Fresh and First

Look at what we found this morning in Dry Gulch!

Upwards of 10 inches of fresh powder to blast through
in the backcountry!

When we get in deep snow like this, I love watching Jack & Rudy work in slow motion. You can really get a feel for their power and strength by watching this way. So, come along for today's video highlight: a slow motion glimpse into the Jack & Rudy trail breaking duo! Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Our plan was to enjoy fresh snow in Dry Gulch and then get some speed on the groomed trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. But, within 10 yards of transitioning from backcountry to nordic terrain, this unfolded :)

"I sense rodents under the snow! Incoming!" goes beautiful rodent diving Rudy.
"What? Really?" responds Jack pausing when he noticed Rudy's actions.

Jack, of course, was quick to join the rodent hunt. You never let your brother dunk in the snow for rodents alone! Jack does what I call a "rodent lunge" versus Rudy's high arching, fox-like rodent dives. From what I've seen over the years, the dive and the lunge tend to produce the same results. But it is certainly Rudy's personality to do a dramatic dive and Jack's personality to do a mellow lunge :)

"Joining! Where are those pesky rodents?" ask lunging Jack.
"Searching, searching!" responds Rudy furiously digging in the snow.
Nobody came up with a rodent in their mouth, bummer for them :)

Now go back to Rudy's dive photo above. Notice anything special in front of Jack? Well, the nordic trail is freshly groomed and we are FIRST tracks on the fresh groom! Once the comedians recovered from their failed rodent hunt, they knew what to do with a fresh groom! Zoom!

Topping 24 MPH being first tracks on the fresh groom.
The groomie zoomie brothers!

Much to our surprise and pleasure, we were first tracks on the fresh groom the entire upper loop at the nordic center and then we were only second tracks on the lower main trail for most of the way. What fun:

On to the main trail and only 1 set of ski tracks (look in between Jack & Rudy)
and one set of dog tracks (to Rudy's left). This was just a guy skiing along with
his dog (not skijoring), we caught them just around the next corner and he was
quite jealous of the help I get while he gets nothing from his dog, haha :)

Today's parting shot? Jack & Rudy the snow angel rolling sillies at our turnaround point of the outing:

Jack quite often hops in the deeper snow off trail to roll a very deep
and energetic snow angel. Rudy is hit or miss whether he wants to
roll "in track" or "out of track" - today was rolling in track.

From trail breaking in fresh snow in the backcountry to first tracks on a fresh groom at the nordic center, a perfect day: 8.9 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 77 days on the trails covering 602.5 miles with 57,200 feet of elevation climbed.

Backcountry Powder Day

Laying fresh tracks in about 2-3 inches of new snow to start today's skijor outing:

Zipping along, laying fresh tracks!

Breckenridge Ski Resort reported 8 inches of fresh snow this morning. But, we only had about 2-3 inches at our house; so I was skeptical about that report. As you see in the prior photo, we found only about 2-3 inches of new snow at the start of our outing. So, my skepticism was seeming like reality as we started the day.

But, then, the magic happened. The higher (in elevation) we went, the deeper the snow got. I found myself changing from skeptical to wondering just how much new snow we'd encounter!

Trotting by an old, abandoned mining cabin in about 5-6 inches of fresh snow
at this point.

The further we went, the deeper it got...

Busting through at least 8, maybe 10, inches of fresh snow at this point!
For the curious, those are fox or coyote tracks going down the trail in
front of Jack (most likely fox, but could be coyote).

Did I say, "The further we went, the deeper it got?"

Snorkeling through 10-12 inches of fresh powder at this point! Wow!

How about some powder blasting video fun to go along with the deep snow we found? I love doing powder clips in slow motion as is it so cool to watch the powerful sled dogs blasting through powder as they tow me along. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Of course, breaking trail through deep snow is a real workout. That means you MUST stop, drop and roll snow angels to cool your jets at any pause along the way :)

Stop, drop and ROLL!!!

A great day enjoying backcountry fresh powder all to ourselves, right guys?

"Oh yes, that was a FUN workout!" says the happy & focused kids.

Today's fresh tracks to trail breaking tally: 8.1 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 55 days on the trails covering 415.8 miles with 39,600 feet of elevation climbed.

Late April Powder Day

Look who was enjoying this morning's Late April Powder Day!

"Yay for new snow! We are having a BLAST!" says the happily snow covered
kids at a momentary pause on the trail this morning.

Yes, that's right, it was a wonderful powder day in late April! We found ourselves laying fresh tracks in 5-10 inches of new snow all morning long (5 inches at our lowest elevations and 10 at our highest). Even though the snow was a bit on the wet/heavy side, Jack & Rudy were excited to go snow plowing all day long:

Laying fresh tracks in a beautiful layer of fresh snow!

I love riding behind these two and watching them blast through deep powder. So impressive:

Powder blasting - wheeee!

Typically in April, I like to do "out & back" outings so I see on the obstacles on the "out leg" that I need to avoid on the "back leg". This works great when the out leg is mostly up and the back mostly down. But, with the amount of new snow we had this morning, I decided to do a loop with the kids so we were able to lay fresh tracks almost the entire outing in rolling up & down terrain. The end of the outing repeated one short section to get back to the trailhead, thus, fresh tracks almost the entire outing. Along the way, my fun pals decided to switch positions for a little while. Switched positions, same results :)

POW again as we now have Jack on the left and Rudy on the right.

I've put today's video highlight in slow motion as I love watching these two blast through powder in slowmo. Come along and watch for yourselves. Such impressive powder plows!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

You know what else deep, fresh snow is good for? Well, rolling snow angels with some extra gusto to cause the powder to fly up around you. Just ask Jack & Rudy, this is the best way to roll angels :)

"Rolling with extra gusto to make powder fly up around and on us!" demonstrates
the snow rolling funnies.

What a late April snow treat, right guys?

"Oh, that was FUN! We love fresh snow!" exclaims the happy & focused
kids awaiting end of run treats.

What a fun powder day, especially for this late in April: 7.4 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 138 days on the trails covering 1179.9 miles with 117,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Powder Day

It was a wonderful POW, POW, Powder Day in fresh snow on untouched trails in the backcountry this morning!

Jack & Rudy blasting through upwards of 7 inches of fresh snow
as they tow me along.

While the ski resort reported only 5 inches of fresh snow, we found MUCH, MUCH more in the backcountry on the mountains across the valley from the resort. Clearly our side of the valley won in last night's snowfall! We started in upwards of 7 inches of powder as you saw above. But, then we climbed up and out into the backcountry. The further (and higher) we went, the deeper it got! Near our high point we found ourselves in a stretch of upwards of 15 inches of untouched, fresh powder. WooHoo!

Jack & Rudy now blasting through upwards of 15 inches of powder! POW!

Now let's put the last two photos together as a video highlight. I love watching Jack & Rudy in slow motion in deep powder as you can really get a feel for their powder plowing power at this speed. Come along for two back to back slow motion powder highlights from the outing. In the first half Jack & Rudy are blasting through upwards of 7 inches of powder while the second half features them blasting through upwards of 15 inches of powder. Impressive kids!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Along the way we got rodent diving entertainment from the two comedians. It doesn't matter how deep the snow is, they can sense those pesky rodents under the snow. We were cruising along at a gentle pace when all rodent broke out to Rudy's left...

"RODENTS to the left! Incoming!" goes beautiful rodent diving Rudy.
"What? Really? Here I come!" adds Jack noticing Rudy's antics.
The real trail goes up from Jack in this photo so this was quite a far
dive off trail for rodent detecting Rudy!

Rodent dives are, of course, contagious - just ask Jack!

Jack's dives are not as high arching as Rudy's but they are still
very effective :)

Despite some very pretty dives and lots of digging in the snow, nobody came up with a rodent in their mouth. Phew :)

Our outing today was an "out & back" as we wanted to reuse the trail we worked so hard to set on the way out to go a little faster on the way back. But, with such wonderful deep snow, it was still a very aerobic ride back in our outgoing tracks!

Really cool shot of the ski runs of Breckenridge Ski Resort across the
valley from us. As you can see from all the powder coming up around
Jack & Rudy, running in our out track was still very aerobic this morning!

Great powder day, right guys!

"We loved it and we'll accept end of run treats since we failed to bag
any rodents!" states the proud & happy kids.

A fun day slowed by deep snow but with smiles on all of our faces all outing long: 7.2 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 85 days on the trails covering 713.0 miles with 68,600 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Freshies

A beautiful Fresh Tracks Thursday for our skijor this morning!

Jack & Rudy zooming, laying fresh tracks, in about 4 inches
of fresh powder. Yay!

Our outing took us once again to the upper elevation trails of Breckenridge Nordic Center. With a pre-existing packed base in areas and 3-5 inches of fresh snow, I knew we'd be in for a treat most of the morning. Can you just feel the power from Jack & Rudy in this photo?

The power twins towing me quickly through fresh powder!

Sometimes I really like to watch Jack & Rudy skijoring in slow motion to appreciate their sheer power. This is especially true when they are powering through fresh snow. Come along for today's video highlight - a slow motion clip showcasing Jack & Rudy's powder power, wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We did a large loop on the trails this morning, so that meant we were laying fresh tracks the entire outing!

Fun shot of the powder kids in the morning sun.

At our midpoint of the day, I paused to check our time out on the trails. Well, I paused...

"You pause, we Stop, Drop & Roll!" says the goofy snow angel rolling kids.

Finally, there's nothing as fun as enjoying end of run treats after a morning of powder power running :)

"You have our FULL attention!" exclaims the happy kids.

Super fun fresh tracks morning; 8.2 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 9 days on the trails covering 69.5 miles with 7300 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Breaking Trail

Jack & Rudy breaking trail in 12+ inches of fresh powder in October!!! Woo Hoo!

Impressive kids blasting through the powder as they tow me along!

I had been watching the "snow stake" from Breckenridge Ski Resort the last few days and its daily totals summed up to well over a 1.5 feet of snow! So, we headed out to the summer hike/bike trails on Peak 7 this morning. These trails are next to the ski resort (which is not open for the season yet), so I was hoping we could be in some of this 18+ inches of snow that has been on the snow stake the past few days. Well, as you see in the first photo - success!!! A little further along and Jack & Rudy have switched sides, but same result - powder plowing!

The impressive kids powering through more deep powder.

I love watching Jack & Rudy plow through powder in slow motion. At this speed, you can really get a feet for how hard they are working and how powerful they are. Come along for the slomo powder video!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Technically, the trails we were on will become groomed terrain for Breckenridge Nordic Center once it opens for the season. So, we got to visit the various warming huts along the way. Goofy Jack loves to roll snow angels at the warming huts :)

"This my idea of 'warming'!" demonstrates silly Jack.
"Can we get going yet?" asks Rudy.
Rudy is standing in a semi-packed footpath to the hut, so it only looks
like 5-6 inches of snow here; but it was 12+ once he stepped out of the
semi-packed path.

After a day of breaking trail, everyone really appreciated the end of run treats!

"Dish them out!" says happy Jack.
"Are you going stop talking and hand them out YET?" asks Rudy.

A very aerobic day in deep powder. What an October treat: 5.5 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 14 MPH (you try running through 12+ inches of snow :)

2022/2023 Season to Date: 4 days on the trails covering 22.6 miles with 2050 feet of elevation climbed.

Elk Encounter

 Celebrating a wildlife entertaining skijor with well-earned end of run treats:

Smiles all around :)

The highlight of yesterday morning's skijor? Elk encounter!!! 

When Jack and/or Rudy get a scent of wildlife nearby, I'll often let them drift to the side of the trail to peek into the forest for what has caught their attention. Since I can see there is nothing (such as a moose or elk) standing at the edge of the trail, it is safe to let us drift over and stare into the forest. Well, today was a bit different. It started out normal as Jack & Rudy wanted to drift to the trail edge to inspect the forest. As we were drifting over I saw what looked like a set of tree branches sticking up out of the snow and I thought, "That set of branches is so cool, it almost looks like antlers!" and I was getting set to get a photo of the antler looking branches. Then, as we got closer, the "branches stood up!" Oh my, it really was a set of antlers on the head of a big bull elk! The elk was laying down off the trail with only the tops of its antlers visible to us until we got closer and he stood up. Whoa! Needless to say, I was in panic mode getting Jack & Rudy reeled in and myself ready to hold them back. 

It's interesting that, despite how big elk are, they are very skittish, much like deer, and runaway quickly. A moose on the other hand (especially a bull) will stand ground and challenge you. But, bull elks apparently do not realize how big they are and they runaway quickly. Anyway, I eventually got myself, Jack & Rudy under control (as I was initially staring face to face with the elk). Once under control, I attempted to turn my chest to get the elk on the GoPro around my chest. He had already started running off by the time I got turned, so I do not have a photo of the impressive and scary initial "face to face" - here's what I did capture (click on the photo to enlarge):

Jack & Rudy staring at the big elk butt running into the forest at
the far right of this photo.

Still hard to see the elk in the prior photo, so here is a zoom into the far right of this photo:

There he is running away. Big "light brown" lower body and butt.
Dark brown shoulders & head with a big set of antlers on top!

How about a video of the encounter? Come along for a super slow motion clip to show the elk moving away once I am under control and able to point my chest towards him. Just watch Jack to see where to look and notice la-la-land Rudy isn't even looking the right direction to start but quickly syncs up with Jack and the elk :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

After this elk close encounter, imagine my work in convincing Jack & Rudy to turn and go the direction AWAY from the elk (that was the direction we needed to go to get back to the trailhead). Well, after a some discussion about why to go the "wrong way", we started up the trail and encountered fresh moose tracks!!!!

We came by this section of trail on the way out only 20-30 minutes earlier
and there were no moose tracks!

Needless to say, the very fresh moose tracks got Jack & Rudy over going the wrong direction from the elk as we were now going the right direction for moose. We never encountered the recent moose, but it did help get the team going the intended direction with gusto :)

Oh yeah, we went skijoring today too:

Initially the conditions were thin and sketchy as were were on a trail
with constant sun exposure.

Once we got onto more protected terrain, though, it was perfect conditions
to run fast, hunt elk and search for moose :)

Whew, what an interesting close encounter of the elk kind yesterday morning! 6.6 miles traveled with 550 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 11 days on the trails covering 79.4 miles with 7350 feet of elevation climbed.

Late April Powder

A Late April Powder Day! Everyone having a good time?

"Oh boy! You bet!!!!!" declares the super happy trio!

This morning was a real late April treat a we awoke to a couple of inches of new snow at home so we headed up to the trails on Peak 7 with anticipation of even more fresh snow a little higher up.

What did we find? Powder Day! We started the day with the threesome (Zorro, Jack & Rudy) and found ourselves laying fresh tracks in 4-6 inches of fresh powder.

Wheeee - late April freshies!!!
Great shot of the trio plowing through the morning's fresh snow!

With 4-6 inches of powder, we were at about 11-3/4 year old Zorro's limit of "trail breaking". I paused twice to give the fun elder a break. Did he need the break? Well, the initial pause was the first photo above - sure doesn't look like anybody needed a break. The second pause is below. Hmmm, I don't think Zorro needed my silly breaks :)

"He stopped! Drop & Roll!" demonstrates the goofball kids.
"Would you quit stopping!" declares 'ready to go' Zorro :)

After the first 1/3 of our planned outing, we looped back towards the trailhead to hand elder Zorro off with Nancy. He may not have looked like he needed any breaks, but we know his "almost 12 years old" limits :)

Look at powder plowing Zorro (and powder plowing Jack too).
Meanwhile, silly youngest and biggest Rudy is taking the shallower middle track. Silly kid!

After dropping off Zorro, the kids and I went out & up Peak 7, knowing the powder would get deeper and deeper. But, just how deep was a real aerobic treat!

Partway up Peak 7 and we are breaking trail in over 8 inches of fresh powder.

If you think the prior photo was impressive, how about the following as the kids are plowing through at least 10, maybe 12, inches of pow, pow, POWDER!!!

Late April Powder Power from Jack & Rudy. POW!!!

Sometimes it is really impressive to watch the power of the sled dogs in slow motion. Come along for a slowmo of Jack & Rudy busting and plowing through some impressive April powder! Slow POW :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Originally I was going to do an "upper elevation" loop with Jack & Rudy on Peak 7. But, once I saw how deep we got, I changed plans and directed them back the way we came. With such deep snow, you want to reuse your "out track" on the way back so you can open up the throttle!

Jack & Rudy at full throttle as they run back in the tracks we set on
the way out. Notice the slight blurring in the photo. This was the
last shot of the day before the camera got covered with actively falling snow!
Yay for Snow!

Fun April Treat - plowing through shallower powder with elder Zorro and then getting into deep trail breaking with young Jack & Rudy: 7.6 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 155 days on the trails covering 1060.9 miles with 96,700 feet of elevation climbed.

Bird Distraction

Look at those 3 distracted sled dogs glancing to the left (without breaking stride :)

Distracted but not slowing down!

What could cause such a distraction without causing a break in the skijoring? Certainly not a moose as that would be a distraction that interrupted skijoring. So, what is distracting enough to look but not stop? Well, a large bird...

Cruising along as you see a large bird atop the tall tree to our left.

Despite being on the top of the tree, the bird got scared of the 3 sled dogs coming along fast below. As we neared the tree, the bird took off...

Guess 3 oncoming sled dogs is scary from 20+ feet above :)

Put the last three photos together and you get today's fun slow motion video clip. Come along as we are cruising along the trail when the bird gets scared and takes off out of the tree and then dips down (this is what got everyone's attention in the first photo) before taking flight to the left. All three of my partners watch with interest but never really break stride. Once the bird is gone, back to front-focused skijoring.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Our outing today took on on the Blue River Recreation Path from Breckenridge to Frisco. As you see in the photos above, we started the day with Zorro and ran partway to Frisco.

The complete trip to Frisco is too much for 11.5 year old Zorro, so we dropped him with Nancy partway and I continued on with Jack & Rudy. Along one stretch of the rec path, we are skijoring close to Highway 9 between Breckenridge and Frisco. We always get honks and cheers out of open windows as the oncoming cars see us flying along the trail:

Putting on a show for the oncoming cars on Highway 9 :)

The rec path also crosses side roads a few times. We have to stop, take the skis off and cross the road before restarting. Well, Jack & Rudy continue to provide entertainment for the oncoming cars at the crossings too!

This truck stopped to watch the snow rolling goofs and then snapped some photos
with their smartphone. Constant entertainment from the kids.

Once we got to the outskirts of Frisco, we added Zorro back in and completed the days run from the outskirts of Frisco to the Frisco Nordic Center. Wheeee!

Zorro back in the group as we fly to the finish in Frisco.

What a fun day. Start with Zorro, entertain the tourists with Jack & Rudy in between and then end in all smiles with Zorro added back in again: 8.6 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 58 days on the trails covering 397.8 miles with 38,100 feet of elevation climbed.