Patience

Jack & Rudy whipping me around a gentle left in the trail. Sled dog power! Whee!

The fun kids hug every corner very tightly, it's up to me to
try and stay upright and keep pace on skis :)

Today's outing took us on the upper elevation trails on peaks 7 & 6 in Breckenridge. Along the way, we found some snowcat tracks going up one of the Peak 6 service roads. With fresh snow over the snowcat tracks, this was safe for me to traverse on skis, so we followed. Eventually the snowcat turned around, so we did too. Did I say "turn around?" Yep...

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes the snow rolling sillies.
You can see the wide cul-de-sac like turnaround the snowcat did.

Once the kids were done rolling, it was time to go back down the way we came up. This service road gets a bit steep in areas, so I like to take it cautiously. I only have to call out "easy" a few times to Jack & Rudy for them to get the message that we are taking the trail slower until I say otherwise. Great partners!

Believe me, they WANT to go faster than this; but a couple of "easy"
commands from me and they oblige as jogging is better than stopping!

After doing the side tour on the snowcat tracks, it was back onto the main trail on Peak 7. This is technically one of the trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center which is now closed for the season. I had turn on skis to get from the snowcat tracks back onto the main trail. Come along and watch as Jack & Rudy sit SO patiently waiting for me to turn on skis. Once around, I only need to mutter "Ok," and off we GO! I love to reward their patience with the opportunity to floor it :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the video. The tracks (ski and dog prints) you see are our out tracks on this same trail. So, go back and watch again and pay attention to seconds 24-25 in the clip. It looks as though my skis and Jack & Rudy's footprints seem to go off trail. Well, here is what happened at this point on the way up :)

Jack first lunged off trail looking for rodents under the snow.
Rudy, as usual, followed suit with one of his high arching rodent dives.
Together, both nearly pulled me completely off trail! Now you understand
the prints in the video :)

It was actually quite a nice morning with a light layer of new snow atop the (now closed for the season) nordic trails. We will not be able to use these trails again unless there is new snow as they get beat up quickly this time of year.

Whee - what wonderful April 20th conditions!

Back to the trailhead and we are still finding snow walls to climb for end of run treats; but they are melting fast :(

The fun kids found yet another snow wall to scale so we could be face to
face for end of run treats. Fun guys!

Today's tally: 6.8 miles traveled with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 97 days on the trails covering 742.1 miles with 72,700 feet of elevation climbed.

April Powder

Guess who was excited to find upwards of 18 inches of powder on our trails this morning?

"We are THRILLED!" exclaims the happy kids looking back to me
when we paused briefly to catch our breaths from deep powder skijoring!

As I mentioned the other day, Breckenridge Nordic Center decided to stay open for an additional week (this week). We had a marvelous April snowstorm yesterday and went back to the nordic center to enjoy the fresh powder this morning. On Thursday, the nordic center only groomed a little over 2 miles of their upper elevation terrain. I was expecting they might do a little more today with all the fresh snow. But, alas, they did not and only groomed the same 2 miles. But, with all the fresh snow, Jack, Rudy and I did the full nordic loop on our own, breaking trail for roughly 3.5 miles! At our highest point of the trail breaking fun, we found ourselves blasting through upwards of 18 inches of fresh powder!!!

Pow, POW, POWDER day!

Nobody had been out in the deep snow before us and we were thoroughly enjoying the aerobic workout. But, we did have to stop to inspect moose tracks crossing the trail at one point. You HAVE to dip your nose in deep moose tracks, you know :)

"Sniff, sniff! MOOSE!" says the moose inspectors.

I knew we'd eventually reconnect to the groomed stretch of trail and this would be our reward for breaking trail earlier. Sure enough, Jack & Rudy knew what to do once on nordic trails :)

Zoom! Rudy the missile and cannonball Jack flooring it.

Now come watch a fun video clip of us transitioning from deep snow to snowcat tracks to a groomed sprint track with an inch or two of fresh snow on top. For context, we had just been breaking trail in upwards of 18 inches of fresh snow. But, I knew we'd eventually connect with the groomed trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center to reward our hard trail breaking work with a sprint to the finish. Fun watching Jack & Rudy transition from the deep to the snowcat tracks. They sniff a little and then it's like they said, "Hey, wait a minute, we can SPRINT on this!!!" and off we goooooo without me having to say anything :)

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

As I said, Jack & Rudy know what to do with the nordic sprint track:

Catching air laying fresh tracks in a light layer of new snow over
a groomed nordic sprint track.

What a fun and aerobic day, right guys?

"Oh yes, that was FUN!" states the happy kids awaiting end of run treats.

Some aerobic trail breaking work combined with some nordic sprinting made for a 7 mile outing with 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 21 MPH.

2024/2025 Season to Date: 96 days on the trails covering 735.3 miles with 71,700 feet of elevation climbed.a

Surprise

Who is having the BEST time on a surprise groomed trail outing?

"We are! We are! Love the groomie zoomies!" exclaims the ecstatic kids.

I had announced that last Saturday was our final skijor on the groomed trails at Breckenridge Nordic Center as their closing day was Sunday. Well, the highest elevation trails at the nordic center are still in great condition. So, the nordic center decided to extend their season an extra week and keep grooming the highest elevation trail. We arrived to the trailhead this morning to find it freshly groomed and we were first tracks on the excellent terrain! Jack & Rudy knew what to do with a fresh groom :)

The fun kids catching air as they whip me around a left bend in the trail.

Need more evidence they know what to do with a fresh groom? How about this :)

Catching air again on the groomie zoomie. Wheeee!

Unfortunately, the groomer only ran a little over 2 miles on the high elevation trail before turning around. The happy faces in the first photo was at our turnaround point. This is what happened, as expected, before I got that fun dual happy face photo:

"Turnaround, roll around!" goes alway snow rolling Jack.
"WOO! Why did the groomer turnaround? WOOOO!" sings Rudy.

Now come along for the today's video highlight as Jack & Rudy are making the most of today's surprise groom. Oh, the occasional ski tracks you see in the video are our own "out tracks" on this same trail. We were first and second (to ourselves) tracks the entire outing!!!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

What a surprise but EXTREMELY fun fast day today, right guys?

"Oh yes! We LOVED it!" says the happy kids awaiting end of run treats.

As I mentioned earlier, the groomer did not go very far; but any surprise groom of any length in April is a treat: 4.2 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 23 MPH (ZOOM!).

2024/2025 Season to Date: 95 days on the trails covering 728.3 miles with 70,700 feet of elevation climbed.