Sunrise

Starting out this morning's skijor in low light as it was a few minutes BEFORE sunrise!

Cruising along gently in pre-sunrise low light. Good boys!

With the time change last night and some places to be later in the morning, we had to start today's skijor just before sunrise to get a nice run in. We started out at a gentle pace with the low light. Eventually, though, we were 15+ minutes after sunrise and it was then light enough to uncork the skijoring engine:

Catching air as we floor it in "just after sunrise" improving light.

Today's video highlight is a short but fun clip to watch. Come along as we start out cruising along in a gentle trot on the wide nordic trails. Then, about 23 seconds into the clip and Jack & Rudy FLOOR IT and off we GO! If your volume is on, you'll note that I do not say anything; the two just jointly decide to go BOOM and ZOOM and off we go. Fun, fast kids!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Turnaround comedy today was angels (as always) from Jack and woos from Rudy. I love how the two break out into separate comedy routines without any notice of the other :)

"Rub a dub dub, doing my thing!" goes always snow angel rolling Jack.
"Today is WOO day for me!" adds singing Rudy.

Now here is a rare shot from these two comedians. I paused to adjust my equipment and Jack & Rudy stayed upright and quiet! Shockingly rare from these two :)

"Hey, we can pause upright too!" says the happy two looking
back to me as I paused to adjust some equipment.

As you see in the prior photo, eventually we got in full light as the sun rose in the sky. With the sun now on the trail, it was time to catch air with cool shadows:

The hover huskies catching air in a cool shadow shot.

By the time we got back to the trailhead, the sun was blocked by the mountains around us so it was end of run treats in low light conditions again:

"We'll  accept treats in any lighting!" says the happy kids.

A fun sunrise skijor this morning covering 9.3 miles with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 102 days on the trails covering 873.1 miles with 84,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Special Ride

This morning's skijor started before sunrise by the dim light of dawn.

Barely enough dawn light to get out on the trails; but we did it!

Why such an early start? I had an all day seminar to attend in Frisco (the town just north of Breckenridge). Originally I thought we would not skijor this morning due to my early commitment. But, I was out running the snowblower 2 days ago just before 7am and I noticed, "Hey, sunrise is 7:20ish but there is enough light just before 7:00 to skijor by the light of dawn." Well, it just so happens that there is the Blue River Recreation Path going from Breckenridge to Frisco which is a cross country ski trail in winter. So, Jack, Rudy and I got out before sunrise to skijor me to Frisco for my seminar (Nancy, then drove to Frisco to bring Jack & Rudy home). What a genius plan!

Imagine my delight during every break in the seminar to say to other attendees, "Guess how I got here today?" Puzzled, all would say, "Uh, how?" to which I'd respond "By skijoring; Jack & Rudy towed me from Breckenridge to here for this meeting!" That answer would get wide-eyed and stunned responses from everyone I said it to. What a fun and special ride to my seminar!!!!

Anyway, back to skijoring. The rec path from Breckenridge to Frisco mirrors both Highway 9 and the Blue River (thus its name). At various points we swing close enough to Highway 9 for cars driving to Breckenridge to see us. We always get approving honks and cheers from any open windows as the oncomers see me zipping along under Jack & Rudy power!

Right around sunrise at this point as we swing close enough to Highway 9
to our right to entertain the highway travelers.

Along the way, the recreation path has 4 different road crossings where I must remove my skis, walk across the road and then put the skis back on. Well, I'm pretty fast at popping my skis off so that goes quick with Jack & Rudy barely pausing. But, on the other side of the road, I am much slower and putting my skis down and stepping into the bindings. I'm actually quite fast at this by "skier standards" but am also quite slow by "Siberian Husky standards" - just ask Jack & Rudy.

"If you are going to be that 'slow', we are going to roll snow angels
to entertain ourselves!" went the snow rolling goofballs at all
4 road crossings today :)

Then, as we arrive in Frisco, we always get the entertaining "fly by the stables" skijoring from Jack & Rudy. The horses are distracting to them but not as distracting as moose or elk which bring them to a standstill :)

"Look at all the horses! But not a moose, keep going!" demonstrates
the distracted but not stopping fun kids.

Today's video highlight? How about going back to the beginning. Come along as we start this morning's skijor by the dim light of dawn and take off along the rec path to deliver me to my seminar in Frisco! Such fun!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Finally, in Frisco to hand Jack & Rudy off to Nancy but we must share end of run treats first!

"Thanks for letting us be your delivery vehicle this morning!" says the
happy kids awaiting end of run treats.

What a fun ride to work today: 8.2 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 66 days on the trails covering 555.8 miles with 54,200 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Mountain Shade

The fun kids, Jack & Rudy, all smiles as usual as we finish this morning's skijor outing.

Ok, not the best photo with the intense, bright sun right behind us; but I had
to share anyway as you can make out the kids big smiles :)

We got an early start this morning and spent the majority of the morning with the rising sun still behind the mountains to our east. This made for some interesting & darkish lighting, so I've brightened the photos as much as I could...

We started the morning zipping along on narrow backcountry trails:

Catching air in a backcountry single track - wheeee!

We then dropped onto the trails of Gold Run Nordic Center and found ourselves still shaded from the rising sun by the mountains to the east:

We are heading due east in the photo and the rising sun is still behind
the mountain directly in front of us.

Now, want to see an amazing difference when the sun finally got over the mountains? Well, here we are in the same location as the prior photo but 30 minutes later in the sun! 

We redid this stretch of trail twice: once in the morning mountain shade
and then again once the sun had risen over the mountains.

Now come along for today's video highlight. We are cruising along the fast packed nordic trail; but this is also known "moose territory". So, watch this stretch of trail where Jack & Rudy keep getting distracted by something to our left and Jack dips his nose a few times to check the freshness of moose tracks on the trail. Needless to say, I was on high alert after seeing their distractions; but, alas, we never actually saw any moose (phew).

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Of course, redoing any section of trail means you have at least one turnaround point; and, that means you have stop, drop and roll snow angels from Jack & Rudy :)

Still in the shade of the east mountains; but the kids still had to 
stop, drop and roll snow angels to cool off at our turnaround point.

Did I mention these trails are in known moose territory? Well, Jack & Rudy are WELL aware of that too :)

"Moose went this way, can we too?!?" asks the silly kids looking at a pair
of moose tracks that crossed the trail and went into the trees.

A very entertaining outing this morning with lots of "moose alerts" but no actual sightings: 9.4 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH (the trail was a little too packed and slick for me to be comfortable going faster than this; so I was holding us back). 

2023/2024 Season to Date: 36 days on the trails covering 297.4 miles with 28,400 feet of elevation climbed.

Sunrise

We got up early yesterday morning for a sunrise skijor in hopes of being first on the light layer of new snow on the trails!

Success! Laying fresh tracks up this gentle rise in the trail.
Love being towed up by the Siberian Tow Rope :)

As has been the case for most of this early skijor season, we were on the upper elevation trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center as sufficient snow has yet to accumulate on lower trails. We only had time for a quick out & back on the highest of all trails at the nordic center. The photos are a little dim as we were out just after sunrise; but a great time was had by all!

Here's a cool shot of Jack & Rudy catching air as we round a gentle right along the way. 

Whee! The tracks to our left are our own "out tracks" before coming back on
this same section of trail.

Now come along for some video fun from the morning. As with the prior photo, you can see our "out tracks" to our left while Jack & Rudy run the middle of the trail on this way back. Laying fresh tracks out and back! Fun!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Things like this always get me on high alert. What was Rudy eyeing off trail?

"Wildlife to the left!" declares Rudy hunting to his left without breaking stride.

Notice Jack is not distracted by anything to the left, that gave me some comfort. But, we were on known moose terrain, so I was on high alert scanning the trees for big moose after seeing this from Rudy. Luckily, we did not encounter anything and Rudy refocused to the trail moments later.

Jack & Rudy know, "stop for exposed ground and wait for the dude on skis to figure out how to proceed!" Such good teammates!

"How are we going to cross this?" asks my fun partners.
I was able to step with my skis through this short dirt patch as Jack & Rudy
know to walk slowly and not pull until I am back on snow!

Short run, long run, doesn't matter to Jack & Rudy - all skijoring is fun and all runs end with well deserved end of run treats :)

"Ready!" declares the happy & focused pair.

A quick but still very fun sunrise outing: 5.3 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 13 days on the trails covering 101.5 miles with 10,300 feet of elevation climbed.

Sunrise

In the "shade of the mountain" as we started this morning's skijor at sunrise.

No sun on our trail yet; but you can see the morning sun hitting the mountains
across the valley from us and starting to peek over our mountain as the tops
of the trees are getting some sun.

It was our "Sallie Barber Mine usual" this morning. First skijoring up the front side of the mine trail and pausing briefly at our first pass by the mine. Oh, did I say "pause"? Yep....

"You paused! Stop, drop & roll!" go the snow rolling goofballs.

It was then down the backside of the trail and back up to pass by the mine again. On the second pass, the sun had just popped over the top of the mountain we were on. No need to stop on the second pass :)

Cool shot of the kids zooming by the mine in the early morning sun.

Now come along for the video counterpart of the previous photo. We have just crested from the backside of the trail and are zipping by the mine to continue back down the frontside. Notice that after about 20 seconds, we are back to being shaded from sunrise by the mountain we are on. Also notice there is a dusting of new snow on the trail. This trail gets VERY slick from heavy use in springtime. But, the dusting of snow is just enough "safety dust" for me to be comfortable letting the kids go full throttle.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

A little further along and still cruising fast. Wheeee!

Parallel skis, flying sled dogs - wheeee!

Finally, back to the trailhead and we found a snow wall in the sun for end of run treats!

Not the biggest of snow walls, but the kids are still high enough that I can
hand out treats from a standing position :)

We only had time for a short outing this morning; but a very fun sunrise skijor: 7.1 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 128 days on the trails covering 1140.0 miles with 103,300 feet of elevation climbed.

Moon

It was 6 degrees F when we started this morning's skijor and colder as we went up Baldy Mountain.

What do Jack & Rudy think of 6F?

"So hot, must roll snow angels to cool our jets!!!" demonstrates the
silly, silly kids.

Obviously 6F meant nothing to Jack & Rudy. The human (me :) on the other hand was dressed in my warmest skijor clothing. I was never tempted to drop & roll myself in the snow to cool off!!!

Back to skijoring, we did some "sunrise laps" around Iowa Mill on Baldy Mountain this morning. This route kept us on the west face of Baldy, so the mountain was blocking the rising sun from hitting us. But, we could see the bright morning sun hitting the east side of the mountains across the valley from us.

A fun part about sunrise skijors is getting a few views of the moon still in the sky:

Jack & Rudy cruising in the shade of Baldy Mountain.
Sun soaked peaks far across the valley in front of us.
A fun little "moon dot" in the upper right of this shot. Hi Moon!

20 minutes later and the same stretch of trail as the moon is starting to fade in favor of the sun.

The moon barely visible in the upper right on this pass along the trail.
Hi Moon, don't go away so soon!

How about a video counterpart of the prior photos. Come along for a glimpse into the our sunrise skijor on Baldy Mountain. We are in the morning shadow of Baldy but, as the video progresses, you can start to see the sun covered mountains across the valley. We also get a cool shot of the "morning moon" in the upper right of the clip for the last 15-20s of the clip. Fun "Sunrise Moon View" :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Finally, back to the trailhead to meet up with retired Zorro as the sun finally pokes itself over the top of Baldy Mountain:

"Moon, right, seen it - how about 'end of run' treats?" asks focused Zorro.
"Cool day! So much fun!" says happy Jack.
"Oh yeah, treats! Coming!!!" adds la-la-land Rudy suddenly realizing
it's worth coming forward into the pack for treats :)

A peaceful sunrise with moon views skijor on Baldy this morning: 7.5 miles traveled with 1100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 67 days on the trails covering 541.8 miles with 51,400 feet of elevation climbed.

Open, Woo

Fun guys, Jack & Rudy, cresting at Sally Barber Mine on this morning's skijor!

"Hi mine, bye mine. Zoom on by we go!" says fast running Jack & Rudy.

You'll have to excuse the "dark lighting" in today's photos as we were out at sunrise to get in today's fun run and the mountains around us were blocking the rising sun all outing long.

Anyway, lighting aside, we had a great romp up, down and around Sally Barber Mine today. It was a short outing as we had other appointments; but Jack & Rudy made the most of the quick run:

Flying Jack with Zippy Rudy zooming along the nice semi-packed trail.

The following photo cracks me up as it showcases so much of Rudy's personality. First of all, Rudy loves going fast and is very aerodynamic in his sprints. You'll see his ears tucked in tight and tail tucked nicely behind his body for perfect aerodynamics when he's going fast. But, Rudy is also very nosy and curious. The result? Well, Rudy just can't help but keep his outside ear (right in this case) up to listen for activity in the surrounding forest while running. So here you have it - a very aerodynamic Rudy with one (right) ear up for curious nosiness as well. Talented :)

99% Aerodynamic Rudy with 1% "curious nosy ear" :)

For today's video highlight you get some excitement from me! We start winding along the Sally Barber Mine Trail and then come around a corner to a wide open straightaway. You can hear me say "Wide Open, Woo!" in excitement to see the straightaway free of any distractions (annoying loose dogs or scary loose moose) as Jack & Rudy understand my excitement and floor it. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Finally, checking in with my favorite retired sled dog, Zorro, as we celebrate the end of another fun run:

"Glad you came back!" says sweet Zorro.
"We always bring him back!" adds mature Jack & Rudy.

A fun & fast 5.2 miles traveled this morning with 500 feet of elevation climbed and an impressive top speed of 23 MPH. We have no commitments tomorrow, so come back for a long & post sunrise skijor report :)

2021/2022 Season to Date: 34 days on the trails covering 263.5 miles with 24,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Fast Packed

Everybody having a great time skijoring Boreas Pass again this morning?

"Yes! I'm having a blast!" exclaims happy Jack.
"You bet, but why are we stopped?" adds Rudy.

After incredible conditions being first on Boreas yesterday morning, we returned with the hopes it had not deteriorated too much in 24 hours. Well, Boreas is still open to vehicles through October so, unfortunately, it had deteriorated a LOT in 24 hours! The reason we use Boreas Pass in October, despite being open to vehicles, is that we can drive the pass too and get up high enough in elevation to skijor in October. Trails lower in elevation have snow but not enough to ski or even dog sled. 

To avoid encountering vehicles, we start up the pass in the dark and begin our skijor outings just after sunrise:

Nice stretch of "vehicle packed" trail just after sunrise.

Despite lots of traffic in the last 24 hours, we did find some really nice stretches once we got up near 11,000 feet elevation. Here's our first "dual hover husky" shot of the season with Jack & Rudy hovering over the trail as we get into some nice speed. Notice my left ski in the loose snow and my right ski in the packed tire track: lean left to slow/control the ship, lean right to open up the throttle :)

The hover huskies are back!

Come along for a glimpse into a really nice stretch of vehicle packed trail near 11,000 feet elevation. Jack & Rudy truly understand when it is ok to open up the throttle and when they should tune it down a bit.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We had to drive very far up Boreas Pass Rd before we found conditions good enough to skijor. Unfortunately we were within 1.5 miles of treeline where we started. Once we reached treeline, the trail was very wind blown and void of snow - just ice. Skis & ice don't mix well :)

As a result we did 4 laps on Boreas: up 1.5 miles, down 1.3 miles, back up the same 1.3 miles and back down the same 1.5 miles. Sometimes Jack & Rudy will balk at repeating sections of trail but today the sides of trail were littered with elk tracks. Nothing like a little "scent of elk" to motivate you to go up, down, up and down the same short trail :)

Paused to inspect the numerous elk tracks just off trail.
"These smell very fresh!" states Jack.
"Where'd they go? Where'd they go?" asks Rudy studying the
tracks leading off into the trees.

Of course, going up/down/up/down means we had 3 turnaround points in the outing. That's way too many for the "turnaround, roll around" brothers to pass up:

Turnaround... Roll Around!

Back to celebrate a short but very fun outing with retired elder Zorro:

Rudy cracks me up in this photo! What a silly tongue!

A short, but fun, 5.6 mile outing with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 17 MPH. It was short for Jack & Rudy's standards; but it was skijoring in October!

Unfortunately we are entering a string of warm days, so skijoring is on hold until Mother Nature brings us more! Pray for Snow!

2021/2022 Season Totals: 3 days on the trails covering 20.1 miles with 1800 feet of elevation climbed.

Wow

Laying fresh tracks on an early morning sunrise skijor.

Fresh tracks for Jack & Rudy.
Cool orange tinted sunrise clouds.

We had some appointments to make this morning so only had time for a quick & early skijor. How early? Well, we started pretty much exactly at sunrise.

As has been the fun pattern for over the last week, we had a light snow overnight so as to find ourselves laying fresh tracks in the morning's new snow. We should have a few more days of the "daily fresh tracks" before this nice pattern of daily snow dries up.

Come along for the video counterpart of the prior photo: laying fresh tracks in Dry Gulch. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We did an "out & back" on one side trail in Dry Gulch. Well, this meant we had to stop and turnaround. Today's turnaround comedy was Jack tickling snow rolling Rudy :)

"Tickle, tickle!" goes Jack.
"Hehe, haha, that tickles!" laughs Rudy :)

We have been skijoring around and on the trails of Gold Run Nordic Center frequently in this week of daily snow. As a result, we have been laying fresh tracks near the nordic center and then finding ourselves first tracks on the daily groomed nordic trails. Well, the groomer tends to go out around 9am most days (give or take 30ish minutes). So, with a sunrise start this morning, there was no chance of a first tracks counterpart to our fresh tracks start. Or, so we thought...

Well, WOW, to our surprise the groomer went out at sunrise this morning too! It's as if the groomer knew we were going to be out early and wanted to preserve our "fresh tracks to first tracks" streak!

Whoa, first tracks on freshly groomed trails despite a sunrise start! Wow!

Fun thing to notice in the prior photo. Look at Rudy's ears: left ear tucked for aerodynamics but right ear up. Typically Rudy has both ears tucked when we are going really fast as he is quite the aerodynamic pro. But, in the prior photo we are skijoring in well populated moose territory. I'm convinced Rudy's "outside ear" is up as he is listening for moose as we traverse this established moose territory. No reason to keep the inside ear up to listen for moose so might as well tuck that one in for partial aerodynamics :) Funny kid.

Back to the trailhead to report yet another "fresh tracks to first tracks" surprise this morning!

Amazing day, now let's get to those end of run treats!

Quick sunrise skijor: 4.3 miles traveled with a top speed of 22 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 117 days on the trails covering 954.2 miles with 80,700 feet of elevation climbed.

Cornering

 We had a fast & fun sunrise skijor yesterday morning:

Jack & Rudy zipping along as the sun begins to emerge from behind
the mountains in front of us.

We had a bunch of appointments yesterday, so had to get out early for a skijor outing and didn't have time to summarize and share the fun until this morning. Jack & Rudy got the message that the sunrise skijor also meant a short outing. The result? The two speed demons hit a top speed of 24.2 MPH!

Come along for some more cool sunrise shots:

Approaching Kathy's Viewpoint warming hut as the sun peeks over
the mountains in front of us. Zoom, zoom!

Further along and we are closer to the same mountains as the prior photo but now the sun is still behind the mountain. That is, Jack & Rudy were approaching the mountains faster than the sun was rising!

Approaching the Hallelujah Warming Hut as we have beat the sun rising
to this point on the trail :)

Today's video highlight: as I said, Jack & Rudy were in top "fast form" yesterday morning. The trails were also packed and fast. This meant I really had to ski to take the corners with Jack & Rudy. Come along and see as you'll lose sight of Jack & Rudy on multiple corners as I am tucked and putting all my weight into the inside ski to whip around with the kids! Also, nice form to end the clip as we get to the narrow "end of trail" and it only takes a subtle "Easy, easy" request from me for them to finish gently. Good boys!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

That clip shows just a few of the tight corners I had to drive into to keep pace with the kids. My knees are still feeling the impact of the outing this morning!

All done with the quick outing, let's enjoy 'end of run' sunrise treats with elder Zorro:

Nice shot again of the sun peeking over the mountains.
Nice shot of happy & attentive Zorro, Jack & Rudy :)

A quick & fast run yesterday: 6.2 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 70 days on the trails covering 558.3 miles with 49,300 feet of elevation climbed.

Sunrise

 Cool shot of the morning clouds atop the mountains in front of us:

Cool clouds topping the mountains in the background with fast running
Jack & Rudy in the foreground.

We had some appointments to make this morning so started our skijor just after sunrise. We did a quick out & back at Breckenridge Nordic Center. On the return leg we were skijoring into the morning sunrise, making for some cool sun shots:

"Hello big sun!" rising over the mountain in front of us.
A nice shot of airborne Jack & Rudy as we fly by the Kathy's Viewpoint
warming hut.

A little further along, a little more sun:

Same mountain as the prior photo but a slightly different angle.
The big morning sun is now a few degrees higher than the last photo.
Jack & Rudy flying by the Hallelujah Warming Hut this time :)

Today's video fun: starting in the morning shade then finishing in the morning sun after we round a bend in the trail. Impressive Jack & Rudy FLYING by the oncoming skier we encounter. Turn up your volume about 32 seconds in and you can hear me driving my skis into the snow to maintain pace with Jack & Rudy as we round a bend on fast packed terrain - working the human!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Flying on fast trails means you really need to cool the jets at turnaround time :)

"Rolling, rolling, cooling the jets!" demonstrates the snow rolling twins.
We drifted off trail a bit to get in some deeper snow to roll in.

It seems that since Rudy turned three (December 29th) that I've been getting a dual happy face shot from Jack & Rudy every outing! The dual shots were rare before the 29th as one or both of them were usually rolling instead of smiling. But, the two mature three year olds are now flashing their dual smiles daily:

Those beautiful, synchronized, happy faces!

As usual, ending the day with our favorite elder, Zorro:

Group party = fun group shot :)

A quick sunrise outing this morning: 7.2 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 47 days on the trails covering 366.9 miles with 33,100 feet of elevation climbed.