They Get It

The early bird gets.... First Tracks!!!

First tracks on a beautiful stretch of freshly groomed trail!

We got out on the trails yesterday morning just after sunrise and what a treat we found. The groomer had just finished running on the upper elevation trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center and we were FIRST TRACKS on the freshly groomed terrain. While the ground is starting to show through the snow here & there, we also found some excellent, long stretches of perfect snow cover. Here is photo of one such perfect stretch:

Snow poofs flying off Jack & Rudy's feet as we zip along
the fresh groomie zoomie trail!

For one section, though, we were second tracks on the trail. Who was before us? A moose!!! You talk about adding a little extra juice to the skijor machine (Jack & Rudy), well try putting some fresh moose tracks on the trail and feel them pick it up another notch!

Two-toed moose print in the lower left of this photo with a line of prints
extending up the middle of the trail. The tracks diid not go unnoticed to
Jack & Rudy, of course, and they had me whipping around the trail in
pursuit of moose. Luckily we never came upon the beast and eventually
the tracks went off into the forest.

Today's video highlight may be one of my most proud as it really demonstrates that Jack & Rudy "get it" and perfectly understand the concept of snow, skis and keeping the human upright!

The video starts with us flying along a nice stretch of trail. Then, about 15 seconds into the clip, we come around a corner and see a large swath of exposed ground ahead. Watch as Jack & Rudy start slowing due to the exposed ground before I even have a chance to call out "easy" (to slow us down). I then see a strip of ice I can probably ski over gently. So, I say "over to the right" and Jack & Rudy move with me a proceed slowly and cautiously over the ice. Once past the obstacle and the trail is still a little choppy, so the masters (Jack & Rudy) continue a cautious pace until the trail becomes perfect again. Once perfect and OFF we go! These two really "get it" and probably could have done this whole episode without me saying anything as they were ahead of me in the correct actions through the entire clip. Amazing kids!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

While they are stunningly amazing teammates, they are also hilarious comedians. Yesterday's turnaround antics? Well, snow angels from Jack of course and woos from Rudy this outing :)

"Rolling, rolling, love snow rolling!" goes goofy Jack.
"WOOOOOO!" sums up wooing Rudy :)

Finally,  yesterday's "end of run" treats were very well earned by my perfect partners keeping me upright amidst multiple terrain obstacles.

"Of course we know what we are doing! Love snow, must keep the
human alive to keep going!" declares the happy & smart kids.

Yesterday's tally: 7.9 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH. 

Unfortunately, with a warm & dry week behind us, we are off the trails until the next snowstorm. That is forecast for mid-week, so everyone PRAY FOR SNOW!

2023/2024 Season to Date: 7 days on the trails covering 55.2 miles with 6000 feet of elevation climbed.

First Tracks

Did everybody enjoy today's awesome skijor?

"YES! We had a BLAST!" exclaims the happy kids awaiting end of run
treats after finishing our skijor this morning.

We are still skijoring off last Sunday's monster October snowstorm. Some ground is starting to show through the snow here and there, but we are still going strong! Today took us to the upper elevation trails of Breckenridge Nordic Center and we had a blast!

We were catching air in the shade:

Whee - hover huskies in the shade.

We were catching air in the sun:

Zoom - catching air with nice views.

We were inspecting moose tracks leading off trail and into the trees:

"These smell FRESH! We think we should follow!" says the moose inspectors.
No, I did not give in, this is as far off trail as I let Jack & Rudy take me; but
you can see the moose tracks in front of them leading into the trees.

We were testing the limits of the gangline rolling far apart snow angels:

That's about as far apart as Jack & Rudy can get and still roll :)

The highlight for me? Well look at the shade and sun "catching air" photos closely. In the shaded photo, we are close to the trailhead and you can see lots of other prints tracking up the trail (both ski tracks and some rude people who walked the groomed trail!). Now look at the sun photo, and, yep, no pre-existing tracks! Once we out-skied all the mere mortals, we found miles of untouched groomed terrain to enjoy. What a treat! Come along for a minute video glimpse into this endless first tracks fun!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Ok, sure the ground is starting to show here & there in the prior video. But, it's still early November and we have gotten five days of skijoring from one monster storm! Here's praying for fresh snow to return next week (it is in the forecast).

Today's tally: 8.2 miles traveled with 800 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 6 days on the trails covering 47.3 miles with 5200 feet of elevation climbed.

 

Rudy Saves the Day

Hey Moose, could you move over a bit so we can play on through?

See the moose? Look directly up from Rudy's right ear.

Still not convinced it is a moose? How about zooming in as much as I can without blurring the photo? I'll keep Jack & Rudy's ears in the zoom for reference to the photo above :)

Yep, big lady moose directly up from Rudy's right ear!

As we encountered this moose in front of us this morning, I shouted out "Hey moose, could you move over a bit so we can play on through?" What did she do after I yelled this out 3 times? Well, she simply turned her head to stare at us. I was about to give up and turn us around when Rudy belted out one of his patented wildlife moose screams. Tada, that worked, Rudy's scream caused her to saunter off into the trees. Rudy Saves the Day!!!!!

Where were we skijoring today? Well, we went back to Breckenridge Ski Resort as the resort is still not open for the season but there is a lot of snow to use on the mountain. We spent part of the day skijoring in snowmobile tracks that employees have laid all over the mountain as they prep to open next week:

Cruising along as we are following snowmobile tracks and passing
under a ski lift.

Then, as you get a little higher in elevation on the mountain, there is TONS of untouched powder on the ski runs. I know which runs are light in weeds & rocks from summer hikes, so it was safe to go powder hopping in these stretches of ski runs. Wheeee!

Untouched powder all to ourselves!

Back to the snowmobile tracks, come along and watch as we glide along the ski resort and cross under one of the ski lifts and then approach another lift (we had to stop right before the second lift due to exposed ground).

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Turnaround time has one absolute guarantee - Jack rolling snow angels. Rudy, though, is the constant wildcard. What will be his turnaround antic - wooing or rolling? I have fun trying to guess which Rudy will come out at our turnaround - I am only right about 50% of the time!

"Always rolling!" declares snow rolling Jack.
"I already screamed at the moose, so I'm rolling today!" adds silly Rudy.

Back to the base of Peak 9 to end the outing and we found a nice step up to one of the service buildings for Jack & Rudy to get close to my level for end of run treats. In between the first and second treat and the kids were still savoring the first :)

"Slurp! Yum! Got more?" slurps the funny kids.

Another fun day making use of the trails on Breckenridge Ski Resort before they open for the season: 7.3 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 5 days on the trails covering 39.1 miles with 4400 feet of elevation climbed.