Exercise Before Turkey

Max & Zorro blazing fresh tracks up Boreas

A delayed post... We did a "pre turkey" outing last Monday (Nov 22nd) before hitting the road for a Thanksgiving holiday full of food, food food.

A nice snowfall Sunday left us with some fresh powder on Boreas Pass. We did our 9 to 10 mile route most of the way up Boreas. After the first 20ish minutes we had out skied existing tracks and we were the fresh powder trailblazers for the next 50 minutes up Boreas. The powder was about 3 inches the first 2/3 of the route until we passed Bankers Tank. Wind blowing through Bakers Tank left us with 1 foot drifts to plow through! After Bakers Tank, the fresh powder kept getting deeper - reaching 6, then 8 and up to 10 inches for trailblazing fun!

Fresh, untouched powder on the trail ahead of us!

Top speed on this tour: 13 MPH.

French Gulch & Sally Barber Mine Tour

Max, Zorro and I approaching Sally Barber Rd/Barney Ford TH.

Last Thursday we did a variation of our Sally Barber Mine Tour from Monday. Another "short tour" (just over 1 hour) visiting more of French Gulch Trail and then Sally Barber Mine.

Wednesday and early Thu were sunny leaving French Gulch Road with too many exposed dirt patches to ski. So, we started at the French Gulch Winter Trailhead.

The Route: French Gulch Winter Trailhead up French Gulch Trail for just over 1 mile; back down French Gulch Trail until the Sally Barber Trail junction; up Sally Barber Trail past Sally Barber Mine and down to Sally Barber Road at the Barney Ford Trailhead.
Vital Stats: 5.1 miles; 1h 20m total (1h 10m moving); 4.4 MPH moving average; 15 MPH top speed.

The snow was getting a bit "sticky" on French Gulch (thus our slower than normal 4.4 MPH average). Anxious for some new powder (a storm is rolling tonight!)....

Sally Barber Mine Tour

The incredible November snow continues (2 feet in some areas). We did a short, 1 hour tour of French Gulch and Sally Barber Mine on Monday.

Sally Barber Mine (at the high point of Sally Barber Trail)

The Route: Started from the B&B Trailhead on French Gulch Road; skied up French Gulch Road to the French Gulch Winter Trailhead; continued on French Gulch Trail; veered right onto Sally Barber Trail; skied up to Sally Barber Mine; skied down to the Barney Ford Trailhead on Sally Barber Road.
The Vital Stats: 4.6 miles; 57 min tour (53m moving); 5.2 MPH moving average, 14.2 MPH top speed.

French Gulch/Sally Barber Route: BnB Trailhead through French Gulch Trailhead to Sally Barber Trail through Sally Barber Mine and to Barney Ford Trailhead on Sally Barber Road.

• After a significant snow, French Gulch Road is skiable. it is a dirt road with the only real winter traffic being those driving to the French Gulch Winter Trailhead.
• The initial down slope from Sally Barber Mine, when attached to 2 Siberian Huskies, is a doozy! I was in a 14 MPH snowplow to keep under control! FUN!

Taking a Break at Sally Barber Mine.
1) Yes, Max's head seems to always be buried in the snow during our breaks!
2) Yes, Zorro is eating snow off the fence for his "water break" :-)

A blast! Here's hoping the November snow continues!