Powder Day

It was a great Powder Day today - lots of fresh, new snow everywhere (and still falling)!

Sprinting in about 10 inches of powder! You cannot see the Huskies' legs because they
are hidden in the snow. A real power workout to sprint in deep powder!

A fun clip of us cruising in fresh powder. Watch for the snow kicking up behind Zorro
in parts of the video - just like riding behind a truck :-)
[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

It was a day of fresh powder all over the trails around Sally Barber Mine and up into French Gulch. Lots of "sprint powder" (see above) with pockets of deep snow and occasions of heavy falling snow (see below):

Deep snow to break trail as we ascend up the Little French Gulch trail.

Did I mention the occasional heavy falling snow? Nearing "white out" conditions as we
approach the winter gate in French Gulch.

Getting hard to see the Siberians in the falling snow - just close my eyes and
trust the front of the team...

Did I mention pockets of DEEP snow?

Deep is no deterrent to a Siberian, it is just a reason to "jump & run" while breaking trail!

As I said - a great day of fresh powder, Woo! 7.1 miles, 950 feet of elevation climbed, top speed of 19 MPH and powder everywhere.

Bluebird Day

Pay attention to the sky in all the shots from today.

Not a cloud anywhere - a beautiful bluebird day!

Returning from far back in Indiana Creek. The trail you see is the trail we broke on the way out.
Pretty snow covered Baldy Mountain forward and to the right.

While these serene bluebird photos certainly look inviting, it was a chilly 2 degrees at the trailhead! We got a fresh cover of new snow yesterday & overnight and the cold morning was certainly keeping people indoors later than usual. So, we were able enjoy laying fresh tracks in the lower (popular) trails of Indiana Creek and then found ourselves breaking trail far back in Indiana Creek (further than the typical skier makes it).

One of the enjoyable parts of this route is the "trail through the trees" that we get to enjoy. The middle section of the route goes through a thick forest and we find ourselves bouncing & trotting along somewhat narrow and lesser used terrain. A short clip of the trot through the trees:

Cruising through the woods: Max & Zorro working good together propel the human along.
This trail is not heavily used (e.g., not wide packed), so you can see the two of them bouncing
along as they work to keep themselves on the most solid part of the trail without slowing down!
[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

A few more bluebird shots:

A narrow, but "2 Sibe Wide" track with a few inches of fresh snow.
Stunning blue sky & pretty snow covered trees.

At our "far point" before turning around to head back. Happy Huskies standing in the snow
trough they carved.

Overall, a quick day touring Indiana Creek: 7.1 miles, 1000 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

500 and Counting

Today we passed 500 miles skijoring for our 2012/2013 season!

500 and counting...

While most of the trail had us laying fresh tracks in 2-5 inches of snow, we did encounter
this "deep snow/trail breaking fun" high up on Boreas Pass!
I love the "snow holes" behind each Husky as they bounce in & out of the deep snow
to break trail.

We have been in a pattern the last week or so of snowing a few inches every day. Never a "big dump" of snow, just a daily new cover on the trails for us to get out early and lay fresh tracks in the snow. We got out early on Boreas Pass Rd today and had this same daily pattern: 2-5 inches of fresh snow for us to cruise over and lay fresh tracks. But, to our pleasure, when we got far up Boreas we were treated to some deep wind-blown drifts to power through (as pictured above). What an exhilarating treat!

Nice, untouched trail in front of us as we lay fresh tracks up Boreas Pass Rd.

Approaching Bakers Tank (almost 1/2 way up Boreas). The trail is more discernable along
this stretch, but we are still first tracks in the fresh snow.

So much fun to be first tracks on the trails! Woo!

Some more of the deep drifts we found up high. Siberian Power busting through :-)

The deep snow up high slowed us down a bit from our normal mileage on Boreas Pass; but no complaints here, it is so fun to bust through some deep snow! 8.8 miles, 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 17 MPH.