Elevated

A gorgeous day to climb up & sprint down Shrine Mountain at Vail Pass!

Absolutely beautiful conditions near the top of Shrine Mountain - wheeee!

Yesterday on Facebook Nancy (jokingly) said we had been "slacking" this season as our elevation profile of this 1000+ mile season has been less than the previous two 1000+ seasons. Well, word got to Max & Zorro that someone had use the "slacker" term in conjunction with them. Well, slack this as today's outing included 1600 feet of elevation ascended (and then descended) over a total of 8.6 miles...

We started at the Vail Pass Trailhead and then ascended Shrine Pass before turning left at the pass and ascending Shrine Mountain. Very few ever do this climb (most people snowmobile up and ski or board down)... Slackers, harumpf :-)

"Whew, what a climb! Gotta cool off before going higher!" demonstrate the snow angel rolling
pair at a quick break while climbing Shrine Mountain.

One of the nice things about this climb is that you get a few flat shelves that had beautiful, untouched terrain as far as the eye can see:

Gliding out to the right on my skis to get a great profile shot of Max & Zorro.

Today's short video clip shows how perfect the conditions were up high on Shrine Mountain. It does not get much better than this in May!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Slackers, huh....

"It is only the human that ever turns around, not us!" declare the happy pair at our turnaround
point high up on Shrine Mountain.

A gorgeous day to climb a mountain: 8.6 miles with 1600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2014/2015 Season to Date: 139 days on the trails covering 1197.9 miles with 126,150 feet of elevation climbed.

To the Sun

Today was a "climb to the sun" on Vail Pass as we ascended out of heavy snowfall to sun and endless untouched snow at higher elevations!

Atop the world and we are out of the heavy falling snow and onto endless, untouched terrain!

It was snowing as we started from the Vail Pass Trailhead and then dumping as we climbed the snowshoe trail up Shrine Pass. "A little (or lot of) snow never hurt anyone!" we all said as we agreed to take the snow head on and plow our way up.

With "white on white" it is hard to tell just how hard it is snowing. You can see a few flakes in
the upper right of this shot and you can see Max & Zorro's backs & heads are both covered.
Climbing the pass amidst heavy snow - wheeee!

We kept climbing until we "ascended out of the storm" and then found ourselves to be first tracks in a beautiful winter wonderland:

Laying fresh tracks as we are having a blast weaving our way through the trees.

A little further along from the previous shot and zoomed out.
Fresh terrain all to ourselves with the clouds of the storm we "climbed out" on
the horizon.

Fresh snow and laying fresh tracks in May - what a treat:

"I'm giddy with snow delight!" exclaims goofy Max overdoing my "left" command
(it was supposed to be a 90 degree left, not a 180 :-)

"What a goofy brother!" states cute little Zorro pausing to look at me while we get
Max out of his "180 left" and back to the "90 degree left".

Fresh falling snow at the start, a fun climb out of the storm and "to the sun" and then endless, untouched snow all to ourselves - what a morning! 8.2 miles with 950 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2014/2015 Season to Date: 138 days on the trails covering 1189.3 miles with 124,550 feet of elevation climbed.

Perfect Day

A perfect day for a 9 mile skijor atop Rabbit Ears Pass!

Absolutely perfect conditions as we uncork it along a wide open straightaway - zoom!

Today was our third day in a row to skijor the top of Rabbit Ears Pass. 9.2 miles, 10.2 miles and 9.3 miles - that is quite the impressive May skijoring trifecta!

Shoulder-to-shoulder as we open up the throttle on one of the many straightaways - wheeee!

Can you believe how great these conditions look for May?

"No really, can you believe it?!?" asks airborne Zorro to Max.
"Yes and I can fly!" demonstrates airborne Max.

Put those last three shots together and you get the following incredible "skijoring in May" video clip. Most of the day was endless terrain as shown in the clip...

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

It is May, so endless sprinting leads to the occasional "cool off" break:

"Whew, gotta roll snow angels and cool our jets before taking off again!" demonstrate the
snow rolling pair at a quick cool off break.

How's the day going?

"Yay! We are having a blast!" exclaim Max & Zorro looking back at me approvingly
at another quick break on the trail.

Another zooming day: 9.3 miles with 850 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH.

2014/2015 Season to Date: 137 days on the trails covering 1181.1 miles with 123,600 feet of elevation climbed.