Snowing

Have I said this before? "Oops!"

Oh those silly kids and their unauthorized game of tag breaking out
along the trail this morning!

There was a lot to be excited about this morning as we woke to a nice layer of fresh snow with active snow still coming down. Jack & Rudy approved!

"WOO, I APROOOOOOVE!" belts wooing Rudy at our turnaround point.
"Stop, drop and roll! I love snow!" adds snow rolling Jack.

The day started with light snow falling in the backcountry:

You can make out a few snowflakes against Jack & Rudy's fur while the
haze in this photo is active falling & blowing snow.

Okay, so sometimes a still shot cannot really capture active snowfall. So, come along for today's video highlight of us skijoring in the backcountry with very visual active snowfall in the video. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

But, as the snowfall increased in intensity, the still shots started to capture it as well:

Look at all those snowflakes you can see falling around us. Fun!

Did I mention increased intensity of snowfall? How about this:

You know it is DUMPING when a still shot captures this much
active snowfall. What a winter treat!

Finally, how about end of run treats in the active snowfall treat? Yay for Snow!

"Ready!" says the snow loving Siberian Huskies :)

A quick outing in the active snow, but fun, fun, fun: 5 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2025/2026 Season to Date: 41 days on the trails covering 258.2 miles with 28,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Yay Snow

Look at all the snowflakes (white speckles) in today's opening shot for our skijor outing!

Active snowfall in late April. Yay!!!!

We had a light dusting of snow overnight, so I decided to head out to the trails on Peak 7 with Jack & Rudy this morning. This time of year, the trails start to get very slick and beat up. But, all I need is a dusting of snow to make the conditions safe to ski again. I call this the "Safety Dust" and this morning's plan was to use the overnight safety dust to skijor Peak 7. But, much to our pleasure and surprise, it started snowing moments after we started the outing and continued all morning long. This added to the safety dust and made for an incredibly enjoyable outing. Let's try and showcase some more of the active snow:

All the white speckles you see against Jack & Rudy's fur and the trees
ahead and to our left are active snowflakes. Yay for Snow!

Ok, let's try another:

More white snowflake speckles on Jack & Rudy and more
speckles against the trees. Whee!

Ok, enough trying to capture active snow in a still photo. Let's get to the video highlight of the morning. Come along and watch as we have wonderful and quite active snowfall coming down on us as we skijor Peak 7. Yay for Snow!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Our last two skijor outings the temperatures were above freezing, so we got the comedians rolling snow angels to cool off at any break point. Well, today was below freezing, so I knew Rudy was going to switch from rolling to singing. Jack, of course, ALWAYS rolls. Sure enough:

"Stop, drop and roll!" declares always rolling Jack.
"Woooo! I love snow!" belts singing Rudy.

Back to the trailhead and I think I was talking about the fun outing too much instead of handing out the end of run treats:

"You going to chat away or dish them out?!?" asks perplexed, head cocked Rudy.
"I can taste them in anticipation, come on!" adds slurping Jack.

A beautiful morning skijoring with a layer of safety dust and active snowfall: 5.7 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 101 days on the trails covering 772.3 miles with 75,900 feet of elevation climbed.

Instigator

Oh Rudy, Rudy, Rudy...

"I've got you PINNED! Play with me!" announces instigator Rudy to Jack.
"Stop bugging me you little twerp!" responds mellow Jack.

Yes, Rudy the Instigator was up to his usual antics on the trail today. While Jack will occasionally start the unauthorized game of tag & wrestle on the trail, it is Rudy who starts probably 90% of all such episodes. Sure, Jack usually falls for it and responds back - how could you ignore the little pest?!?!?

Rudy's shenanigans aside, it was a wonderful fast day to skijor the wide trails at Gold Run Nordic Center. Come along for the fun - here we go!

Great shot of super aerodynamic Jack as we are flying along this stretch of trail. It is usually Rudy who has his ears pinned against his head for aerodynamics; but Jack knows the drill too :)

"Ears tucked, no slowing me now!" demonstrates Jack!

Then it was time to fly along open straightaways:

Flying Rudy next to outstretched Jack. Fast!

But, then I paused to check our time out on the trails. It was only a momentary pause, but a pause is a pause, just ask Jack & Rudy!

"Stop, drop & roll!" goes the snow rolling goofs taking an opportunity
to roll and cool their jets during my momentary pause.

Ok, pause from the human over, time to resume the theme of the day:

Zoom - and there is Rudy with his usual aerodynamic ear tuck :)

Speaking of "fast & fun"- come along for today's video highlight. Watch as we are really flying along this stretch of trail. Look closely and you can see very light active snowfall. Sure it's only a few scattered flakes; but all snow is good snow!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Finally, back to the trailhead to share end of run treats from atop a nice snow wall:

"Ready!" says Jack focused on the treat bag in my right hand.
"Instigator? Huh, I have no idea WHAT you are taking about!" suggests mellow Rudy (haha).

Today's skijor tally: 8.8 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH (it felt even faster to me, but that is what the GPS reported).

2024/2025 Season to Date: 45 days on the trails covering 332.0 miles with 30,400 feet of elevation climbed.

Dumping

It was dumping and blowing snow on us all morning long! Yay for Snow!!!!!

How much? Just come along and see :)

Look at thoroughly snow covered Rudy!!!!
Jack is covered too but his big white tail is blocking most of his snow covered back.

A lot of fun things to notice in the prior photo. First, snow covered Rudy as I mentioned in the caption. Jack & Rudy will regularly shake to clear snow that has collected on their head and backs. But, it was snowing so hard that it would recollect within 5-10 minutes! Second, you can see quite a few big flakes about to hit the camera in the photo. Finally, the "haze" you see going up the trail in front of us is actually actively falling snow. What a great snow day!

Here we are starting out this morning's outing. Again, the "haze" is actively falling snowfall. So fun to skijor in near blizzard conditions :)

Off we go to enjoy skijoring in active snow!

Still shots can never do justice to just how hard it is snowing (and blowing). So, come along for a video glimpse into the start of this morning's outing. You'll see very heavy snow falling around us and the occasional gust of wind blowing snow. Yay for Snow!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Jack & Rudy get quite frisky during blizzards they so enjoy the active snow. Here we are on our first pass by the historic Sallie Barber Mine. I paused momentarily to see if the kids wanted to roll snow angels as they typically do at the mine. But, they wanted to play and roll together in the wonderful new snow this morning. Funny kids.

"Aahhh, let's roll around together!!!" says the frisky kids.

We went up the front side of the Sallie Barber Mine Trail, then down and back up the back side of the trail before finally going down the front side. It was snowing the entire outing; but it started to lighten a little on our final leg down the front side of the trail.

Not snowing as hard (compare the image of the mine with the prior photo)
but sill snowing. You cannot even tell we skijored by the mine just 20 or so
minutes ago as so much new snow had collected in that time!

Here we come on the final leg down the front side and you can barely tell we had laid fresh tracks up this trail only 20-30 minutes prior!

Blasting through newly accumulated powder from our first pass
by this stretch of trail. Wheeee!

Time for end of run treats at the trailhead and Rudy won today's "king of the mountain" competition :)

No, Rudy is not THAT much taller than Jack, he just found a higher point
on the snow wall to perch himself!

What a wonderful romp in fresh and actively falling snow this morning! 7.6 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 93 days on the trails covering 784.6 miles with 75,600 feet of elevation climbed.

Flakes

Yay for active snowfall coming down on us while skijoring this morning!

Yay for Flakes!!!! 
Notice all the white speckles (snowflakes) against the trees as well as all
the snow you can see on Jack's black fur.

We has so much fun yesterday, we did the exact same outing again today. The only difference? Well, yesterday it was sunny whereas today it was snowing almost the entire outing! Yay for Flakes!!!

As with yesterday, we redid one section of trail 4 times (twice each direction) and then another section of trail 4 times (twice again in each direction). This meant we had 8 turnaround events during the outing. Jack & Rudy cannot pass up that many turnarounds without putting on a comedy show:

Turnaround at the Hallelujah Warming Hut.
Turnaround, roll around!
Notice the exposed ground just up trail from us - thus the reason this
was one of our turnaround points!

Yesterday we had 8 snow angels from Jack at the 8 turnaround points and we had 6 snow angels from Rudy as he surprisingly just turned around at two without any added comedy. Not today... Rudy remembered that he also woos at turnaround points :)

"Woooo! Love snowflakes!" belts singing Rudy as Jack does his usual
turnaround roll around.

Now for today's fun video highlight. Come along as Jack & Rudy are flooring it fast along this stretch of trail as active snowfall comes down around us. Yay for Flakes!!!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Now nearing the end of the outing and notice anything wrong with this photo?

Jack & Rudy are perfect but the snow has let up significantly from what
you saw in the prior photos and video (this is our second pass on this segment
whereas the video was the first pass on this same segment).
Boo, we want more snow...

If you thought the subsiding snow in the last photo was a letdown, well how about this as we prepared for end of run treats at the trailhead.

"We had a blast today!" says the happy, happy kids.
But, BOO for the sun & shadows as the snow has stopped completely
as we finished the morning outing.

A fun skijor amidst active snowfall for almost the entire outing: 8.8 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 12 days on the trails covering 96.2 miles with 9800 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Bumpy Ride

Wooing while jogging - talented, Rudy, very talented :)

"Woooooo!" says Rudy to the crowd to our left.

We had just started our skijor when we passed by the group you see to our left. It was actually a snowcat tour company that was preparing their supplies to take guests out for the day. Silly Rudy will woo at anyone who will listen. No, actually, it doesn't matter if you are listening, silly Rudy will woo at anyone :)

One of the tour guides wooed back and that got an even louder (and prouder) response woo from Rudy as we passed on by. Silly kid.

Today's forecast was "sun in the morning, snow in the afternoon & night." Hmmm, we started our skijor just before 8am, isn't that morning? Look at the following photo near the start of our outing. Notice that big snowflake hitting the camera and blocking part of Rudy. Notice all the white speckles (active snowfall) against all the trees. So much for the forecast!

Light to moderate snowfall occurred for our entire outing.

The snowfall was actually quite welcome by me as it helped smooth the trails. Now look at this very deceiving shot from the outing. Notice anything different than usual?

You don't usually see this much of the carabiner attaching the gangline
to my waistband. Why is that?

It was a very bumpy skijor for extended stretches in Wilder Gulch this morning. The bumpiness is due to lots of recent snowmobile traffic (every time a snowmobile increases acceleration, it leaves a bump along the trail). You'll witness the bumpiness in two ways in the following skijor video clip. Watch the carabiner and notice how much it is bouncing up & down. Second, you see so much of the carabiner and my skis because I'm in a constant tuck trying to keep control over the bumps. What a wild ride this morning!!! 

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Some need to roll snow angels to cool off after a bumpy ride. That would be Jack & Rudy. Some need to soak their sore knees in a nice hot bath. That would be me.

"Aaaah, cooling our jets!" goes the snow rolling sillies.
I'll spare you the photo of my bath :)

Finally, everybody was packed in tight to get those end of run treats at the finish!

"Dish them out!" demands the focused kids :)

A peaceful albeit very bumpy at times skijor in Wilder Gulch at Vail Pass: 9.2 miles traveled with 1200 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 82 days on the trails covering 715.4 miles with 65,850 feet of elevation climbed.

New Extension

The kids were a bit frisky on this morning's skijor outing :)

Frisky kids deciding to play on the trail!

Today was a new feature for us on otherwise well-known trails. We were skijoring the upper elevation trails of Breckenridge Nordic Center which spans peaks 6 & 7 of the 10 mile range - nothing new about this, we skijor these trails all the time. But, the new feature is the nordic center ran the groomer up the Peak 6 Service Road until it connected with the ski lifts of Breckenridge Ski Resort on Peak 6. Normally this service road is not groomed in winter and brave backcountry skiers tackle it on their own (making your own path up/down). I did this once years ago with Max & Zorro only to realize, "Whoa! That was a steep climb which means a death defying descent!" and swore never to do it again :) After all, I am on cross country skis and those are not designed for steep descents in deep powder. But, with the slow/low snow we've had to start the season, the nordic center ran the groomer up this service road in an attempt to give us more terrain to ski. With a groomed trail, I had no fear in going up & down it with Jack & Rudy.

Success, we skijored up the groomed trail to the base of ski operations on Peak 6. It was a nice ride up for me behind the Siberian Tow Rope (Jack & Rudy):

"Phew, gotta cool my jets after hauling the human up!" demonstrates Jack.
"Do I get paid for towing you to the base of operations?" asks all-business Rudy.

After the wild (and steep) ride up/down Peak 6, we continued the day on the usual trails of the nordic center. The highlight of this leg of the outing? Snowfall!

The big blur in the upper left is a snowflake hitting the camera.
The white blob in the upper right is another incoming snowflake.
All the white speckles you see are more snowflakes falling around us!

It wasn't heavy snowfall, but it was snowfall and we'll take EVERYTHING to build our snowpack. The prior still shot does not do justice to the snowfall; so come along for a video clip where the lightly falling snow can be seen quite clearly. Yay for Snow!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead and ready for 'end of run' treats with elder Zorro. Everybody ready?

"Yep! Do I get them all?" asks reliable Zorro while the goofball twins
are off trail digging for who knows what in the snow!
Love my focused albeit retired Z!

Let me ask again... "Everybody ready, yet?!?!?"

"Should have given them all to ME!" states Zorro.
"Haha, hehe, we are here now!" adds the la-la-land twins FINALLY
coming into the 'end of run' treat party.

A new, but very steep, extension to our skijors on Breckenridge Nordic Center trails: 6.5 miles traveled with 1300 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 41 days on the trails covering 322.3 miles with 30,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Yay Snow

Yay for active snowfall coming down on us all morning long!

The "white spots" you see against Jack & Rudy are fresh falling snowflakes.
All the "white blobs" you see in this photo are also fresh falling snowflakes!
Yay for Snow!

We were treated to light to moderate snowfall all morning long. As a result, we were also laying fresh tracks all morning long on the upper elevation trails on Peak 7!

Fresh snow... Fresh tracks for Jack & Rudy!

Now for a nice wide angle shot. Cool photo showing fresh snow in front of us, fresh tracks behind Jack & Rudy and a glimpse of my ski tips as we glide along the perfect terrain this morning.

Wheeee!

Today's video highlight is a classic "run, jog, run" from Jack & Rudy. Sometimes they are in speed mode while skijoring (run) and sometimes they need to catch their breath (jog). We always laugh about how they can "recharge while jogging" in order to floor it again once they catch their breath. We've been laughing at this behavior (rest/recharge while jogging) for 24 years - ever since we got our first Siberian, Paco, who showed us the skill of "recharge while jogging". Come along for Jack & Rudy's jogging recharge in between the two run bursts of this video clip. 

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

At our turnaround point of the outing and it was "classic Jack" and then Rudy trying to pretend he is too mature for silly Jack antics :)

"You know you want to roll too!" Jack is telling Rudy.
"Nope, I'm mature now, snow angels are for kids!" responds Rudy.
Don't worry, Rudy rolled snow angels at the start and end of the outing today.

The only drawback of this morning's outing was the intense wind gusts. The wimp of the team (ME!) trimmed the outing short to keep the wimp from freezing to death! Time for 'end of run' treats with Zorro and I was huddled next to the Jeep to get out of the wind. When it's super windy, Nancy often becomes clumsy with her big mitts. The black object in the following photo is her thumb blocking part of the camera (clumsy thumbs :)

Everyone in tight for 'end of run' treats without freezing the human.

A great "fresh snow" day but a little too much wind for the wimpy human to stay out too long: 7.2 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 33 days on the trails covering 258.3 miles with 24,000 feet of elevation climbed.

NWANW

Fun shot of Jack & Rudy zipping along a single track trail winding through the forest!

Zoom we go zipping through the trees.

Wondering about the blog title: NWANW? Well, here we go. The 1st 'N' is for starting the day on narrow single track trails.

The 1st 'W' is for dropping out of the forest and onto wide trails to uncork the skijor engine:

Laying fresh tracks in the morning's new snow. Wheeee!

Look directly above Jack and to the top of the prior photo. What is that white dot? Well, it's a snowflake hitting the camera.  We had light snowfall coming down on us all morning.  The snow is supposed to really pick up in intensity later today; but, hey, you have to start somewhere. Come along for the fun video clip of us gliding along amidst light snowfall.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

After the first N and W, it was time to transition from wide to narrow trails again.  But, a transition involves slowing down to change trails. Slow down? How about roll a round?

'A' is for rolling snow angels when slowing to
transition from one trail to another.

The 2nd 'N' is for galloping along in narrow single track trails again:

Galloping along narrow, shoulder to shoulder, trails.

Next, you guessed it, the last 'W' is for opening up the throttle on wide trails again. Now you get  the NWANW title: narrow, wide, angels, narrow wide :)

Zoom! Once again, all the white speckles you see in
this photo are snowflakes. Yay for flakes!

Finally, a really enjoyable trot with elder/retired Zorro to end the outing. He and Nancy met us up the trail from the Jeep. Frisky Zorro wanted to turn around and trot back to the Jeep with his little brothers. He taught them everything the know after all!

Yay for frisky Zorro gently trotting along next to Jack & Rudy
to conclude the day!

A fun day alternating between narrow and wide trails again and again: 7 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 108 days on the trails covering  882.5 miles with 76,300 feet of elevation climbed.

Contrast

 Such focus from the handsome trio for 'end of run' treats this morning!

"You have our FULL attention!" declares the focused trio.

We spent the morning skijoring around Sally Barber Mine with a little bit of fresh snow on the trails. The outing had a couple of fun compare and contrast moments.

First "compare & contrast" - we started the outing with patchy cloud cover and intermittent sun.

Flying along in partial morning sun.

Contrast the prior photo with the following. We ended the morning's run with snowfall developing all around us. Yay for snow!

Big snowflake up & left of Rudy. You can also make out more
snowflakes against the trees.

Today's video highlight? Jack & Rudy flying along as we are second tracks on the back side of Sally Barber Mine. Look closely and you can see the single fat bike track that was on the trail before us. Use Rudy as your guide to locating the fat bike track as he likes to run in the track. Jack, on the other hand, prefers to run in "out of track" powder if it is not too deep to keep pace. Powder Jack :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Now, on to the best "compare and contrast" of the morning. We were cruising along when Rudy launched into one of his patented "high arching rodent swan dives" off trail to search for rodents under the snow:

Beautiful high arching from from Rudy!
"Hey bro, nice form!" says onlooking Jack.

A high arching swan dive means leads to great momentum to dive for rodents :)

"Incoming with serious momentum!" demonstrates talented Rudy.
"Whoa! I need to participate!" declares 'preparing to dive' Jack.

Now we get to contrast Rudy's high arching dives with Jack's low angle lunges. This is Jack's version of a rodent dive. It is still very effective as he gets enough lift to plunge into the snow; but Rudy really has the art of rodent diving down to perfection!

Incoming from Jack the "low angle" rodent lunger.
"DUNK!" from Rudy as you see the result of his high arching dive :)

Partial sun to active snowfall. High arching rodent dives to low angle rodent lunges. A fun day of compare  and contrast: 8.2 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 105 days on the trails covering 858.2 miles with 74,400 feet of elevation climbed.