Boreas

Our first skijor up & down Boreas Pass this morning. Yay for Boreas!

Jack & Rudy cruising along as we approach the historic Baker's Tank
left over from when Boreas Pass Road was the railroad into Breckenridge.

Boreas is a very fun trail to skijor. But, it is open to vehicles (for hunting season) until around Thanksgiving. As a result, you have to get on Boreas immediately after fresh snow to enjoy it before it gets tracked up by vehicles. As expected, the snow cover was pretty thin but good enough to ski gently. Smart Jack & Rudy understood the conditions are remained in a gentle jog to light trot all outing long. Occasionally we could open up the speed a little bit, but not for long before returning to a gentle jog.

One nice stretch as we open up the throttle a little bit.

Most of the outing, though, was spent as you see in the following video: a gentle jog by Jack & Rudy as they tow me along in thin snow cover. The super smart guys knew to never try and floor it, the conditions were a jog to trot outing :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Along the way we passed by a large meadow where we have seen moose many times. Jack & Rudy had to stop and survey for moose. We never saw any but I could tell by the movement of their noses that the scent of moose was in the air!

"Sniff, sniff - we smell you! Where are you?!?!" asks the moose patrol.

After going up Boreas for a little over 4 miles, it was time to turnaround and head back down. Today's turnaround comedy was the usual snow angels from Jack and woos from Rudy this morning:

"Rub a dub dub!" goes snow rolling Jack.
"WOO! Finally back on Boreas!" belts wooing Rudy.

Finally, back to the trailhead and Jack & Rudy found a snow wall to climb for end of run treats. They started doing this last season and have been waiting for enough snow to collect for wall climbing this season!

"We'll come up to you for the treats!" says the polite gentleman letting
me stand instead of kneel to hand out treats!

A fun first run of the season on Boreas albeit a bit of a thin cover/cautious outing: 8.2 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a modest top speed of 17 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 15 days on the trails covering 118.3 miles with 11,900 feet of elevation climbed.

Deteriorating

If it is "snow in late May" we'll take it, right guys?

"You bet! We are having a BLAST!" declares the happy kids

We returned to Harrison Creek at Rabbit Ears Pass this morning. We did this trail 4 days ago and the conditions from then to now were deteriorated. We chose this route because it gets to upper elevation terrain quickly which is usually less melted than down low. But, at our highest point of the morning, quite a bit of shrubbery was breaking through the snow!

Still enough snow on the trail to go; but the view from here 4 days ago was
all white versus shrubbery coming  through on the shoulders today.

Getting to the upper elevation was also quite a challenge at first. We had many "barely enough snow to go" narrow sections of trail:

Just enough snow for me to keep going on skis.

Then, we had a lot of this ugliness! 

Yikes, how to proceed?!?!? 
I'm actually able to keep my skis on and step slowly across the dirt.
Jack & Rudy know to go slow until we are all back on snow. Good boys!

Now, a nice "nearing end of season" skijor clip of talented Jack & Rudy. Come along as we start the clip proceeding cautiously due to lots of exposed ground and narrow snow cover. But, as soon as the exposed ground disappears, Jack & Rudy kick it into overdrive as the conditions are now safe to GO. All of this without a single verbal command from me, just great understanding of the conditions from the smart kids!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

The conditions were still nice up high despite a lot of ground starting to show on the shoulders. But conditions are really deteriorating on the way up and then back down the lower terrain.

Still good snow on our favorite upper elevation ridge line.

Of course, any snow is good snow for rolling snow angels...

Rub a dub dub!

Finally,  we were even able to find a small snow wall at the trailhead to climb for end of run treats:

"Yay, we found a mini wall to climb!" says the happy kids.

A short outing due to deteriorating conditions and rising temperatures, but it was still skijoring in late May: 5.8 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2022/2023 Season to Date: 163 days on the trails covering 1430.0 miles with 129,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Was today our finale? I think (hope) not, but we have very few outings left. Stay tuned...

 

Backside

Nice view as we stop at a "vertical drop" on a side trail this morning.

"Nice view, but time to turnaround!" I am saying.
"What's wrong with the vertical drop in front of us? Come on Dad!" suggests
Jack & Rudy looking over the edge :)

We have had a slow start to this 2021/2022 season with less than average snow on all our trails. To date, we've been doing high elevation and known snow deposits for our outings: Boreas Pass, Rabbit Ears Pass and Peak 7 near/above 11,000 feet elevation. Today we decided to venture down and see what some of the lower trails were looking like. Well, we still need more snow!

On the sun exposed side of Prospect Hill, we encountered numerous patches of thin (to no) snow cover for slow and cautious skiing. Luckily, Jack & Rudy slow to my speed whenever we encounter sketchy conditions!

All three of us hugging the right side of the trail trying to find enough
snow for my skis to continue!

But, after a series of up/downs (mostly ups) on the sunny, front side of Prospect Hill, we transitioned to the backside. Wow, what a difference! First, the backside only gets a quick shot of early morning sun and is then shaded from the hot afternoon sun. Second, not many people make it to the backside as it is far from town. 

The result? Well we were finally treated to some great conditions following a snowmobile track on the backside of Prospect Hill! Yay!

Finally on some good conditions as Jack & Rudy are opening up
the throttle and catching air in a soft snowmobile track.

A little further along and an even better result... Untouched snow for a few miles once we got far away from the popular frontside of Prospect Hill.

Perfect conditions the further we went!

Come along for a fresh tracks romp along the backside of Prospect Hill. Jack & Rudy are so in tune with my skis, it is fun to watch. Note how they slow (without command) whenever they hear the skis scraping or feel me slowing a bit for safe passage. Such fun partners! Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Let's go tell Zorro about the front vs back side of Prospect Hill!

"I remember - front side has too much sun for thin cover!" Zorro is telling me.
"But we still had fun!!!" adds happy Jack and extremely focused Rudy.

Unfortunately, we still need more snow for trails that are not high mountain passes or high elevation terrain. So, this morning was a creative beginning with some nice stretches once we finally got onto the backside of Prospect Hill: 7.9 miles traveled with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 18 days on the trails covering 138.6 miles with 13,200 feet of elevation climbed.

Perfect Listening

Nice shot of Jack & Rudy "catching air" on this morning's skijor!

All 8 feet off the ground as the kids are in a fast "sprint tuck" cruising
along the perfect trail.

We returned to the trails on Peak 7 this morning after yesterday's very entertaining outing. We only had time for a short run this morning and knew the conditions would have deteriorated some since yesterday; but we were willing to try and get a quick early sunrise skijor. There is a large loop that will become part of Breckenridge Nordic Center once there is enough snow to groom. Yesterday we did an out/back on the upper 2/3 of the loop and today we did an out/back on the lower 1/3 of the loop. We were happily surprised to find we out-skied all existing tracks on the lower loop and were able to lay fresh tracks for a nice stretch of the outing!

Fresh tracks - wheeee! Fresh snow all to ourselves.

On today's lower loop, we pass by some of the nordic center warming huts. Jack & Rudy have two uses for the warming huts.

Use #1: A warming hut is a "cooling destination" for Siberian Huskies :) 

"Ah, yes, rolling snow angels to cool off at the warming hut!" demonstrates
the silly kids who almost always stop, drop & roll at this hut!

Use #2: an object to "fly on by" on the trails. If not stopping to roll, Jack & Rudy use the huts are targets to fly by.

Not rolling, so we must be flying :)

Today's video highlight is a great example of perfect Jack & Rudy listening to me on the trails. Come along as we are flying along a nice stretch of trail. Then, about 30ish seconds into this clip and we approach a very thin layer of snow over lots of rocks (some exposed). A simple "easy, easy" from me and Jack & Rudy slow to walk over the thin snow & rocks (thus keeping the human upright). Finally, I exit the danger zone and a simple "Ok" from me and Jack & Rudy take off again. Incredible listening and teamwork to keep the human on skis upright through a danger zone!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

So proud to return to the trailhead and tell elder/mentor Zorro about the kids' incredible listening skills on the trails this morning!

"Really? They listened?!?!" asks stunned Zorro :)
"Yep, all ears over here!' adds Jack & Rudy.

A short but very fun run this morning: 5.1 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 12 days on the trails covering 84.5 miles with 8300 feet of elevation climbed.

Just Enough

Jack & Rudy in a nice "sprint tuck" as we open up the skijoring throttle on Boreas Pass this morning.

Zoom, zoom, zoom!

There were reports from the ski resort of upwards of 6 inches of new snow overnight. We knew this new snow would be at higher elevations, so we headed back to our "early season go to" of Boreas Pass to seek out the new snow. Well, we did not find 5-6 inches of new snow! Instead we found trace amounts to about 2 inches at the deepest. Bummer. But, the ground was frozen under the light layer of new snow. We can skijor uphill with a trace of new snow over frozen ground; but it is not safe to come downhill on such thin conditions. 

Off we go up Boreas Pass with only a trace of snow over
frozen ground (note the exposed ground ahead and to the left of Rudy).

With such thin conditions, Nancy & Zorro gave us a 30 minute head start and then started driving up Boreas until they ran into us. I was expecting that we'd be going up all morning without enough snow anywhere to come down. But, woo hoo - look at the first picture above and the one below. We actually did find two stretches of REALLY nice conditions. After going up of these stretches, we turned and sprinted back down for a nice speed burst before turning and coming back to continue up Boreas. These two stretches were very nice though!

Woo Hoo - the Hover Huskies catching air on one of our two
"pedal to the metal" stretches along Boreas Pass.

Come along for a quick video highlight of one of the two perfect stretches. Jack & Rudy had a great time towing me up Boreas; but they really enjoyed the two "pedal to the metal" sections where we had just enough cover to uncork the skijoring engine.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Eventually, we met up with Nancy & Zorro. Sweet Z is always so happy to meet back up with us!

"Hi dad! Glad you came back!" says happy Zorro.

What are Jack & Rudy doing in the prior photo? Well, I've learned that sometimes it's best NOT to ask what the two crazy kids are up to! Whatever weirdos, I'm focusing on happy Zorro :)

Back to the Jeep with Zorro, well you know what that means - end of run treats!

"Just making sure you remember ME FIRST!" says Zorro leaning
hard into my arm & chest :)
"Fun day, fun day!" declares the happy kids.

Enough new snow to skijor up Boreas and just enough cover to turn around and open up the throttle on a couple of downhill grades: 5.8 miles traveled with 650 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 7 days on the trails covering 49.7 miles with 4900 feet of elevation climbed.

You Know

You know a moose had been in the area recently for Zorro to join the youngsters, Jack & Rudy, in off trail antics :)

All three of my partners wondering off trail as they try to follow a moose trough in the
deep snow going into the woods.

If you have followed along this season, you know Jack & Rudy are becoming famous for their off trail rodent dunks & dives as something as simple as a rodent under the deep snow can get their attention. But, for reliable veteran Zorro to drift off trail too means only one thing - MOOSE! We did not see a moose today, but the reaction from all three above (especially Zorro) told me this moose trough was very fresh and one had been in the neighborhood very recently!

We did a quick out & back in French Gulch this morning. Unfortunately the French Gulch Trail gets plowed & driven in addition to skied, as a result, it was a pretty thin snow cover that was almost too fast packed to be safe. We are one warm day away from French Gulch being ubskiable until our next snowstorm. Here is a fun shot of the trio working shoulder to shoulder as we go:

Synchronized & out-stretched skijoring machine :)

As nice as the prior photo actually looks, the reality is it was very thin and almost too packed in areas. Come along for today's short video highlight and you can see just how thin and fast packed the trail really was. Barely enough snow cover to go and certainly not enough to encourage my partners to really open the throttle!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Time to turnaround, time to get a smile from attentive Zorro and antics from the kids:

"Hi - I'm listening!" says happy Zorro.
"Still looking for those moose!" adds moose seeking Jack.
"We stopped, I roll!!!!" demonstrates silly Rudy.

Oh, don't worry, Jack rolled a snow angel too (after he was done scanning for moose), keeping his record alive of rolling a snow angel on every skijor outing of his young career :)

Done with out "out & back" in French Gulch and all smiles as we arrive to the finish:

"Wheeee - we had a blast!" says the happy running trio.

A short & quick day on fast packed French Gulch with an off trail moose trough distraction for all: 5.3 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 44 days on the trails covering 292.7 miles with 28,700 feet of elevation climbed.

Wow

We made it all the way to "Upper French Gulch" today while still keeping within our 30 minute limit for young Rudy's skijors. Wow!!!!

"I say we keep going!" declares Rudy focused on the narrow trail ahead.
"I'm game to keep going too!" adds all business Zorro.
"Huh? What trail? We stopped, I roll!!!" demonstrates goofy Jack.

I had said recently that we would not make it to Upper French Gulch with Rudy until he was allowed to skijor longer than 30 minutes. Well, today the monster sled dog trio proved me wrong. I was shocked to get into the upper terrain with them while staying within Rudy's 30 minute limit. These 3 are developing into quite the skijoring machine this winter! Upper French Gulch is either a narrow single track (as you see above) or untouched and you are breaking trail in deep snow. We only skijored about 10 yards on the narrow upper trail; but, still, making it this far was impressive.

The lower and middle sections of French Gulch are always wide, fast and typically packed. Zoom:

Flying along the fast packed middle of the gulch.

For today's video fun. Come along and see what the lower & mid sections of the gulch look like. Partway through the video you'll see one of the private cabins in the gulch and the source of the shallow snow cover on the trail (i.e., the evil person occasionally plows the gulch). This trail is a very rough and rocky dirt road in the summer and, with such shallow snow cover, you get to see me bouncing around on rough terrain behind my sprinting partners. A workout for me to stay in control and upright!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

End of the day's run and we are in the French Gulch parking lot with extremely thin snow cover. Jack & Rudy have learned from Zorro's guidance to go slow on thin cover or you might break the human (and then no more skijoring). Good Boys!

"Keep it slow and we can keep going!" says Zorro setting a safe jog pace for the
youngsters to follow.

End of run means end of run pork treats! Yum!

"Tasty!" says Zorro taking a pork slice from me.
"Our turn!!!" say focused Jack & Rudy.
Love the youngsters on the high snow pile to get eye to eye with me :)

A ridiculously fast run out & back in French Gulch: 5.6 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2018/2019 Season to Date: 54 days on the trails covering 294.2 miles with 26,200 feet of elevation climbed.