The Return of Winter

After a warm and damp january that seemed more like dark form of April than the first month of the year, we past mid February and full into winter.  We have had close to two feet of snow in the last week and the skating days are long past.  Now we have a trail around the lake for skiing that is almost five miles long.   We pack and smooth the snow every time it snows so we can skate ski or classical. Madelyn and I also use the trail for skijoring.   We have two sled dogs for this sport and we just borrowed a third, Zena, a retired Iditarod champion.

Skijoring with Snape and Zena

Madelyn's comments:

Zena Iditarod Warrior Princess

   Well, now that we finally look like normal and have some snow, we decided we needed to add a dog to the team.  Without Loki, who we lost in May, and Nelson's advancing age (12-13 now) we definitely had a slow down, also made it difficult to travel when we need a sled.  So our buddy Travis Beals, Iditarod racer, loaned us Zena, a retired leader who wasn't getting out much, if at all.  She's been to nome at least 4 times, was a leader in Lance Mackey's heyday - 4 time winner.  He last trip to Nome will give you a chuckle.  Lance leased a team to the first Iditarod musher from Jamaica - sound familiar?  He stayed here and trained with Lance.  If memory serves, he didn't get clear to Nome, but had a good showing.

So if you tell anyone about our newest team member, just say she went to Nome several times on winning teams....they probably will think the rest is a joke.  She's only been here two days but she is settling in well and done everything we asked - easy keeper.  She probably hasn't run much since last summer when she put 1500 miles in on the glacier dogsled tour.  Photo taken in 2010 at Lance's kennel. 

Here's a video of Skijoring with a pulk.