Front

Great "shot from the front" of a happy skijor trio finishing this morning's awesome run!

Whee!

We had a light layer of new snow overnight (1-2 inches). But, any amount of new snow makes narrow side trails safe to skijor with my pals. It's such an experience to be tugged & towed through narrow, tree lined trails!

This is only safe with some amount of new snow to both slow Jack & Rudy
down and give me some braking control with my skis. 
But, we love winding through the trees when we can!

After the narrow, side trail treat, it was onto the more established (thus wider) backcountry trails. Once again, what a perfect layer of light new snow to safely uncork the Jack & Rudy skijoring engine:

Love all the snow flying up around them as we romp through the
fresh snow.

I'll take the prior photo as the lead in to today's video highlight. Come along to watch us laying fresh tracks in a light layer of new snow in the backcountry. Such a fun morning!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Our next leg was to drop onto the trails of Gold Run Nordic Center. But, this transition comes with a turnaround point, so you know what that means!

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes the comical snow rolling kids.

Snow angels completed and now time for the nordic center. No groomer had been out on the trails since yesterday and only a few skiers had been out before us. So, it was a light layer of slightly used fresh snow over a "yesterday groomed" fast trail. Jack & Rudy knew what to do with these nice conditions:

The hover husking flooring it to catch air along the nordic trail. Zoom!

As I said, a very entertaining outing, right guys?

"Yes, we LOVED it all!" says the happy kids patiently awaiting their
end of run treats.

A nice combination of single track, backcountry and nordic trails to yield 6.2 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 43 days on the trails covering 268.6 miles with 29,000 feet of elevation climbed.

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.

Dogstacle

Our first time on the narrow Trail of Tears single track this season! Whee!

There is finally enough snowpack for us to venture off the main trails and onto
the narrow, single track side trails. Fun!

As you see in the photo, Jack & Rudy have no problem squishing shoulder to shoulder to fit on single track trails. It's so fun to go winding through the forest on narrow trails like these with them!

In order to get to the narrow Trail of Tears, we have to initially climb to the historic Sallie Barber Mine. Well, as is almost always the case, the climb to the mine is celebrated by rolling snow angels to cool off :)

"Aaaahhh!" says the snow rolling sillies cooling off at the mine.

So, we skijored up to the mine, then went out & back on the Trail of Tears single track and then returned to the main trail to fly back to the trailhead. Wheeee!

The fun kids catching air on the fast & wide Sallie Barber Mine Trail.

This trail is very popular for people to ski with their dogs. Very few skijor, most just let Fluffy scurry about while they ski on their own - I know, what a silly concept, use the dog and skijor!!! :) Anyway, our loose dog encounters go one of two ways...

First (and most common), Fluffy is left to stand in the middle of the trail for us to deal with. Yes, the owners often try to call the loose dog out of the way - um, it RARELY listens. Oh well...

Nothing to do but slow down and interact with loose Fluffy in the middle of
the trail. Jack & Rudy would rather run on by, but I know from experience that
trying to run by a loose dog often gets the dog aggravated and lunging at you.
So, we slow, greet briefly and then go on by.

Second (and least common), an owner may decide to pull Fluffy to the side of the trail, hold it there and let us fly on by. This is Jack & Rudy's (and my) preferred interaction. None of us want to slow or stop for a boring dog:

Yay, the owner pulled Fluffy over and held it (the "hold" is often not done
successfully too). As you see, my pals have no use for Fluffy when you have
the option to keep running and fly on by instead!!!!!

But, back to the most common interaction - the loose dog obstacle in the middle of the trail: a dogstacle. Come along for today's dogstacle encounter. The clip starts with us flying along the beautiful wide trail. Then, we all see loose Fluffy in the middle of the trail. There's no option but to slow, greet briefly and then get on by. Watch how quickly Jack & Rudy discard Fluffy to return to fast, fun and pedal to the metal skijoring. Wheeee! Great partners!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Fun day, right guys?

"Oh we had a blast!" says the happy, happy kids awaiting end of run treats.

Finally enough snow to extend the Sallie Barber Trail with the adjoining Trail of Tears single track: 6.3 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 22 days on the trails covering 133.1 miles with 16,200 feet of elevation climbed.

Snow Wall

Shoulder to shoulder flying along the Sallie Barber Mine Trail this morning. Wheeee!

Such perfect, synchronized form. Impressive :)

This morning found us skijoring the fun Sallie Barber Mine Trail. This trail, though, is somewhat short for Jack & Rudy's liking, so we always enjoy adding to it when the snow permits. There are lots of single track offshoots from the main trail to explore. Today we FINALLY had enough snow for the offshoots to be safe to skijor. Our offshoot this morning had a narrow set track from previous skiers. The set track was only "one Siberian Husky wide" and the snow out of the track was too deep for one of Jack/Rudy to run in track and the other keep pace out of track. So, what to do? Well, the smart kids have no problem arranging themselves into single file skijoring to keep the fun going:

Rudy running point while Jack takes a break behind him.

I never have to say anything, the smart kids automagically adapt and configure themselves to fit in the narrow set track. The guy in front, though, is now doing all the work (leading & pulling) while the guy in back is taking a break and merely jogging along. So, kids will eventually switch positions to even out the load. Again, I say nothing, they do this all on their own. So smart :)

Jack's turn to run point while Rudy takes a break behind him.

While the single track offshoots are fun, the most entertainment is getting back on the wide main trail and flooring it. Here we are zooming by the historic Sallie Barber Mine:

Wheeee!

Now come along for the video counterpart of the prior photo. We start out gliding by the historic mine and then floor it on this wonderful wide trail amidst very dense trees on each side. What a peaceful run!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

But, today's real highlight was our first snow wall to climb for end of run treats this season. A plow had cleared the trailhead parking lot recently and a small snow wall was now available for Jack & Rudy to climb to receive treats. They LOVE doing this (and I love not having to get down on my knees :)

Not the tallest of snow walls; but still a sufficient wall to climb and receive
treats from me in a standing position. Yay!

The conditions are finally starting to come together this season with more snow in the forecast. Today's tally: 5.7 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 5 days on the trails covering 27.7 miles with 3300 feet of elevation climbed.

Single Track

Jack & Rudy tucked tightly together to fit in a single track in the backcountry amidst upwards of 8 inches of new, fresh snow!

Whee - we can squeeze together when we need to!!!

Come along for today's skijor video highlight as we are tucked tight together to fit in a narrow single track in the backcountry. With 6-8 inches of new snow, Jack & Rudy had to tuck together to fit in the single track we found to follow. If either drifted out of the single track, then the snow was too deep to keep pace with the other guy in track. So, the smart kids just tucked themselves together tightly. Oh yeah, you'll also notice Jack & Rudy going somewhat "out of view" on the camera during this clip. Well, that is me fitting myself into a serious ski tuck to keep upright and on pace with the fun kids. See, I really do have to have skiing skills sometimes! :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Today's outing took us to the historic Sallie Barber Mine. As is usual with the comedians, they pause to roll snow angels after the initial climb to the mine:

"Rub a dub dub!" goes the snow rolling sillies.

As is also usual with the kids, all ensuing passes by the mine are done with gusto!

"Already stopped, dropped & rolled on the first pass, so let's fly on
by this time!" says the fun kids propelling me by the mine on our second pass.

The first photo and video clip were on the less popular back side of Sallie Barber. The front side is very popular with both locals and tourists. So, we did not have to pack ourselves into a narrow single track on the front side; but we did have to entertain all people we encountered along the way :)

"Coming through - made you smile!" says entertaining Jack & Rudy giving
the onlooker something to watch and smile about!

I mentioned the other day that Rudy had been out of "rodent dive form" recently. Well, he has fixed that glitch with two beautiful rodent dives during the last two outings. Phew, I was starting to think Rudy matured or something - haha :)

"Rodents under the snow off trail! Incoming!" declares diving Rudy.
"Really, how did I miss that?" asks Jack who was still trotting along
until he noticed Rudy out of his periphery.

Finally, back to the trailhead for our usual 'end of run treats' ritual. 

"You have my FULL attention!" says focused Jack.
"Hi Mom! We had so much fun today!" adds Rudy to Nancy (with the camera).
Sometimes Rudy is more interested in flirting than focusing!

A fun day with lots of fresh snow and some highly technical single track skijoring along the way: 7.2 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 50 days on the trails covering 375.6 miles with 35,000 feet of elevation climbed.

View & Go

Nice view of the ski runs of Breckenridge Ski Resort across the valley from us as we round a corner on a single track trail in the backcountry:

Nice view of the ski resort. Nice view of trucking Jack & Rudy :)

Today's video highlight goes along with the prior photo. Come along as we start with nice views of the ski runs of Breckenridge Ski Resort across the valley from us. Then, after rounding a corner, the ski resort goes out of view so it's time to watch Jack & Rudy galloping along in this nice single track trail. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We did an "out & back" on Prospect Hill to start today's outing. So, that meant we turned around at one point. Oh those turnaround goofballs :)

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes always snow rolling Jack.
"Turnaround, woooooos abound!" belts singing Rudy.
Oh, another nice view of Breckenridge Ski Resort across the valley.

Once done with the single track skijoring on Prospect Hill, it was time to drop onto the wide trails of nearby Gold Run Nordic Center. The kids really opened it up on the nordic zoomies today!

They started by topping 23 MPH on the upper nordic loop trail:

Zooming! Wheeee!

They continued by catching air in a little bit of sun breaking through the morning clouds:

Let's catch some air with some nice shadow effects!

Then it was time to entertain the oncoming crowds (it was pretty busy near the trailhead on this weekend morning). Jack & Rudy love to fly on by and put smiles on the onlooking faces!

"Coming through! Made you smile!!!!" says the entertainers zipping on
by the onlooking skiers.

Backcountry single tracks to views to speeding to catching air to entertaining the crowds - all in a day's work for two impressive sled dogs :)

"I was smiling all day too!" adds cool Jack.
"You have my UNDIVIDED attention!" says very focused Rudy
awaiting the end of run treats.

Fun day, fun skijor partners! 9 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 41 days on the trails covering 298.8 miles with 27,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Preston

With all our recent snow, the backcountry trail in Dry Gulch was a bit narrow this morning!

Jack & Rudy trying to fit shoulder to shoulder in the pre-existing single track.

The single track got so narrow at points that Jack & Rudy had to run single file (taking turns who was in lead). I rode out of track behind them this entire section of the outing in an attempt to widen the set trail for us the next time we want to use it.

Our goal was to use the backcountry trails in Dry Gulch to eventually connect onto the groomed trails of Gold Run Nordic Center. As we were completing Dry Gulch and about to enter the nordic center, moose tracks appeared all over the place! From Jack & Rudy's intensity at sniffing these tracks, I knew there were fairly fresh. Jack always points in the direction the moose went (Rudy is hit or miss on pointing the right direction :) But, both aligned the same way this morning, sniffed for a bit and then popped their heads up as if to say, "Moose when this way! We should too!" 

"Sniff, sniff, these are FRESH!" says the moose inspectors.

Unfortunately for me, we eventually had to go the direction Jack & Rudy were suggesting to get to the trailhead. Fortunately for me, another trail at the nordic center had been opened last Wednesday. This trail is a large loop in the direction AWAY from the moose tracks, phew. I convinced Jack & Rudy that we should do the loop going away from the direction of the moose. Once they got a few feet away from the tracks, they agreed. After all, they LOVE this upper loop!

Flying around the Preston Loop as we (or I) hoped that gave the moose
enough time to leave the vacinity before we arrived back!

This Preston Loop is one of our favorites during the season. It is often one of the trails where we hit between 24-26 MPH skijoring. But, it's still November and the trail is not perfect for full throttle yet. But it was VERY nice for a wonderful November skijor. Come along and see for yourself:

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Once we completed the Preston Loop, it was time to head to the trailhead in the direction of the moose tracks. I needed to catch my breath before starting this final leg as I knew it would be a wild ride. Well, catching my breath meant I stopped :)

"Stop, drop & roll! Let us know when you are ready to go find those moose!"
says the snow rolling sillies.

Well, as expected, it was quite the wild ride behind "moose juiced" Jack & Rudy on this final stretch of the outing. I came around every corner on the trail ready to hit the ground if a moose was in the trail. I could read Jack & Rudy's body language and the "scent of moose" was clearly in the air!

The kids catching air while on high alert in moose country!

Luckily, for me, we never encountered the moose. It was just a fast & furious ride behind moose juiced Jack & Rudy. What a way to earn your end of run treats:

"We were working HARD! Well earned treats are in order!" says the
fun kids atop another snow wall for receiving treats.

A fun romp in Dry Gulch and the sprint around Gold Run Nordic Center this morning: 7.1 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 17 days on the trails covering 132.3 miles with 13,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Surprise Accumulation

Who is having a great time skijoring this morning?

"We are!!!!!!! So much fun in the fresh snow!" exclaims the happy kids looking
back to me when I asked who was having a good time :)

The forecast was for a few inches of new snow last night and into the morning. Well, we got a lot more than that! We had 6 inches in our driveway and Breckenridge Ski Resort reported 12 inches of fresh snow on the mountain. With more snow than expected, we headed out to French Gulch to use the new snow on this trail. As we transitioned from town onto the dirt road leading to the trailhead we saw that only a single car had driven out before us and the road was perfectly skiable! So, we hopped out and skijored the road to the French Gulch trailhead and then skijored out & back in French Gulch. Fun to be able to start far down the road:

Zipping along French Gulch Road amidst active snowfall as we
near the trailhead to continue onto the French Gulch Trail.

The conditions in French Gulch were a little interesting for long stretches. This trail is shared with 4WD vehicles that can access the handful of private cabins in the gulch. The road had not been recently plowed by any of the vehicles (YAY!!!!) but it had been driven. So, we had two set single tracks (the tire tracks that other skiers had been using as well) that were the width of a vehicle apart. When the single tracks were too skinny to fit two sled dogs, Jack & Rudy would automatically separate and take their own track:

The smart & flexible kids showing they can each use their one narrow
single track while I get to glide in the powder down the middle.

Despite being very flexible with conditions, Jack & Rudy do prefer to run closer together. So, of course, whenever they could come together and fit in the trail, they did:

Rudy in the left track while Jack runs in the ski tracks I set for him on
the way out this trail. I always try to widen a single track in one
direction in hopes we can then fit together on the return direction.

Now onto our video highlight of the day which shows just how tightly Jack & Rudy can fit together when needed. We start out in a gentle jog, packed together into a single track, along a flat stretch of trail. Then the terrain takes a downward dip and Jack & Rudy accelerate nicely while still fitting tightly in the narrow single track. Impressive kids :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Of course, French Gulch comes along with the bonus entertainment of MOOSE!!!! We did not see any moose today, but Jack & Rudy clearly caught the "scent of moose" three times and had to dip off trail and climb snow walls to look for moose. Despite what their noses were saying, we failed to spot a moose (but we know they were nearby :)

"Our noses say MOOSE are in the forest this way!" declares the moose
inspecting kids.

Finally, we got our handler & driver (Nancy) back with us today. It's so enjoyable to have a handler's help so we can have our end of run treats out in the snow versus in the Jeep!

"Yay, back to treats from snowbanks!" says the happy kids.

A surprise amount of new snow this morning allowing us a fun skijor in French Gulch: 9.2 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 65 days on the trails covering 547.6 miles with 53,800 feet of elevation climbed.

Cool

Cool action shot of Jack & Rudy whipping me around a corner on a fast nordic trail!

Love the snow poofs behind the fast kids.
Love the action as all three of us are leaning into a fast & wild left in the trail!

We got a light layer of new snow overnight, so we headed to the backcountry to start this morning's outing. With some new snow, I knew the trails that were slick & icy just a day or two ago would be safe this morning.

Cruising along in a backcountry single track. Wheeee!

We actually spent the majority of today's outing in the backcountry. Nice to use these trails when they are safe with new snow. We were winding through the forest having a great time!

Zipping along, winding through the trees!

Then, to end the day, as the first photo implies, we dropped onto the wide & groomed trails of Gold Run Nordic Center. Once on the groomie zoomie trails it was ZOOM from the cool kids:

Jack & Rudy literally FLYING along the groomie zoomies.

Today's video highlight? Another day topping 25 MPH skijoring! Jack & Rudy love this particular stretch of trail as they know I'll let them fully open the throttle and go, go, GO! Oh yea, perfect trail conditions too as we were first tracks on the freshly groomed nordic sprint track! Come along and watch the fast fun.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Our turnaround on the nordic trails was at a point called Jumbo Overlook. Humans stop here to take in the views. Siberian Huskies stop here to roll snow angels :)

Those snow rolling sillies at it again :)

Winding through the backcountry to then finish on the groomie zoomie nordic trails. My pals really earned their end of run treats today!

"Ready!" declares the happy, focused great kids.

Really enjoyable morning skijoring with Jack & Rudy: 9.9 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 25 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 96 days on the trails covering 845.8 miles with 77,700 feet of elevation climbed.