Season Finale, Maybe? Probably

After nearly two weeks off, Jack & Rudy virtually shot out of a cannon on this morning's skijor outing!

BOOM! Off we go, shot out of a cannon, to start today's skijor!

Unfortunately today was probably our last skijor of the 2025/2026 season. We've had historically low snowfall & snowpack in Colorado this season with also historically warm temperatures. So, while we usually skijor well into May and, occasionally into June, we are probably done for this season. But, it is supposed to snow in our elevations in Colorado in April and May, so maybe we'll have a surprise outing after today, but I doubtful the way this year has gone. But, maybe.....

We found a great (albeit short) groomed trail to skijor this morning. The US Ski Team grooms the top of Rabbit Ears Pass to use when other, closer to town, trails melt. Typically, we find the ski team groomers on Rabbit Ears Pass in May as trails close to town are still full of snow in April. But not this year as there is no snow on the trails in town so the ski team has taken to Rabbit Ears Pass in April instead of May this year. That's how bad a snow year it has been! We were reminded of this many times on today's outing, such as the following:

Looks perfect at first glance; but look at the exposed ground to Jack's right.
This shows just how thin the snowpack is on this trail. It is one or two warm
days away from having exposed ground on the trail too!

Today's video is another example of dwindling conditions. Come along as we are on the well shaded Harrison Creek Trail which usually has snow through May and sometimes into June. But, watch closely at about 6 seconds in you'll see a ice across half the trail as this will be an exposed puddle later in the day. Then at about 18 seconds into the clip and you'll notice me slowing down as the trail is paper thin with brown ground starting to show through. Yikes! But, as you'll also see in the video, we were able to open up the throttle whenever safe. Whee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We did, though, find some really nice stretches to uncork the skijoring engine. Zoom!

"Wheeeee!" says Rudy to Jack as he gives him a quick glance
as the speed demons are catching air along a perfect stretch of trail.

We went out and back on this short groomed trail. So, we had to turnaround at some point, right?

"Turnaround! Roll Around!" goes the snow rolling sillies.

The prior photo is unfortunately misleading. While it looks like we still have endless snow to enjoy, the reality is it is paper thin in most places and a few warm days away from large amounts of exposed ground.

Well, it was an interesting and strange season between my health issues and the worst Colorado snow on record; but we made the most of it, right guys?

"We still had a blast! All snow is good snow! All skijor outings
are good outings!" says the happy kids atop a nice snow wall to
receive end of run treats.

Today's tally: 4.2 miles traveled with 300 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 55 days on the trails covering 332.7 miles with 34,800 feet of elevation climbed.

That's probably it for the 2025/2026 season. But, you never know, maybe we'll get one last surprise outing if it really snows at some point in April or May BEFORE all the little snowpack we have melts...

Let's hope for a better 2026/2027 season: Pray for Snow!!!

Angels and Ears

Angels with "the ears" in the background at Rabbit Ears Pass yesterday morning:

The silly kids doing "their thing" rolling snow angels to cool off at our
turnaround point of the day. But, we also have Rabbit Ears Peak centered
in this photo with "the ears" (the two rocks atop the peak for which Rabbit
Ears Pass is named). Nice postcard photo :)

I was secretly hoping for our first "Spring Crust" skijor of the season yesterday morning. But, unfortunately, the crust was not firm enough yet to support Jack & Rudy running as they would punch through. So, we quickly abandoned the attempt to skijor the crust and returned to established (i.e., well packed) snowmobile trails. Not to fear, a great time was still had by all!

It was "packing it in tight" to catch air on the nice shoulder of an established trail:

The "tightly packed" Jack & Rudy skijor engine. Whee!

Then it was catching air to cruise along established trails along the shores of Dumont Lake:

Whee!

Finally, it was catching air to complete the day's fun outing:

Still catching air as we are arriving at the trailhead to complete
the day's outing.

Now come along for today's "fun to the finish" skijor as we are flying towards the trailhead until I call out a "left" and we turn to slow to the finish. What fun and perfect skijor partners!

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As usual, look who is perched atop a snow wall and ready for end of run treats!

"You have our FULL attention!" says the focused, fun kids.

A short outing but still a great time had by all: 4.7 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 52 days on the trails covering 316.2 miles with 33,400 feet of elevation climbed.

Lane Change

Fresh powder in the backcountry this morning! Yay for Snow!!!

The fun kids blasting through some nice powder.

Technically, we only got about 1-2 inches of fresh snow overnight. But, it was also VERY windy. As a result, we encountered many deep, wind blown snowdrifts to blast through in the backcountry this morning. Come along for today's video highlight to see what I mean.

I really love the start of this video. Jack starts on the right of the team but then decides he wants to change lanes. Watch as he perfectly backs off, dips under the gangline and then thrusts forward to be back even with Rudy (but on the left side now) - TALENTED!!!! I love watching these occasional lane changes at high speeds from these talented kids! Then, after the lane change, watch as we gallop along while blasting through the occasional wind drift. Talented again - whee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Of course, blasting through wind drifts is quite aerobic and warrants rolling snow angels to cool off when the opportunity arose:

"Aaaaah - rolling to cool the jet!" goes the snow rolling sillies.
I Love the snow Rudy has generated all around his head by dipping it in the
snow before flipping it up. Can't you just see the expression of bliss on
his happy, snow covered face!

Then, after blasting through wind drifts and rolling snow angels, it was time to floor it on the trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. The kids know what to do with a groomed nordic trail - zoom!

Catching air on the groomie zoomie!

It turns out we were FIRST tracks on the freshly groomed trail! It's hard to see that in the prior photo, but we were first tracks. As if often the case, if we are first tracks, then there is a groomer not far ahead of us to chase and catch. Jack & Rudy love catching up with the groomer!

"Caught it, caught it! We caught the groomer!" says the speedy kids.

As I've described and shown many times in the past, the groomer drivers know us from years of skijoring these trails and, eventually, they will pull over and wave us on to pass. But, we have to wait until the trail is wide enough to do so safely. As you see in the prior photo, the trail was exactly "one groomer wide" between trees when we caught the groomer. As a result, we had to slow down and trot behind for a bit before the trees thinned and the groomer paused to wave us on, so the video is pretty boring to watch until we can pass. As usual, as we passed, I gave the driver a wave & smile and he gave an enthusiastic wave & smile back.

While the wind gave us some nice drifts to blast through, it was also still blowing while we were out. Temperatures were near 10 (F) when we started with the wind chill being well below zero, probably approaching -10 (F). As a result, the wimpy human cut today's outing a little short to save himself. But, still a fun time had by all:

The freezing human handing out end of run treats to the perfectly
comfortable Siberian Huskies! :)

A fun albeit temperature shortened skijor: 4 miles traveled with 300 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 50 days on the trails covering 304.4 miles with 32,200 feet of elevation climbed.

Surprise

There was a lot to be excited about on this morning's skijor, right guys?

"Yes! My head is covered in snow and I love it!" declares happy Jack.
"WOO! I LOVE SNOW! WOOOOO!" belts singing Rudy.

The excitement? Well, the forecast last night was "a slight chance of a dusting of snow" overnight. But, the reality was 3-5 inches of fresh powder! We love surprise powder days!

With the surprise new snow, we headed to the backcountry at Dry Gulch to enjoy the powder:

POW - the fun kids blasting through 5 inches (or more) of snow at this
point in the backcountry. Wheeee!

While fresh snow is great for powder blasting, it is also great for rolling snow angels with gusto!

The funny kids launching snow all around themselves as they
roll with vigor!

Then, as we like to do in this location, it was time to floor it on the trails at Gold Run Nordic Center after our aerobic romp through the backcountry powder. The groomer had been out on the trails recently, but there was also a fresh layer of new snow atop the groomie zoomie nordic trail. The kids were having a blast!

The fun kids catching air on the groomie zoomie with cool snow poofs
coming off their feet from the light layer of new snow atop the groom.

Today's video highlight? Well, it HAS to be blasting through the surprise powder. Come along for the fun! Note near the end of the video where I almost wipe out as my ski cut through the fresh snow to hit what was exposed ground just yesterday. But, I'm still standing!!!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

What a surprise! What a treat! Who had fun?

"We had a BLAST!" says the ecstatic kids atop a nice snow wall
to receive end of run treats.

What a fun "surprise powder" day this morning: 4.6 miles traveled with 300 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 49 days on the trails covering 300.4 miles with 31,900 feet of elevation climbed.

Perfect Day

It was a perfect day to catch some air flying along snowmobile trails around Walton Peak at Rabbit Ears Pass. Wheeee!

The hover huskies doing their thing!

With such great conditions, Jack & Rudy were in a real groove going uphill, downhill and cruising along endless sections of flat trail:

Peacefully gliding along a great flat section of trail. Whee!

The downhill sections are, of course, Jack & Rudy's favorite where they can uncork the skijoring engine and go, go, go!

Making full use of the wide trail as the kids kick into into overdrive
on a downhill pitch of trail. Zoom!

Now come along for today's video highlight. Watch as we are peacefully gliding along a nice flat section of trail until we make a slight right and FLOOR it as we transition to a downhill grade. Fun kids!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Of course, all that flying around means you REALLY need to roll snow angels to cool your jets at any and all turnaround points of the outing!

"Ah, rub a dub dub, cooling our jets!" goes the funny snow rolling kids.

To complete the day, Jack & Rudy found a snow wall taller than me to scale for treats! I had to coax them back down a little to get to my head level to receive treats :)

"We love climbing snow walls! We LOVE end of run treats!" declares
the kids atop a very tall snow wall!

A perfect day for a 7.7 mile skijor with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 47 days on the trails covering 291.4 miles with 31,200 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.

Headless

Oops!

Sometimes, "Oops!" is all you can say about unauthorized tag & wrestler
breaking out on the trail between the two comedians.

Prior photo aside, it was a great day of fresh & first tracks out on the trails this morning. Come along for the ride...

First it was laying fresh tracks in a couple of inches of fresh snow in the backcountry:

Wheeee! Love the snow poofs coming off Jack & Rudy's feet as we enjoy
the morning's new snow!

Then it was first tracks on the recently groomed trail at Gold Run Nordic Center!

Such a treat to be first tracks on the groomie zoomie trail.
Jack & Rudy know what to do with a fresh groom! ZOOM!

To add to the fun, it was then stepping off trail to roll snow angels in fresh snow at the Jumbo Overlook:

Some of us take in the views at the overlook - ME!
Some of us take the overlook turnaround as a chance to stop, drop and roll
in the fresh snow - Jack & Rudy!

Today's video highlight will be the flying fun on the groomie zoomie! Come along as we are ZOOMING along this wonderful trail. Then, we come to a hard left in the trail which causes me to crouch into a ski tuck to try and keep pace with the kids around a tight corner. Finally, it's opening it back up to zoom, zoom, zoom!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Did you notice the snowshoer coming up trail in the video as we rounded the corner? Usually I get fun shots of oncoming skier/snowshoers smiling and waving in awe at Jack & Rudy launching me on by. But, today I was in a "23 MPH ski tuck", so we miss the onlooking smiles. It was there, I was just trying to keep pace at fast speeds :)

"Coming through!" goes Jack & Rudy who are swinging to the right to fly
by the oncoming snowshoer. I caught his smile (even though the camera did not)
and he said, "COOL!" as we zipped on by.

I have an excuse for the headless shot above - you try cornering over 20 MPH on skis and see if you don't dip into a tuck too! Nancy, on the other hand, has no excuse for cutting most or all of my head off in today's end of run treat shots :)

At least she got 1/2 my head in this shot - I was headless in most of the
other shots she took!
"You going to babble on or dish out the treats?" asks curious Rudy.
"You have my FULL attention!" adds focused Jack.

Despite how pretty today's photos & video look, it was quite cold this morning with starting temperatures around 5 degrees (F) with a breeze bringing the wind chill below zero. So, the wimpy human (ME) kept the outing short - better to save the human today for more fun on another day! 4.8 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 39 days on the trails covering 245.1 miles with 26,900 feet of elevation climbed.

Safety Dust

Nice wide angle view of the ski runs of Breckenridge Ski Resort across the valley from us this morning!

The fun kids in the morning shade while Breck Ski Resort is in
full sun across the valley from us. Postcard shot :)

Today was a "safety dust" outing for us on Dry Gulch, one of our favorite trails. A snowmobile had run along the trail a day or two ago. With warm days and cold nights, such tracks become very icy and almost unskiable each morning. But, we had a light dusting of new snow overnight. All we need is such a dusting to turn unskiable icy snowmobile tracks into safe to ski tracks. I refer to this as the "safety dust" :)

Just enough of a dusting of new snow to make the "unskiable yesterday"
snowmobile track skiable today! Yay!

Now come along for the video counterpart to the prior photo. It is so much fun to have the safety dust so I can let Jack & Rudy uncork the skijoring engine. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

After a fun ride along the backcountry safety dust, it was time to transition to the groomed trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. Well, the transition came with a pause, so the pause came with a stop, drop & roll from the comedians:

Hopped off trail to "stop, drop & roll" in the untouched new snow.

Next it was time to entertain the oncoming skiers at the nordic center. Jack & Rudy love flying on by skiers and putting smiles on their faces:

"Hi! Bye! Coming through!" says the entertaining sled dogs.

Then, when we had the whole trail to ourselves, it was time to floor it. Wheeee!

Pedal to the metal on the groomie zoomie nordic trail.

Finally, it was the usual ritual to end the day: climbing a snow wall to receive end of run treats:

"What a fun day! Ready for the treats!" says the happy, happy kids.

From backcountry safety dust to nordic groomie zoomies: 7.6 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 34 days on the trails covering 218.3 miles with 24,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Fresh

It was a beautiful morning to enjoy a light layer of fresh snow all over the trails this morning!

Laying fresh tracks in the backcountry on a 1/2 inch or so of new snow!

Everywhere we went this morning was fresh, fresh, fresh snow fun!

Come along for today's video highlight as we are zipping along laying fresh tracks in the backcountry. Watch as Jack & Rudy really kick it into overdrive near the end of this clip. Zoom!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

After laying fresh tracks in the backcountry, it was time to inspect fresh moose tracks crossing the trail and leading into the forest!

"Sniff, sniff, these are VERY FRESH!" says moose inspector Jack.
"It went *that way*, we should too!" suggest Rudy lifting his head to 
scan for the moose itself.

After thoroughly inspecting the moose tracks and scanning the forest, it was back to fresh tracks. This time we were first on the new snow on the upper most trail at Gold Run Nordic Center:

Laying fresh tracks in about an inch or so of new snow at our high point.

After zipping around the upper loop at the nordic center, it was time to cool off in the fresh snow before connecting onto the main trail:

"Rub a dub dub, fresh snow makes for the best snow angels!" says the silly kids.

Then, to our surprise, we were still FIRST tracks on the main trail leading back to the trailhead. This is a rare treat on the popular trail!

So fun to be first on the new snow on this popular trail!

Even when we finally ran into another skier, the trail was still plenty wide for us to lay fresh tracks along one side while the skier took the other side. Wheeee!

"Zooming through! Made you smile!" says always entertaining Jack & Rudy.

Finally, there was fresh snow to sit atop to accept end of run treats:

Cooling our buns in the fresh snow awaiting end of run treats.

Fresh snow all day, YAY! What a wonderful outing: 8.4 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 29 days on the trails covering 184.0 miles with 20,600 feet of elevation climbed.