Powder Jack

Laying fresh tracks in 5+ inches of new snow in May! Yay!

Fresh tracks in May!!!

We were second on the trails this morning at the Peak 7 trailhead; but within a 1/2 mile or so, the existing track went left while we went right. After this point we were laying fresh tracks the rest of our "out direction" and then reused the track we set on the way back.

If you look closely in the prior photo you can see that Rudy is in the "set single track" on the trail (set previous days) while Zorro & Jack are in side powder out of the single track. Rudy is still laying fresh tracks in the new snow; but it is a little easier laying fresh tracks over the set single track. As a result, Zorro & Rudy spent most of the day sharing the single track. If we got going fast, Zorro backed off slightly now & then so he and Rudy could share the underlying single track. Jack, on the other hand, spent almost the entire morning on the shoulder making his own trail in deeper powder.

Picking up the pace as Zorro back off slightly to fit in the single track with Rudy.
Powder Jack plows through deep snow on the right shoulder.

After laying fresh tracks out, we turned around and came back the same way. Zorro & Rudy reused the trail we set while Powder Jack remained in the deep shoulder snow all the way back!

Zorro & Rudy reusing the track we set.
Powder Jack in the deep shoulder snow.

A little further along the way back and same thing: track sharing Zorro & Rudy with Powder Jack:

Powder plowing Jack!

Come along and watch Powder Jack in action. We are coming back down with Zorro & Rudy using the set track while Powder Jack plows through the shoulder snow. Pretty much the entire outing was like this short video as Jack was having fun being the "shoulder snowplow" on the trail :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

All that powder plowing means you really need to roll a snow angel to cool off whenever we stopped!

Comical Jack doing a somersault to enter his snow angel when we stopped briefly at the
Hallelujah Warming Hut.
"Well, I guess he earned his snow angel today!" says happy Zorro.
"Yeah, what a powder head!" adds Rudy.

Laying fresh tracks in May - what an aerobic way to earn your end of run treats!

"Dish them out! We earned them!" says the focused trio.

Kicking up powder while laying fresh tracks in May! 4.7 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2018/2019 Season to Date: 114 days on the trails covering 654.6 miles with 61,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Timber

A hilarious "timber" from Jack as he falls into his patented snow angels at our turnaround point of the morning's outing :)

"Timber!" demonstrates comical Jack.
"What a goof!" says happy Zorro.
"I can't bear to look!" adds cute Rudy.

We had a fast & fun skijor on the groomed trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center this morning. I love the following shot of Zorro & Jack. Rudy is just barely out of sync - almost a perfect hover husky trio:

The adults (Zorro & Jack) as a perfectly synchronized skijor machine.
Big Rudy just barely out of sync. We cannot call him "little Rudy" any longer as he is
bigger than both Zorro & Jack! Can't wait until the brain matches the body :)

Some video fun from the day. Come along as we are flying along the fast trail. Near the end of the video, Jack decides he wants to "change lanes". It is beautiful to watch him slow, step back, change lanes and the launch back into the group. Impressive skills considering we were running in the neighborhood of 20 MPH!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Why the lane change from Jack? Well, I've come to learn he really loves to run in shallow shoulder powder if it exists. After executing the perfect lane change, I watched him dip in & out of shoulder powder:

"Love dipping my toes in the shoulder powder!" declares fun Jack. Notice the "snow poofs"
behind him from his dips in&out of the shallow shoulder.

There are a few "monster dips" on the trail we took. I know to slow and/or stop to get under control before letting the strong trio launch me into a dip. We were going so fast today, I decided to come to a complete stop before entering one of the dips....

"But why stop before launching?!?" asks perplexed Rudy.
"Just say 'when', I'm ready!" declares happy Zorro.
"You ok back there?" asks always polite Jack.
Notice the CAUTION sign on the tree behind Rudy. This is why we are stopped to collect
ourselves. If they have to warn a cross country skier about upcoming steep terrain, imagine
what happens when you enter the dip behind three sled dog machines!!!!!

End of the day's run as I plant my left ski to slow the endless kids:

"Can we go again?" ask the happy happy trio!

Fast & fun but still short for young Rudy (he may be big, but he is still in the 'limited time/distance' age): 5.2 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2018/2019 Season to Date: 51 days on the trails covering 278.1 miles with 24,850 feet of elevation climbed.