Surprise

Look at the surprise we came across atop Rabbit Ears Pass this morning!

A recently groomed trail! Wow, what a WONDERFUL surprise!!!

These grooms are known to happen now and then on Rabbit Ears Pass in May; but it is not something announced or scheduled. You just show up and occasionally get this lucky! It is members of the US National Nordic Team that do (and use) these occasional, surprise grooms and Jack, Rudy & I LOVE to come across it!

Now come watch how the surprise groom unfolded in today's video highlight. We start this clip with us on a narrow, leftover corduroy between snowcat tracks. I was expecting this (the narrow between the cat tracks) once I saw it and that was just fine for Jack, Rudy & I. But, then watch as about 35 seconds into the clip and the snowcat turned and lowered its grooming blade. Well, Jack & Rudy know what to do with a recent and wide groomed trail. So, ZOOOOM we go. What fun!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

The groom only lasted about 1.5 miles. But, that is ok, after zooming on the groom, we headed out towads Walton Peak on backcountry ski trails. Once we got to the base of the peak, I paused to assess whether we could abandon set trails and skijor the spring crust. Did I say pause? Yep...

"Stop, drop & roll!" goes the 'if you stop, we roll' sillies.

I did determine that the crust could hold our weight, so we set out so skijor across vast snow covered meadows. I realize it looks very bumpy in the prior photo; but that is because we were at the edge of the meadow. Once we got into the center of the meadow, it smoothed up a bit for some fun "no set trails" skijoring:

See, not as bumpy once we got into the open. Whee!

We then connected onto marked snowmobile trails to begin our return to the trailhead. This type of trail gets very packed by snowmobiles running all winter and, as a result, it was still in perfect condition especially for May! Yay!

The kids opening it up on packed snowmobile trails. Fun!

To complete the day, we got back on the surprise groom and sprinted across it in the reverse direction to arrive back at the trailhead.

The hover huskies catching air on the surprise groom!

What an enjoyable and great surprise today, right guys?

"Oh, I had a blast!" declares Jack who is laying down atop a nice snow wall.
"Yes, we love Rabbit Ears!" adds giddy Rudy.

A really nice outing for mid May: 9.4 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 104 days on the trails covering 792.1 miles with 78,300 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Early Morning Spring Crust

The early sled dogs get the wonderful early morning crust!

Nice shot of Jack & Rudy catching air as we zip across a firm
early morning snow crust. Wheeee!

Springtime is good for one thing, and one thing only: the Spring Crust! With warm days (well above freezing) and cold nights (many hours below freezing), a firm crust develops in the morning that can support Jack & Rudy's weight and me on skis. This lets us abandon set trails and skijor any direction we want. Such fun!

But, as the snowpack melts, obstacles do start to emerge from under the snow. Today we encountered many little trees starting to poke through. Not a problem, just obstacles to navigate around:

Sometimes Jack & Rudy have to spread apart to avoid obstacles.
I'll typically follow one of them until we are past the obstacle.

Once past any obstacle, though, it's back to shoulder to shoulder skijoring for the impressive sled dogs:

Moments after the prior photo and the cool kids reconnect
for tight, in team skijoring :)

Oftentimes, power lines provide us some of our best spring crust skijoring. This is because the power companies frequently clear cut trees under power lines. This provides us a pretty much obstacle free stretch of spring crust. Come along for today's video highlight to see what I mean. If your volume is up, you'll hear me call out the occasional "left" or "right" and Jack & Rudy listen for us to navigate along a wonderful spring crust under the power lines. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

There is one thing a spring crust cannot support: MOOSE! Yes, we encountered moose leg postholes in the crust at one point during the outing. You must stop and inspect moose tracks, it's in the rule book :)

What a moose posthole as Jack's head has completely disappeared down
the moose hole! These tracks were apparently very fresh according to
Jack & Rudy's noses!

But, the spring crust is perfectly strong for everything Jack & Rudy want to do: from running to rolling snow angels :)

"Rub a dub dub!" goes the snow rolling sillies cooling themselves by
rolling the crust. Funny kids.

Finally, who is ready for some delicious end of run treats?

"We are!" says the happy kids who were able to, once again, find a nice
snow wall to climb to come face to face with me for treats.

An early morning skijor to enjoy the crust before it starts to soften: 5 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 98 days on the trails covering 747.1 miles with 73,300 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Spring Crust

From yesterday's skijor outing: it's "Spring Crust" time of year!!!

Jack & Rudy catching air on the perfect spring crust. 

While the onset of Spring is always sad because that means our season is winding down, Spring is great for one thing - the Spring Crust! With warm days (well above freezing) but still cold nights (many hours below freezing), a hard crust forms in vast, open meadows every morning. This crust is hard enough to support Jack & Rudy running and me on skis. It really is fun to abandon set trails and just "go your own way" through vast, open meadows. 

Another open meadow, another great crust, another
shot of fast running Jack & Rudy. 

Now look closely at the prior photo. You can see skate ski tracks to Rudy's left and between Jack & Rudy. You can also see a path of classic ski tracks far to our right. Yes, the magical Spring Crust at Rabbit Ears is known to all avid cross country skiers in this area. We encountered four different small groups of 1-3 skiers throughout the day's outing. Whenever there was a skier in front of us, Jack & Rudy floored it to catch up. They love catching anything in front of them :) 

"Here we come, you can't out ski us!" says the fun kids flooring
it to reach the skier in front of us. 

We did indeed catch the skier. As we caught up to him, he stopped to greet Jack & Rudy, laughed and said "You guys are fast, nobody has ever caught me from behind!" (he was a very talented skate skier). 

Of course every meadow comes to an end and that means you turnaround to run back across the meadow you just traversed. Well, the turnarounds do not go unnoticed by Jack & Rudy :) 

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes the snow rolling sillies. 

Each meadow we traversed got the same reaction from the comedians when we turned around to go back across it. Come along for today's video highlight to see what I mean. We had just come to the edge of one meadow when I called out a left to turnaround. Well, watch what really happened: stop, drop and roll from the goofballs. Once they finish rolling they look back to me with such happy faces (they are clearly very proud of their snow angel rolls :) until I say "Ok, here we go," and OFF we go - zoom! Fun and funny kids. 

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

To end the day, if you have met Jack you know he is a big kisser. Rudy, not so much, but Jack is a constant kisser. Here's what I mean: 

"SMACK!" goes Jack to my left cheek as I'm getting the end of run
treats out of my right pocket.

Fun day on our first Spring Crust outing of the season: 7.8 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 93 days on the trails covering 717.3 miles with 69,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Fresh Again!

Who was excited about another day of "laying fresh tracks in late May"?

"We are! We are! We are having a blast!" says my happy pals looking back
to me at a short pause during the outing.

Yes it has been quite the snowy May in Colorado this year. It seems like we've been laying fresh tracks to breaking trail in new snow a record number of days in May. Yesterday morning was yet another wonderful outing laying fresh tracks at the base of Walton Peak at Rabbit Ears Pass,

Whee - laying fresh tracks in a 1/2 to 1 inch of fresh snow over a solid
Spring crust. Beautiful!

Along with the morning's new snow, it also got below 20 F overnight and remained below freezing for many hours. As a result, the Spring Crust refroze overnight and was quite solid. So, with a firm crust and upwards of an inch of new snow, we skijored a large loop in the vast meadows at the base of Walton Peak.

Laying fresh tracks as we cruise through a vast meadow on a solid snow crust!

Jack & Rudy were having a great time and in a real groove flooring it all morning long:

Flying Jack & Rudy! Wheeee!

So much fun video footage from the morning, what to use as our highlight? Well, how about the following fun minute as we are cruising along on what seemed like endless perfect terrain! Come along and watch the fun!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

The first photo above was a rare one for Jack & Rudy at a momentary pause on the trails (i.e., they were both UPRIGHT)! Well, all other momentary pauses brought out their usual antics :)

"Stop, drop & roll!" says the snow rolling sillies doing their usual
snow angels.

Finally, the creative kids even found a little snow wall to perch upon for end of run treats. These two so love to be up on a snow wall for treats!

"Ready!" says the happy, happy kids!
You can see my right leg is fully extended so I could dish out the
treats from a standing position to my wall perched pals,.

Another wonderful late May skijor outing: 9 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 156 days on the trails covering 1319.5 miles with 131,100 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Endless Meadow

Another wonderful, early morning skijor atop a perfect Spring Crust.

Today was at the base of Walton Peak at Rabbit Ears Pass.

Cruising behind my fun pals with Walton Peak in the upper
left of this photo.

Today's outing took us to one of my favorite Spring Crust tours. We started out cruising along a nice ridge line with steep slopes on each side of it:

Steep to the left, steep to the right, but perfect ridge line down the middle.

The goal, though, was to use this ridge line to get to the base of Walton Peak. Once at the base, we are treated to two absolutely endless snow covered meadows. With a firm Spring Crust, we are able to abandon set trails and roam back and forth through these two large meadows. Jack & Rudy, of course, know what to do with a firm crust and endless terrain - zoom!

The hover huskies catching air as we fly through this endless meadow.

How endless? Well, come along and see for yourself. Today's video highlight is a minute of fast skijoring through a meadow that never ends :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

When we finished one large meadow, we hung a right to do the next meadow. Everyone ok with that plan?

"Sounds wonderful!" states always happy Jack.
"I apprOOOOOOOOve!" adds wooing Rudy.

We then went out & back in the second large meadow. But, that means we had to turnaround at one point. Yes, you guessed it: Stop, Drop and Roll:

Look at those blissful faces as the sillies roll snow angels to cool off.

The only letdown on today's outing? Well, there were no snow walls to climb for end of run treats. Oh well, I can kneel sometimes to come down to Jack & Rudy's level:

"We had a BLAST today!" states the happy, happy kids!

What a wonderful May skijor: 9.4 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 152 days on the trails covering 1285.1 miles with 127,700 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Flirts

Can't you just feel the power behind strong Jack & Rudy in this photo?

The power twins putting all their strength into their shoulders to
launch me along. Wheeee!

We returned to Vail Pass again this morning. As with two days ago, we got out on the terrain before 7am in hopes that the Spring Crust was still firm early in the morning. Well, as you see in the photo above - success! The early morning crust was perfect again today as we were able to abandon set trails and skijor any and every direction we chose. 

Along the way and... It's a bird, it's a plane, it's super Jack & Rudy:

The power kids literally flying along. Beautiful airborne shot of Jack
and nice power shot of Rudy (looks at his shadow to see he is all four
feet off the ground too).

One of the fun attractions at Vail Pass is the backcountry huts where groups snowshoe and/or ski to and stay overnight. But, since we have to get out early in May for the crust, it is hit or miss whether any of the overnighters are up when we cruise by early in the morning. Well, today was "hut success" as we encountered quite a few overnighters up & about early. Jack & Rudy LOVE to flirt with the crowds and the crowds love to meet them too!

It started off with two kids - one for each :)

The flirts, Jack & Rudy, each taking one kid to play with!

Then the crowd grew. So many people to flirt with. What to do? Well, Jack will take multiple kids at once and Rudy will entertain the entire group singing his beautiful woos :)

"I'll take as many kids as want to touch me!" says cool Jack.
"I'll WOOOOO to entertain EVERYONE at once!" belts singing Rudy.

Once done flirting at the huts, it was time to head back to the trailhead. We had power and flying Jack & Rudy in the photos above, so let's add a hover husky to complete the day's action:

The hover huskies catching air with pretty Rocky Mountain views in front
of us.

Today's video highlight contains the previous hover husky shot. Come along and watch the kids having a blast flying along the perfect crust. Top speed in this clip? 22 MPH - wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the parking lot and the sillies found one of their tallest snow walls of the season to climb. I had to climb partway up too in order to get to their height!

"Treats taste better atop snow walls!" declares the funny kids.

Another wonderful Vail Pass crust morning with some great flirting along the way: 9.3 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 151 days on the trails covering 1275.7 miles with 126,800 feet of elevation climbed.

Early for Crust

We started this morning's skijor before 7am. Why? Well, the early bird gets the firm Spring Crust still available early in the day atop Vail Pass!

Beautiful, firm and endless Spring Crust atop Vail Pass as far as the eye
can see! Wheeee!

After an initial climb from the trailhead parking lot, we were treated to the endless Spring Crust and wove our way every which way atop Vail Pass this morning. While most of the top is wide open with very few trees, there is one half mile cool corridor through dense trees on each side of you. I love flying along this corridor behind Jack & Rudy. It was so much fun, we did it twice as we could turn right at the end of the corridor and come back up the other side of the trees until we got to the top of the corridor again.

Second pass through the fun tree corridor as you see my ski tracks from the
first pass under and next to Rudy.

Today we got a trifecta of entertainment from Rudy and a double feature from Jack. 

First item: with warm May temperatures, the kids are always ready to roll snow angels to cool off during any pause along the way:

Rub a dub dub, rolling to cool their jets :)

Second item (for Rudy), repeat for always rolling Jack: woos and angels at another short pause during the outing:

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes always rolling Jack.
"Turnaround, woos abound!" sings wooing Rudy.

If you look at the sky in the previous photos, you see it was a pretty overcast morning with lots of cloud coverage. But, for the last 10 minutes or so of the outing, the clouds parted and we got some great footage in the sun. This brings a conclusion to Rudy's trifecta and Jack's double feature:

The hover huskies catching air with cool lighting and shadows from the sun.
Rudy's trifecta: rolling, wooing, hovering.
Jack's double feature: rolling, hovering. Fun kids!

Today's video highlight will go along with the prior photo as it is always so much fun to watch Jack & Rudy run in the sun. Come along and watch the fun!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead and the creative kids were able to find a snow wall to climb for end of run treats! This trailhead parking lot gets plowed all winter so the snow walls last pretty long into the Spring melt:

"Ready!!!" says my focused and happy pals perched up on a wall for
end of run treats.

A wonderful Spring Crust early morning atop Vail Pass: 9.2 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 150 days on the trails covering 1266.4 miles with 125,800 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Return

We had so much fun skijoring the Spring Crust at Vail Pass yesterday that we returned to do it again today!

Jack & Rudy flying along the endless and wonderfully firm Spring Crust
atop Vail Pass!

The only difference between yesterday and today was today was heavily overcast skies whereas yesterday was a bright & sunny bluebird day. So, yesterday had lots of cool shadow effects in the photos while today was virtually shadowless; but the photos are still cool :)

We spent most of the day on the endless crust as you saw in the first photo. But, at our highest point of the outing, we turn towards the backcountry huts which are situated amidst some somewhat dense trees. But, the trees are sparse enough that you can weave through the trees continuing on the firm crust. I really enjoy this slalom through the trees behind Jack & Rudy!

Swooshing through the trees - wheeee!

With the overcast skies, it did not feel as warm as yesterday despite the actual temperature being slightly warmer. The sun at 11,000 feet above sea level adds significant "feel heat" that does not happen with thick clouds. As a result, Rudy took the chance to give us a song instead of rolling snow angels at one turnaround point of the outing:

"WOOOOOOOOO!" sings beautiful voice Rudy.
Jack, of course, ALWAYS rolls snow angels regardless of the weather
or temperatures :)

But, it is still May, so the temperatures were near to slightly above freezing. That did not go unnoticed by Rudy at our next turnaround point of the day!

"Turnaround! Roll around!' goes the snow rolling sillies.
Which legs are Jack's and which are Rudy's? Hard to tell :)

The majority of the day, though, was spent flying along the wonderful and endless Spring Crust:

Ears pinned back - nice aerodynamics from the fast running sled dogs!

Now come along for a minute of what it is like to abandon set trails and glide anywhere you want atop the firm Spring Crust. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Once back to the trailhead and the smart kids made a beeline for the same high snow wall they found to climb yesterday. They do not forget anything!

Perched high up for treats yet again!

Another fun day atop Vail Pass: 8.2 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 144 days on the trails covering 1226.3 miles with 121,600 feet of elevation climbed.

Vail Pass

Look who was very excited to be back on snow after a couple of days off:

"We are THRILLED!!!!!" states the super happy kids.

As we enter May, we have to start getting creative with our skijor outings. This time of year you will typically find us skijoring high mountain passes or high peaks. Well, today was Vail Pass and the conditions were perfect once we got up in elevation a bit:

Beautiful morning, beautiful Spring Crust, beautiful sled dogs :)

Now come along and witness the great conditions for yourself. Sure there were a few snowmobile tracks and ski tracks to cross. But notice now my pals know to cross these as close to perpendicular as you can. The smart kids know my skis have to be close to perpendicular for me to cross the frozen tracks safely. Smart and great partners!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

After an initial climb from the trailhead, we come upon the Shrine Huts - a series of backcountry huts that people rent by the night for a getaway into the backcountry (you have to ski or snowshoe to the huts as snowmobiles are not allowed). Sometimes we encounter some of the overnighters up mulling about in the morning. It is always fun to flirt with the hut occupants. But, today we were out pretty early as I wanted to be done before the temperatures got too warm and the Spring Crust softened. So, today we were going by the huts before 8am, so nobody was out & about for Jack & Rudy to flirt with. Oh well, we did see a handful of people waving at us from inside one of the huts.

Having fun jogging by one of the huts; but unfortunately we were too early
for anyone to be out & about yet.

After some fun cruising around all the huts, it was time to head back towards the trailhead. My timing was perfect for the Spring Crust as it held firm our entire outing and we were able to abandon set trails and go any direction we wanted. Fun!

Whee - what a perfect Spring Crust!

With warm May days, you know what we were going to get from Jack & Rudy at any pause or turnaround point.

"Stop, drop and ROLL!" goes the silly kids cooling their jets rolling on the snow.
Note the markers to the right: past the markers are the huts and the markers
designate the boundary for snowmobiles as they are not allowed to cross
and get to close to the huts.

Finally, back to the trailhead parking lot and the silly kids found one of their tallest snow walls of the season to climb for end of run treats. I had to climb partway myself just to get to their level :)

"We LOVE snow walls! Now how about those end of run treats?" asks the
snow climbing acrobats.

Gorgeous bluebird morning with a perfect Spring Crust on Vail Pass: 8.8 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 143 days on the trails covering 1218.1 miles with 120,700 feet of elevation climbed.