Up & Back on Boreas Pass

The skijoring season is officially ON in the Colorado High Country. On Saturday morning we headed out to conquer Boreas Pass Rd from Breckenridge.

The conditions, for mid-November, could not have been better. After about 30 minutes we had "out skied" all the existing tracks, meaning we were the "fresh track trailblazers" in a mecca of 4-8 inches of untouched fluffy powder.

A look back at our fresh tracks!

A look ahead at our fresh/untouched powder!

Here we go: Siberian Husky Heaven

The view from our break at the Boreas Pass Summit.
Do not ask how Max & Zorro got reversed into left/right position (we run with Max in the right slot since he is the listener/lead and I can control best with my right paying attention). When stopped, the "houdini duo" can swap slots in the blink of an eye (don't worry, they hold their assigned slots when moving ;-)

Taking a break at the Boreas Pass Summit.
Frolicking in the snow (apparently I was the only one tired after 6 miles of  nonstop up!)

The Trip: 6 miles up (Boreas Winter Trailhead to Section House at the Boreas Summit) and then 6 miles down.
The Duration: 3 hours total - 2.5 hours moving, 1/2 hour stop time (giving the human a rest at the Summit and posing for a group photo with some snowshoe tourists we encountered on the way down). A 4.8 MPH moving average - pretty good for our first 3 hour outing of the season.
Top Speed: 15 MPH. On the way down we were passed by 3 snowmobilers. Zorro's "Husky Rule #1" is "NONE shall pass." He and a perfectly willing Max broke into a dead sprint to keep up with the snowmobiles - we hit 15 MPH in 3-4 inches of powder while in chase.

And, there's fresh powder again this morning - if only the human was not still recovering from yesterday's 3 hour exercise adventure...

What is Skijoring?

I often get blank stares or "what on earth are you talking about" looks when I say, "I skijor."

Living in Breckenridge means people always ask, "do you ski or board?" I then answer, "I skijor," and the blank stares begin.

So, skijoring defined:

• 1 part human on cross country skis.
• 2 parts Siberian Husky in sledding harnesses (or any 1-2 dogs that love to pull & run).
• 1 part gang line attached around the waist/hips of the human and attached to the husky harnesses.

The human says, "Go!" (or whatever release command you have) and you are a forward propelled cross country skiing machine.

Things you need to teach and entrust in your 4-legged skiing pals:

• Go (or forward) command - this one requires no training with Siberian Huskies.
• Left & Right Turn commands - I teach these on a leash on walks from day 1, so it comes natural once in harness.
• On By (or "leave it" or "ignore those other dogs" or "ignore those cows") command - I will be continuing to perfect this one the rest of my life ;-)
• Stop (or wait) command - the most unnatural command for a Siberian Husky to learn. My trick: I keep a pack of sliced hotdogs with me while skijoring; to my huskies, "wait" means, "STOP - FREE HOTDOGS!"  Works for me...
• Easy (or slowdown) command - another hard one for the Siberian Husky vocabulary; but we are getting it.
• Over to the Right (or Left) command (moving from one side of a wide trail to another) - I teach this one on walks too, so it comes naturally.

But, most important of all these commands: you need to get to a level of trust in your skijor group. Once you all "feel" the trust, the commands start to work.

Good luck and HANG ON ;-)

First Snow of the Season = First Skijor of the Season!

We got a good October dump Mon through Wed this week (6-18 inches, depending on where you were near Breck). Max, Zorro & I broke out the ski gear Friday and hit Boreas Pass Rd for our first run of the season.

Boreas Pass closes to vehicles once winter really gets rolling (mid/late Nov). Since the road is still open, we had 4WD vehicles packing the snow for us - this helped keep the 6-18 inches from melting too fast (and made for nice "groomed trail") while we only had 2 encounters with cars.

The first outing: a 9.7 mile roundtrip from the Boreas Pass Winter Trailhead, up Boreas Pass Rd and back down to the trailhead (4.85 miles each way).
Duration: 2 hours (70 min up, 5 min break at the high point, 45 min down); 5.1 MPH moving average.
Elevation Gain: ~1000 feet (10,360 ft at trailhead, ~11,360 ft at turn around point).

The Route is shown on the map below (click to enlarge): BOREASHEAD is the trailhead; SKI1 is our turnaround point; for those familiar with Boreas Pass, BSUMMIT is the pass summit (at Section House). Boreas Pass Rd is, of course, the dirt road connecting BOREASHEAD to SKI1.

The Conditions (we started at 9:15am, ended at 11:15am): packed snow and ice when starting at the trailhead; packed snow and 6+ inch powder on the shoulders at the higher elevations; packed snow, ice and developing slush when arriving back at the trailhead. I had to hold back on the downhill leg as going "husky full speed" on intermittent ice was too much for me!  NOTE: by Saturday (Oct 30th) the lower sections of Boreas Pass Rd will no longer be ski-able.

Despite the degrading conditions as the temperatures rose, a WONDERFUL first outing of the season. Everyone was in perfect form, despite the 5 month break from the snow.

The Route: BOREASHEAD to SKI1 and back (click to enlarge)