Hello RXCSF Community, I hope this finds everyone healthy, safe and enjoying what is left of winter. Spring is just about here.

Our season started off very good and we were able to get some early grooming in at some of the parks. However, as we all know that was short lived. Mother Nature suddenly changed her mind and decided to warm things up and take back that early snow she gave us. Then once again she suddenly changed her mind and decided to give us some real winter weather.

Harriet Hollister started off well this season. Early snow and cold temps allowed for grooming to start once deer season was over in December. We are not allowed to be grooming during deer season. Tom, Andy, Stephen and Mike, the groomers, all do a great job.

Mendon Ponds also experienced an earlier start to grooming than normal this season. It was not as good a start as Harriet was, but it was still good. Matt, with his crew from the county, do a great job maintaining the heavily trafficked trails this park receives. It’s not easy to do. Most if not all the parks experience some level of trail damage throughout the season due to non skiers. I have envisioned being able to give the non skiers their own groomed path to use instead of our ski trails. Maybe someday we will have a place that will allow us to do that.

Shadow Pines is shaping up to be very good. Due to the construction project, the storage area inside of the old cart barn was not an option that the town could give us as in the past. We ended up having to rent a Conex box to store the equipment in for the season which worked out just fine. We were given permission this season to start grooming trails on the south side of the park which has been great. We wanted to be able to groom the whole park right from the beginning but things take time. I’m very excited for the relationship that we are building with the Town of Penfield. We have established a very good group of groomers and have brought in new ones this year. Greg, John, Doug, Eric, Nate and Steve are doing a good job at making Shadow Pines continue to become a great location.

Webster Park wasn’t as fortunate as the other three locations to get a real early start. Being close to the lake did not have the advantages that we would normally have with the lake effect snow. Once the weather changed though, Chris and Robert did a great job getting the trails groomed and maintained.

Durand was off to a normal start this season. That is to say the restrictions in place from the County for grooming definitely leaves us more weather dependent than any of the other locations. There were times that we met the frost restrictions but not the snow amount and vice versa. Once grooming was allowed to start, we were able to stay steady with it. February was a good month. We bought a new Conex box at the beginning of the season. We traded in the two we had there on the new one. The floors on both of the old ones were rotted and it would not have made sense to spend the money to repair them. Nic and I, the groomers, do our best for you when we have the opportunity to be out there grooming. Nic had to pick up the slack for me this season. Due to health reasons, I have not been able to groom. He has done a great job. Robert, from Webster, came over when needed to help out also.

Overall, I think the season was very successful. Once things got going, the weather provided good snow cover that allowed for some steady grooming. A lot goes into grooming.  Air and snow temperature, snow depth, ground conditions, current and forecasted weather conditions can all vary drastically from location to location, and day to day. All of these conditions must be considered when making decisions to groom. And most importantly, groomer safety must be considered. Groomers are not expected to groom in extreme wind chill temperatures. It may take a day or so to groom after major snow storms to reduce the risk of groomers getting stuck or tipping over in new deep snow.

I don’t know of too many places that have five different locations within 40 miles of each other that are groomed for cross country skiing. That’s just the locations where RXCSF grooms. Throw in Bristol and Cummings Nature Center to make it seven locations. RXCSF has been able to provide grooming, expand its vision for the future, and promote cross country skiing within our communities because of committed and dedicated supporters. Keep up your commitment.

We as groomers take pride in the work we do. We are dedicated to being out there and grooming the trails whenever we can. Our commitment is firstly to you, the RXCSF skiing community. Everything else comes second. We have a dedicated group of people that are ready, willing and able. I needed to call upon them this season to help me out with grooming stuff that I normally take care of but couldn’t. There was no hesitation to step up and help out. Thanks guys!!

Enjoy the rest of the ski season and the off season. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions, concerns, or comments, good or bad. My email is groomingcoordinatorrxcsf@yahoo.com. Stay healthy. Stay safe.

Darren Leach- Grooming Coordinator