Finish

 The fun three pack joining me for end of run treats at the trailhead:

Happy pack patiently awaiting their 'end of run' treats.

We started the day on narrow single track trails on Baldy Mountain. After doing a quick loop on Baldy, we transitioned over to the backcountry trail connecting Baldy Mountain to Boreas Mountain. About 3/4 of the outing was spent on these fun single track trails:

Zooming along a backcountry single track trail. Wheeee!

Along the way and Rudy heard, smelled or sensed (or all three) rodents under the snow off the trail. So, of course, that got us one of Rudy's patented rodent dives. Apparently the rodents were far off trail as Rudy did more of a long rodent dive as opposed to his usual high arching dives. Silly kid:

"Rodents in the snow! Dive, dive!!!" demonstrates Rudy.
"Really? I'm right behind you!" adds Jack.

Eventually we dropped out of the backcountry and onto the fast & wide Boreas Pass Trail. Zoom:

We are just about to exit the "morning shadow" of Boreas Mountain and into
the morning sun at Baker's Tank.

Out of Boreas' shadow and cruising along the fast packed trail as Breckenridge Ski Resort comes into view across the valley:

Fast running Jack & Rudy. Pretty view of Breck Ski Resort.

Today's video highlight showcased Jack & Rudy's skijoring skills. Come along as we are going fast to end the morning's outing. As the video concludes, we approach the winter gate at the Boreas Trailhead. I utter "Easy, easy" pretty softly as we approach and Jack & Rudy slow perfectly to take me through the gate safely. A great "strong to the finish" video with perfect listening and safety to end. Good boys!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

A fun day spent primarily on backcountry single track trails and then ending fast on the packed and wide Boreas Pass Trail: 8.3 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2020/20201 Season to Date: 52 days on the trails covering 408.2 miles with 36,400 feet of elevation climbed.

Clothes

Look at Jack's snazzy new clothes (his new harness)!

"Aren't I handsome?!?" says adorable Jack.
What a big head you have Rudy :)

Until today, Jack has been wearing hand-me-down harnesses from Zorro and Max in his skijor career. He started with Max's puppy harness last season and grew into hand-me-down full harnesses this season. We were waiting until he was full grown to order him his own personal harness. Well, today was young Jack's first skijor in his snazzy new personal harness. Handsome boy :)

Back to the skijor outing. It is late April and we had the rare treat of new snow to lay fresh tracks all morning long. What a treat!

Three sled dogs laying freshies. One set of skis cutting through the fresh snow too!

We did our springtime "crust tour" in Golden Horseshoe. A firm crust with 1-2 inches of fresh snow all day long. Here we come around a corner as Breckenridge Ski Resort comes into view across the valley.

Fresh tracks and pretty views. Fun day!

Today's video highlight is one that shows how proud I am of my skijoring partners. We start out on a fast crust. As we approach some trees, my pals automagically slow down to tow me through safely. I only need to utter a casual "right" and then "good forward" to set the path and they cautiously tow me through before automatically flooring it again once through the trees. What teamwork, what great partners!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

New clothes, same Jack :)

"He's still a young goofball!" declares happy Zorro.
"The new clothes work as well as the old clothes for snow angels!" declares goofy Jack.
"We stop, we roll!" adds silly Rudy.

In case you are wondering, Rudy is still in hand-me-down harnesses. He will not be full grown to measure for a personal harness until next season.

New clothes for Jack, same skijor fun and silliness from Jack: 5.8 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2018/2019 Season to Date: 103 days on the trails covering 585.8 miles with 54,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Steep Finish

Primed, Happy and READY TO GO sled dogs at our turnaround point of the morning's outing!

Happy boys looking back to me anxiously anticipating my verbal release to take off and
sprint on the freshly groomed nordic trail!!!

We had a great day skijoring up, down and around the freshly groomed trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center. Along with great terrain, Zorro, Jack & Rudy got to flirt with lots of people out on the trails. They love to "flirt & fly" on the trails :)

"Hi... Bye!" say Zorro & Rudy flying by a skier on the trail.
"Slowing to flirt!!!!" says fun Jack who has politely dropped behind Zorro and Rudy to
get by the skier safely. Rudy didn't leave him enough space to pass by safely and
in sync with his brothers, so polite Jack backed off to pass.

We go by uphill cross country skiers like they are standing still. I sure am glad I have my sled dog partners and do not have to propel myself uphill!!!

"You look like you could use a tow!" say the trio cruising by the poor guy propelling himself :)

We always get a few "WOWs" and "OMGs" when the trails are busy and we fly past curious onlookers:

"Zooming by - we heard you say WOW!" say the flying trio.

Two things to note in the prior photo. First, there is a winter gate with a narrow opening about 20 yards in front of us. Second, we are on ridiculously steep terrain. This is the steep finish to this trail at the nordic center.

Come along and watch the steep finish. Zorro, Jack & Rudy will keep going in & out of view as I am slaloming back & forth to keep alive behind the fast trio. But, then watch the magic as we get to the narrow gate. The trio auto-magically slows to get me through safely and then we cross the road to gently compete the day's run. These three really get the "preserve the human" concept so we can skijor another day!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Fun guys as we celebrate the end of another day's great outing!

"Glad you made it down alive!" say the happy & focused team.

A fun day flirting on fast nordic trails: 5.4 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2018/2019 Season to Date: 60 days on the trails covering 325.9 miles with 29,050 feet of elevation climbed.

Great Partners

Nice shot of my great skijor partners safely towing me through the winter gate at French Gulch!

Gently and safely towing the human through the "pedestrian opening" at the French Gulch gate.

Think about everything that could go wrong in the prior photo. All three can fit under the gate and the trail is fast packed. So, they could easily ignore my slowing, go under the gate and slam me into it! The pedestrian opening is narrow and bumpy; so they could also approach this too fast and slam me into the poles. But, my partners are perfect and go gently through preserving the human! Yay!

Come along for the video counterpart of the gate crossing. Everyone slows when they feel tension from me slowing. Then all three go gently & safely through the gate and pause for me to get through. Then, once I give the "ok" they do what they really want - sprint fast! Finally a fun "branch in the trail" obstacle for Rudy & I to navigate over/around as the video clip comes to a close. What great partners!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Today was a new milestone for Jack & Rudy. Building on yesterday's milestone of skijoring 4 days in a row, today was the first time skijoring 5 days in a row for the youngsters. Any signs of getting tired? Ha!!!!!

Beautiful shot of the synchronized flying trio!

I love this one section of the French Gulch Trail where we are in a valley that was cleared for mining hundreds of years ago that gives great views now.

Nice shot of the running sled dogs.
Beautiful shot of some pretty scenery.

The reward for safely and then quickly towing the human out & back the gulch? End of run pork treats!

"You have our FULL attention!" declare the extremely focused trio.

A fun run out & back in French Gulch and some video proof of just how great these three are as a skijoring team! 5.8 miles traveled with 450 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2018/2019 Season to Date: 56 days on the trails covering 305.4 miles with 27,150 feet of elevation climbed.