Fast Packed

The fun kids catching air along a stretch of trail before the morning sun has fully risen:

The photo is a bit dark as we are shaded from the morning sun by a large
mountain behind us; but the kids are "catching air in the dim light" :)

Our outing this morning took us to the wide trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. I was hoping they might have been groomed yesterday or today; but no such luck. As a result, the trails were pretty hard and fast packed! That's not really an issue (except to my sore knees :) but it does cause Jack & Rudy to drift a bit further apart than they will run on less slick trails;

Jack the cannonball and Rudy the missile taking full advantage of
the wide but very hard & fast packed trail.

As they hear my skis scraping and grinding behind them on such hard terrain, they tend to separate like this as you need to give the human some avenue of safety when he cannot stop quickly. Nice guys:

The smart kids separating again to give me a clear avenue down
the slick middle of the trail!

But, even though Jack & Rudy may run a little more separated and out of sync on such fast packed trails, the end result is still the same. Come along and see for yourselves - wheeee! Oh, and note the narrow & thin snow coverage at around 25 seconds into this clip. This section of trail is very sun exposed all day and, at this point, the trail gets very narrow and thin. I simply call out an "easy, easy" to my pals to slow a bit through the narrow patch and then call out "ok" once past it and the smart guys floor it again.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Then, just to make sure I was paying attention, the comedians decided to roll separate snow angels today as well - running far apart lead to rolling snow angels far apart :)

"Rub a dub dub!" goes rolling Rudy at our turnaround point.
"I don't think I need to roll here." adds Jack.

But, don't worry, Jack was still Jack. The 8 year old has rolled at least one snow angel on EVERY skijor outing of his life (and usually many more than one). So, a few steps turning around from the prior photo and there is reliable snow rolling Jack:

"My turn! Aaaahhh!" goes always rolling Jack.
"Tasty snow too!" adds snowcone snacking Rudy.

Finally, back to the trailhead and who is ready for end of run treats?

"I see them! I see them! READY!" says Jack focused on the goody bag in my hand.
"Ready too, I'll wait patiently right here!" adds Rudy (patient & Rudy, hahaha).

Beautiful morning on hard & fast packed nordic trails: 7.2 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 28 days on the trails covering 175.6 miles with 19,900 feet of elevation climbed.

 

High vs Low

Snow angels from Jack and woos from Rudy at our turnaround point this morning.

Shocking, huh? Hahaha!

"Turnaround, roll around!' goes snow rolling Jack.
"Turnaround, woos abound!" belts singing Rudy.

Today's outing took us to the upper trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center. It was almost like we skijored two different locations, though. The groomer had last run on the trails yesterday morning and it was in the 40s yesterday afternoon and then under 20 overnight. So, the trails closer to the trailhead were well used yesterday, warmed in the afternoon and refroze overnight. The result? Well, there was no real evidence the groomer really ran yesterday!

The classic ski track between Jack & Rudy is the only evidence of a recent
groomer. All the groom corduroy has been tracked up and the trail
was fast packed and SLICK!

Then, go a few miles from the trailhead, and few others had been out this far since yesterday morning's groom.  How few? Well, at our furthest point there was only one pre-existing classic ski track and one pre-existing skate ski track. The rest of the trail was untouched groomer corduroy! You know what that means:

Groomie zoomie as we top 21 MPH on the good conditions this morning!

Today's fun skijoring clip highlights my right ski. We are at about mid-distance from the trailhead in this clip; so more than two but not many previous skiers had been on this stretch. Then I noticed the right shoulder of this section of trail is shaded and still had some untouched corduroy from yesterday's grooming. Thus, all my weight is on my right leg this entire clip while the left glides down the slick middle. So, you'll see a lot of my right ski tip on & off throughout this clip if you can take your eyes off impressive running Jack & Rudy :) Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

There is one very steep, sun exposed and rocky short section of trail we encounter on this route. The warm Sunday & Monday had caused the rocks to start poking through the snow. So, I had to take my skis off for this short section. I can get them off pretty quick, but we all have to stop while I put them back on. Well, you guessed it, Stop, Drop & Roll from the Siberian comedians:

Stop, Drop and Roll! What else to do while the slow human puts the skis back on?
You can see one ski, off the ground, to the right of this photo. 
Jack & Rudy make full use for comedy interludes at any stoppage :)

Finally, back to the trailhead and, unfortunately, no snow walls of any significance to climb for end of run treats. So, we'll sit patiently in the snow for our treats instead.

"We'd rather climb a snow wall for treats; but we certainly will
accept them down here!" says the focused & happy pair.

Slick down low, beautiful up high - what a difference in conditions on today's outing: 9 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 7 days on the trails covering 56.7 miles with 5300 feet of elevation climbed.

Catching Air

Cruising through the ruins of an old 1800s mining ghost town on this morning's skijor outing:

Peacefully trotting along as we take in the mining ruins.

Today's outing had found us starting in the backcountry and ending on the wide trails of Gold Run Nordic Center. With warm days and cold nights this time of year, the backcountry trails can get a bit slick and icy every morning. Luckily, Jack & Rudy know to slow the pace on slick trails, so it was a comfortable trot to start the outing as you see above.

We like to try and drop onto the trails at Gold Run Nordic Center just after the groomer finishes with the trails in the morning. That is especially true this time year when the trails have warmed the previous day and refrozen overnight. Unfortunately when we got on the upper most trail at Gold Run, the groomer had not been here yet this morning:

The photo does not do just to just how slick this trail was from warming
yesterday and refreezing overnight. My legs were burning from driving the
skis into the slick conditions to keep upright and pace with Jack & Rudy :)

But, then, thank dog, once we got on the main trail at Gold Run, the groomer had been there only minutes before us! One other fat bike rider with his dog were the only tracks on the fresh groom. Well, after keeping speeds to a minimum for the first two legs of the outing, Jack & Rudy knew what to do with this fresh groom! Zoom!

Yay for the fresh groom, time to safely uncork the skijoring engine
and catch some air sprinting along the trail!

The trail conditions in the prior photo are absolutely perfect. You'll notice there are some trees to shade the trail part of the day to prevent too much melting this time of year.

Well, after the prior photo, we took a left towards the trailhead and got onto the most sun exposed stretch of trail at Gold Run. This stretch is always the first to "melt out" in the Spring as it gets all day sunshine:

The hover huskies still catching air; but, yikes, look at that bit of ground
starting to poke through to our left. Spring sucks :)

Luckily that fully exposed stretch in the prior photo does not last for very long. Within a minute or two and we are back down into the trees. This well shaded stretch of trail keeps its snow well into mid to late Spring. Come along and see for yourself as Jack & Rudy are towing me along a pristine trail through dense shade providing trees. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Ok, now get ready to laugh. Do you think Rudy is enjoying his snow angel this morning :)

"Ah! You know you want to join me!" exclaims super happy snow rolling Rudy.
"I'm in heaven too!" adds mellow rolling Jack.

Eventually, all outings have to come to an end. Despite knowing the "end is near" it is still running hard with all smiles from Jack & Rudy as we approach the finish:

"Whee! So much fun today!" declares the happy kids.

Finally, the happiness from Jack & Rudy continues right on into our final act of the morning: sharing end of run treats.

Such happy kids! What fun pals!

From early slick trails to freshly groomed nordic trails this morning: 9.1 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 112 days on the trails covering 958.4 miles with 93,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Slick

Jack & Rudy's preferred ways to express happiness & satisfaction :)

Jack: always that happy, happy smile usually with a wag or two (or more)
of his big swooshy tail!
Rudy: happiness & satisfaction are defined by woos!!! "WOO!" is
extreme satisfaction :)

It has been an unseasonably warm start to March which has had our trails melting in the afternoon to then freeze overnight. That means we encountered very icy and slick conditions on the trails of Breckenridge Nordic Center this morning. 

The shininess you see "around Rudy" is slick ice.
The trails were dominated by the dangerous ice patches most of the outing!

At some point in March or April, the crust on the snow off trail becomes firm enough to support Jack, Rudy and myself on skis. With super slick conditions on trail this morning, we decided to give the crust a test. It was still too early for the crust to hold us; but Jack & Rudy gave it a thorough inspection!

See the post holes from Jack & Rudy behind them. The crust could
not support them walking yet. But, the good news is the crust is solid
enough to support a snow angel roll without busting through. Almost
time for the spring crust :)

With the crust not firm yet, it was back onto the nordic trails. Once we got far enough from the (heavy use) trailheads, the ice became less & less of an issue. So nice up high and far away from civilization!

Whee up high! No shiny iciness way up here!!!

But, most of the day was spent on slick & icy conditions. Jack & Rudy are PERFECT at slowing down when they hear my skis scraping like crazy to try and keep myself under control. What great partners!

Time to report back in with retired mentor Zorro after another successful skijor outing:

"Glad they kept you upright!" says handsome Zorro.
"Waiting our turn!!!" adds wonderfully patient Jack & Rudy!

A fun day, but boy oh boy was it slick out there!!! 9.8 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 101 days on the trails covering 846.8 miles with 79,800 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Delay

 Did we really skijor Monday but not Tuesday? Nope...

"Pedal to the metal" brothers as we launch up Boreas Pass.

But, wait, today is Thursday. Ok, well we got busy :) 

We did follow up Monday's great skijor with another on Tuesday morning. Then, Rudy and I were busy executing (and passing) his final Therapy Dog Observation (yay RUDY!!!!). Then we lost track of Wednesday. So, here it is now Thursday and our update of Tuesday's early morning run.

With the great conditions on Boreas Monday, we returned early Tuesday. We knew the conditions would have deteriorated; but expected to still be good enough to get in a fun run. We were not disappointed. As you see above, we started on a pretty packed surface to go up, up, up Boreas Pass. Along the way you get to pass the historic Baker's Tank (from when this trail on Boreas was a railroad track)!

Trotting by Baker's Tank. Imagine a train pausing here
to refill water from this tank!

While the conditions were safe enough to go up Boreas, it was a little too thin coverage to come all the way back down. So, Jack, Rudy & I went up higher than Monday knowing that Nancy & Zorro would be driving up the pass to save us (or, me) from coming down too far on slick & rocky terrain. But, at the higher elevations, we were able to turn around and get some nice speed before meeting up with Nancy and Zorro:

Nice up high - FLOOR IT! Wheeee!

As I mentioned, we went far up Boreas until it was time to turnaround. Then we galloped back down quickly as far as the conditions would allow. Once it was unsafe for the human/skis to continue, we paused to wait for Nancy & Zorro. What to do while waiting? Jack & Rudy have never been at a loss for what to do when waiting in snow :)

"Waiting? No, rolling!!!" demonstrates the snow angel duo.

Finally, what should be our signature sign-off of every blog this year: reuniting with retired Zorro to have group "end of run" treats:

"Front & center and READY!" declares cool Zorro.
"Oh yeah, treats!" say distracted Jack & Rudy :)

We still are on very early season conditions, so the outings are short. But, believe me, Jack & Rudy get the MOST out of a 5-6 mile run! 5.5 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed.

2020/2010 Season to Date: 3 days on the trails covering 12 miles with 1150 feet of elevation climbed.

Unfortunately, we are back into a warm spell and will be off skis until it snows again...

Pray for Snow!

Workout

Cute Zorro prodding me to "get with it" and dish out those "end of run" treats :)

"Poke, poke, get with it already!" says prodding Zorro.
"You have my full attention!" adds happy Jack.
"Look who is the 'picture of patience'!" declares mellow Rudy (haha).

We went to skijor an out & back on the upper elevation trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center this morning. Typically they run the groomer on these trails on Monday morning to cleanup the terrain after heavy weekend use. But, unfortunately, we got to the trails before the groomer. As a result, we found ourselves on fast packed to extremely slick conditions all morning long. This leads to a real workout for ME as I have to ski, snowplow and drive my skis into the hard terrain in an attempt to keep us under control. I like to pretend I can stop if I need to and slick conditions really test my abilities! Whew!

The closer to the trailhead we were, the more packed and slick the trail was. Look at the shininess of the trail in the following photo - that is packed to the point of slick ice! Yikes!

Oh boy were my legs burning trying to keep the machine under
control on slick stretches of trail!

Luckily the highest points of our outing were a little nicer as not many people make it this far out on the trails. It was still fast & hard packed up high, but at least it was not slick & shiny ice!

Super hard packed trail; but that is still better than slick ice!

Come along for today's loud video clip. If you have your volume on, you will hear my skis in a constant "scrape" as I try my hardest to keep us under control on ridiculously fast conditions. All that scraping you hear is work on my legs - ow :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

At our turnaround point, I was happy to encourage silly antics from the kids while I rested my legs.

A real test of the wide angle of my camera to capture this dual snow angel!
"What silly kids!" says happy Zorro.

I took so long to rest at our turnaround that even mature Zorro lost patience. I thought he was going to go roll a snow angel in the side powder but he decided to chomp down on snowcones while waiting for me instead.

"Yum, tasty snowcones!" demonstrates snow eating Zorro.
"Hey big bro - what do you have over there?" asks onlooking Jack.
Rudy was in his usual la-la-land and never noticed Zorro (and then Jack) eating snow :)

We've now had back to back skijors of "almost too hard packed" conditions. As I look out the window, I see the upcoming snowstorm blowing in over the mountains. We can really use a dose of fresh snow on the packed trails and hope to wake to upwards of 12 inches of new snow tomorrow!

A hard packed, hard on the human's legs day: 6.2 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 85 days on the trails covering 584.7 miles with 54,200 feet of elevation climbed.