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.

 

Surprise

Who is having the BEST time on a surprise groomed trail outing?

"We are! We are! Love the groomie zoomies!" exclaims the ecstatic kids.

I had announced that last Saturday was our final skijor on the groomed trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center as their closing day was Sunday. Well, the highest elevation trails at the nordic center are still in great condition. So, the nordic center decided to extend their season an extra week and keep grooming the highest elevation trail. We arrived to the trailhead this morning to find it freshly groomed and we were first tracks on the excellent terrain! Jack & Rudy knew what to do with a fresh groom :)

The fun kids catching air as they whip me around a left bend in the trail.

Need more evidence they know what to do with a fresh groom? How about this :)

Catching air again on the groomie zoomie. Wheeee!

Unfortunately, the groomer only ran a little over 2 miles on the high elevation trail before turning around. The happy faces in the first photo was at our turnaround point. This is what happened, as expected, before I got that fun dual happy face photo:

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes alway snow rolling Jack.
"WOO! Why did the groomer turnaround? WOOOO!" sings Rudy.

Now come along for the today's video highlight as Jack & Rudy are making the most of today's surprise groom. Oh, the occasional ski tracks you see in the video are our own "out tracks" on this same trail. We were first and second (to ourselves) tracks the entire outing!!!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

What a surprise but EXTREMELY fun fast day today, right guys?

"Oh yes! We LOVED it!" says the happy kids awaiting end of run treats.

As I mentioned earlier, the groomer did not go very far; but any surprise groom of any length in April is a treat: 4.2 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH (ZOOM!).

2024/2025 Season to Date: 95 days on the trails covering 728.3 miles with 70,700 feet of elevation climbed.

Surprise

Who was enjoying this morning's fun skijor outing?

"We are!!!!! We are having a blast!" exclaims the happy kids looking back
to me at a short pause during the outing.

We started the day on the Buffalo Park Trail atop Rabbit Ears Pass. The trail was as expected: a bunch of soft snowmobile tracks to follow forever:

Zipping along in soft snowmobile tracks. Wheeee!

One nice snowmobile track eventually went right and up towards the Harrison Creek Trail. We decided to follow this path, fully expecting to find Harrison Creek to be a collection of snowmobile tracks too. But, to our surprise and delight, as we got onto the Harrison Creek Trail, we found it FRESHLY groomed! Wow, what an unexpected surprise and treat! Jack & Rudy knew what to do with the fresh groom:

Zoom!

We quickly changed our intended path (which was to be an out & back on the Buffalo Park Trail) to do and out & back on the freshly groomed Harrison Creek Trail instead. Of course, an out & back means you turnaround at some point, right?

Yep, turnaround antics from my favorite comedians.
"Turnaround, roll around!" goes snow rolling Jack.
"Turnaround, woos abound!" sings Rudy.

Now come along for today's video highlight - running fast on the groomie zoomie. At 12 seconds into this clip and we get an interesting moment. The trail we are on goes forward, left and right at the 12 second point. In all the years we've skijored Harrison Creek, we've never done anything but go forward. But, today, the groomer went left. As you'll see in the video, Jack & Rudy are completely prepared to abandon the groom and continue forward (as we've always done before). So, you'll hear me call out a "Left" to my pals. They slow momentarily; but then execute the left as requested and off we GO again. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

What a surprise beauty of an outing:

The hover huskies catching air being first tracks on the fresh groom. Zoom!

What a treat, right guys?

"Oh yes, now how about those end of run treats too?" says the happy kids.

There's nothing like a surprise groom for a fast & fun day: 9.4 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 78 days on the trails covering 611.9 miles with 58,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Surprise Joy Ride

Everyone was thrilled at this morning's surprise joy ride out on Prospect Hill!

"We are having a GREAT time!" declares the happy pair looking back at
me during a quick pause.

"Surprise joy ride?" you ask. Well, yes. We set out to skijor the backcountry on Prospect Hill this morning. This network of trails is historically unmaintained backcountry terrain all winter long used by both skiers and snowmobiles. But, today was quite the surprise. A groomer had recently run up the main Prospect Hill Trail and down the backside of the hill for a little ways before turning around. Look at this beautiful trail:

A recent groom on Prospect Hill! We've never encountered this before!!!!
As you see, Jack & Rudy know what to do with a groom - ZOOM!

So, what we thought was going to be a highly technical skijor on backcountry trails instead turned into a groomed joy ride; thus the Surprise Joy Ride! 

On the backside of the hill, where the groomer turned around, we were able to leave the set trail for a short distance and romp through some nice powder before reconnecting with the groomer track:

Some nice powder as we cut a diagonal between the groomer trail for
a short distance.

But, we spent most of the day on the surprise groomed trail. We actually did the Prospect Hill route twice we were having so much fun on the surprise groom: out & back once and then out & back again. Along the way we get some nice views of Breckenridge Ski Resort across the valley from us:

Jack & Rudy zipping along as the ski runs of Breckenridge Ski Resort
come into view across the valley.

As I said earlier, Jack & Rudy know what to do with a groomed trail - zoom! Come along and watch the fun. The nice views of the ski runs of Breckenridge Ski Resort come into view across the valley from us after the first left in the video. Finally, watch the end as I have to navigate a sharp hairpin right on pretty beat up snow while Jack & Rudy slow automatically to let me navigate the hard right before opening up the throttle again. I don't have to say anything, they magically know to slow so I can navigate this on skis. Perfect partners!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Since we did the out & back route twice, we had numerous turnaround points to add some comedy to the outing. Jack & Rudy always deliver on the comedy :)

Some (i.e., me) take in the nice views at a turnaround point.
Some (i.e., Jack & Rudy) dig & dunk their heads into the snow looking for
rodents at a turnaround point.

What a surprise joy ride, right guys?

"Oh that was FUN!" declares the very happy and satisfied kids
awaiting end of run treats atop a nice snow wall.

Stats for today's surprise joy ride: 9.2 miles traveled with 1200 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2023/2204 Season to Date: 116 days on the trails covering 996.1 miles with 97,600 feet of elevation climbed.