Test and Go

We did our job today - we wore out the 2 year olds!!! :)

"Happy to help. I'll be eating snowcones while you 3 rest!" says snow chomping Zorro.
"Whew! What a GREAT time blowing my jets out!" says flat & happy Jack.
"No kidding, love getting my butt kicked!" adds happily relaxing Rudy.

We had a super fun skijor this morning that started with the kids, Jack & Rudy, taking me out for roughly 2/3rds of the outing before adding Zorro in the team for the final 1/3 of the run.

We went to what is my second favorite stretch of "vast spring crust" (whereas yesterday we were on my favorite spring crust terrain). These two patches are near each other but today's stretch gets a little different sun profile and it is not always as firm as yesterday's crust.

With the status of the crust in question, I went out with the kids first to test the terrain. We had to weave through the forest a bit before getting this stretch of vast crust. My plan was to test the crust with Jack & Rudy and either have success in which case we'd loop back to bring Zorro on the same terrain or to find the crust too punchy in which case we'd abandon the vast meadows and loop back a different direction to take Zorro on more stable terrain.

Well, check out the photo below. SUCCESS!!!! The crust was PERFECT as Jack, Rudy and I were flying atop an incredible firm & fun spring crust for vast distances! Woo Hoo!

Yep - it's certainly firm enough to hold sprinting sled dogs
and humans on skis! Woo Hoo the hover husky kids!

With crust success, we looped back around this vast meadow to reconnect with Nancy & Zorro at the edge of the forest. Once we had Zorro in team, it was more of the same - fast, fun and INCREDIBLE spring crust skijioring!

Drop in Zorro and more of the same - hover husking FLYING
along the perfect spring crust!

Today's video highlight is the fun "test & go" of the prior two photos. We start with the kids and I testing the crust with MUCH success. The video then transitions back to the same general area but we know have Zorro added in the team. Test with the kids and then GO with the trio! Also, you have to love the Jack & Rudy part of the clip as I am calling out "rights" and "lefts" with perfect listening and execution from the solo kids!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Done with the 2nd pass along the crust - what fun, right everyone?

"Oh, you bet - glad you came back to add me in!" says happy Zorro.
"Oh my - fun, Fun, FUN!" adds happy Jack.
"Whew, you blacks sure know how to wear out a red kid!' adds chilling Rudy.
Actually, Rudy is down because he just finished rolling a snow angel
to cool his jets :)

After two super fun runs over the endless crust, it was time to turn back into the forest to return to the trailhead to meet Nancy. One last patch of crust as we get the ski runs of Breckenridge Ski Resort in view across the valley as we are about to transition left into the forest:

"Nice view! Nice crust - we'll be back another day soon!" says the happy running trio.

A nice combination day to exercise the kids while testing the terrain and then adding elder Zorro in the team to revisit all of our successful experiments: 7.3 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 154 days on the trails covering 1053.3 miles with 95,900 feet of elevation climbed.

Long Jump

They are at it again, aren't they Zorro? :)

"Yes, and I want it on record that, despite being the veteran, I did NOT teach this!"
adds happy Zorro looking back to me while the kids do their usual
snow angel antics at our turnaround point.
"I introduced it to EVERY skijor and I taught it to Rudy!!!!" says comical, goofball Jack.
"Rolling, rolling, don't care whose idea it was! Rolling!" contributes snow rolling Rudy.

Surprisingly for April, we have not had a "spring crust" skijor in almost 2 weeks! That is usually unheard of for this time of year as the crust usually has the best conditions. Why no crust skijoring for almost 2 weeks? Well, it has snowed (a little to a lot) every day for almost 2 weeks straight! Yesterday was the first real let up from the recent snow and, as a result, the warm days/cold nights brought the crust back to life. We'll happily trade 2 weeks of crust for 2 weeks of fresh snow to add to our snowpack to propel us through May and into June!!!

Come along as we are back to skijoring the spring crust on this beautiful April morning. A few fun things to watch in the video. Note the frozen snowmobile track crossing perpendicular to us about 7 seconds into the clip. Zorro & Jack both want nothing to do with this frozen track and watch as they both execute a beautiful long jump over the track (Rudy does a mini long jump too, but he's not as averse to the frozen track as Zorro & Jack). Then, watch as the kids politely look back to see that I have crossed the track safely (veteran Zorro can feel I'm over the track, but the kids need to peek :)  Finally, look at the deep ski tracks we are running between and to the side of. Some poor people forgot to go out early enough to ski the crust and had to slog along breaking through. But, not us, we were smart enough to be up early this morning to get the perfect crust!!!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

In realtime, I thought I was going to get an incredible shot of a synchronized long jump from Zorro and Jack. But, once I check in slomo, it turns out they were just barely out of sync. Darn...

Here we have Jack in a beautiful long jump over the snowmobile track as Zorro is just beginning to start his long jump:

Flying Jack!!!

Then, milliseconds later, and Jack landing his long jump as Zorro is taking flight. A few milliseconds from a synchronized long jump...

Flying Zorro - go, Z, go!!!!!

After doing a crust skijor around and through the vast meadow you see above, it was time to drop off Zorro with Nancy while the kids and I went out for a bit more exercise.

"Done with my leg - that sure was fun!" says happy Zorro.
"Thanks for leading us big  bro Z, but us kids need a little more!' adds the happy
and ready to continue kids :)

The kids, Jack & Rudy, and I proceeded to go out & up Prospect Hill, then down the backside of Prospect Hill before turning around coming back up the backside and down the frontside.

There's not much to see (except fun white butts in front of me) on the initial up. But, once we got to the backside of Prospect Hill, the view and vast terrain is breathtaking:

Wide angle shot to showcase the vast and virtually untouched backside
of Prospect Hill!

Once we returned to the frontside of Prospect Hill, you get great views that were behind us on the way up. Such a pretty shot of the mountains and ski runs of Breckenridge Ski Resort across the valley from us:

Jack & Rudy hovering over the solid spring crust as we take in
the stunning views of the ski resort!

Done giving the kids a some extra exercise and back to enjoy the end of the outing with Zorro:

"Ready for 'end of run' treats!" says focused Zorro.
"Me too!" claims barely visible (but very focused) Jack.
"You can't miss me!" adds big dude Rudy :)

Back to the Spring Crust this morning as we did "meadow tours" with Zorro, Jack & Rudy and the Prospect Hill tours with Jack & Rudy: 6.9 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 153 days on the trails covering 1046.0 miles with 95,200 feet of elevation climbed.

Jack's Angels

Beautiful shot of the happy sled dog trio towing me to the end of a fun, fun skijor this morning!

It doesn't get much better than this on April 19th!!!!
Look at that happy, happy, happy power trio!

We did a 50/50 run this morning where Jack, Rudy and I did the first 50% and then Zorro joined in for the second 50% of the outing.

We got 2ish inches of fresh snow overnight and the kids and I found ourselves laying fresh tracks for our initial loop without Zorro:

Whee goes the power duo laying fresh tracks as I glide
along behind the strong team.

Now, on to the title of today's blog: Jack's Angels. Well, Jack, who has rolled at least 1 snow angel on every skijor of his young career, was on a snow rolling tear this morning! He rolled multiple snow angels at the trailhead before we got started.

We did a loop with a side tour "out & back" to add some distance before meeting up with Zorro. Well, here's the turnaround of the side tour "out & back" and there's Jack...

"Stop, drop and ROLL!" demonstrates goofball Jack.
"Yum, snowcones!" says head dunking and snow eating Rudy.

After completing our initial loop, we hooked elder Zorro in to the team to go some more. We started out on the loop we did with Jack & Rudy and then turned out of the loop about halfway through. After the turn, we found ourselves laying fresh tracks in the 2+ inches of fresh snow again:

The fresh tracks trio cruising along!
You can see the sides of the trail were quite bumpy whereas the set track down
the middle was smoother. So, of course, all three figured out how
to fit in the set track and open up the skijoring engine!

Along the way with Zorro and we did another side tour "out & back" for fun. Out & back? Yep, here's Jack :)

"Rub a dub dub!" showcases silly Jack.
"He's a GOOF!" says Zorro checking back with me.
"Hey, nice views!" notices Rudy (he's never noticed the
views from this trail before ;)

Come along for today's video highlight. You'll notice the camera, and thus, me bouncing around quite a bit. The trail was a bit choppy under the new snow from warm days and lots of foot traffic. But, the trail was perfectly smooth enough for Zorro, Jack & Rudy to go, go, go. So, I simply hung on for dear life as I bounced around behind them :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

We were racing Nancy from the point we picked up Zorro to another trailhead a bit away from where we started. We beat her to the trailhead parking lot, so turned around to go back up the trail a bit while waiting for her. Well, you guessed it, Jack rolled yet another snow angel at this turnaround too ("A turnaround is a turnaround!" was Jack's goofy logic). So, yes, Jack rolled snow angels at FOUR different points of today's outing. What a goof ;)

Finally, Nancy got out to meet us and it was "Hi mom, bye mom!" from the trio:

"Hi mom, bye mom, we have things to do!" says the trio running
past Nancy.

What things did we have to do? Well, get to our 'end of run' treats of course!!!

"Ready for our well earned hunks of pork!" says the focused & happy trio!

A fun "fresh tracks 50/50 day" starting with the kids and then ending with the whole trio: 7.2 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.


2019/2020 Season to Date: 152 days on the trails covering 1039.1 miles with 94,500 feet of elevation climbed.