Set

 Today's entertainment quiz: can you tell where Jack ends and Rudy starts in this conjoined snow angel :)

If you can draw a line that separates Jack's body from Rudy's, then
I am impressed!

We've been amidst a nice set of storms the past & upcoming week. I'm happy to report that all of the lower trails are finally getting set with snow for the season. To date, we've been skijoring the upper elevation trails (over 10,500 feet elevation); but today we were finally able to venture a little lower and the trails were perfect!

We started the day going up & down Baldy Mountain. We have been up Baldy a couple of times this season as going up is safer than flying down. This morning was our first time coming down Baldy. We need two things to be able to do this: (1) good snowpack as the Baldy trail is VERY rocky in the summer; and (2) powder to slow Jack & Rudy and give me control on the steep terrain. Today we had both:

Great shot of perfect conditions to finally skijor down Baldy!

The prior shot leads into today's video highlight. This is a cool clip as it starts as we have just come around a blind corner. Jack & Rudy see two people coming up the trail and the polite gentlemen slow to a gentle trot until we pass on by. Then notice the second we are past, without a word from me, the kids take off - zoom! "Trail clear, here we go!!!!" is what they are demonstrating :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

After doing a fun lap up & down Baldy, we took a narrow backcountry trail to connect onto the Sally Barber Mine trails. How's this for some narrow trail skijoring. It takes a lot of trust in your pals to skijor through such narrow trees:

Tight trees and barely 2 Siberians wide. Great partners!!!

Once we transitioned onto the Sally Barber trails, it was time to "floor it" again. As with Baldy, this particular trail had been "uphill only" until this morning due to thin snow cover and rocky terrain. But, here we are opening it up - woo hoo!

Yay for perfect conditions on just about all of our trails as of this morning!

Cute shot of our 'end of run' party as Zorro is happy to see me while Jack & Rudy are happy to see Nancy:

"Hi dad, thanks for coming back!" says Zorro.
"Hi mom, thanks for waiting for us!" adds cute Jack & Rudy.

A fantastic morning getting on some trails that had been waiting for enough snow! 8.4 miles traveled with 1100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2020/2021 Season to Date: 28 days on the trails covering 215.6 miles with 19,200 feet of elevation climbed.

Freshies

Fun shot from the front of the happy sled dogs towing me to the end of a "fresh tracks" outing this morning.

"Love laying fresh tracks!" declares the happy trio!

We were first on the upper elevation trails on Peak 7 and found ourselves laying fresh tracks all morning long. Beautiful shot of my fun partners laying freshies:

2-4 inches of fresh powder all morning long - fun!

We did see one set of tracks on the outing - our own! :)  We did an "out & back" on the main Peak 7 trail, so the only tracks we saw on the way back were our own from the way out. With a light layer of new snow, my pals pretty much ignored our set "out tracks" and enjoyed laying freshies on the other side of the trail for the way back:

Our "out tracks" to the left as we lay fresh tracks to the right on the way back.

Today's video highlight? A "skijor minute" as we glide along the right side of the trail as we enjoyed the morning's fresh snow for miles and miles.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Here's a shocking photo - I stopped to check our time and the youngsters are upright - whoa :)

"Hey, we don't ALWAYS roll snow angels when you stop!" state the kids.
"Yeah, right, just wait..." adds Zorro.

Sure enough, I stopped once more to text Nancy our estimated arrival time and...

"Oh look, I'm shocked. NOT!" states Zorro.
"Well, we cannot stay upright through TWO stops - get real!"  demonstrates the goofball twins.

Laying fresh tracks certainly gets you some 'end of run treats' - well earned!

"Fun day - now hand them out!" says the happy & focused trio.

After a warm & dry start to November, we are happy that winter has finally returned. Fresh tracks this morning and it is snowing again this afternoon with many, many days of snow in the 10 day forecast!

7.4 miles of freshies this morning with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 21 days on the trails covering 129.6 miles with 13,450 feet of elevation climbed.