What to do when the musher is slow hoisting the sled over a "fallen tree obstacle" on the trail?
"Ha, the answer to that is easy." proclaims Max, "You take the chance to roll a snow angel and cool off while the slow musher gets the sled over the fallen tree! As soon as that slow biped gets the sled over the obstacle, then you pop up from your snow angel, do a little shake and start hauling the sled again."
We took the sled back to Vail Pass on Sunday - hoping the conditions had not deteriorated too much from Saturday. As you can see in the photo below, we did find a trail of untouched snow! We were able to lay fresh tracks down this trail and then return back up this same route.
It is SOOO much fun laying your own fresh tracks!
Now, do not be too fooled by this wonderful picture. For most of the outing we were on over-used ice & occasional exposed dirt (early) and sticky slush & mud (later). The temperatures rose into the mid 40s during our outing - quickly destroying all sections of the trail that had been over-used on Saturday and Sunday. But, we did find this wonderful "untouched trail" pictured above and had about 45 minutes of really good sledding conditions. Even the dozen or so "fallen tree obstacles" were fun given that we were on untouched snow!
Nearing the end of the outing, I needed to move the sled around another obstacle. Zorro joined in the theme of the day: roll a snow angel while waiting for the slow musher:
Max & Zorro rolling a "dual snow angel" while I get the sled over a trail obstacle.
Vital Stats: 8.6 miles; 1000 feet of elevation gain; 14 MPH top speed (too hot & too much slush/mud to get any real speed today).
Snow FINALLY came! Break out the boots, collect the gloves, get out the goretex, fetch the sled: SNOW IS HERE!!!
At our "break point" - Max doing his patented "snow angel" to cool off; Zorro doing
his patented "snow chug" to cool off. "Winter is here: Wheeeeee!" say Max & Zorro!
Snow came to the Colorado mountains Friday night and into Saturday. "We MUST use the snow!" exclaimed Max & Zorro - I was thrilled to try! It wasn't much, but anything white, cold and fluffy is better than the dirt of summer.
We headed up to Vail Pass this morning as the forecast called for snow in that direction. Here is what we found:
2-5 inches of "first snow of the season" over a rocky and/or muddy terrain.
Not enough snow (given the rocks or mud just under the surface) to skijor - but plenty of snow to dog sled. So, we hooked Max & Zorro to the sled and hit the trails.
Now, remember, with just 2 huskies, the musher has to get off the sled and hike/run/sprint up steep hills. It is too much to ask them to carry me up a steep incline. So, we did a mild 7.5 miles for our first outing of the season; but WE WERE ON SNOW!!! Woo Hoo - let the season begin!
Highlight of the season... I won a GoPro in their "daily giveaway", so we have HD-quality video queued up for the upcoming skijoring season. This ought to be fun to watch...
Here is a great clip from today's video of Max & Zorro trotting at a cool 10-12 MPH pace through the fresh snow:
Now, people have often asked me "what" Max & Zorro do if we stop. Well, "stop" does NOT happen very often. But, we do stop at either the "high point" or "midway point" of all of our outings. It is usually a short 4-6 minute break (mostly to rest the human). The following video shows our typical stop point...
A few things to note:
The Siberians look like they haven't even started yet!
Max & Zorro get hot dogs at our stop points. Cute Max climbing all over the musher for his treat; polite Zorro sitting right in front of me before each of his treats.
Once the hot dogs are passed out: (a) Max doing his typical "snow angel" roll in the snow to cool off; (b) Zorro doing his typical "snow gulp" to ingest snow to cool his jets.
The 2012-2013 season is ON! Bring on the snow... Now, before you think it was perfect conditions, pause to see the following:
Encountering a Forest Ranger far back on the trails. "Quit crushing our trail!"
The final approach to the trailhead. YUCK - what happened to our snow!!!
Vital Stats: 7.5 miles; 900 feet of elevation gain; 16 MPH top speed. A pretty good first outing for sketchy conditions...
"We got snow (up high) overnight! The 2012/2013 skijoring season is just around the corner! We are so ready for snow!" exclaimed Max & Zorro today.
Snow in late September! Sure, it's not much - but we've been waiting all summer to cool our toesies in
some wonderful white stuff!
We looked out the window this morning and saw some beautiful, fresh snow on the tops of the peaks around Breckenridge. "We gotta get our toes in some of that snow!" is all that Max, Zorro & I could think about. So, we set out on a hike to the fresh fun white stuff.
It was quite a trek to get to the snow. We hiked straight up Peak 10 on the Breckenridge Ski Resort and finally arrived in some wonderful, toe-cooling snow at around 12,000 feet elevation. Yes, the snow wasn't much - barely a trace; but it was snow! The Siberians are officially ready for the real thing to begin our 2012/2013 skijoring season. Last year's first outing was October 8th - that's barely a week away! When will we get our first dump of snow to start the season going???
Cruising up one of the ski runs on Peak 10. "We can see it! Snow dead ahead!" exclaims Zorro as he
charges forward.
"Ok, a little frosty on the toesies. Let's climb to more!" declares Max as he peers over short Zorro
to inspect the terrain going up.
