Extreme sports have nothing on Skijoring!

God I love skijoring. I think it's the adrenalin rush you get when you are *almost* out of control and speeding down the trail. And then when you get it together and stay upright after almost falling or you narrowly miss running over the dogs, it's a even bigger rush!

We headed out today on our 8km skijor, I had Ripper and Pooh Bear! in harness, and Loki and Esther - the shy guys - running loose. I did have Esther harnessed up just in case Ripper or PB pooped out, you never know... and I was not wanting to ski up that hill on the way back alone!

Are you wondering what the heck I'm talking about when I talk about the excitement? I think this little video explains it pretty well. You may not get the feel for how freakin' fast we were zooming down that hill or how narrow that stupid hill is which makes it impossible to snowplow and slow down, but if nothing else it's entertaining!


What's even more entertaining is watching said video of yourself and realizing how much you scream and laugh and basically never shut up! Thank goodness the dogs are used to it and pretty much ignore me. :)


Loki waits and waits, and the POUNCES on these guys when they get close. Or he gets run over.

Ok, so what dog in their right mind would LAY DOWN IN SLUSH in the middle of winter!??! What dog in their right mind would CONTINUE TO LAY IN SLUSH UNTIL SHE STARTS TO FREEZE or until you yank her out of the water?

Where she is laying is total water under the snow. Over to the right, where there is no snow, it's nice n' frozen! But nooooo, let's lay in the water when it's -15C out! Who does that? But wait. Maybe she's following my lead, look where I am, also in the slush. Plus I'm taking pictures. Oops! What a pair we make!

Pooh Bear! That's who! At least she's got personality.

Look at my ski in this photo, ha! This is what happens to skis when they go through slush and then start to freeze. I found you gotta move FAST and knock that slush off or you're pretty much screwed.


They also get REALLY heavy! What makes it even more FUN is when the dogs attached to you could care less whether you have cement blocks on your feet and they attempt to pull you. Skis with frozen slush on them and dogs pulling = Stacie flat on her face.


The culprit who could care less whether he dragged me on my face or not - Ripper. This is the way our relationship has been for 5+ years. It's probably payback for all those gloves and socks and a million other things I took away before he could swallow them.

This is us going through the ice and slush, but mostly ice. I figured out how to avoid the WET stuff on the way back. Stay on the ICE not the snow. Snow=slush. Oh, and if you've seen Talladega Nights you'll know where I'm getting my accent from:

Pooh Bear was acting like she was going to DIE going over the ice before this, hence my comment about us "making it out aliiiiive!" She was literally on her belly, clawing into the ice and shuffling along at first. On the way back here she definitely got the hang of it even if she was wayyyy over to the side.


But she lived to make it back home, yay!!! :-)


Esther nose, hahaha! I love this shot. That is what I see when I'm on the ground with them in case you're wondering.


A wee bit icy. Nothing a few hours hanging over the wood stove won't cure! (the pants, not me)

Icy PB!


The beautiful and elusive Loki!