rudy is her favorite (hahahaha).

Somebody needs to learn to backup with her new, fancy iPhone to get
us all in the photo :)

A fun time was had by all, unfortunately we lost most of the footage: 6.3 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 34 days on the trails covering 251.2 miles with 23,600 feet of elevation climbed.

All Terrain

Rodent lunges and dives from the comedians determined to catch those pesky rodents under the snow!

Jack started this episode with a quick and DEEP lunge into the snow off trail.
Rudy will never be outdone on rodent hunting. He follows any Jack lunge
with a beautiful, high arching and fox like rodent dive!

Ok, rodent diving aside, it was a beautiful morning to go out skijoring in soft & fluffy new snow. The all terrain vehicles (Jack & Rudy) towed me through just about every type of conditions this morning. Come along for the fun:

We started out breaking trail and laying fresh tracks in upwards of 6 inches of fluffy powder in the Dry Gulch backcountry:

Whee - powder blasting! 

Then, the local open space & trails department grooms some of these trails in the Dry Gulch area with a mini groomer (a snowmobile towing a groomer sled the width of the snowmobile). After blasting through powder to start the day, we found one of the side trails freshly groomed by the mini groomer. So, it was pedal to the metal on a mini groom:

Zipping through one of the many old mining day ghost towns in Dry Gulch
in a fresh mini groomer track.

Then we took a turn away from the mini groomer track to do an out & back on another side trail. We broke trail on the way out so we could fly back in our own tracks:

Flooring it as we are reusing our "out tracks" on the way back.
Pretty morning once we got into the bright sun!

Finally, Gold Run Nordic Center opened for the season this morning. So, we completed the day being first tracks on a marvelous freshly groomed nordic trail. Jack & Rudy know what to do with a nordic groom:

The speed demons catching air as they hover over the fresh
groomie zoomie trail!

So many video highlights to consider using from today's wonderful outing. How about we go with breaking trail and laying fresh tracks in the backcountry? I love riding behind the powder plows, Jack & Rudy, on skis in fresh & fluffy snow!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

What a fun day. How about we celebrate with some well-earned end of run treats?

"I agree!" states happy Jack.
"Yes and you have my FULL and UNDIVIDED attention!" adds focused Rudy.

A fun morning experiencing just about all types of terrain possible: 8.1 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 13 days on the trails covering 103.9 miles with 9500 feet of elevation climbed.

You Said

I said, "Hey! No wrestling on the trail!"....

"So we took it OFF trail! TouchÉ!" announces Jack & Rudy taking their
unauthorized play moment far off trail into the snow.

Yes, that is JACK pinning Rudy in the snow in that prior photo. Yep, perfect (ahem :) Jack. Don't worry, Rudy LOVED it and eventually wriggled his way on top of Jack during this wrestle session.

Prior photo aside, we had an awesome 10 mile skijor this morning. We started on backcountry trails in Dry Gulch. Occasionally the local Open Space & Trails department will run a mini groomer on some of these backcountry trails. A mini groomer is simply a snowmobile towing a "grooming sled" that is the width of a snowmobile. Today we got the pleasure of skijoring Dry Gulch in a mini groomer track that was only a day or two old, so still very comfortable to ski on.

Zipping along in the mini groomer track. 
Hey, what's the deal with my left ski?

I'll answer that question through video support. The mini groomer track is not nearly as wide as a traditional groomed nordic trail. Pay attention in the video and, as we start to speed up, you'll see my left ski in the snow "out of track" and occasional glimpses of my right ski "in track". I'm in a pretty tight ski tuck to ski this somewhat narrow trail at Jack & Rudy's pace. I lean left (on the out of track ski) for speed control and lean right (on the in track ski) for balance control. Fun time behind my pals!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

After fun on the mini groomer trail, we transitioned onto the wide trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. As we were cruising along, Rudy provided some additional entertainment:

Can you see it? Look closely at Rudy's head.

Ok, let's zoom in to really see what Rudy has in his mouth.

Yep, a twig! The silly kid picked up this twig on the trail without so much as
a break in stride. He then proceeded to carry the twig, again without a break
in stride as you see in the photo, for at least a 1/2 a mile! What a loon!

Our timing has been pretty good lately at getting on the trails at Gold Run just after the groomer came out for the day to clean up the trails. But, today was not a lucky as the groomer had not made it to the upper elevation trail yet (we even did two laps on this upper trail without encountering the groomer). So, the trail was a little tracked up, but not too bad as most humans do not make it to this trail before running out of gas whereas I have Jack & Rudy power :)

Still able to FLY on the upper trail as it was not too tracked up. Wheee!

That is an indentation from fat bike tires you see in the center of the trail. What about those footprints? Doesn't everyone know it is rude to walk on a groomed trail? Well, those are MOOSE footprints. Nobody is going to tell a moose it is being rude! Haha!

Then our luck took a turn for the better when we got on the lower (and very heavily used) trail to conclude the outing. The groomer came by on this trail just minutes before we transitioned onto it! Yay for the groomer smoothing out the heavily used trail for us! Jack & Rudy know what to do with a fresh groom:

Zoom! The hover huskies catching air on the freshly groomed trail!

Back to the trailhead and the kids were up high on a snow wall and in tight for end of run treats:

"We sure outsmarted you on the 'no wrestling on the trail' declaration!" says
the proud two :)

A fun zooming day: 10.3 miles traveled with 1100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 99 days on the trails covering 844.3 miles with 81,700 feet of elevation climbed.

Moose Bed

Jack & Rudy inspecting a moose bed we found next to the trail this morning.

A moose bed, you ask? Basically the large indentation in the snow a moose leaves after laying down.

Yes, Jack & Rudy can fit in a moose bed with plenty of room to spare.
Moose have big butts :)

Moose bed aside, we had a zippy day on narrow and wide groomed trails this morning.

We started the day on mini groomer trails. Basically, a snowmobile towing a grooming sled the width of a snowmobile is a mini groomer.

Catching air in the mini groomer track. Wheeee!

Now come along for a fast & fun skijor video in a mini groomer track. But, notice that there is barely room for my parallel skis and virtually no room to snowplow if I want to slow us down. It takes a lot of trust in your partners to "floor it" in such interesting terrain. I have complete trust in Jack & Rudy, such great partners!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

After zooming around the mini groomer trails for about 5 miles or so, we transitioned onto the wide (snowcat) groomed trails of Gold Run Nordic Center. Wide & groomed = petal to the medal!!!

Flying on the wide groomed trail as we are shaded from the morning
sun by the mountain behind us.

Okay, that prior "shade shot" does not do the wide groomed trail justice. So, we'll just go a little further along until we can turn a corner into the morning sun. Now this is a nice shot of the wide & groomed nordic trail :)

Catching air on the wide groomie zoomie.

Of course, all this zooming around the groomies means you really need to cool your jets at any stop along the way...

"Ah, rub a dub dub, cooling the jets!" demonstrates the snow rolling goofs.

Finally, there was another dog at the trailhead so everyone come in close for end of run treats - we do not share these hard earned treats :)

"All for us! We hauled you all over the place!" says the fun kids.

Zooming groomie day: 10.2 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 72 days on the trails covering 628.6 miles with 56,400 feet of elevation climbed

Still Singing

Rudy is still singing today about his birthday yesterday :)

"Happy WOOday to me!!!!" Rudy is still singing today after singing
to himself all day yesterday.
"That's so yesterday, I'm back to snow angels!" adds rolling Jack.

Yes, only wooing Rudy can continue singing birthday songs (to himself) for over 24 hours! Singing aside, we found ourselves zipping around the backcountry and then onto the groomed country this morning. Come along for the fun!

We started the day weaving through trees on narrow single track backcountry trails:

Winding through the trees, wheeee!

We then transitioned to wider trails but still somewhat narrow set tracks. Is that a corduroy going down the middle of this narrow trail? Why, yes, it is. The fun trail gets groomed occasionally by what I call a "mini groomer" - basically a snowmobile towing a grooming sled. So, the corduroy is the width of a snowmobile. 

Flying along the mini groomer track. Zoom!

Finally, we ended the day on the wide groomed trails of Gold Run Nordic Center. We did two fast loops on the upper groomed circle before flying along the main trail back to the trailhead. Jack & Rudy know what to do on a fast & wide groomed trail!

The Hover Huskies catching air once again. Wheeee!

Come along for the video counterpart of the prior photo. I really enjoy this section of trail. We start out fast on an open straightaway. Then, we come to a tight left in the trail that we all have to lean into (especially me on skis) - I can see through the trees before the left so I know it is clear on the other side and we can take the corner as fast as we can. Finally, once out of the corner it is time to floor it again on another open straightaway. Fun!!!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Finally, all smiles as we cruise by Nancy to finish another 10 mile skijor outing:

"We could go all day!" suggests smiling Jack & Rudy.

Zooming today: 10.1 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 51 days on the trails covering 433.9 miles with 38,300 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Mini to Full

Anybody listening?

"Woooooooo!" declares talkative Rudy.
"Do we have to listen? Can't we skijor instead?" adds unimpressed Jack.

I'm with Jack, "Hey Rudy, nobody's listening!!!!" :) What was silly Rudy talking about? Well, it was -10 F outside when we woke up this morning (yes, that is "negative 10"). As a result, we got a much later start than usual on the trails due to the wimpy human and the frigid temperatures. In addition, I was breaking in a new pair of ski boots today, so I planned on going a little shorter than our normal outings. So, late start + plans for a mild run = WOO from Rudy. That about explains it.

Once we (finally, according to Rudy :) got started, it was a beautiful bluebird morning. Hard to imagine it was still 3 degrees below zero in this pretty shot:

Cruising along with an awesome view of the mountains and ski runs of
Breckenridge Ski Resort across the valley from us.

But, wait, look closely at the prior photo. It that a narrow corduroy groom track Jack & Rudy are running on? You bet! There is a fun network of trails that the town grooms occasionally. They use a snowmobile towing a grooming sled on these narrow trails to make for some wonderful terrain tucked away in the wilderness. As a result, we spent a majority of the morning touring around these narrow groomed trails deep in the forest! What fun:

Jack & Rudy flying along the mini groomer trail as we whip by trees
and low hanging branches along the way!

Today's video highlight goes along with the mini groomer trails featuring skijor under control, narrow trails and pedals to the metal. Come along as we start in a gentle trot (knowing we have obstacles ahead). Then we transition through a gate; notice Jack & Rudy glancing back to make sure I'm through the gate. What good boys! Finally, once we are all through, it's go, go, go! Wheeee! Great teamwork and great fun!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

After weaving our way along the mini groomer trails, we eventually dropped out of the forest and onto the wide trails of Gold Run Nordic Center. Nothing like having fun navigating narrow trails to then reward yourself with a fast & wide groomie zoomie:

Jack & Rudy FLYING on the fast & wide groomie zoomies
of Gold Run Nordic Center. Zoom!

What an interesting day to stitch together mini groomer trails with full groomer trails. Retired Zorro would appreciate the day!

"Yes! Sounds like we ALL earned 'end of run' treats!" suggests focused Zorro.
"Cool day! What fun!" adds giddy Jack.
"Fun, fun, fun - anybody need me to woo some more?" asks goofy Rudy.

Oh, by the way, the new ski boots worked :) 7.6 miles traveled with 650 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 78 days on the trails covering 637.1 miles with 59,700 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Groom-ish

Incoming from Rodent Diving Rudy joining Rodent Lunging Jack off trail :)

Beautiful swan dive from Rudy the dive professional :)

Well, we finally have enough snow "off trail" for Rudy to break out is patented & high arching rodent dives to hunt for rodents under the snow. Jack did his usual rodent lunge off trail and, once Rudy noticed Jack's lunge, out came the beautiful, high arching dive from Rudy to join Jack off trail.

We spent some time touring around side trails in the forest this morning and found a few really nice powder caches to enjoy all to ourselves!

Powder cache! Wheeee!

After a little touring the forest, we decided to drop onto the upper trails of Gold Run Nordic Center. We were not expecting much from these trails except simply enough snow to stay upright and avoid rocks. But, much to our delight, we found the trails to be surprisingly "groom-ish". What is that, you ask? Well, there is not enough snow on these trails for the professional nordic groomer to run yet. But, there is enough snow for a snowmobile to tow a mini-groomer in an attempt to pack the snow on the trails so it lasts longer as we await enough snow for the real groomer. Mini groomer, professional groomer, groomie zoomie, groom-ish - it's all the same to Jack & Rudy! Zoom!

Opening up the throttle on a nice groom-ish trail!

Come along for a video counterpart to the prior photo. Watch as Jack & Rudy tow me along the nice groom-ish trail. If your volume is up, you'll hear my poor ski scrape a hidden rock under the snow about 20 seconds into the clip (you'll see me almost lose balance because of this too). Oh that sound against the poor ski hurts to hear... 

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

After some fun laps around the groom-ish terrain and I paused to check our time on trail. I paused... kids rolled :)

"You pause, we roll!" demonstrates silly Jack & Rudy.

Back to collect retired Zorro and share stories about the fun day:

"Ah, thanks!" says Jack to my affectionate head pat.
"I've got the 'end of run' treats in sight!" declares focused Zorro.
"My turn yet?" asks Rudy.

A short romp in the woods followed by a surprising "groom-ish zoom-ish" long stretch of trail: 9.2 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 36 days on the trails covering 281.5 miles with 26,300 feet of elevation climbed.