Passing a Snowplow

It has been dumping snow for 24 hours (and snowing on & off for 7 days straight). Oh my, what powder days we are having....

Breaking trail far out in Indiana Creek. "More than shoulder" deep for both
Max & Zorro!

Zorro brings you today's main topic for the skijoring outing: "Have you ever tried to pass a snowplow?"

First, a little background about passing a snowplow.... It happens to all of us driving out on the roads during a large snowstorm. You get stuck driving behind a snowplow. The road seems "just fine" to you (behind the snowplow) and you keep thinking, "Why is the snowplow going so slow, the road seems just fine?" Eventually you get cocky and proclaim, "That's it, too slow, I'm passing!" and you pull out from behind the snowplow to pass it. As you get out from behind the plow, making your move to pass, it hits you - unplowed road! "Whoa!" you exclaim, "that's nasty out here, I'm getting back in behind the snowplow and let him do the work!" So, you pull back in behind the snowplow and resume following slowly. Until... It happens to all of us, eventually you say again, "The road seems just fine (back here), why are we going so slow?" and you attempt to pass the snowplow again. Deja vu... "Whoa! No wonder the snowplow is out, the road is terrible unless you ride behind him!" This pattern repeats itself: follow, frustrate, attempt to pass, fail, follow, frustrate, attempt to pass, fail, ... If only we could understand: the snowplow is doing all the work, that's why it is going so slow!

Now, back to Zorro and today's outing. We found ourselves breaking trail in 6-18 inches of fresh powder for the entire outing, with the majority of the outing spent breaking trail in 12-18 inches. When the snow is this deep, we adjust into a "single file" skijoring line with Max and his long legs out front breaking trail, then Zorro following in Max's trail and then me getting the trail set by Max and Zorro. Well, the "passing a snowplow" effect happens to Zorro every time we are in this setup. I can just hear Zorro's thought process: "Geez, Max sure is going slow in front, what's the deal? ... I think I'll pass and show him how to go fast!" Zorro then pulls out to the right or left to pass what he perceives as "slow trail breaking Max" and then Zorro exclaims, "Whoa! It is DEEP out here, too deep for me, I'm hopping back in line and letting tall Max break trail!" But, of course, Zorro is like all of us snowplow followers - it is only a matter of time before he says, "What's the deal going so slow, I'm passing" then quickly followed by, "Whoa! Deep! Back behind Max!" Today's skijoring video is Zorro in 4 (of his many) attempts to pass Max the snowplow only to find the snow too deep and he hops back in line behind Max to let him use his long legs to break trail.

Zorro's attempts to "pass Max the snowplow". Watch as each time he eventually

gets into more than "Zorro shoulder deep" powder and he the proceeds to give

up passing and get back in line behind Max the snowplow - hilarious :-)

When will we ever learn: the snowplow may seem like it is going slow, but, duh - it is doing all the work!


Now, to be fair to Zorro... Max is our "primary snowplow" as he is most equipped to break trail in 12+ inches of snow with his long legs. But, Max does get tired doing such strenuous work, so Zorro does take his turn in deep trail breaking lead. When we break trail for extended distances, our time spent in deep trail breaking lead tends to be: (1) Max 70-85%, (2) Zorro 15-25%, (3) Brad 0-10%. Yes, I have to move my sorry butt to the front sometimes to earn my keep (this typically only happens when we get into 3+ feet of snow). And, for the record, Max is the worst snowplow follower of all of us! He sticks his forehead right into Zorro's behind and tries to speed him up! Max's "passing tactics" are also quite hilarious. He has been known to go right over the top of Zorro, once he is rested, to take over his proper place as trail breaking lead. It like he's saying, "Oops, sorry little VW bug (Zorro), didn't see you there, hope you do not mind this big snowplow (Max) driving over the top of you!"

Tally for today's outing: 6 miles and 1000 feet of elevation gain. A "tiny outing" by our typical standards; but breaking trail in 6-18 inches the entire outing and 12-18 inches for about 75% of the outing! Woo - now that's Siberian Work!

Now that's DEEP!

"You mean this day only happens once every 4 years? Aw Man!" exclaim Max & Zorro.

"Thank Dog this day only happens once every 4 years!" mumbles the exhausted Brad.

Now that's "Trail Breaking"! Max in lead has snow up to his shoulders. Zorro in back actually
has his chest up on Max's butt to get a view of the terrain. Look at the incredibly deep snow
trench behind Zorro.

Here is a puzzle for you... What would cause Max, Zorro and I to skijor only 6.7 miles in 2h 25m time? Note that a typical outing of this time would have us covering upwards of 15 miles and over 1200+ feet of elevation.

The answer: Extreme trail breaking up steep terrain is the only thing that could slow us down this much.

Our extreme terrain today... (1) Ascending up 1800 feet in about 5.7 miles; (2) Breaking trail in 8-36 inches of snow for the first 4.3 miles! (3) Breaking trail in 12-36 inches of snow for 3.5 miles straight! Now that's extreme...

More extreme trail breaking. Doesn't it look more like Max & Zorro are swimming through the
snow? Especially Zorro - just swimming along behind Max's lead... There really is a trail under
all this snow. If you deviated from the "hidden trail", you sink into 4-5 (or more) feet of snow!

It started snowing hard yesterday morning and it kept falling all day & night long. We had a winter wonderland to skijor today. We started right out of our garage (no need to drive to trailheads with this much new snow) and took a steep set of trails from home up to Sally Barber Mine. Within a 1/10th a mile from home, we were already breaking trail in 20 inch drifts with the "shallow sections" breaking trail in 8 inches. This continued for about 4.3 miles with the depth reaching about 36 inches of untouched powder to plow through!

Max and his snow stilts (long legs) are usually in front during extreme trail
breaking. But, every so often, Zorro (or I) need to take the load and break
trail for a while. Here we have short little Zorro doing his best as Max is riding
his butt to go faster!

Restarting after a quick "catch your breath" break. Zorro thinks he has the better
trail - a few steps more and he sunk past his head, popped up out of the snow,
declared "Oops, I'll follow Max" and dropped behind the snow stilt lead.

Max's harness when we got home. It's been 20-25 minutes since we
finished skijoring and he was in the heated car ride home. Yet, the harness
is still covered in snow! The life of the trail breaking lead dog: a harness
full of frozen snow - Siberian Good Time!

Vital Stats: 6.7 miles; 145m total time; 125m skijoring time (lots of quick "catch your breath" breaks during the extreme trail breaking); 18 MPH top speed; 1800 feet of elevation climbed.

Finally, Feet not Inches!

"Hi! We're having a GREAT time!" declare Max & Zorro

We finally got our first storm of the season to measure the snowfall in feet instead of inches! It's only about 2 months later than normal; but it's here!

With this great snow overnight, Max, Zorro & I decided to head out to French Gulch this morning. We found ourselves breaking trail in 12-20 inches of fresh, beautiful powder for about 3.5 miles of the outing - what a treat.

In years past, French Gulch has been one of our favorite trails. But, with the lesser than normal snowfall this season, French Gulch had turned into a hazard track - including: (1) one busted binding from catching an exposed rock; (2) one bent pole from catching an exposed rock; and (3) one twisted knee from catching an exposed rock. I had declared French Gulch "off limits" before today. But, with over a foot of fresh snow, we gave it another try. What a hit! We were breaking trail in 12-20 inches of fresh powder over the same sections that had beaten and battered me. French Gulch is officially (and finally) back in our selection of skijoring routes! Today's Route:

(1) Start at the BnB trailhead and skijor up French Gulch Rd, following the tracks from a 4wd vehicle that had braved the terrain before us (no plows - yeah!). Continue to and past the French Gulch winter trailhead.

(2) Proceed onto the French Gulch trail and follow existing ski tracks for the first 50 yards or so and then we were on our own (the existing tracks transitioned off French Gulch towards Sally Barber Mine). We were immediately in 12+ inches of powder and breaking trail in 12-20 inches for the next 3.5 miles!

(3) Eventually connect back to French Gulch Rd and follow the 4wd tracks back to the BnB trailhead.

Vital Stats: 7.5 miles (3.5 breaking trail in 12-20 inches); 105m total time; 95m skijoring time; 21 MPH top speed; 800 feet of elevation gain. As usual, breaking trail at this depth for this distance lead to a slower than normal outing; but a more tiring than normal due to plowing through the powder!

Within a 1/8 a mile of the French Gulch trailhead, we were deeper than a foot!
Time to remove the neckline from Max & Zorro - they cannot maneuver in snow
this deep if they are connected. The neckline is for control on packed trails and
snow less than a foot deep.

Over 18 inches deep far back in French Gulch - time to switch to single file
skijoring and let Max and his snow stilts (long legs) break trail for Zorro and I.

Still in single file mode - Zorro straining his neck to see over the tall snow
around him and white butt in front of him.

A look back at our "trail blazing" tracks and the snow covered trees along
the trail. What a beautiful powder day!

Breaking Trail in 4 Feet of Powder!

"Max shoulder deep" and getting deeper. Time to switch to
single file skijoring and take turns breaking trail.

Max, Zorro & I were breaking trail today in snow from 20 to 48 inches in depth for about 2 miles straight!

I marked the deepest point (midway up my chest) and then measured to discover we were in 48 inches of untouched powder at our deepest point. Breaking trail in 4 feet of snow - wow.

As is our usual pattern, when the snow gets too deep (over 20 inches), we switch into "single file" skijoring mode with Max and his snow stilts (long legs) breaking trail in the front. Zorro happily drops in behind Max and lets him plow the way. But, we cannot ask Max to do this much  work for 2 miles straight. So, when I see Max tiring, I move Zorro to the front to break trail (Max will accept this as he needs a break). When I see Zorro tiring, I move myself to the front and break trail for the 2 of them. The fun thing is, as soon as Max gets his wind back, he'll come right up behind me and head butt my legs in a statement of, "Ok slowpoke, I got my rest, now move out of the way so we can make some real progress again!" I'll let Max then move to the front and we start the cycle over again - rotating Zorro and myself to the front when Max needs a break. All in, when we are breaking trail in 20+ inches for long distances, Max will typically lead the way 65% of the time, Zorro 20% of the time, and the slow human 15% of the way. I was in the front when we hit 48 inches deep today - smart Max & Zorro saying, "Go ahead dad, you take this section!"

Today's route was a true example of extreme ends of the spectrum in conditions:

(1) The first 2.5 miles was an established trail going straight up a 900 foot incline in 3-6 inches of new, fresh powder.

(2) The next 2 miles was our attempt to connect the ghost town of Dysersville down to Indiana Creek. There is a jeep road for this connection in the summertime. But, this route is clearly unused in the winter as the snow was untouched and, thus, 20-48 inches deep the entire 2 mile stretch!

(3) Once connecting with the frequently used Indiana Creek trail, we were on a packed sprint track with only 1-3 inches of new powder the final 2 miles. We hit a top speed of 23 MPH on this section.

What a day: from breaking trail in 48 inches to sprinting at 23 MPH!

Vital Stats: 6.5 miles; 105m total time; 85m skijoring time (10ish minutes of stopped time to catch our breath in the deep snow; 10ish minutes of stopped time to wait for the 5 loose & misbehaving dogs to get semi-collected by their bad owners); 23 MPH top speed; 900 feet of elevation gain. Not a particularly fast outing - but you try breaking trail in 20-48 inches for 2 miles!!!

Video of our final approach to the Indiana Creek trailhead. Contrast

this heavily used (thus heavily packed) fast track with our 20+ inches

of trail breaking on the unused section of the backcountry!

A fun "action shot" - Max is airborne as jumping to make progress in the deep snow!

Good picture of the deep snow as we began to connect from Dyersville to Indiana
Creek. It got deeper & deeper for the next 2 miles!

Perfect Day!

Upper sections of Indiana Creek, before connecting with
Boreas Pass Rd. About 15-18 inches deep here, and getting
deeper! We are about to switch to single file skijoring as it
gets deeper than Zorro.

Last night delivered some high quality snow to the Colorado High Country - today delivered a perfect skijoring outing for Max, Zorro & I. The highlights:

(1) No tracks for the first 7.6+ miles of our outing. We were breaking trail for 7.6 miles straight!

(2) Untouched powder as deep as 20+ inches (deeper than Zorro). We had to switch to single file skijoring for a while to use Max's snow stilts (long legs) to break trail with Zorro riding in behind Max.

(3) 4+ inches of untouched powder for the first 7.6 miles (the majority with 6-20 inches). Now that is a Siberian Workout!

(4) Perfect Siberian temperatures, around 3 degrees when we started (and dropping as we went up in elevation) and only about 12 degrees when we finished. Max & Zorro will tell you that is perfect conditions for hauling me around the backcountry.

Max & Zorro's take on the outing? Perfect! We were skijoring for about 1h 50m straight through all this deep trail breaking when I stopped for a quick break to text Nancy where/when we'd be finishing. Both Max & Zorro showed *no* sign that they'd been running, with long stretches of deep deep snow, for almost 2 hours! They just wanted to strap back up and sprint the last 15 minutes of our route!

The Route: (1) Indiana Creek winter trailhead and up & out to connect to Boreas Pass Rd; (2) Down Boreas Pass Rd until Bakers Tank; (3) Up Bakers Tank trail until taking a right to connect from Boreas Mountain to Baldy Mountain; (4) Up Baldy until connecting with Forest Service Rd 5281B; (5) Up FR5281B until hitting the high point of this trail and then sprinting down FR5281B and Baldy Mtn Rd to the Baldy Mtn Rd winter trailhead. Note that the majority of this route was "up" - given the difference in elevation between our starting/ending points, we spent about 2/3 the distance in the "up direction" and only 1/3 of the distance in the "down direction". So, breaking trail uphill 2/3 of the route - and neither Siberian showed any sign of tiring!

Vital Stats: 9.1 miles; 135m total time; 126m skijoring time; 21 MPH top speed; 1600 feet of elevation gain; breaking trail in 6-20 inches of untouched powder for more than 80% of the trail!

Extreme trail breaking. The route is straight as Max & Zorro are aligned and
then a gentle right up through the opening in the trees. A bit after taking this
gentle right, the snow got "deeper than Zorro", so we had to switch to single
file skijoring to use Max's long legs to break trail for Zorro and I.

Pretty shot of the snow covered trees all around us where we took a quick break.

Another pretty snow shot. You can see a couple of the ski runs on Breckenridge
Ski Resort off in the distance.

Using the Snow Stilts

Today was Backcountry Exploring in up to 30+ inches of Untouched Powder!

Going single file as we all use Max's snow stilts (his long legs) to break trail!

Today's skijoring was, well, how to put it.... DEEP DEEP DEEP! Breaking trail in untouched backcountry powder up to 30 inches deep in places (I was in snow 3/4 the way up my thigh - that's 30 inches deep)!

Our goal today: start on Baldy Mountain and use "paths less traveled" to connect over to Boreas Mountain. The first 1.5 miles was well traveled trails on Baldy with 2-4 inches of powder. The next 3 miles were on non-standard trails: immediately starting in 10+ inches of untouched powder and quickly turning into 20 and then 30 inches of untouched powder! The last mile was again well traveled with 3-5 inches of powder.

3 miles of breaking trail in 10-30 inches - wow, that's a Siberian workout. As usual, once we got over 18 inches, this was too much for short Zorro to keep up side by side with tall Max. So, we switched to single file skijoring (Max, Zorro and then me) so Max's long legs could break trail and Zorro & I could glide behind the leader. Max is tall & skinny, so we always refer to his long legs as snow stilts - perfectly suited to breaking trail in extremely deep conditions.

Vital Stats: 5.6 miles; 85m total time; 65m skijoring time (20m of breaks and studying the GPS to figure out which way to proceed); 16 MPH top speed; 1100 feet of elevation gain; extremely deep & untouched powder to break trail through!

The initial transition from the well traveled trail on Baldy onto our untouched,
breaking trail route.

Still breaking trail, getting deeper...

Too deep for Zorro - single file and use the snow stilts to break trail...

Extreme Trail Breaking

Extreme Trail Breaking - Up to 24 inches of untouched powder at Vail Pass!

Some of the extreme deep conditions we encountered at Vail Pass today.
No, Zorro is not laying down - he is standing in almost shoulder deep untouched powder!
We spent over an hour of today's outing breaking trail through snow this deep (12-24 inches) - wow!

Looking for some exercise? Looking for some fun? Looking for some Extreme Trail Breaking (which is both exercise & fun)? Well, today we found it skijoring around the Vail Pass Recreation Area.

Our total outing was just over 2 hours; but we spent just over 1 hour breaking trail in untouched powder from 12-24 inches deep! When we skijor, Max & Zorro are typically attached at the collar by a neckline (along with the gangline attached to me) - this setup keeps Max & Zorro skijoring shoulder to shoulder. Take the conditions to 18 inches of powder and a new setup comes into play - remove the neckline and skijor in a single file line. The front Husky takes more of the trail breaking exercise; so you switch out the "front leader" regularly to share this extreme workload. As you can see in the picture above, Max is the taller of our skijoring team - we refer to his long legs as "snow stilts", so he is the primary trail breaker in these super deep conditions and Zorro & I swap in to carry the load when Max gets tired. Today's front leader trail breaking distribution:

1. 70% - Max in front plowing through the powder.
2. 25% - Zorro in front plowing through the powder.
3. 5% - Brad in front plowing through the powder (slacker human! ;-)

Here's a fun analogy to understand extreme trail breaking... breaking through 18 inches of untouched powder for Max is like a 6 foot tall human breaking through 57 inches of untouched powder! Go try it, you'll get the workout of your life!

Today's Route: (1) Start at the Vail Pass Rest Area winter trailhead and begin up Shrine Pass Rd; (2) quickly break off Shrine Pass Rd and onto the backcountry ski trail that hugs West Ten Mile Creek up Shrine Pass; (3) within 10 minutes reach 6-12 inches of untouched powder; within 20 minutes reach 12-24 inches of untouched powder for the next 60-65 minutes of exercise; (4) eventually reconnect with Shrine Pass Rd and take this "easier" route down.

Vital Stats: 6.9 miles; 124m total time; 94m skijoring time; 18 MPH top speed; 1200 feet of elevation gain. Not a particularly fast outing, overall, but you try breaking trail in powder almost as tall as you!

We just transitioned off Shrine Pass Rd and onto the backcountry trail.
Shallow powder, "this is going to be a fast day," I mistakenly thought...

Within 10 minutes, we are out of shallow powder and breaking trail in 6-12 inches.
"Hmm, guess this will slow us down a bit," I foolishly thought.

Within 20 minutes, 12 inches is the new shallow and we are breaking trail in
up to 24 inches. "Ok, single file skijoring, take turns breaking trail" becomes
the reality of our next hour of extreme fun!