Huskys from Snowmass Village
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Limelight Hotel - Aspen Hotels, Colorado
Limelight Hotel 4 Stars Hotel in Aspen,Colorado Within US Travel Directory One of our top picks in Aspen.
Within walking distance of Aspen Mountain, Limelight Hotel features guest rooms with free Wi-Fi and 32-inch flat-screen cable TVs.
This Colorado hotel offers an outdoor pool, hot tub and rooftop terrace.
Guest rooms provide iPod docking stations and laptop safety deposit boxes.
They also have seating areas, desks and ironing facilities.
Limelight Hotel serves breakfast and offers a ski guide service and gym.
A business center and meeting rooms are also available to guests.
The ideally situated Limelight Hotel is located across from Wagner Park and is less than a half mile from Aspen Art Museum.
It is 4.
8 km from Buttermilk Mountain Ski Area and 16.
1 km from Krabloonik Dogsled Rides.
Limelight Hotel - Aspen Hotels, Colorado
Location in : 355 South Monarch Street,CO 81611, Aspen, Colorado
Booking now :
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At Krablooniks in Aspen / Snowmass Colorado dog sledding w/ #ParkerJaXward 3.23.14
5. Skijoring Equipment
Skijoring really only requires six simple components. A skier (you!), a dog (or dogs!), an x-back harness, a tow line, padded belt, and cross country skis. You MUST know how to cross country ski VERY well to do this. The harness has been discussed previously, there is no need to discuss the skis, and the tow line is just that -- a line that connects you to the dog(s). This leaves the padded belt. These can be purchased or made. The idea is that you put the belt on, attach the tow line to it, attach the dogs to it, and go! Some people prefer to use a handle to hang on to rather than attach the dogs to them. The handle can then be dropped if the dogs pull you into trouble! Others feel that it is best to use a belt and execute a controlled fall in case of trouble rather than risk having the dogs injure themselves in a tangle when a handle is dropped.
6. Weight Pulling Equipment
The name of the game here is truly the harness. As discussed above, the weight pulling harness is completely different from the x-back harness, and THEY ARE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE! The weight pulling harness has side lines that connect to a spreader bar at the hock, instead of continuing up to the hips. This is important, because a single dog weighing 60 lbs may pull 2000 lbs!
7. Other Equipment
Many mushers have a wheeled cart for training in the fall prior to snow fall. In areas with insufficient snow, these carts are used in competition. These can be purchased or made by a good welder. Carts are a lot of fun, but are difficult to come by, they can be difficult to control, and they go *very* fast with enthusiastic dogs.
Some people use pulks in the snow and carts in the summer to work their dogs. Carts are small wagons that are used to haul small loads or children. Pulks are carts for the snow (they are like small sleds). They are used to carry equipment. Carts and pulks can be made or bought.
8. Training the Musher
Dog driving is not merely riding on the back of the sled issuing commands to steer the dogs. It is work! If you start doing it in earnest, you will pull muscles, fall off the sled and have to pull yourself back on the runners with one hand, run yourself ragged chasing after the team (because you fell off of the sled), run into trees, and so on. In addition to these things, a musher must peddle the sled. This too can be tiring since it is repetitive. Peddling is pushing the sled forward with one foot while riding the sled. This is helpful to the dogs, particularly when tired. You may also frequently get off to run alongside when the dogs are tired. Therefore, to successfully drive sled dogs, the musher must train his or her body as well. Conditioning of the musher is to a small extent a function of the type of mushing to be done. The key is endurance and flexibility over muscle bulk. Running, biking, cross country skiing and downhill skiing are all good ways to build strength. You must remember that at all times, you are alpha. If you are tired, hesitant, and uncertain, your team will pick this up and become confused and unresponsive. This can be particularly dangerous on longer journeys into the wilderness.
It should be clear from this that dogs in a sled dog team must be very well bonded to the driver. Not only does it make training much easier, but well socialized, well bonded dogs make a very good sled dog team. The dogs are looking to you as their undisputed leader, and you and they work together as a *team*. If you are careful to bond to each of your dogs as individuals, and socialize them very well with each other, other dogs, and other humans, your dogs will be willing to do virtually anything for you.
Snowmass Gwen's High Alpine Restaurant
Beautiful place to take a break at Snowmass Mountain
Krablooniks Dog Sledding in Aspen, Colorado w/ #ParkerJaxWard 3.23.14
10. Training Lead Dogs
To successfully mush, one must have a good lead dog (or dogs). This dog will take your commands for regulating speed and direction for the entire team. Naturally, if you are driving only one dog, that will be your lead dog.
Training lead dogs is too complex to really do it justice here. The basics are you want the dog to learn to turn right, left, speed up, and slow down on voice command. You also want the dog to bypass interesting detours and distractions. In addition to the basic commands already introduced (see section 3), the dog must also be taught the commands below:
kissing sound : Speed up (or other appropriate sound)
on-by: Go by a fork in the trail, other dogs, or other distractions without detour
All commands are spoken in a firm, calm, not too loud voice.
During training, you must be certain to use varied turns and trails to be sure that the dog is really executing the commands rather than following a well worn path. You must also anticipate the turn and issue the command at the correct time from the *dog's* perspective. Finally, some people get confused when issuing the right/left commands, particularly in the excitement of a race. Some mushers tape the commands on the front of their sleds, on the right and left sides. You may want to do this while beginning on the sled.
To train a dog to execute these commands with regularity is not too difficult. To train a dog to do this during the excitement of a race with lots of distractions is more difficult. One possible way to approach training is to start out on foot when the dog is a puppy. Keep the lessons varied, quick, and fun. Be certain to do the lessons in a variety of environments, with and without distractions. When the dog is old enough to pull weight (about one year to 18 months, get advice from your veterinarian), you may wish to graduate to cross country skiis. The dog will learn to execute commands in snowy conditions, and at higher speeds. Once you have your lead dog well trained and pulling your sled, you will find that other untrained, young, dogs can be very easily added to your team as your lead dog will correct the new dog's mistakes, usually faster and better than you can.
This is one way in which lead dogs can be trained. Consult the references and experienced mushers (if you can find any) for additional information.
11. Training for Weight Pulling
Here emphasis is on strength and pulling straight no matter how difficult. Most of the mushing books in the references discuss weight pulling training.
12. Training for Skijoring
Skijoring is you on cross country skis and the dogs pulling you. YOU MUST BE A VERY GOOD CROSS COUNTRY SKIER. This is a must. Before attaching dogs, cross country ski all over the place, on a wide variety of terrain. Learn to fall in a controlled way. You will eventually need to do this when skijoring. You will need to learn to turn quickly and ski in control at high speeds. Skiing downhill in cross country skis is a good way to simulate skijoring speeds.
The dog(s) must be well trained as well. Train all of them as lead dogs. They need to know and obey all of the commands very well (especially whoa!). The references all include information about this fast growing sport.
13. Health, Diet, and Care -- Sled Dog Specifics
Sled dogs are athletes. They are also remarkably healthy. It is important to realize that because sled dogs are athletes, they require special attention in at least two specific areas.
Probably one of the most important aspects for caring for sled dogs is the foot. You should inspect your dog's feet regularly. The skin of the pad should feel tough, but pliable, be resistant to abrasions and lacerations, and be free from cracks, dryness, or scarring. Also inspect the nails of the foot carefully. Nails can help the dog grip ice, but if too long, they can cause serious foot injury. According to Miki Collins in _Dog Driver_, if the nails are long enough to force the toes upward when the dog is standing on a hard, level surface, clip them. Nails that are too long can get caught and ripped out on the trail, or they can cause toes to break. Both of these injuries can be quite serious, and they are certainly painful.
The subject of diet should also be touched on here. Most mushers feed a high stress, high energy diet during mushing season, and switch to a maintenance diet during the off season. For example, one experienced musher mixes Science Diet Performance dry with canned during mushing season. This is a high fat, high protein food. Some mushers even mix food in with lots of water hours before a race to encourage drinking. Dogs must be very well hydrated. During the off season, the musher in this example feeds Science Diet Maintenance canned mixed with either Science Diet Maintenance dry or Eukanuba dry. During the mushing season, the dogs are using all components of the food that is fed.
Jennifer riding the slopes in Aspen Snowmass december 2010
Jennifer riding the slopes in Aspen Snowmass december 2010