Short Run

We only had time for a short skijor this morning so Rudy took objection to my pausing and wasting time on the trails :)

"YAWN - BORING! C'mon man, let's get GOING!" declares Rudy giving me
a protest yawn for stopping :)
"I'm always polite and cooperative!" adds happy and always listening to me Jack :)

We started the morning with the youngsters, Jack & Rudy, to get some fast & quick exercise for the kids before adding elder Zorro in the team for the finish.

The best stretch of trail we found this morning was following a line of power poles. The snow was just firm enough and smooth enough to open up throttle in the power line. Wheeee!

Opening up the skijor engine as we follow the power lines overhead and
poles down the middle.

At our turnaround point of the morning, we got extra comedy from Rudy and the usual comedy from Jack. The turnaround started with Rudy's "yawn of protest" above. I then knelt down to send Nancy a text of our planned arrival. I think Jack & Rudy thought I was kneeling to roll a snow angel as they both came in close to join what they perceived to be the start of a group snow angel :)

"Sorry kids, I'm just kneeling, not laying to roll!" I said.
"Group snow roll - incoming!" declares goofy Rudy and he flopped right
at my knees to start his own angel.
"C'mon dad - you know you want to! Group roll!!!" adds goofy Jack.

Despite all the encouragement from Jack & Rudy, I did not drop all the way to the ground to roll with them. "Oh well, then let's GO instead!' suggested the kids. So, back upright and off we went:

Zipping along a fast & fun straightaway!

After giving the youngsters some quick exercise, it was time to join with elder Zorro for a group run to the finish. Wheeee!

Look at all that power from the sled dog trio!!!

A short but fun run this morning with the usual comedy antics from the kids: 4.2 miles traveled with 450 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 170 days on the trails covering 1161.3 miles with 106,550 feet of elevation climbed.

Early

Nice views of the ski runs of Breckenridge Ski Resort across the valley from our morning fun run!

Beautiful views, pretty sled dogs and a perfect early morning crust to support our skijor!

Temperatures barely got below freezing last night, so there was a question whether the spring crust would be firm enough to support us this morning. So, we got up early and went to trails in the 10,500 to 11,000 foot elevation ranges, hoping the early start plus higher elevation would yield a firm enough crust. Well... SUCCESS!!!

A perfect crust to allow us to "make our own trail" up, down and around the terrain
in Golden Horseshoe.

What fun we had gliding along the crust over multiple wide meadows. Here we are about to test our first meadow of the morning. Everybody ready to test the spring crust?

"Ready! We already know it's going to hold us! Let's go!" declares the happy trio
(they always know before me whether the crust is good enough :)

Another fun shot of the outstretched skijor trio flying along the morning's perfect crust:

Missile Rudy flying down the middle.
Airborne Jack to the right.
All but one toe off the ground Zorro to the left.

Put it all together and you get today's fun "crust touring" video. A great surface with really nice views of the ski runs of Breckenridge Ski Resort across the valley.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Zorro and I could have gone all day, but you know the goofball twins have to get in at least one episode of silliness every outing :)

"You stopped to turn around, we stopped to roll snow angels!" demonstrate the goofball twins.
"Yawn, boring. boooorrriiiing! Can we get going yet?!?" asks yawning Zorro waiting for
the youngsters to finish their silly antics.

What a great decision to get up early this morning and find a perfect spring crust: 6.1 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2018/2019 Season to Date: 104 days on the trails covering 591.9 miles with 55,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Finale?

This morning was most likely our finale of the 2017/2018 Skijor Season.

Most of the day's outing looked like this! A narrow "ribbon of death" to try and
skijor with my pals.

I say today is our finale because of the conditions you see in the prior photo. But, I back of to "most likely" our finale because June 1st is Zorro's birthday and we always try to produce some sort of skijor outing for his birthday. Yet, look at the prior photo again... So, this is probably our last outing unless we find some magic patch of snow to use on June 1st.

We did find a few patches of skiable snow. Here is a look at the morning's "good" conditions:

At least there is enough snow to open up the skijoring engine.
But, these open patches were rare and short-lived.

Given the conditions, I do not have a lot of skijor highlights to show from the day; but I do have plenty of entertainment with Zorro and Jack.

First off, here is goofy Jack rolling snow angels before we even got started on the run:

"It's snow, it's snow, don't care if we haven't started!" demonstrates silly Jack.
"Really kid? Come on, we have to get going before it all melts!" declares Zorro.

I had to take my skis off many times to cross over exposed ground before getting on snow to restart again. My friends had their own ideas what to do while waiting for me to get my skis back on. "If the human is busy, why not play?" suggests Jack:

"He's busy, let's PLAY!" says Jack baiting Zorro.
Of course, Zorro fell for it and a tumbleweed of Siberians broke out after this :)

At one of our two planned short breaks. Zorro showing his pleasure with snow, despite sketchy conditions and Jack doing his patented stop/drop/roll at any break:

"It's still 'toes on snow'! I'm having a blast!" declares happy Zorro.
"Aaaahhhh, love rolling in snow!" demonstrates silly Jack.

Another unplanned break waiting for me to put my skis back on after crossing a large patch of ground:

"Boring!!! BOOOORRRRIIIIINNNGGG! Can we go yet?!?" asks yawning Zorro who is
clearly unimpressed with my equipment needs :)
"We may be stopping often; but I'm still having a BLAST!" declares happy Jack.

As has been the pattern the last two months. End the day and pick up little puppy Rudy to join in for the 'end of run' treats.

"Woooooo. Just Wooooo!" exclaims talkative Rudy.
"How about giving us quiet & mature fellas some treats?" say patient Zorro and Jack.

A short run on sketchy conditions to end a strange season: 2.1 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 14 MPH.

We started the season with Max & Zorro. We lost Max suddenly and out of no where. We had cute little Jack drop in our laps to lift our spirits. We watched Jack grow and mature into a happy young sled dog. We had adorable little "talk a lot" Rudy drop in our laps to provide even more daily entertainment. What a strange 2017/2018 skijor season!

2017/2018 Season to Date: 55 days on the trails covering 340.5 miles with 33,350 feet of elevation climbed.

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Arrival Video

A short & fast day up & down Boreas Pass this morning.

Complete with a nice "arrival video from the front" as we end the day's run...

Nice "shot from the front" of the happy Huskies arriving at the Boreas Pass Trailhead to
end our day's run.

We upgraded Nancy to our iPad (instead of the usual iPhone) to take today's "arrival video". While the iPad does not rival the GoPro in video quality, it is still quite an improvement over the iPhone. Today's video highlight is a nice "view from the front" as we conclude the day's run - wheeee...

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

A nice clip of Long Max from the iPad video...

Outstretched long, long Max!
"Hey, I'm outstretched too!" says short Zorro dwarfed by long Max in the clip.

Anyway, back to the day's outing. It was a short and very fast run up & down Boreas Pass this morning. Conditions were great for a fast day and everyone got the memo that we were doing a short run so no reason to pace yourself...

Zooming along the fast trail high up on Boreas Pass.

Zipping along in the sun as we glide by Bakers Tank on Boreas Pass.

Someone apparently took too long to get turned around and reset at our turnaround point of the day:

"You're KILLING me - are you ready YET?!?!?!" exclaims impatient & opinionated Max.
"Lined up and ready to go - even my tail is in aerodynamic takeoff position!" states Zorro.
"I'm coming, I'm coming, I don't need the lecture Max!" says the 'always too slow' human...

A zippy day flying up/down Boreas for 7.7 miles with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2014/2015 Season to Date: 79 days on the trails covering 682.5 miles with 72,050 feet of elevation climbed.

Back on Track

Back on the trails after a 4 day break!

Out-stretched, sprinting Siberians along the Fall Creek Trail at Wolf Creek Pass.

We had a 4 day break to visit family for Thanksgiving. While fun was had by all (including Max & Zorro), it was still 4 days in a state without snow - egad! My partners were ready to go when we got back on the snow this morning.

You may recall past blogs where I mention Max lecturing me at the trailhead when I take too long to get my skis on & equipment in order before turning us loose. Well, even Zorro got in on the "impatience lecture" this morning:

"We spent FOUR days in Arizona!!! Let's GO!" say the very 'ready to go' pair losing
patience with my slowness.

When I am at the end of the gangline, I cannot capture the sounds of Max (and Zorro's) lectures as the camera is in a waterproof case that unfortunately muffles noise more than a foot or two away. But, today, Max started his lecture when I was right next to him in the process of hooking him to the gangline. So, for all who have been wondering: turn up your volume, play the video and listen to Max lecture me at the trailhead (iii awooo woo iii woo....):

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

For today's outing, we stopped at Wolf Creek Pass in Southwestern Colorado on the way home to Breckenridge. The trail conditions were ok (not good or perfect); but good enough to open up on a few stretches. Here's a fun, short video clip of one of the nicer sections of trail:

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Ok Max & Zorro, I finally got myself situated and we got skijoring, how is the day going:

"Fantastic! So happy to be back on snow!" answers ecstatic Max.

"Perfect, a fantastic day!" states Zorro spinning around at our turnaround point.

A short run up/down the Fall Creek Trail at Wolf Creek Pass covering 6.4 miles with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 16 MPH.

We are back in Breckenridge and ready to restart some "serious mileage" runs as we enter December tomorrow...

2014/2015 Season to Date: 26 days on the trails covering 200.9 miles with 22,450 feet of elevation climbed. 200 miles and counting...

Lets Go

Today's skijor outing had "equipment issues" at the start which lead to classic "we have no patience, let's go" from Max & Zorro.

"Booooooring, boooring, can we go yet?" asks yawning with impatience Zorro.
"Can we go YET?!?" says wooing Max.

I was having a problem with one of my ski bindings as it had frozen into the closed position before I could get my boot attached for the day. Temperatures at the trailhead were single digits and the binding must have gotten wet and then quickly frozen while I was getting my other equipment ready.

Max & Zorro are typically pretty patient at the trailhead waiting for the musher to get ready. But, patience has a limit and they always let me know when I have gone beyond their limit! After giving me the "yawn & woo" treatment above, Max took it one step further as you see below:

"You're killing us! LET'S GO!" says Max the bucking bronco showing his impatience and
testing if Nancy can really hold him back while I try to get my ski bindings working.
Nice work by Nancy to keep hold of the wild beast :)

Once we finally got started, it was a great day on the trails at Rabbit Ears Pass. We did the same route as yesterday with two modifications. First, we carved the trail in the fresh snow yesterday, so we got to re-use our tracks again today. Second, the temperatures remained in the teens and single digits for the entire evening, night and early morning; so all the mud & puddles from yesterday were frozen ground and ice today - yay!

Zoom, zoom - following the track we set yesterday!

With the improved conditions over yesterday, though, that meant we out-skied our set track and had a couple miles of laying fresh tracks too - wheeee!

Further than we made it yesterday - fresh snow for all!

We did hit one hidden puddle which caused me to stop and clean my skis before continuing. Everyone ready to go again?

"Yep, glad you are back on track!" says happy little Zorro.
"I cannot believe this guy, will we make any progress today?!?" says the 'still impatient with
my behaviors of the day' Max

Quick pause to check the GPS before restarting once more. Everyone ready?

"Yep and I am so happy we finally covered some serious terrain!" expresses happy Max.
"Asked & answered - will you just get going!" states Zorro.

Nice October conditions leading to a 8.9 mile outing with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 17 MPH.

2014/2015 Season to Date: 6 days on the trails covering 43.7 miles with 5050 feet of elevation climbed.

Powder Day

We awoke to over a foot of new snow at home. You know what that means...

Trail Breaking Powder Day!!!!!

Serious trail breaking up the Sally Barber Mine Trail.
Look at the trough behind Zorro to realize we are busting through 15 inches or more!

We are in the middle of a multi-day storm that is promising to dump up to 30 inches of snow on Breckenridge. Well, we had a foot of snow at home this morning, we were in 15+ inches of snow on the trails all day and it is still snowing! 30 inches - bring it on!!! Wheeee!

Another good view of the "snow troughs" behind my trail breaking partners!

"Woo - this is a WORKOUT; but we LOVE it!" say the happy Siberians as they look
back while pausing to catch their breath.

Sometimes it is hard to really see the depth of the snow in the pictures from behind. Here is
a great view of Max restarting after the happy pause above. Tall Max is busting through snow
deeper than his long legs! This is easily 15-18 inches of trail breaking work - impressive!

Sometimes the human needs to stop momentarily for equipment adjustments, gps checks or other silly excuses. Max is always quick to tell me what he thinks of "human induced stops"...

"BOOOORING! BOOOOORING!!! How much longer?!?" says Max who always gives me a
huge yawn if the "human induced stop" is taking too long.
"Seriously? I mean SERIOUSLY?!? How much longer?" says intense Zorro (he does not
give me the verbal, like Max, but the intense stare says it all :-)

A day of absolute extreme trail breaking. Not much mileage but about as aerobic an outing as you can get: 6.4 miles with 400 feet of elevation climbed and 15+ inches almost the entire day!

2013/2014 Season to Date: 79 days on the trails covering 681.8 miles with 80,100 feet of elevation climbed.

Are You Ready Yet?

"BOOOORRRRING - would you get ready!"
expresses impatient Max at the trailhead.

Slow human, are you ready to go YET?!?!!

Sometimes I take a little "too long" (for Max) to get the skis on and turn the Siberian Skijoring Engine loose.

Max is quick to let me know when I am being slow. He will usually start with a big yawn to express, "BORING - are you ready yet?"

If the yawn doesn't speed me up enough, he will transition into a few sighs, "Oh man, will the human ever be ready to go?"

When the sighs do not work, he then transitions into a flat out lecture, "Awoo woo woo wum, arr arrr woo wum!" (translation: "I am about to leave without you, you are way toooo slow!")

I was given the full spectrum of yawns, sighs and lectures this morning as I was clearly taking way too long to get my equipment set to go.

There is an additional consequence to being subjected to the full Max lecture process - Siberians at rest build exponential energy reserves. The result is two huskies shooting out of a cannon when I finally get around to saying, "Ok, let's go!' - BOOM & ZOOM!

I finally got my equipment on and released the beasts.
It is 100% "shoulders into the harnesses - gotta MOVE that human!"

My slow start set a precedent for the entire day. It was fast & wild all over the snowmobile trails in Swan Valley. We had just enough new snow on the trails to make them safe to uncork the Siberians and, boy, did they get into a speed mode today!

Airborne, sprinting wild men :-)

This video captures the theme of the day - endless & fast skijoring all over the trails.
[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

The majority of the day was spent on packed snowmobile trails covered with 1-3 inches of
fresh snow. But, we also got to enjoy the occasional "untouched side trail" with more snow
all to ourselves - as shown above.

Did I mention my slowness lead to a fast & energized day: 11.5 miles with 1350 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

Yawn

"Yawn... Boring... Get up so we can go!" says silly, impatient Max.

"Yawn.... Boring.... Get up!" is Max's usual reaction to my infrequent spills.
"I see more trail, I see more trail!" expresses Zorro focused on the surroundings.

When I describe "skijoring with Siberian Huskies" to people, the first question I always get is, "Wow! Don't you fall a lot? How can you possibly attach yourself to sled dogs while on skis and not fall constantly?"

Luckily, the answer is, "No, through LOTS of practice (and strong legs), I rarely fall - probably only a dozen or so times all season." But, it does happen every once in a while, typically on icy terrain where I become a frictionless afterthought to my Siberian pals and they say, "Hey, I don't feel any weight back there - time to try for 30 MPH!"

The photo above pretty much summarizes Max & Zorro's opinion of the infrequent fall, "Boring! What does it take to get some exercise around here?!?"

We only had time for a short Sunrise Sprint today. A very fast 5 miles, with 450 feet of elevation climbed, on conditions a little too icy for my liking - leading to very fast uphills and somewhat out of control downhills...

Cresting at Sally Barber Mine at the same time the morning sun is peaking over the
neighboring mountain.

Trotting into the sunrise as we head down from Sally Barber Mine to connect onto
the French Gulch trails.

You try asking, "Hey guys, can we slow down a bit on the icy trails?"
"Huh? Was that the frictionless afterthought saying something?"
"Na, we didn't hear anything - faster, faster!"

A short & fast 5 miles - but any miles are better than no miles say Max & Zorro (especially when the human remains upright).