Workout

Sometimes looks can be deceiving...

Looks beautiful, huh?

Well, the looks were deceiving this morning. Despite how wonderful the prior photo looks, almost mid-winter like, the snow was actually very heavy, wet and sticky this morning. While we had a great time laying fresh tracks in the backcountry, it was quite the workout to slog through the heavy snow and keep my skis going! Again, not a problem, just a real workout!

Despite being out on the trails early, it was really sticky snow in any sun exposed stretch of trail. 

The kids working hard to move my skis through wet & sticky sun
exposed snow. Looks at those puddle obstacles just ahead too! Eek!

Even with sticky snow, some things always remain the same:

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes snow rolling Jack at our turnaround point.
"Turnaround, woos abound!" sings wooing Rudy.

What else always remains the same? Well, you MUST stop to inspect any and all moose tracks you encounter out on the trails:

"Sniff, sniff, moose was HERE recently!" says the track inspecting kids.

It is always a shame when some of our trails start to melt and dry up. But, it is the end of April, so it is expected. This will probably be our last skijor on this network of trails for this season. Come along for today's end to the outing to see what I mean with lots of exposed ground to navigate through safely. Luckily, Jack & Rudy understand perfectly when to proceed cautiously and how to avoid obstacles! Great partners.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Finally, despite all the melting, the creative kids were able to find the ONLY snow wall in the trailhead parking lot to climb for end of run treats!

"We prefer higher, but at least we found something to climb!" says the
fun & creative kids.

A real workout this morning through heavy & sticky snow; but still a lot of fun: 7.2 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a modest top speed of 17 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 140 days on the trails covering 1195.3 miles with 118,600 feet of elevation climbed.

Sticky and Heavy Snow

The power kids, Jack & Rudy, leaning into their harnesses to propel me though this morning's sticky and heavy snow!

Impressive power!

Today was a very rare thing for the Colorado High Country: heavy, wet and sticky snow! Colorado ski areas are famous for their soft & fluffy snow conditions. But, it is May and most ski areas are already closed for the season. This is the time of year that a heavy/wet snow can happen and it really did last night!!! We found ourselves breaking trail in 4-7 inches of heavy & sticky snow our entire outing this morning. No complaints here, just reporting the hard workout conditions :)

Still laying fresh tracks as we did a loop trail this morning.
Look at all that snow stuck on the top of my skis. Heavy, wet and sticky!

Come along for today's "power video" as you can see the energy of Jack & Rudy propelling me through 5ish inches of heavy, wet and sticky snow. Powerful kids! You'll also see that I am in quite the "ski tuck" to help move me through the sticky snow :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Running through heavy, wet snow is quite the workout, just ask Jack & Rudy. I paused at a trail junction to assess if we could continue forward (longer outing) or turn left (shorter outing). Well, I stopped...

"What a workout! Stop, drop & roll!" goes the snow rolling sillies.

It turns out we had to turn left as the heavy snow had slowed us down. I also needed to get back to the trailhead before the "slick wax" on my skis wore off (I'd never have been able to move in the sticky snow without the wax). So, a short outing in "not your typical Colorado snow", any complaints?

"Nope! We still had a blast!" exclaims the happy kids who were still able
to find a short snow wall to climb for end of run treats.

Heavy, wet and sticky snow yielded a 5.4 mile outing with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 153 days on the trails covering 1348.8 miles with 123,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Fresh Tracks

Turnaround, roll around from Jack high up on Boreas Pass :)

"Let me get this right... He's the mature older brother I'm supposed
to be taking after???" smirks Rudy at our turnaround point.
"Yep, follow my lead - turnaround, roll around!" demonstrates always
rolling Jack.

After a 10 day October warm & dry spell, Mother Nature brought snow back yesterday and into this morning. It wasn't a ton of show, but enough to get back out on the skis if we got to the correct elevation. Well, when elevation is needed, Boreas Pass it is. We were thrilled to find ourselves laying fresh tracks all the way up!

Fresh tracks fun on Boreas Pass!

After an aerobic jog up Boreas, it was time to turnaround and head back down. Since Boreas is a road, there is plenty of space to lay fresh tracks up one side and then fresh tracks again down the other side!

Fresh tracks down. Wheeee!

Despite how beautiful the above photos look, the snow was actually a bit sticky and the dirt under the snow was not completely frozen. That means Jack & Rudy had to work hard to propel the large human through the soft/sticky conditions. No problem, Jack & Rudy enjoy the challenge! Come along for a quick glimpse into hard working Jack & Rudy as you can see their effort despite what ended up being moderate speed for them given the heavy human on sticky conditions. 

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Finally, our favorite part of the day: end of run treats with elder Zorro!

"You have my full attention!" Zorro is telling me.
"Fun day, fun day!" says happy Jack.
"Bored, I'm always third!" adds mellow Rudy.

A quick sunrise fun run up/down Boreas Pass: 5.5 miles traveled with 750 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 16 MPH. We can hardly wait for more snow to arrive so we can start getting in some long skijor runs! Pray for Snow!

2021/2022 Season to Date: 4 days on the trails covering 25.6 miles with 2550 feet of elevation climbed.

Season Finale

Despite the nice photos you will see below, today was our finale for the 2020/2021 Skijoring Season!

Laying fresh tracks midway up the trail from the top of Vail Pass
to the top of Shrine Pass.

We returned to Vail Pass this morning for what we expected to be our last outing of the 2020/2021 season. With deteriorating conditions in the open meadows we usually skijor in May and with fresh snow overnight, we were able to use the main trail that takes you from the top of Vail Pass (our starting point) to the top of the next pass, Shrine Pass. Here's a fun shot of Jack & Rudy plowing through some deep snow as we are now at the top of Shrine Pass.

Powder plowing kids. Wheeee!

Ok, now you have probably looked at the last two photos multiple times and are asking, "How in the world is this our last outing of the season?" Well, it is subtle to notice in the photos. But, the new snow was very wet and heavy and the surface under the new snow was slush and/or mud. If you look closely in the first photo, you can make out some dark footholes behind Jack - this is mud/slush his foot poked through to contact. If you look closely in the second photo, you can see some similar footholes behind Rudy. Basically, despite these two very nice looking photos from this morning, the reality is all this snow will be gone and the trail back to slush after a few hours of sunshine. The sun is now out as I am typing and the 2020/2021 skijor season has come to and end.

Back to today's outing, we went up from Vail Pass to Shrine Pass and then skijored across the top of Shrine for a while before turning around to come back down. Oh, did I say "turnaround"? I bet you are expecting the usual turnaround snow angel photo next. Well, nope, Jack & Rudy like to keep you guessing what form of comedy they'll produce at turnaround points.

Today's comedy act? Rodent dives and digs.

Rudy showcasing his patented "rodent swan dives" at our
turnaround point.

Not to be outdone, Jack had a very nice rodent dive of his own. He is not known for the high arching swan dives of Rudy, but had some today!

A high arching swan dive from Jack! Impressive!

It only seems fitting to close out the 2020/2021 season with a comedy (instead of skijoring) video. After all, the three year olds, Jack & Rudy, have provided constant entertainment this season. Come along for their funny sequence of rodent dives and digs atop Shrine Pass this morning. Oh, and "no", they did not actually catch any rodents :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead for our final 'end of run' treats for the 2020/2021 season. Rudy would like to point out to everyone what a "mellow & chill" adult he has become. Yes, our wild red boy has become Mr. Smooth :) But, don't worry, Rudy is always one woo away from his wild side :)

"Poke, poke - me first!" Zorro reminds me.
"What a fun season!" adds happy Jack.
"Chilling!" declares mellow Rudy.

An aerobic run in wet & heavy snow to end the season: 5.8 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 17 MPH.

2020/2021 Season Total: 154 days on the trails covering 1253.2 miles with 107,400 feet of elevation climbed.

Thanks for sharing in the fun this season. Check back in June or July for our "2020/2021 Season in Review" highlight video.

Slogging

Hopping off trail for a moment to search for rodents under the snow :)

"Sniff, sniff, where are you little rodents?!?" asks Jack.
"Poke, poke - just us friendly predators up here!" adds Rudy.

Today was probably the stickiest skijor of my life. We where slogging along in wet and sticky conditions all outing long! We got a handful of new inches of snow overnight but it was very wet/sticky snow. To add to the conditions, the surface under the new snow never froze before the snow started falling. So, we had wet & sticky snow falling on top of a wet, sticky and/or muddy base. Wet/sticky + wet/sticky/muddy = the stickiest conditions we've every been on!

We did an out & back on Peak 7, hoping the conditions would get better as we got higher in elevation. But, nope, it was wet & sticky the entire outing. At the highest point of our venture, we were laying fresh tracks as we had out skied others on the trail. When we turned around, Jack & Rudy tried to take me down the fresh snow to the side of our "out tracks".

Trying to propel the human through the untouched
but sticky snow.

Jack & Rudy quickly realized I was close to an immovable object trying to take me down the untouched wet & sticky trail. But, if you put my skis in the tracks we set on the way up, then I started to glide a little better! Smart guys.

"Ok, reuse our 'up tracks' so this deadweight behind us
starts moving!" declares Jack & Rudy abandoning fresh
snow to reuse our out tracks.

Come along for a video view into slogging along in wet/sticky conditions and Jack & Rudy are giving it "their all" to move my through the sticky conditions. Nice work by the sled dogs!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Now go back to the video and pay attention to the trail about 6 seconds into the video. What happened? Well, here's what transpired on the way out: an impromptu "stop, drop & roll" from Jack followed by an impromptu "jump, tackle and wrestle" from Rudy.

"Impromptu stop, drop & roll!" declares Jack.
"Incoming jump, tackle and wrestle!" responds Rudy :)

It may have been slow & sticky conditions, but it was snow!

Everyone in tight for end of run treats.
"Slurp, I can taste them with anticipation!" adds silly Rudy.

It's not often you can slow Jack & Rudy down. But put the human deadweight on wet & sticky conditions and that's what happens: 6 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a wet/sticky top speed of only 17 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 149 days on the trails covering 1215.6 miles with 104,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Slow but Fun

A "slow but fun" day on soft & sticky conditions.

"Toes on snow in May - no complaints here!" declare the happy pair looking back at me at
our turnaround point of the day.

Today was the first day this spring where the "spring crust" did not hold up. Even though temperatures dipped below freezing overnight and we were on the trails around 8am, the terrain was soft. Here is what happened... 2-3 inches of fresh snow fell overnight but the snow started falling before the temperatures dipped below freezing and the snow was wet & heavy. As a result, the 2-3 inches actually acted as an insulation layer that prevented the crust layer from fully freezing overnight. The result was sticky new snow on a soft crust. If we went too fast then the crust became punchy (as you are exerting more force with speed) but if you held yourself to a gentle jog then the crust held. Max & Zorro are as smart as me and quickly realized the state of the trail and they held themselves back to a gentle jog all day without any instruction from me. So smart!

Our "action shot" of the day as we are gently jogging and laying fresh tracks in 2-3 inches of sticky snow atop a soft crust:

Keep the speeds in check and keep on trucking :)

With no opportunity to put the pedal to the metal, the outing came with lots of off trail entertainment...

Pausing to check out an old mining cabin. Note that the Forest Service actually keeps this cabin intact, albeit original form, as it is a popular destination for summer bikers and hikers.

"Knock, knock - anybody home?" asks curious Zorro. He actually tried to push the door open
but it had a closed latch out of his reach :)
"Sniff, sniff - smells unoccupied!" declares inspector Max.

Pausing at the edge of a cliff to look at the ski runs from Breckenridge Ski Resort on the mountain across the valley from us.

"Shall we ski down the cliff?" asks silly Zorro getting as close to the edge as the gangline
would allow. "Not impressed... But I am very impressed with the squirrels darting through
the trees to our right!" declares hunter Max.

Finally, one of our favorite forms of "side trail" entertainment: Moose Tracks! The moose had recently crossed the trail and sauntered off into the trees to our right. Max & Zorro quickly hopped off trail to sniff the tracks (a sign they are very fresh). Max then quickly whipped his head up to scan the trees for moose. Zorro, on the other hand, is apparently doing a Moose Track Bellyflop - what else would you call it?

"Looking, looking - where are the moose?" asks tree scanning Max.
"I am immersed in moose track - aaahhhh!" declares bellyflop Zorro.

Slow but fun on soft & sticky conditions: 5.7 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a moderate top speed of 14 MPH.

2015/2016 Season to Date: 124 days on the trails covering 1122.9 miles with 123,400 feet of elevation climbed.