It was an interesting and almost too difficult day to skijor Boreas Pass!
"You about set back there?" ask Zorro & Rudy at a break on the trail.
"Boring.... boring... Can we go yet?!?!" asks impatient Jack.
Nice view of the ski runs of Breckenridge Ski Resort on the mountains across the
valley from us.
So, what was interesting and difficult? Well, the primary set track on the trail was only 2 Siberians wide (3 could not fit shoulder to shoulder). In addition, the set track was so packed it was closer to ice than packed snow. So, interesting was the trio could not fit side by side. Difficult was that I could not put both skis in the primary track - it was so narrow and packed that I had no ability to stop or even slow down if I put both skis in this narrow chute. My pals have been taught that if you feel no friction from me then you are allowed to go as fast as you want. They are right 99% of the time. Today was the other 1% as I had no way to introduce friction in the narrow slick track! Yikes.
We cannot all fit, so Jack takes a turn jogging behind Zorro & Rudy.
But, aha, look at my skis in the prior photo. There was a secondary ski track to the left of the narrow and slick primary track. I could put my left ski out in this track and suddenly I had some ability to control our skijoring machine. Phew! Zorro quickly noticed what I was doing and said, "Hey, if the secondary track works for you, then it will work for me!" Smart guy.
Finally able to do a little skijoring with Zorro and my left ski in the secondary track
and Jack & Rudy and my right ski in the primary track.
It was still difficult as I was skiing with each ski in a different track (and the space between the primary and secondary constantly fluctuated); but we did it. Come along for an interesting and difficult skijor in strange conditions :)
Rudy caught on to what Zorro discovered too. He and Zorro took turns running in the solo track while the other stayed in the primary track with Jack. Jack tried the solo track once and did not like it. No problem, Zorro & Rudy were happy to alternate and let Jack stay in the main track.
Rudy's turn to run solo with my left ski. Wheeee!
All went great higher up on Boreas where we had the primary and secondary tracks. But, the last 1/2 mile was impossible to skijor. Notice anything in the following photo?
The straight line coming off my shoulders and by my head are my skis mounted on my backpack.
Yes, we are jogging, not skijoring!
So, what happened? Look closely and Zorro, Jack & Rudy are in the set track. It was wide enough for 3 down low (from lots of traffic); but it was also packed to the point of ice, not snow! Now look at the shoulders outside of the set track. There is no secondary track and, in fact, there are post holes all over the place (presumably from crowds stepping off for photos, etc.). So, my skis could not operate outside of the set track but the set track was too narrow and slick to provide any speed control (and my partners would, as taught, take off without friction). Yikes, too dangerous, time to put the skis on the backpack and jog the last 1/2 mile.
This is pretty much the only time that skijoring is at a complete disadvantage over traditional dog sledding. A dog sled has a brake, skis don't!
Oh well, we still had a great time - just a bit more difficult and interesting than planned: 5.9 miles traveled with 400 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 17 MPH.
2018/2019 Season to Date: 78 days on the trails covering 425.5 miles with 38,000 feet of elevation climbed.
Another Day, Another Freshly Groomed Trail equals Another Zoooom!
"Ready to go, just say 'when'!" says leader Zorro looking back to me at a turnaround
point on the trail.
"We are watching you big bro, tell us when to GO!" say youngsters Jack & Rudy looking to
Zorro (instead of me :) for instruction.
I love the occasional "size illusions" we get from Zorro, Jack & Rudy. Look at the prior photo and you can see the reality: Rudy is the "big boy" of our pack - look at him compared to Jack while Jack looks the same size as Zorro. This is the reality as we have Rudy (46 lbs), Jack (41 lbs) and Zorro (40 lbs). But, now look at the following photo and doesn't Rudy the Flying Reindeer (to the right) look smaller than everyone else?!?! Rudy the Flying Optical Illusion :)
Apparently the Flying Reindeer shrinks when he is airborne. What beautiful flying form from
Rudy; but don't Zorro & Jack look so much bigger than him in this photo?
Back to the day's fun outing... We were THRILLED to find the Harrison Creek snowmobile trail atop Rabbit Ears Pass freshly groomed. We were first tracks on the fun groomie zoomie. For the second time this season the GPS registered 24 MPH as our top speed!
Pretty views of "Colorado Below Us" from atop Rabbit Ears Pass.
Pretty view of the hover husky trio floating above the trail :)
Now for today's beautiful video. This is not the section where we hit 24 MPH; but it is such a pretty section of trail that I had to share. Come along as we glide on perfect terrain in dense forest until near the end of the video when we transition from dense forest to open & stunning views. Trees to Views - wheeee!
Topping 24 MPH means you need to cool your jets if you are young:
"I give up - now they BOTH are doing it!" states happy Zorro choosing to interact with me
instead of these snow rolling goofy kids.
"We are the snow angel twins!" declare goofy Jack & Rudy.
A fresh groomie zoomie lead to another fast, fast day: 6.7 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 24 MPH.
2018/2019 Season to Date: 77 days on the trails covering 419.6 miles with 37,600 feet of elevation climbed
The "Power Trio" driving to the finish at the Dry Lake Trailhead.
It was a steep and complex day - anybody tired? Nope - just ME!
Zorro got to teach young Jack & Rudy about the fun starting a skijor from Dry Lake this morning. This trailhead is the starting point for Steamboat Powdercats: a touring company that takes people to deep backcountry terrain by snowcat. We always get on the trail head of the cats and then have fun watching them pass and then chasing them up the trail.
We stepped off the trail to let a cat pass us and here comes Jack & Rudy.
"Hey - that machine is cool - let's follow!" declare the pair hopping back on trail to chase.
Where is Zorro in the prior photo? Well, he knows to let the cat completely pass and wait for my release. Ok, all safe, here we go:
"Boing! Here I come - let's catch the cat!" demonstrates Zorro launching himself on trail
to join Jack & Rudy to play chase the cat.
Do we catch the cat? Well, no. The reason: steep elevation! If we are on flat, downhill or shallow uphill terrain we can keep pace and even pass a snowcat. But, the goal of this powdercat tour is to get people up quickly to high elevation powder. As a result, we have fun chasing the cat up steep terrain but cannot keep pace. How steep? Well today's outing was 6 miles with 900 feet of elevation climbed. The outing was an "out & back" so that means we went up 900 feet in 3 miles before turning around and catapulting the human back down.
Quick break at our high, turnaround point:
"Wow, we started way down there and are now way up here?!?!" say young Jack & Rudy.
"Just stick with me kids, I've got so much more to show you!" adds veteran Zorro.
Turnaround and ZOOM we go downhill...
Nice views from our high point. Wheeee!
Come along for today's video highlight as my power trio is propelling me downhill fast. The terrain was choppy and hard packed. My knees feel the result of being catapulted down steep terrain for 3 straight miles :)
