Last Wilder Run

Catching Air in Wilder Gulch at Vail Pass:

The angle of the sun & the fast terrain typically make for some great "catching air"
shots at Vail Pass! Wheeee!

Today was our last run in Wilder Gulch at Vail Pass. We will certainly have a few more runs on the Shrine Pass and/or Lime Creek sections of Vail Pass; but Wilder Gulch is officially done for the season. This is not a shock as Wilder is always the first section of Vail Pass to go bad in the Spring.

So sad as the conditions are still great when you get above 11,000 feet elevation...

Laying fresh tracks near the top of Ptarmigan Pass - what great conditions up high!!!

Okay, given the previous photo, how can we possibly declare this to be our last run on this section of terrain at Vail Pass. Well, here are the more common shots of the day:

Slowing to a trot as open water is starting to appear on both sides of us.
"Eek - the creek!" states Max glancing at the water to his right.
"In denial, looking forward!" declares water averse Zorro.

Slowing to a gentle jog as the trail is becoming overtaken by exposed ground.
"Just don't look, just don't look!" insists Zorro.
"Slow down to keep the human alive for another day!" declares Max.

As you see... Wilder Gulch was beautiful up high and falling apart down low. But it was still a great day with toes on snow:

"Sketchy terrain down low but we are still having a GREAT time!" exclaim the happy pair
looking back at one of our forks in the trail today.

This season's last run in Wilder Gulch: 9.1 miles with 1100 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2014/2015 Season to Date: 122 days on the trails covering 1054.0 miles with 111,450 feet of elevation climbed.

Sunday Funday

A Sunday Funday cruising on hard top crust and weaving through the forest.

One of the two open meadows we encountered where the top layer of "snow crust" was hard
enough to support us jogging back & forth across the meadow. Wheeee!

Despite that great photo above, it is Spring and much of the "all day sun exposed" terrain is starting to degrade. You get a few treats at upper elevations like the photo above; but we spent most of the day touring trails in the forest as the shade from trees has kept the snow intact.

Trotting along peacefully on a somewhat narrow but very shade protected side trail.

Of course, whenever the trail was wide enough (and snowpack good enough), we open up the throttle to zoom along:

Zoom, zoom, zoom - what a nice straightaway to uncork the Siberian engines!

With the nice "top crust", we were able to get creative on what would have been sketchy sections of trail. Note in the photo below the trail is actually to our right, next to the exposed dirt; but the shoulder crust is hard enough that we can run off the trail in the more shaded terrain - woo hoo!

Zipping along the shoulder to avoid the intermittent dirt on the real trail.

Finally, the following photo is the most impressive from the day... Max & Zorro really understand the concept of skis and preserving the human for another day. Whenever we encounter impassable terrain, they automatically stop without a word spoken from me. Below you see a swath of dirt across the trail that skis cannot traverse. They have both stopped without me having to say anything as they look back to let me know the terrain is bad and await guidance from me on how to continue. Of course when we first started skijoring years ago, they did not understand the concept of un-skiable terrain (and I would have to give a command to "stop"); but they are experts now and completely understand the whole concept of skis & terrain! Such smart boys!

"Aaahh - toes on dirt! Halt, halt!!!" says smart little Zorro.
"Cannot continue, what shall we do?" asks lead dog Max.

A peaceful Sunday Funday jogging around the forest: 7.9 miles with 900 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 18 MPH.

2014/2015 Season to Date: 121 days on the trails covering 1044.9 miles with 110,350 feet of elevation climbed.

Groomie Zoomie

Catching air as we zooooom along the freshly groomed trail at Rabbit Ears Pass!

Beautiful day to FLY!

How to describe the trail we took this morning... WOW!

We had a fun & strenuous day on the trails yesterday breaking trail on steep terrain (up & down). So, we decided to reward everyone with a short, fun & fast outing today.

Our plan was to run a quick 5.5 miles at Rabbit Ears; but the conditions were soooo great that we did 6.8 miles instead (in the same time we planned for 5.5)! Zoom!

A few of the trails at Rabbit Ears Pass get regularly groomed as companies run snowmobile tours here. We had the pleasure of being the first tracks on a freshly groomed trail this morning. Max & Zorro were having a blast uncorking the engine and flying around the trails!

Love this shot of the "snow dust" kicking up behind the sprinting Siberians as they really
open up the throttle on easy terrain!

A fun video clip as we hit a short steep down on the trail before leveling out into an open straightaway. I am flying behind my partners when Max gets a little too close to the soft right shoulder which slows him off a taut gangline for a moment before he rights himself to takeoff as we level out into the straightaway. Zoom!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

A fast "out leg" before deciding to turnaround and return the same route:

"Turnaround? Ok, zoom zoom zoom!" states happy Max.
"Wheeee, sorry my tail is blocking my huge smile!" says cute Zorro.

But, before we turnaround we must cool the jets so we can uncork them again:

"Aahh, throw some water on those jets to cool before uncorking them again!" declare the silly pair.

An extremely fast 6.8 miles with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 25 MPH.

2014/2015 Season to Date: 120 days on the trails covering 1037.0 miles with 109,450 feet of elevation climbed.