One Last Hurrah

After a month without snow, we got ONE LAST HURRAH today! Yay!!!!!

Cruising up the Carter Park Sled Hill behind Jack & Rudy. Wheeee!

Yes, after this past "least snow on record" season for Colorado, we got a final HURRAH dump this morning to give us one last outing for the season. Our last skijor was April 6th and that was going to be our earliest "last outing" of our skijoring careers. But, no, mother nature gave us one last hurrah this morning for a final outing in May. Yay!

We were able to start skijoring from our garage and took a nearby hike/bike trail to start the outing:

Cruising along the narrow hike/bike trail just steps away from our garage!

The goal, though, was to take this short & narrow hike/bike trail to get to wide open Carter Park. Once in the open park, Jack & Rudy knew what to do!

BOOM! Opening it up across the snow covered park!

We did three laps in & around the park - 2 on the main grass and then one loop through the field of the adjoining elementary school (school was cancelled today because of the snow). While each lap was short, it was still a ton of fun. Come along for today's video highlight of a quick ride in the fresh snow in the park. Of course, the ground was snow-less just yesterday, so you'll see me bouncing as my skis occasionally cut through the snow to hard ground. But, no complaints here, we got one more outing in May! Yay!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Technically, the prior video was on the "sledding hill" at Carter Park. As a result, you see two sledders coming up the hill as we cruise by. As usual, they cheered us on :)

Zooming along the Carter Park Sled Hill. Wheeee!

What a surprise, what a treat! Right guys?

"Oh my, we are THRILLED to be back on snow. Even if for just one day!"
says my focused pair awaiting end of run treats.

But, sadly, all this surprise snow will melt by tomorrow. But, we got One Last Hurrah in May! Yay! 0.8 miles traveled with 100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 14 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date (and probably the last of the season): 56 days on the trails covering 333.5 miles with 34,900 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Season Finale

Jack & Rudy ready to complete our 2024/2025 skijor season:

Ready to go!

Our final outing was actually the morning of Wednesday, May 21. I am just getting around to writing up our finale this morning. While Jack & Rudy are poised and ready to go in the prior photo, notice all the indentations in the snow. The kids often roll snow angels BEFORE we get started on our outings because I clearly take way too LONG to put my skis on. So, you might as well roll before you go while you wait for the slow human :)

Our final outing took us out the Harrison Creek trail atop Rabbit Ears Pass. This trail has a quick elevation rise and is well shaded; so it is often the last usable trail at Rabbit Ears. The conditions were soft & slushy, making for a very aerobic outing for all!

Jack & Rudy's deep footprints demonstrate just how soft and
slushy the conditions were. The last outing of the season is always
quite interesting conditionwise.

Being the end of season meant we came across many hazards to navigate around as well:

"Uh, now what?" asks Rudy as he knows I cannot cross this on skis.
"Hey, I see a smidget of snow to the left!" declares smart Jack.
Yes, I was able to ski over that small patch of snow to our left.

The conditions were getting softer and slushier by the minute as we were going out. The elevation rise at Harrison Creek was not enough to out race the warming temperatures. So, I turned us around after less than 2 miles as I wanted to be able to get back safely & comfortably before it became too mushy. Our turnarounds typically go as follows: I callout "Wait, time to turnaround." and Jack & Rudy take this as "Stop, drop, roll snow angels and then turnaround." Well, my call to turnaround so soon clearly caught them off guard as they turnaround without the "drop & roll" ritual. But, once around, they realized a turnaround is a turnaround so snow angels must still be rolled:

We completed the turnaround BEFORE the kids rolled snow angels.
Typically they roll first and turn second. So, I clearly caught them off guard
but they sure made up for it once turned :)

Our final video clip of the 2024/2025 season goes along with the prior photo. Come along and watch as we start the clip with the comedians rolling snow angels before rising and taking off back the direction we came. You lose complete view of Jack & Rudy for a bit as I am in a tight ski tuck trying to stay upright on a downslope in soft/slushy snow. Once the terrain levels out, I'm able to rock back and we get full view of the fun kids again :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

The return leg was a bit easier than the out leg as we had the tracks we set on the way out to compact the soft/slushy snow a little bit. But, it was still soft & slushy :)

Making use of the ski & foot tracks we set on the way out for a little
firmer conditions (but still soft) on the way back.

This season was not a record by any means (see our 2022/2023 season of 1444 miles for a record season), but any & all seasons on snow are fun, fun, FUN! Right guys?

"Yes, we LOVE snow!" says the happy kids who found snow hump to climb
to end the season climbing up for end of run treats as they love to do.

A soft & slushy finale, but still a great time: 3.7 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2024/2025 Season Recap: 108 days on the trails covering 822.8 miles with 81,200 feet of elevation climbed.

We'll be back in September or October (weather dependent) to start our 2025/2026 skijor season. Until then, enjoy boring summer and Pray for Snow!!!!

Season Finale

Today was our last skijor of the 2023/2024 season. Look at what we accomplished this season:

Impressive & happy kids looking back to me as we conclude another
awesome season of skijoring!

What are all those towers behind Jack & Rudy in the prior photo? Well, those are the communication towers atop Walton Peak at Rabbit Ears Pass. Yep, to conclude the 2023/2024 season, we skijored up & down what is the summer service road to the towers on Walton Peak. The temperatures were too warm for us to skijor the crust over vast meadows, so we had to stick to snow over summer roads. 

So, up the Walton Peak Service Road we went:

Cruising up the snow over the service road behind the Siberian Rope Tow :)

As I expected, the conditions at the top of Walton Peak were VERY nice. Nice enough for the hover huskies to catch some air on the way back down:

Catching air as we begin the descent from the top of Walton Peak.

Now come along and watch our final skijor of the season from high atop Walton Peak. Look closely at the beginning and you'll see lots of speckles flying in the air. These are pieces of slush flying off Jack & Rudy's feet. Then, about 18 seconds into the clip and one of the slush balls lands and sticks on the center of the camera. Keep watching though, you can see most of Jack & Rudy despite the water spot until finally the spot dries and we have a clear view of Jack & Rudy again. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Making it to the top of the peak on May 29th made everyone very happy & frisky:

Unauthorized game of tag breaking out at the top of Walton Peak. Silly kids.

You might be thinking, "Look at all these wonderful, snow covered photos. Why is this the season finale?" Well, I'lll spare you some of the treacherous patches of exposed ground we also encountered. All the photos above are from near the top of Walton Peak, what we had to cross lower in elevation was occasionally ugly! It was a WONDERFUL season, though, we had a slow start due to bad early season snow; but Jack & Rudy really caught up to our standards once the snow arrived. Let's end the season with one last fun action shot:

Flying Rudy and cannonball Jack cruising along.
Look at that encroaching ground to our left, though!

Back to the trailhead and our final "end of run treats" celebration of the season:

"What a great season! We LOVE snow and we LOVE treats!" says the
happy, happy kids.

Today's season finale: 8.6 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2023/2024 Season Total: 157 days on the trails covering 1328.1 miles with 132,000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 26 MPH.

Record Season Finale

Yesterday was our final outing of a record setting skijoring season!

Way to go Jack & Rudy!!!!

"We did it! 1444.0 miles traveled! We set the record!" declares the happy kids.

Our record season had been 1433.5 miles traveled with Max & Zorro in 2016/2017. I knew going into this season that Jack & Rudy were primed to give the record a challenge. All we needed was the snow to hold up. Well, despite ending in late May (we often skijor into early/mid June), the impressive kids set a season record for our pack!

Our final outing of the season found us at Buffalo Pass. This location typically has the deepest snowpack in all of Colorado. But, it's a real haul and challenge to get to; thus, we typically do it only once or twice a season. Come along for the highlights of our season finale.

We started out on VERY sketchy conditions with little snow and spans of no snow at all!

Starting up on a narrow ribbon of snow with exposed ground ahead of us.

Why not drive past this point of the trail, you ask? Well, we start out driving up Buffalo Pass until we can drive no further. What happens is we will encounter a very deep (usually shaded) impassable span of snow at some point on the way up. Even with our 4WD Jeep, we will get to an impassible span at some point. So, we must start the skijor from the impasse, even though we know we'll encounter tough & exposed sections like the prior photo on the other side of the impasse.

We also know, though, that the further & higher we go, the better it will get!

Ah, nice deep snow covering the entire trail!
Notice the power in Jack & Rudy as my hands are on my hips as I ride
the Siberian Tow Rope up this stretch of trail.

Along the way, I paused at the location of some of Max and Zorro's ashes. While Jack & Rudy never got the chance to meet special Max, they did learn everything they know about skijoring from wonderful Zorro. As I paused to reflect back on Max & Zorro, Jack and Rudy did their "pause usual" :)

Rolling snow angels in snow over the location of Max and Zorro's ashes.

Then, as expected, we found some incredible conditions up high. Wish there was an easier way to get here, we'd come back every day if so :)

So, so, so nice up high!

Now, come along for our final clip of the season. We are a bit lower in elevation in this clip compared to the prior photo, so we start out cruising along nice albeit soft snow. Then, near the end of the clip, you get to see Jack & Rudy slowing to perfectly navigate me on skis through two narrow passages before opening up the throttle again. Perfect partners!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We cannot end the season without one final hover husky shot!

Catching air again. Wheeee!

Finally, concluding the season with our final end of run treats. No snow walls to climb this time, it must really be the end of season :)

"We LOVE snow!" declares the cool dudes awaiting end of run treats.

A monster outing to complete the season. You have to make full use of the difficult trek to get on snow at Buffalo Pass: 14 miles traveled with 1100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2022/2023 Season  Total: 164 days on the trails covering 1444.0 miles with 130,600 feet of elevation climbed.

Very Impressive Jack & Rudy! Very Impressive!!!!

See you all in September (we hope) or October for the 2023/2024 Skijor Season beginning.

 

Season Finale

Our final skijor of the 2021/2022 season with a beautiful ride from the top of Buffalo Pass.

1315.4 miles for the season - great job young Jack & Rudy!!!!!

So nice at the top of Buffalo Pass. Yes, this was June 5th with over 5 feet
of snowpack still atop the pass!

Buffalo Pass is always the last pass to have significant snow in Colorado. It is often the location of our last (and sometimes first) skijor of every season. Today was that, a final run up & down Buff Pass to end the season with an impressive 1315.4 miles traveled. 

Once at the top of the pass, we took an opportunity to spread some of Zorro's ashes. Zorro and his love for skijoring and passion for snow is how we discovered Buffalo Pass years ago. Our wonderful mentor and great buddy will appreciated part of him living atop Buff Pass for years to come!

Zorro's ashes coming off my right hand and Jack & Rudy watch the
ashes drift away in the breeze. Miss you Z!!!

Along with great snowpack atop the pass, we also had great stretches of open terrain on the trails near the top. Time to zoom!

Whee we go along an open straightaway near the top of Buff Pass.

Come along for the video counterpart to the prior photos. Yes, the camera (and, thus, me) are bouncing around quite a bit on the choppy terrain. But, it's skijoring in June! You can't beat that.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Ok, so, why the last run of the season? Well, it's getting harder & harder to reach this snowpack atop the pass with fast melting happening in every direction. We had to climb over 700-800 feet in elevation before the conditions got as nice as you see above. On the approach (up & down), it was soft, melting and slushy:

Soft slush coming up from Jack & Rudy's feet.
All the white dots against the trees are balls of slush flying off the kids too!

Of course, with warm June temperatures, we had lots of snow angels from the kids to cool off! It was in the 40s! Jack & Rudy were melting! :)

Rub-a-dub-dub demonstrates the snow rolling goofballs.

Time to celebrate the end of a bittersweet albeit very fun & successful 2021/2022 season. The great success was Jack & Rudy surpassing 1300 miles of skijoring (and having their third straight season with over 1200 miles). The bittersweet sorrow was losing our super fun elder and original skijor mentor,  Zorro,  on  May 20, 2022.  We sure miss you Zorro!

"Z would really have appreciated this June 5th on snow!" declares
happy Jack & Rudy.,

The tally from yesterday's last run of the season: 9.3 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

Final 2021/2022 Season Totals: 158 days on the trails covering 1315.4 miles with a top speed of 27 MPH and 123,300 feet of elevation climbed.

Season Finale

Despite the nice photos you will see below, today was our finale for the 2020/2021 Skijoring Season!

Laying fresh tracks midway up the trail from the top of Vail Pass
to the top of Shrine Pass.

We returned to Vail Pass this morning for what we expected to be our last outing of the 2020/2021 season. With deteriorating conditions in the open meadows we usually skijor in May and with fresh snow overnight, we were able to use the main trail that takes you from the top of Vail Pass (our starting point) to the top of the next pass, Shrine Pass. Here's a fun shot of Jack & Rudy plowing through some deep snow as we are now at the top of Shrine Pass.

Powder plowing kids. Wheeee!

Ok, now you have probably looked at the last two photos multiple times and are asking, "How in the world is this our last outing of the season?" Well, it is subtle to notice in the photos. But, the new snow was very wet and heavy and the surface under the new snow was slush and/or mud. If you look closely in the first photo, you can make out some dark footholes behind Jack - this is mud/slush his foot poked through to contact. If you look closely in the second photo, you can see some similar footholes behind Rudy. Basically, despite these two very nice looking photos from this morning, the reality is all this snow will be gone and the trail back to slush after a few hours of sunshine. The sun is now out as I am typing and the 2020/2021 skijor season has come to and end.

Back to today's outing, we went up from Vail Pass to Shrine Pass and then skijored across the top of Shrine for a while before turning around to come back down. Oh, did I say "turnaround"? I bet you are expecting the usual turnaround snow angel photo next. Well, nope, Jack & Rudy like to keep you guessing what form of comedy they'll produce at turnaround points.

Today's comedy act? Rodent dives and digs.

Rudy showcasing his patented "rodent swan dives" at our
turnaround point.

Not to be outdone, Jack had a very nice rodent dive of his own. He is not known for the high arching swan dives of Rudy, but had some today!

A high arching swan dive from Jack! Impressive!

It only seems fitting to close out the 2020/2021 season with a comedy (instead of skijoring) video. After all, the three year olds, Jack & Rudy, have provided constant entertainment this season. Come along for their funny sequence of rodent dives and digs atop Shrine Pass this morning. Oh, and "no", they did not actually catch any rodents :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead for our final 'end of run' treats for the 2020/2021 season. Rudy would like to point out to everyone what a "mellow & chill" adult he has become. Yes, our wild red boy has become Mr. Smooth :) But, don't worry, Rudy is always one woo away from his wild side :)

"Poke, poke - me first!" Zorro reminds me.
"What a fun season!" adds happy Jack.
"Chilling!" declares mellow Rudy.

An aerobic run in wet & heavy snow to end the season: 5.8 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 17 MPH.

2020/2021 Season Total: 154 days on the trails covering 1253.2 miles with 107,400 feet of elevation climbed.

Thanks for sharing in the fun this season. Check back in June or July for our "2020/2021 Season in Review" highlight video.

Birthday Finale

Our final skijor of the 2019/2020 Season this morning, June 1st, for Zorro's 12th birthday!

"Happy 12th Birthday Zorro!" say Jack, Rudy and myself to happy
Zorro awaiting today's 'end of run' treats!

Our goal every year is to skijor in some way on Zorro's June 1st birthday. Some years we have had wonderful extended skijors on June 1st while other years we have been hiking over dirt/mud as we search for extended patches of snow to ski. It all depends on what snow conditions are still available on June 1st.

Today was a slightly less than average June 1st outing. We were able to find a nice extended patch of snow atop Rabbit Ears Pass to skijor but the patch was only about 1/2 mile long. We did an "out & back" on this 1/2 mile stretch with the trio, Zorro, Jack and Rudy. We then dropped elder Zorro off with Nancy with the intent of going further with the kids, Jack & Rudy. But, we were confined to the same 1/2 mile stretch as we ran out of snow and into wide, fast running creeks and rivers on all sides. So, the day's total outing was an "out & back" with the threesome and then another "out & back" with the kids.

Oh well, it was still Toes on Snow on June 1st for Zorro's 12th Birthday! Yay!

Starting the outing on what looks like a pretty nice stretch for June 1st!

We were on one of the main snowmobile trails at Rabbit Ears. So, as you see above, the trail was more packed and smooth than the bumpy snow off trail. But, we still had our share of "hole obstacles" along the way.

Approaching a hole obstacle in front of us as Rudy takes the left of
the hole while Zorro & Jack go right. I went right too :)

A little further along and now Zorro & Rudy go left of another hole obstacle while Jack goes right. I went left with Zorro & Rudy too.

A little bumpy on the remains of the snowmobile trail; but
look at how bumpy it is off trail to our right and left!

Here we go for today's video highlight. It is not the prettiest skijor video ever; but it is Toes on Snow on June 1st for Zorro's 12th Birthday! Yay!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Finally, a shot of the happy trio ending our initial "out & back" with the entire team:

All the smiles are visible despite the bright sun right behind us!

A fun little 2 mile skijor to celebrate Zorro's 12th birthday with a skijor in June!

That brings us to a conclusion of the 2019/2020 Skijor Season. We had an interesting and entertaining season balancing Zorro approaching 12 years old with Jack & Rudy maturing into professionals in the prime of their lives. A great time was had by all as Jack & Rudy eclipsed 1200 miles of skijoring for the season. Meanwhile Zorro came along for every outing but only participated in a portion of most runs as he happily hung with Nancy before and/or after his stint while the kids and I went out for more exercise. As you witnessed from the happy, happy faces in the posts all season long, a great time was had by all!!!

2019/2020 Final Season Stats: 176 days on the trails covering 1204.1 miles with 110,800 feet of elevation climbed.

Elder Zorro's 2019/2020 Final Season Stats: 176 days on the trails covering 626.4 miles with 57,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Rabbit Hat

We pulled a "rabbit out of a hat" to piece together one last skijor run for Zorro's 10th birthday this June 1st. Happy Birthday Zorro!

"Wanna play before we get going?" asks frisky Jack.
"Really, I'd flatten you (and you'd love it)!" declares birthday boy Zorro.

I said "rabbit out of a hat" as we returned to Rabbit Ears Pass to try and find enough patches of snow to put together Zorro's birthday run. It was truly a piecemeal run we found few contiguous patches of snow with lots of exposed ground in between. The contiguous patches got very narrow at times...

"Still enough snow if you stay behind me!" declares happy Zorro.
"My path is broken!" states happy Jack.

Every time we encountered patches of exposed ground, I would take off my skis and then jog with Zorro and Jack to the next snow patch. At each snow patch, we would pause while I put my skis back on. Well, you know what Jack thinks about pauses during skijor runs... Roll snow angels!

"Ah, feels sooo good - no need to hurry!" says silly Jack.
"Come on, I don't have all day, get those skis on!" states Zorro.

They came off (and then on) so many times, even Zorro decided to join in on the antics waiting for the silly human to get reset to go:

"Okay, I see the fun in rolling while waiting for slow humans!" demonstrates Zorro.
"Hehe, told ya!!!" adds happy Jack.

But, we did find a few extended patches to enjoy our last skijor of this 2017/2018 season. Wheeee!

Go, go, go!!! Finally, go dogs go!!! :)

Finally the fun was over and time to play with little puppy Rudy as we shut down our 2017/2018 skijor season.

Such focus! Such focus!!!

A piecemeal final run with some skijoring and lots of jogging in between patches of snow: 2.2 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a modest top speed of 12 MPH (not enough contiguous patches of snow to hit a real top speed :)

2017/2018 Season Summary: 56 days on the trails covering 342.7 miles with 33,750 feet of elevation climbed.

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Finale

Our final run of the 2016/2017 Skijor Season this morning.

A great 12 mile run on Buffalo Pass bringing us to 1433.5 total miles for the season!

1433.5 miles traveled with 152,200 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 26 MPH.
"Every single mile was a BLAST!" declare my super happy partners at our turnaround
point of the morning.

With it being June 13th, you are probably wondering what kinds of snow conditions we found. Well, see for yourself below.

Nice at the upper elevations near the top of Buffalo Pass:

Whee we go along slightly choppy but "great for June" trails near the top of the pass.

The top of Buffalo Pass will blow you away. It was "snow as far as the eye can see" once you crested onto the open meadows at the top. As you can see, it was a bit choppy due to being on melting snowpack over uneven meadows. Choppiness just means you slow to a trot instead of a sprint; but we'll take any "toes on snow" in June!

3+ feet of beautiful, albeit choppy, snowpack to enjoy atop Buffalo Pass.

After those last two photos, you are probably wondering why this is our last run of the season. Well, the lower elevation approaches are narrow or down to dirt/mud for long sections:

Still enough snow for skis & toes; but barely. Another day or two and this patch will be all dirt/mud.

We had to hike 1 mile in (and out) to get to skiable snow and then had to take the skis off 6 times (3 up/3 down) to walk over a few extended patches of no snow. Not too bad for June 13th, though, and today's short video highlight shows you it was worth it as are on a great stretch of "all snow" and only slightly choppy conditions. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We had an additional bonus for our last run of the season: it got below freezing last night! This meant two things: (1) the terrain was frozen and fast packed all morning (instead of increasingly soft slush you typically get in June); and (2) perfect temperatures for Max & Zorro to stay cool and go as long as the human could hold up. The result? We skijored 12.2 miles for our last outing and reached Summit Lake atop Buffalo Pass!

The choppy snow we are on is the beach of Summit Lake. The smooth snow behind Max & Zorro
is the "still frozen" Summit Lake.

We were quite surprised to find Summit Lake still 100% ice covered this late in June.

A great outing for a season finale: 12.2. miles traveled with 1500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

Final 2016/2017 Season Stats: 172 days on the trails covering 1433.5 miles with 152,200 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 26 MPH.

On to the summer doldrums... We hope to be back running on snow in late September or October at the latest.

Pray for Snow!!!