Angel & Ears

Rolling snow angels with the ears of Rabbit Ears Pass in the background!

Love the looks on Jack & Rudy's faces. What sillies!
The two rocks atop the peak directly above Jack are the ears for which
Rabbit Ears Pass is named. 

It was a beautiful day to follow snowmobile tracks all over Rabbit Ears Pass. I was hoping for a firm crust so that we could abandon set trails and go our own way; but the crust was not strong enough to hold hard running Jack & Rudy (they punched through the thin crust the two times we tested it). So, it was following packed snowmobile tracks all morning long. Still a ton of fun!

Cruising along the trail to Dumont Lake as the ears are far in front
of us on the peak directly above Rudy.

While the crust looked tempting, it just was not strong enough to hold Jack & Rudy. It was firm enough to hold me on skis though. So we had a fun time with Jack & Rudy running in packed snowmobile tracks while I rode the ski-worthy crust right next to them. This gave them a firm trail and me a smooth surface next to them.

The fun kids squeezing tight into a snowmobile track while I ski
the nice ski-worthy crust next to them.

It was like this most of the day - Jack & Rudy on packed snowmobile tracks and me on the smooth side crust. Opposite angle of the last shot but same results: the kids in the packed track and me on the smooth side:

The fun kids catching air as I swoosh along behind them and slightly
to their left.

Now come along for the video example of what I was talking about. Watch as Jack & Rudy are running hard and fast in the packed tracks while I have at least one ski out of the track and on the smooth side. The snowmobile tracks were actually too packed for me on skis and keeping at least one ski out of track gave me control and comfort to let the kids go, go, go.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Back to the trailhead to celebrate another great May outing with end of run treats:

"It has been a great May so far!" says the happy & proud kids.

Today's tally: 7 miles traveled with 600 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 148 days on the trails covering 1251.5 miles with 124,100 feet of elevation climbed.

May POW

Happy kids in wonderful new snow in May at the official Rabbit Ears Pass geological marker!

Smiles all around and look at all that fresh & untouched new snow!!!!

The last two days have been incredible fresh snow days in May! It has been a May POW celebration with Jack & Rudy.

Yesterday we skijored the high elevation trails on Peak 7 in Breckenridge. There was 10-15 inches of fresh snow on the trails. One skier had been out before us, so Jack & Rudy tucked themselves into the two ski tracks and towed me up the mountain:

Tucked in tight as the snow is over 10 inches deep out of the ski track so
one could not keep pace with the other if both did not squeeze into these tracks.

I knew Jack & Rudy would appreciate a little wider "set trail" on the way back as it is hard to run fast in a single set of ski tracks without constantly bumping into one another. So, I skied next to the single track you see in the prior photo all the way up. This meant Jack & Rudy had 4 ski tracks to spread across on the way back. Remember, though, there was upwards of 15 inches of fresh snow. So, a single ski track does not pack the trail, it just makes it slightly easier to run fast in. But, there was still plenty of powder in around the ski tracks. Just look at all this powder flying up around Jack & Rudy on our return leg!

Kicking up TONS of powder as the kids blast fast in the 4 ski tracks trail.

With all that deep snow, it was a short (distance wise) outing yesterday: 5.4 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed. 

This morning we went to the Dumont Lake area at Rabbit Ears Pass. Rabbit Ears is very popular with snowmobiles, so we found 1-2 of fresh snow over pre-existing snowmobile tracks to run in:

Laying fresh tracks in new snow over snowmobile tracks.

It was like mid winter at Rabbit Ears this morning. Quite incredible! Come along and see for yourself as this is near the start of our outing and the kids are having great fun running fast in snowmobile tracks.

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Eventually the snowmobile tracks turned away from the route I had planned. We continued on anyway, but then quickly found ourselves breaking trail in over 8 inches of fresh snow:

Breaking Trail - Wheeee!

But, after such deep snow fun yesterday, I wanted to give Jack & Rudy a more shallow & fast outing today.  So, we turned around pretty soon after the prior photo and changed our outing to follow snowmobile tracks wherever they went:

Zipping along laying fresh tracks in snowmobile tracks.
The ski tracks (and dog foot prints) you see to our left are our own tracks
going the other direction on this stretch of trail.

What an excellent set of mid winter powder days yesterday and today in May!!! Right guys?

"Oh, we LOVED it!" says the happy kids propped up no a little snow
wall  to get end of run treats.

Today tally: 8.6 miles traveled with 700 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 147 days on the trails covering 1244.5 miles with 123,500 feet of elevation climbed.

Perfect Corridor

Cruising by the historic Sallie Barber Mine with active snow falling all around us! Wheeee!

Cruising on by with lots of snowflakes visible against the mine, trees
and Jack & Rudy. Beautiful day for May!

We started the day on the backside of the Sallie Barber Mine Trail. This side of the trail gets warm afternoon sun on clear days and it really showed. Even though we had fresh snow, it was very thin in areas and we had to keep the speeds down to a gentle trot for me to avoid partially snow covered obstacles for my skis!

Great partners keeping the speeds to a gentle trot as I watch
for obstacles to avoid on skis!

Then we crested at the mine and started down the frontside. This side does NOT get afternoon sun and it was amazing! We found ourselves laying fresh tracks in a wonderful layer of new snow at the top of the frontside trail. This perfect corridor only lasted for about a half mile or so before it started to deteriorate due to the decline in elevation; but, oh my, was it ever a perfect corridor! How perfect? Well, we repeated this magic corridor 3 times before finally continuing back down to the trailhead.

Pass number 3 along this perfect corridor!
We were fresh tracks in the new snow on the first pass and then kept 
repeating and reusing the tracks we set on previous passes.

Now come along for a minute of this perfect corridor. Like I said, it was only about a 1/2 mile of perfect; but it was incredible as you'll see in the video. What a magic corridor of perfect trail!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Of course, repeating the perfect corridor meant we turned around a few times. You know what that means...

"Turnaround! Roll around!!!!" goes goofy snow rolling Jack.
"Turnaround! Woos abound!" sings vocal Rudy :)

Back to the trailhead and the creative kids are always able to find any snow wall to climb for end of run treats if one exists!

"You have my full attention!" says focused Jack.
"I love snow walls!" adds cute Rudy

A short outing today by our standards; but all outings in May are wonderful and the three laps on the short perfect corridor was amazing: 4.2 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 20 MPH.

2023/2024 Season to Date: 145 days on the trails covering 1230.5 miles with 122,100 feet of elevation climbed.