Warm

Still going on the Spring Crust at Vail Pass in May! Yay!

Fun shot of the fast running kids on an awesome stretch of spring crust.

It was unseasonably warm at Vail Pass this morning with temperatures right at freezing when we started the outing and rising as we went along. Of course, warm temperatures gets comical antics from the silly kids:

"So hot, must roll snow angels to cool off!" declares rolling Rudy.
"No, must roll snow angels AND eat snow cones!" adds goofy Jack :)

Unfortunately, the warm temperatures also had a negative effect. When we started the outing, the crust was firm and solid enough to support us. But, I did not think the crust was going to remain firm for long. So, I turned us around sooner that we typically do on runs at Vail Pass to get back while it was still firm. Well, it turns out I was too late. About 1/2 way back to the trailhead and Jack & Rudy started punching through the crust if running fast. So, I had to slow them to a gentle trot for the remaining of the outing so they would not punch deep into the snow from the force of running fast. The smart kids understood immediately why I slowed them down and they remained in a gentle trot the rest of the way.

Slowed to a gentle trot as you see footprints breaking through the crust
behind Jack & Rudy. At a gentle trot, they only left shallow prints in the
crust; but if we sped up, they would punch through deep.

But, as you see in the first photo above and one below, we did have a lot of fun on a firm crust before the last 25% of the outing. Wheeee!

Catching air going fast while the crust was still firm!

Now come along for the video counterpart to the prior photo - a crust just barely firm enough to open up the skijoring throttle. Zoom!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead a little behind schedule due to slowing down; but all outings earn end of run treats regardless of conditions and circumstances :)

"It was still toes on snow in May so we loved it!" declares the happy kids.

A quick outing racing the rising temperatures on Vail Pass this morning: 6.4 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 148 days on the trails covering 1308.5 miles with 119,800 feet of elevation climbed.

Quick Review

What started as a gloomy, cloudy morning...

Jack & Rudy catching air on what started as a very dreary looking
morning with heavy cloud cover.

Eventually turned into a beautiful sunny day!

Jack & Rudy catching air but in bright sun now. 
Only about 30 minutes elapsed between the prior two photos!
What a difference once the sun rose above the morning clouds.

I only have time to write a quick review of this morning's fun skijor outing. So, I'll let a video do the talking. Come along for a fun "gallop to sprint" skijor clip. Watch as we start the clip in a fast gallop along a flat trail. But, then, the trail starts to decline a bit and, thus, Jack & Rudy take off. Top speed in this clip? 24 MPH. Zoom!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Today's turnaround humor? Well, you know it was snow angels from always rolling Jack. Rudy has been almost alternating between woos one outing to angels the next. Well, yesterday we had woos, so you guessed it on what we got from Rudy today :)

"Aaah, rolling snow angels to cool our jets!" demonstrates the silly kids.
Notice talented Jack eating a snowcone while rolling a snow angel!

Finally, what has become a regular "end of run antic" for the silly kids this season: if there is a snow wall to climb for end of run treats, they climb it!

Once again, I'm able to hand out treats while standing upright!
What helpful, albeit comedic, partners!

From gloomy to sunny, but zooming all day long: 10.1 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 109 days on the trails covering 967.0 miles with 88,800 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Talents

Fun shot of Jack & Rudy "catching air" on the fast packed nordic trail this morning!

Zoom!

Today, Jack & Rudy would like to share with everyone their extensive list of skijor talents. Such skillful guys, come along for the fun.

First, Rudy would like all to know it is possible to woo while trotting. No need to stop for wooing, just belt them out while trotting along.

"WOO!" goes Rudy without breaking stride!
"Not interested." is what Jack & I had to say in response ;)

Second, Jack would like all to know that it is possible to eat snowcones WHILE rolling snow angels. Talented!

Rolling while eating snowcones, impressive :)
"Not interested." says Rudy

Third, the kids would like all to know how perfect they are at getting shoulder to shoulder to fit in narrow, single track trails!

Packed in tight to propel me along the single track through the trees!

No matter now narrow it gets, as long as they both can fit, they do it!

Even tighter shoulder to shoulder sprinting.

Finally, we have a video showing Jack & Rudy's innate ability to preserve the human! The video starts on the extremely fast packed trail at Gold Run Nordic Center. I share this clip to showcase Jack & Rudy's great ability to adjust for trail conditions. Notice the discolorization of the trail from about 29 seconds to 39 seconds. This is "thin cover" with the possibility of exposed dirt & rocks. Notice how Jack & Rudy expertly slow at the 29 second point until about 39 seconds when the trail is white again so they know it's safe to speed up. All of this without a single verbal command from me. These two understand slowing for sketchy conditions to preserve the human on skis! Impressive!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

That's a lot of skills to showcase in one outing: woo trotting, snow eating while rolling, tight trails and naturally slowing to preserve the human. Impressive: 8.3 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 38 days on the trails covering 315.3 miles with 27,100 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Bumpy Fun

Jack & Rudy demonstrating how proficient they are at rolling snow angels in any (and all) snow conditions :)

What bumpy conditions! But look at talented Jack & Rudy rolling
snow angels while (both) eating snowcones as the same time. Talented!

While there was still a lot of snow on the ground near Walton Peak, the warmer than normal days the past couple of weeks has done some real damage on the smoothness of the snowpack. We started the day with just the youngsters, Jack & Rudy, once we saw just how bumpy the trail was at the start. It was so bumpy to start that we had to proceed at a gentle jog!

Toes on Snow! But what BUMPY snow as we move along
the bouncy trail in a gentle jog.

As we went further (and up), the trail got less bumpy but there were still plenty of other obstacles to navigate on by!

Smart kids moving "over the left" to pass this water obstacle.
Smart kids knowing the "faster you go, the quicker you pass the obstacle" too!

Now, the following may not look different; but believe me, it was. Compare the first photo with the following - can you see it is much less bumpy in the following versus the prior? Well, despite lots of bumpiness to the right and left, we are actually on a much smoother snowmobile trail that is not quite as bumpy as it had been packed daily for the entire winter.

Not as bumpy, so the kids open up the throttle. Zoom!

Come along for the video counter part of the prior photo. Yes, it is still somewhat bumpy, but two things: (1) it is smooth enough to uncork the skijoring engine; and (2) regardless of bumpiness, it's toes on snow on May 21st! Yay!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

After a fun, albeit very bumpy, out & back with Jack & Rudy, we joined up with Zorro for a mini finish with the elder gentleman. There was a nice stretch near the trailhead that was not "as bumpy", so we headed there for our run to the finish with Zorro. Well, Zorro was ANYTHING but the "elder gentleman" once he joined today! Once we had the threesome connected, I tried to release us for the mini finish BUT Zorro lunged forward so hard (before I released them) that he pulled me over. Yes, 10 days from 12 years old Zorro was TOO much! That's nice to say, but painful to experience :)

Oh, and look who was concerned about my safety. Perfect Rudy!!!!!

"Whoa dad - what a spill! You ok?" asks perfect Rudy.
"Get up, let's go!" says happy Zorro the MONSTER.
"I'm with Zorro, let's GO!" adds happy, but wanting to go, Jack.

Despite the lunging forward by MONSTER Zorro, I did finally get up and make it to the trailhead in one piece. Time for 'end of run' treats but first a moment to remind Zorro about skijor politeness and not killing the human:

Having a private word with Zorro :)
"Waiting my turn!" says patient Jack.
"If only you had 3 Rudys, you'd be in perfect shape!" adds mellow Rudy.
Hahaha, mellow Rudy, who thought I'd ever say that?!?

A bumpy, but still fun toes on snow, morning with Jack & Rudy and then a MONSTER Zorro pulling the human over multiple times before finishing the day's run: 6.6 miles traveled with 550 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 172 days on the trails covering 1175.8 miles with 108,000 feet of elevation climbed.

Shade

Yay for the shade on the lower section of the Middle Fork Trail in Swan Valley!

Great November 5th conditions as we started the day in the shade on the Middle Fork
Trail in Swan Valley!

Boo for the melting in the sun exposed sections of the Middle Fork Trail:

Yikes! Barely enough snow to keep the skis on! Luckily my partners know to slow to a
trot when conditions are sketchy! 

Although we had some great snow to end October, we have had a warm & dry start to November. I was wracking my brain yesterday trying to think of a trail that may have survived the last few warm days. What we needed was a trail with lower elevation shade so the snow would still be intact as we climbed elevation to where the snow is still extremely good. The decision was to try the Middle or South Fork trails at Swan Valley this morning. As you see in the first photo, Middle Fork had the perfect amount of shade to start our run. As you see in the second photo, it was sketchy whenever we encountered sun exposed sections of trail.

Then, once we got up in elevation a bit, it was as I expected - great upper elevation snow! The only drawback was the trail had been driven by 4WD vehicles, so it was a bit tracked up and tested all of my ski abilities to stay upright behind my sprinting trio :)

Great snow in the upper elevations as I am riding the skis in the track behind Jack while
Zorro & Rudy run in the tracks to the left.

How great was the lower shade? Well come along for the start to this morning's run as I am riding the "sled dog tow rope" up the Middle Fork Trail on perfect conditions in the shade.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

I had to take my skis off once to walk over a stretch of exposed ground. Once back on snow I stopped to put the skis back on. Did I say "stopped"? Well, you know what that means from the youngsters...

"Back on snow, I'll wait for you to get in the skis!' says happy & polite Zorro.
"Stopped = rolling in snow!' demonstrates Rudy.
"Rolling AND eating snowcones - I'm talented!" adds snow rolling & eating Jack.

A perfect early November outing with just enough shade to enjoy the snow and not too much sun exposed terrain to hike over. A well earned set of end of run treats:

"Perfect! Hand out the treats!" says the happy & focused trio.

A great choice of trail this morning to get in a short fun run on what snow is still available in the shade and upper elevations: 5.2 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 15 days on the trails covering 89.9 miles with 8850 feet of elevation climbed.

Comedy

Nice "shot from the front" as we arrive at the trailhead to end this morning's fun skijor.

Happy boys! Yes, I am snowplowing pretty aggressively as the trail ends just a few
feet in front of us!

We had a fast & fun run on the groomed trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center. Most of the day looked like the following photo:

Catching air as we fly along the fast trail!

While most of the day looked like the prior photo, we had a few comical diversions. Come along for the comedy...

At our turnaround point of the outing and guess what everyone did :)

"Rub a dub dub - I'm a headless snow angel!" demonstrates goofy Jack.
"He's at it AGAIN!" states Zorro.
"Cooling my belly!" adds funny Rudy.

And then it is Rudy's turn...

"Ahhh, rolling in Jack's angel imprint!" demonstrates goofy Rudy.
"Not him TOO?!?!?" states Zorro.
"Hey, snowcones are almost as much fun as snow angels!" adds funny Jack snacking on snow.

Here is an interesting shot from the day:

"Hi dad - you are funny!" says silly Rudy.

How on earth did I get that previous photo with my ski sideways? Well, come watch the video comedy of the day. We are just about to enter an extremely steep piece of trail. I had stopped to get myself together before entering the steep section. But, as I start to go, my ski tips cross and I topple over. You can hear me utter "wait" once to get everyone to stop; but I quickly realize the trail is to steep for me to stop! So, I don't try to enforce the wait and simply slide down the trail on my butt instead. Buttjoring at its best :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Like I said earlier, a primarily fast & fun outing on groomed trails with a little comedy mixed in: 5.2 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2018/2019 Season to Date: 46 days on the trails covering 249.6 miles with 22,350 feet of elevation climbed.

Beautiful Morning

It was a beautiful bluebird morning to skijor Boreas Pass.

Great views and lots of skijoring fun!

Cruising along the trail as the ski runs of Breckenridge Ski Resort come into view on the
mountains across the valley.

An interesting observation from the prior photo. Doesn't Zorro (in the middle) look bigger than both Jack and Rudy? But it is not true - Zorro is a small Siberian Husky and both Jack & Rudy out-weigh him. Guess it is the maturity that makes him appear bigger :)

Boreas Pass has lots of fun terrain. Here is one cool stretch where you are amongst a dense grove of aspen trees on both side of you as you glide along the trail:

Aspens, aspens everywhere.

The further you go on Boreas, the narrower the set trail becomes. Not everyone has sled dogs to make it far up the pass. Come along for today's pretty video clip as the trail is just wide enough for three sled dogs to fit and comfortably gallop along. What a beautiful morning it was!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Time to turn around and, well, you guessed it.....

"Gotcha - turning around!" says veteran Zorro who is always listening :)
"Dunk - cooling my face while eating snow!" demonstrates head dunked Rudy behind Zorro.
"You expected something else at our turn around?" adds comical and always snow rolling Jack.

Nancy has a cheap video cam she uses to capture us near the trailheads. This camera is not the best in bad lighting. I thought we were going to get a great shot from the front as we came running past her. But, this part of the trail has dense trees and the shade was very dark. We still got a shot from the front, but not as impressive as I hoped given the dark shade and cheap camera.

All smiles as we fly on by. "Hi mom, bye mom!" says the happy trio.

We are still keeping Rudy's runs short (albeit more frequent now) as he continues to grow; but we are covering some serious distance in short amounts of time. This trio is impressive! 5.2 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2018/2019 Season to Date: 44 days on the trails covering 234.8 miles with 20,850 feet of elevation climbed.

Polite Jack and Rudy

Laying fresh tracks in 4+ inches of new snow far back in French Gulch - wheeee!

Laying freshies far back in the gulch! Fun, fun fun!

The majority of our outing in French Gulch found us skijoring amongst 2 set tracks with powder in between (and 1/4 to 1/2 inch of new snow in the set tracks). Zorro took one set track - he's 10 years old and has earned the right to take any easy path he wants. Rudy took the other set track - he's still young so we want him in easy tracks too. Jack, who is just entering the prime of his life, took the middle powder and had a blast running in 2+ inches of fresh snow between his brothers.

Set tracks for Zorro & Rudy - middle powder for Jack. Perfect!

Eventually everyone decided they wanted to be closer together to get some real speed (they run faster when closer together). So, we entered a new configuration... Zorro still in the set track while Jack takes the outside shoulder with the deepest snow and Rudy takes the middle with the shallower snow. Another perfect configuration: hardest for Jack, easy for Zorro and mild for Rudy.

Zorro gets the easy, Jack gets the hardest and Rudy gets the mild middle.

Here we go with the video counterpart of the prior photo. Come along as polite Jack and Rudy let Zorro have the single track while they take the shoulders of the track. So polite!!!!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

I instructed everyone to turn right off the main trail for our midpoint break. My pals thought we were going trailbreaking:

"We could continue this way!" declare the fun guys peeking over the snow wall at the untouched
terrain in front of us (there is a trail here, just not commonly used).

Once I told everyone we were not going trailbreaking but taking a quick midpoint break, we all assumed our usual positions :)

"You have my full attention!" states veteran Zorro.
"Stopping? Ok, rolling..." adds comical Jack.
"Stopping? Ok, snacking on snowcones!" adds silly Rudy.
Our usual break configuration: focus, rolling, eating snow from Zorro, Jack, Rudy :)

A peaceful run out & back in French Gulch with my polite pals: 4.4 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH.

2018/2019 Season to Date: 39 days on the trails covering 206.5 miles with 18,300 feet of elevation climbed.

Pretty

A pretty shot of Zorro, Jack and Rudy laying fresh tracks in the morning's new snow.

So peaceful to be first out on the trail with my skijoring trio!

Fresh Tracks! Wheeee!!!!

We spent the majority of our outing on the trails at Gold Run Nordic Center and found ourselves to be first tracks just about all morning long. With a light layer of new snow atop groomed trails, it was fast & fun all day long!

The flying skijoring trio as we zoom along in light fresh snow over groomed speed tracks.

Today's video highlight: our favorite corner at Gold Run. This is a fun left that is almost a blind corner. But, I can see through the trees and once I determine there are not obstacles (humans, dogs or moose) around the corner, I let the trio really open it up. So fun to get towed into, through and out of a fast blind corner. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

At our midpoint break and look who is the mature sled dog giving his attention to the musher! Baby Rudy!!!!!

"You have my full attention! Aren't I maturing so fast?!?!?!" asks happy Rudy.
"Sorry, busy eating snowcones. Chomp, chomp." demonstrates Zorro.
"We stop, I roll!" adds the always rolling snow angels Jack.

Completing the day's fun run and Nancy got a nice shot of the happy trio trotting on by:

All smiles - such a happy trio!

A peaceful day laying fresh tracks in a light layer of new snow at Gold Run Nordic Center: 3.9 miles traveled with 250 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2018/2019 Season to Date: 31 days on the trails covering 165.4 miles with 14,650 feet of elevation climbed.

Jack Mile

Jack skijored his first mile this morning! Woo Hoo, way to go Jack!

"I had a BLAST!" declares happy Jack.
"Yes, fun, but eating snowcones to cool off now!' declares Zorro.
"Hey big bro, what are you eating?" questions little Rudy (who has not discovered the
art of eating snowcones yet :)

Before hooking up Jack for his first 1+ mile skijor, Zorro and I did a quick 4.5 mile skijor out & back at Breckenridge Nordic Center:

Zipping along with Z, Wheeee!

Jack actually got to experience two skijor milestones today. The first, of course, going over one mile in distance. The second was experiencing "off trail" skijoring through tight trails in the forest. The next photo may look innocent; but bringing a young pup on his first weave through the forest is a milestone. Think of all the potential to go off trail and into the trees! But, no, Jack was perfect and kept in step with Zorro, following the narrow single track.

It is perfect skijoring form when you can barely tell where one sled dog ends and the other
starts! Shoulder to shoulder perfection!

The reward for being perfect on "off trail" single tracks? Well, then you get to open it up on the wide & fast main trail. Zoom...

Young Jack flooring it as Zorro jogs along letting Jack set the pace (Zorro is still much faster
than Jack if he floors it himself :)

Being Jack's longest skijor in his young life, we made sure to take 2 quick breaks along the way. Jack let me know he was having a blast at each pause:

"This is fun, no need to stop!" declares happy Jack.
"You need to learn to eat snowcones to cool your jets at break points!" declares snow eating Zorro.

A fun day and young Jack is really coming along, right Zorro:

"Yes, yes, fun all around!" declares ecstatic Zorro.

A fun 5.7 mile skijor outing: 4.5 with Zorro and then 1.2 with Zorro and Jack. Zorro's top speed: 20 MPH. Jack's top speed: 16 MPH! A total elevation gain of 700 feet.

2017/2018 Season to Date: 44 days on the trails covering 312.2 miles with 28,500 feet of elevation climbed.

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