Wind Blown

Laying fresh tracks in upwards of 4 inches of new snow this morning!

Wonderful shot of Jack & Rudy laying fresh tracks as I glide along behind
in a nice layer of new snow! Wheeee!

Today's outing found us on Prospect Hill - an unmaintained area open to both snowmobiles and skiers. With the morning's new snow, we were able to gallop along laying fresh tracks in pre-existing snowmobile tracks most of the outing. There's nothing as nice as 3-4 inches of fresh snow over a packed track - just see for yourself:

Jack & Rudy having a blast running in fresh snow over packed snowmobile tracks!

As we neared the midpoint of the outing, I called out for everyone to "Wait," which everyone did as asked and then glanced back at me for further instruction:

"Waiting - now what?" asks the happy & obedient kids.

To their glances, I replied, "Time to turnaround." Then it was, "Oh, turnaround! Why didn't you say so, we've got things to do first!!!"

Yep - turnaround, roll around from Jack
and turnaround, woos abound from Rudy.
Had I said "Wait, time to turnaround" together, I never would have got the
happy glances first and only the snow angels & woos :)

On the way back, we get some nice views of the ski runs of Breckenridge Ski Resort across the valley from us:

Skijor with a view - wheeee!

Now on to the video counterpart to the prior photo. Come along for a fun skijor in the backcountry this morning with a nice view of the ski runs at Breckenridge Ski Resort across the valley from us. If your volume is on, you'll hear the constant & gusting wind blowing. We had come up this trail about 10-15 minutes earlier and by the time we returned it was almost completely recovered with wind blown snow! Not a problem, just a little extra effort required by Jack, Rudy and myself :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

The wind caused me to cut the outing a little shorter than usual. But, any skijor is better than no skijor, right guys?

"Oh yes and I see that bag of treats in your hands!" says Jack.
"I live for snow and woos!" adds funny Rudy.

A quick but very entertaining day laying fresh tracks: 6.4 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 19 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 51 days on the trails covering 382.0 miles with 35,800 feet of elevation climbed.

Season Opener

Opening the 2022/2023 Skijoring Season with a trip to the summit of Boreas Pass!

Happy Jack flashing his beautiful smile at the summit of Boreas.
Happy Rudy swooshing his tail in approvement :)

We have been "climbing the walls" this October waiting for mother nature to give us snow to start the season. We've been lucky to start the season in September a few years; but have ALWAYS started by this time in October for the last 12 years. Temperatures have been plenty cold overnight, we just have not had any moisture. Well, Sunday FINALLY brought some snow to Colorado. The forecast was for at least 6 inches and upwards of 18 inches in places. Well, that did not happen and the storm only delivered a few inches in most places. But, we were determined to get out and start the season.

We drove partway up Boreas Pass (it is open to vehicles through October and then closes for skiing and snowshoeing) hoping for some good snow as we got up in elevation. Yet, the best we found was a few inches. This is not enough snow to ski on safely but it is enough to use the dog sled. The sled can run over frozen & exposed ground whereas skis need a good snow base. Here's a photo of some of the best conditions we found:

Jack & Rudy towing the dog sled along a nice stretch of snow.

Unfortunately, the prior photo was the exception to the outing. We kept encountering stretches of frozen ground but wind blown void of snow! Yuck! Anyway, Jack & Rudy can pull the sled just fine over frozen ground but I have to get off the sled and run with them (my weight on the sled is too much on frozen ground). So, I got quite the workout today running behind my pals!

Approaching the summit of Boreas Pass. What a wind-blown mess!!!!!

Despite very hazardous conditions, the kids still had a blast. Towing a sled over frozen ground is better than summer :)

"Yep, we approve!" says happy Jack.
"Yes we doooooo!" adds always wooing Rudy.

On reaching the summit, I pulled a bag of Zorro's ashes out to sprinkle on the ground. Zorro, of course, had been to the summit many, many times over his long skijoring career. I started sprinkling his ashes and said his name. Upon hearing his name, Jack & Rudy snapped to attention and wanted to know why I was using their beloved mentor's name. They then watched intensely as I sprinkled some ashes.

Zorro!!!!! I have a small bag of some of his ashes coming from my
right hand as Jack & Rudy watch closely.

We'll end today's post reliving Zorro's last trip to the summit of Boreas Pass on October 9, 2018. His first trip to the summit was in the fall of 2010!

October 9th, 2018: Zorro training young Jack to skijor as we reached
the summit (Rudy was too young to make it this far yet :)

Well, it wasn't the prettiest of outings with tons of wind-blown exposed ground and having to use the sled instead of skis; but we FINALLY got the 2022/2023 season started! 5.4 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 14 MPH.

Pray for Snow, we need so much more!!!

Check

Laying fresh tracks in wind-blown powder, wheeee!

A wonderful trail of untouched snow in front of us!
It is all wind blown snow; but it's still untouched snow to lay
fresh tracks as we glide along!

We are entering the time of year where we encounter surprises on the trails as conditions continue to melt and deteriorate through April and into May. While deteriorating conditions are nothing to celebrate, the skills and teamwork of Jack & Rudy are something to celebrate as they are SO good at keeping me safe as the conditions dwindle. Here's one such shot of my partners checking in on me...

"Everything ok back there? That didn't sound good!" says the perfect
gentlemen glancing back at me.

Why the glance back? Well, come along and see for yourself in today's video clip. We start out gliding along a nice trail with a wind blown cover of snow. Then, about 8-9 seconds into the clip, you'll hear my skis scrape a large patch of ice hidden under the snow. Jack & Rudy both immediately glance back after the scrape to check my status. So polite and nice to take care of me! I know from experience that both would have stopped had their glance revealed I was not ok after the loud scrape. But, alas, I was still upright, so off we continue to go. Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

With crowds starting to disappear from the trails, we were thrilled to be able to meet up with retired Zorro on the trail to finish the day!

"Yo big bro, here we come!" says happy Jack & Rudy.
"Looking good kids, I taught you well!" adds onlooking Zorro.

Once past Zorro, it was time for the goofball kids to show off their silly conjoined snow angels to Zorro.

"Um, I didn't teach that!" sighs my retired partner.
"Yes, I know Zorro, this is what I have to put up with nowadays!" I added :)

Once Zorro & I got the kids back upright, it was time for 'end of run' treats for all!

"Me first!" says focused Zorro.
"Me second!" states happy Jack.
"Sigh, I'll be back here since I'm third!" adds cute Rudy.

A nice morning gliding around trails with a layer of wind blown fresh snow: 7.1 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2021/2022 Season to Date: 129 days on the trails covering 1095.0 miles with 101,800 feet of elevation climbed.