Great Until

Such happy sled dogs at our turnaround point in French Gulch this morning!

Smiles all around!

We only had time for a short run this morning and we got 4-8 inches of new snow overnight (depending on your elevation) so our plan was to get on French Gulch while the conditions were still good.

It started out PERFECT. A few pre-existing but still soft tracks and some nice powder in the shoulders and middle. Nice shot of the "tow rope trio" towing me up & out French Gulch:

Beautiful early morning conditions!

After a quick jog up & out French Gulch, it was time to turnaround and fly back. Look at this great shot of the trail with 3 set tracks and one sled dog in each track. Wheeee!

Trio of tracks, trio of sled dogs. Wheeee!

Everything was going according plan UNTIL - UGH the evil awful dirty rotten PLOW! We were almost back to the trailhead when we encountered this demon. If we'd only started 5-10 minutes earlier, we would have avoided it altogether and had a perfect albeit short outing.

"That's just plain EVIL!" express Jack & Rudy.
"Let's go knock it over!" suggests Zorro :)

Come along for the "run to the devil" video clip this morning. We start out on absolutely wonderful conditions having a blast cruising the perfect trail. Until... Well, until we encounter the devil plow on the trail and have to stop.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

To be fair, there are a handful of private cabins in French Gulch and the owners are allowed to contract any plow service they want to access their cabins. BUT.... But, the agreement between the county and the owners is the following: You may plow the access road IF and ONLY IF you leave 4+ inches of snow on the trail for backcountry enthusiasts.

Ok, I can live with that agreement, but here is what we found once we got past the devil plow:

"Um, we might be only 2 years old, but we know this isn't 4 inches of snow on the trail!"
says smart beyond their years Jack & Rudy.

I approached this trail damage slowly until I saw I could probably pass over. I think Zorro was as surprised as me that I could navigate the skis over:

"Really? You can make it?" asks concerned Zorro.
I put all my weight on my left leg and was able to cross cautiously

Oh well, no need to dwell on the evil awful dirty rotten plow. We'll just enjoy toes on snow and plan other trails until fresh snow falls in French Gulch again.

"We can forget about the plow and move on to 'end of run' treats!" says the fun trio.

A quick & short outing that was PERFECT until the last 5ish minutes: 4.2 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 92 days on the trails covering 629.3 miles with 58,150 feet of elevation climbed.

Perfect Up High

May 19th and we are still going! Yay!

"We LOVE snow! We LOVE skijoring!!!!" states the happy, happy trio during a quick
pause on the trails this morning.

We went to the trails that span Peaks 7 & 6 of the ten mile range. I expected the conditions at the trailhead to be bad but also expected the conditions up high to be perfect. So, we decided to brave the conditions down low at the trailhead to get to perfect higher up. But, what I did NOT expect was to find the trail PLOWED from the trailhead! Egad!

This trail is a hike, bike and service road in the summer as the ski resort uses it to service lifts and trails on Peaks 6 & 7. Apparently the ski resort thinks summer is going to happen as they had taken out one of their snowcats to plow the road. Egad! Luckily a snowcat does not plow down to dirt; but it does remove a ton of snow and leave very choppy "cat tracks" on the trail. Oh my was it choppy and bumpy from the start:

Look at that snow wall to our left - that is how much snowpack the cat removed!
Look at those snow boulders to our right - this is the snow that was removed!
Look at those cuts going perpendicular to the trail (the "cat tracks") - oh boy was it bumpy!

Despite the cat plow, we did have a plan. The service roads bears left after about a mile or so while the trail goes both left and right. As expected, once we veered right (away from the cat plow) and continued climbing it was PERFECT!!!! Laying fresh tracks in an inch or so of new snow on May 19th! Perfect:

May 19th Freshies. It was SO nice up high. Wow!

We did an "out and back" run and were the only tracks on the trail once we got out of the cat plow. Here we come on the return laying fresh tracks to the right with our "out tracks" to the left.

Zoom - still laying fresh tracks!
That is Peak 6 of Breckenridge Ski Resort in the upper/center of this photo.

Occasionally the trail got narrow enough that some of us had to run in our "out tracks". Jack was in "freshies mode" all morning long. If someone had to drop into our "out tracks", Jack moved himself to the right of the team to continue freshies for himself :)

"Love laying fresh tracks!" demonstrates freshies Jack.
"I'll take any part of the trail as long as we are going!" adds Rudy.
"Flying down the middle!' contributes Zorro.

Today's video highlight showcases just how nice it was up high. Come along for some perfect skijoring on May 19th. So nice up high!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead and time to celebrate a great May run with end of run treats:

"Ready!" say happy & focused Zorro & Jack.
"I can taste them already! Clearing my palette!" adds slurping Rudy.

An interesting range of conditions this outing. A bumpy 1ish mile up, a perfect 4.6ish mile out & back up high and a TOUGH 1ish mile back down. It got so bumpy and plowed that I eventually had to take my skis off and hike the last 1/2 mile. I do have a backpack which can hold my skis, so the hike is not as bad as if I had to carry skis... 6.6 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2018/2019 Season to Date: 120 days on the trails covering 696.5 miles with 65,300 feet of elevation climbed.

Milestones

Having a blast breaking trail in about 15 inches of fresh powder in French Gulch! Wheeee!

Gliding along in 15+ inches of powder. What impressive sled dogs!!!

This is young Jack's first real season of skijoring, so we will be experiencing a lot of milestones as the season unfolds (recall last winter was just short & easy training runs for Jack). Today had two milestones: (1) Jack's first 8+ mile skijor (8.4 to be exact); and (2) Jack's first extended time breaking trail (we had about 1 to 1.5 miles of what you see in the prior photo). Impressive young Jack (and just as impressive veteran Zorro :)

We are at the tail end of a great storm from the previous few days dumping upwards of 2 feet of snow in and around Breckenridge. Today we decided to take Zorro & Jack for a long run in French Gulch to enjoy all the new snow. There has been so much snow, that we were able to start on French Gulch Road and run in tire tracks until entering the real French Gulch Trail.

Flying along in packed tire tracks on French Gulch Road. Zoom.

Once we transitioned from the road to the trail, we were able to ride in a set of ski tracks for a while and then we eventually out skied all existing tracks. Once this happened, you got the first photo above: breaking trail for over a mile in 15+ inches of powder!

Besides great snow, the biggest attraction of French Gulch is ... MOOSE!!! We did not see a moose this morning, but the "scent of moose" drew Zorro & Jack off trail once into deep snow as they scanned the forest for the source of the moose aroma. No visuals, but still fun to scan:

"Come out, come out wherever you are. We SMELL you!!!!" declare the moose scanning
pair enjoying the deep powder as they scan for moose.

The only drawback to French Gulch - well there are a handful of property owners in the gulch who have keys to the "winter gate" and will occasionally run their evil plows down the trail. Anything that removes snow is evil (except the sun, as it has other uses so we will allow this one snow remover :)

Evil, just plain evil!!!! Why remove snow!!!!!

On to today's video highlight - the evil plow. Come along as we are flying along a "fast packed trail" until we encounter the source of the packness - the evil plow. Love my skijoring partners as they automatically slow as we approach Mr. Evil as we all consider "what to do". All it takes is one gentle "Left" command from me and Zorro & Jack hop into the left powder as we pass Mr. Slow & Evil. Once passed, hop back into the ski tracks on the trail, floor it and leave Mr. Slow & Evil in our dust :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

What a fun early November snow run: 8.4 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 17 MPH.

2018/2019 Season to Date: 6 days on the trails covering 27.5 miles with 2850 feet of elevation climbed.

Wide to Narrow

A great day for rolling dual snow angels to cool off after running in the bright sun!

"Aahh - cooling off together in the upper meadow of French Gulch!" say the snow angel
rolling brothers.

Today's 9 mile run had the full range of trail widths...

The Sally Barber Mine trail was fast packed and just wide enough to open up the throttle as we sprinted side by side:

Zoom, zoom, zooming along the Sally Barber Mine Trail!

The lower section of French Gulch was plowed (yes, plowed - UGH!) and wide:

Barely enough snow on the plowed trail to keep the throttle open.
Look at how high the snow walls are on each side of us - this should be the snowpack on
French Gulch if some idiot hadn't plowed it!!!!!

The upper section of French Gulch was a narrow single track weaving us through the incredible snowpack in the upper part of the gulch:

Narrow trail only one Siberian wide - Max trotting in lead.

Still one Siberian wide in the upper gulch but now Zorro running in lead - wheeee.

Great conditions on Sally Barber, great conditions in upper French Gulch but plowing atrocity in lower French Gulch: 9.2 miles with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2014/2015 Season to Date: 94 days on the trails covering 812.0 miles with 86,550 feet of elevation climbed.

Fast, But...

A fast, fast day skijoring French Gulch this morning.

But, "fast at a cost"....

Airborne along the main French Gulch Trail.
Can you see what is "wrong" with this picture? If not, read on...

Today's video highlight: flying along in French Gulch when one of the "winter gates" comes into play. The approaching gate shows some of the best teamwork we have in our skijoring team. Turn up the volume and listen as we approach the gate - I do not need to say anything as just a "scrape" of my skis (to slow down) is enough to get Max & Zorro to slow down as well. We have this incredible teamwork such that they adjust their speeds based on how they hear me skiing. Rarely is a word needed from me as we adjust in unison based on the sounds of my equipment. The video ends with a gentle glide through the gate and then an acknowledgement from me that it is OK to open it up again and off we go. Such great teammates!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Okay, now the answer to the question in the caption of the first photo: What is wrong with this picture.... THE TRAIL IS PLOWED - UGH!!!!! Technically the French Gulch Trail is a private road and there are a handful of homes back in the gulch whose owners have keys to the two winter gates keeping vehicles out of the gulch. We have been using French Gulch for skijoring and sledding since 2002 when we discovered this trail to dogsled with Paco & Cisco (Max & Zorro's predecessors). Never in over a decade had the road ever been plowed in the winter. The few homeowners back in the gulch have always accessed their "backcountry cabins" by snowmobile, skis or snowshoes - as it should be. But, last winter one of the homes changed owners and the horrible new people have contracted a plow to occasionally destroy the terrain from the trailhead to this house. Argh...

Now, you still might be asking, "so what, the video still looks like great skijoring..." Well, here is the problem: a plowed French Gulch will be the first trail to die in the Spring since it has no snowpack. Ugh, one of our favorite trails is on the March/April Endangered Trails list....

Encountering the evil plow on French Gulch.
"Hey! Get OUT of here!" exclaims appalled Max.
"Rude, just RUDE!" states 'less than impressed' Zorro.
"If I wasn't holding the gangling for safety, I'd be flipping you off!" proclaims ME!

Okay, you've seen the rude plowed section of French Gulch. Now check out how incredible the conditions are outside of the plowed area. Rude to plow, just plain rude....

Flying around a corner on the Sally Barber approach to French Gulch.
Beautiful terrain with "lasting until May" snowpack!

Cruising along in upper French Gulch (about 100 yards past where the rude plow stopped).
Look at this incredible terrain that will last well into May but there will be a dirt road causing
you to hike to this trail to skijor - ugh!

Oh yea, if you have followed along closely all year - encountering moose tracks, scents or moose themselves has been pretty much guaranteed in the upper portions of French Gulch this season. Here is today's moose fun:

Far back in the gulch and encountering a confluence of moose tracks.
Everything you see going to the right or left of the straight line in front of us are moose tracks!
At least 3, maybe more, moose recently in the area...

"We sense the moose are this direction!" state the moose seeking pair stepping off the main
trail and aligning themselves in the direction of the 'scent of moose'

Just around the corner from the previous photo and MOOSE!!!
You cannot see them as they are so well camouflaged in the trees. But, follow Max & Zorro's
gaze as I spotted THREE moose in the grove of trees in front of us. The moose were watching
us as closely as we were watching them as I had to calmly get Max & Zorro to retreat away
from the grove and then hightail it out of there once we got some distance from the moose!

Great day on the Sally Barber Trail. Appalled at the plow on lower French Gulch. Great day on the upper French Gulch Trail. A fun moose sighting for all. What a day: 9.3 miles with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2014/2015 Season to Date: 66 days on the trails covering 562.8 miles with 60,800 feet of elevation climbed.

Shallow to Deep

Today's skijor outing in French Gulch found us laying fresh tracks on 2 inches of snow and breaking trail in 15+ inches of snow. Yes, this all happened on the same trail!

"Look at the deep snow we found! Wheee!" express the happy Siberians looking back at me
at our turnaround point of the day.

Check out the following two clips from our outing - a contrast of the conditions at the French Gulch Trailhead and the conditions far back into French Gulch...

Laying fresh tracks in about 2 inches of fresh snow.
Notice the massive "plow wall" to the left of Max. A few days ago the French Gulch trail
was level with this wall. Oh those darned plows wrecking our trail!

Powering through 15+ inches of soft powder far back in French Gulch.

A "plow wall", really? I'm sure you are thinking - isn't French Gulch a winter trail? Well, there is a winter gate that closes off French Gulch to public vehicles and transforms it into a wonderful backcountry trail all winter. But, unfortunately, there are 4-5 private cabins in the gulch and (believe it or not) 2-3 active mines in the gulch. The unfortunate part is that the owners of these cabins and mines have a key to the winter gate and they can open it whenever they choose. Usually this is not a problem as the gate is occasionally opened for the owners to run snowmobiles up the gulch to their cabin or mine. Today was the exception, though, as one of these owners opened the gate and PLOWED the trail! ARGH!!!

It was only plowed for the about the first 1.5 miles; but it was plowed! What's wrong with a little plowing, you ask... Well, once plowed, this section of trail is 1-2 sunny days away from having exposed dirt & rocks on the trail - UGH! Look at the photo with the plow wall again and realize the snowpack on this trail was over 4 feet deep just a few days ago; that would have been a snowpack keeping this trail useable well into April or May. Yet, some idiot plowed it away!

The only positive outlook: it has been snowing all day today and is supposed to snow well into Monday. We are hoping the current storm dumps a foot or more of new snow on French Gulch and rectifies this plow atrocity.

The only redeeming quality of the plowed trail - a Siberian Fast Track. Here's a fun clip of Max & Zorro transitioning from a light trot into an all out sprint. But, we would trade the sprint for the 4 foot snowpack any day - stupid plow!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

As has been the pattern for most of the season in French Gulch - moose sighting! You cannot see it in the photo below, but you can see the intense focus from the Siberians!

"Moose, moose moooooose!" exclaim Max & Zorro as moose are the only wildlife that can
pull them off trail like this.

A fast day on the lower trail, an aerobic trail breaking day on the upper trail leading to 7 miles with 750 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2013/2014 Season to Date: 87 days on the trails covering 740.3 miles with 86,100 feet of elevation climbed.