Finally

An enthusiastic "Welcome Back Winter" from all of us on fresh snow this morning!

"Loving it!" declare my happy partners looking back at me when I called out time to
"turnaround and head back" high up on Boreas Pass.

The second half of October and first half of November combined to represent the "hottest & driest" month of Fall in the history of Breckenridge (and all of Colorado too). We have all been going batty waiting for snow to come back to our trails. Well, it FINALLY happened yesterday as winter weather returned to the Colorado mountains and gave us a fresh layer to skijor up/down Boreas Pass this morning.

Here we go.... wheeee!

Laying fresh tracks up Boreas Pass. Max & Zorro were having fun hugging the right shoulder
even though we had the whole wide trail to ourselves. I happily got behind to get a tow up the
right shoulder of Boreas :)

To be honest, there was not a lot of new snow on Boreas - just enough to gently glide over the underlying dirt road. Max & Zorro are very smart and understand sketchy conditions as they will never break into a sprint over 14 MPH if the conditions are not good; instead, they will settle into a gentle 8-12 MPH trot. They understand that going faster on these conditions will only break the human (and then all the fun ends), so they choose a safe pace without any instruction from me!

Gently gliding by Bakers Tank on Boreas Pass. When the conditions are good, Max & Zorro will
automatically kick into "high gear" on this open stretch of trail and cruise at over 20 MPH. But,
sketchy conditions and they smartly settled into a gentle trot instead. Phew :)

You usually get a nice view of Breckenridge Ski Resort across the valley from Boreas. Here is today's "ski resort view shot":

Trotting along as the ski runs of Breckenridge come into view on the mountains across the valley.

Not the best of conditions; but SNOW!!! We were going batty with no snow the last month, so we will take it: 7.7 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed.

2016/2017 Season to Date: 10 days on the trails covering 65.7 miles with 6550 feet of elevation climbed.

Good News: we have some trail options for tomorrow (and beyond) with more snow than we found on Boreas this morning. Stay tuned for some real fun in the upcoming days....

Loveland Pass

Taking the dog sled out to tour Loveland Pass!

Discussing the day's fun at the Loveland Pass Sign after completing the morning run.
"What fun! What fun!' Max is telling me.
"Had a blast, but.... there's other people here! Must monitor!" declares always nosy Zorro.

I was up early this morning and discovered that, to my surprise, Loveland Pass was reporting 5 inches of fresh snow. Well, 5 inches meant we must go! The only downside of Loveland is the extremely steep and rocky terrain. Not enough snow (and, thus, too many exposed rocks) to use skis, so we took out the dog sled to trot up, down and around Loveland.

After some extremely steep climbing to start the outing, we got onto a wonderful plateau to cruise around in the fresh snow! Wheeee!

Laying fresh tracks in the day's new snow atop a plateau at Loveland Pass.
Such a fun shot!

We toured around this upper plateau for a couple of miles before starting back down. Here's a fun shot of us trotting along in the "sled track" we set on the way into the plateau.

"Set your own track to get speed on the way back!" declare smart Max & Zorro.

5 inches is enough snow to bring out Max's favorite snow antic:

"Aahhhh - rolling snow angels! Love snow angels!" demonstrates silly Max.
"What a goofball! But I'm having a great time too!" declares happy Zorro.

The steepness of Loveland lead to a shorter than normal outing; but no complaints from any of us! 4.1 miles traveled with 950 feet of elevation climbed.

2016/2017 Season to Date: 9 days on the trails covering 58.0 miles with 5950 feet of elevation climbed.

Just Enough

Just enough "snow over frozen dirt" to pull the dog sled up & down the upper section of Boreas Pass this morning!

Laying fresh tracks in an inch or so of new snow atop frozen ground.
Just enough to pull the sled!

The second half of October in Colorado found us sweltering in record high temperatures with record low precipitation. In other words, we've been dying waiting for snow to return! We woke this morning to a fresh inch or so at home and all exclaimed, "Snow, snow - we finally have snow! We are going to use if even if it kills us!" :)   The plan: drive up Boreas Pass until the ground was frozen enough under the layer of fresh snow that we could trot pulling the dog sled up & down Boreas. Success!

The day started with low clouds and fog all around us. No problem, that was sheltering the ground from warming in the morning sun...

Laying fresh tracks as we haul the dog sled up Boreas Pass.
Again, "just enough" to trot and glide.

Our goal was to make it to the top of the pass and then head back down. Well, we accomplished the goal - yay!

Exchanging happy talk with my fun partners at the Boreas Pass Landmark. Snow under Max's
back legs flows to the Pacific Ocean whereas snow under his front legs flows to the Atlantic :)
"Snow, snow, I love snow - having a great time!" declares happy little Zorro.
"Down in front - I am having a blast too!" declares ecstatic Max (I could see his smile even
though Zorro is blocking it in this photo)

It may not have been much snow; but after the hot & dry second half of October, we'll take it!

"Aaahhhh, toes on snow - so happy!" declare my gleeful partners looking back at me in approval.

Just enough snow (over frozen dirt) to trot up/down Boreas with the sled: 6.2 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed.

2016/2017 Season to Date: 8 days on the trails covering 53.9 miles with 5000 feet of elevation climbed.

Let's hope this morning is a foreshadow of snow to come in November! October was painful.... Pray for Snow!