Again, thanks to the Rochester XC Ski Foundation website trail
reports, we know that on Friday 8-10" of powder fell and they posted
this report:
(with a base of 8 on trails and 12" in woods!)

3-28-2008
Groomed last time today due to snowfall & cold. Road is plowed for Big
Burn on Sunday 9AM. All trails except Sidewinder groomed CLASSIC.
Raccoon and Spruce Skate. Ski Lodge Trail to the others. Fantastic
CLASSIC conditions.

Gary

I was skiing at Harriet Hollister today and found the snow to be
holding up very well. It was groomed on Friday and looked like on
Saturday. The center of the trails was hard packed (fast!!)(not good
for classic, but the left and right of center was soft enough for good
classic. Most trails also had classic tracks in good shape.

Big Oak was cold and crusty until about 1:00pm, but if you went into
the woods, the snow was great! Solid base and the top was either
powder or sugar. A few spots that are normally wet were missing snow
(this is where I took one of  the woods bypasses!)

If any of the trails are too crusty give the woods a try. Other good
(sort of open) woods are around Spruce, and woods on the south side of
the overlook trail (this is the left side if you are heading toward
the meadow), and of course the meadow itself.

The Driveway leading up to the Old Lodge was nicely covered and the
woods around there were interesting.

The Foundation site has a post from 3:30pm Saturday:

Very good mid-winter conditions continue in the Spring sunshine with
most trails groomed for skate & tracks set on Road/Racoon/Spruce. You
won't believe how good the conditions are; try it!
--------------------------------
I went skiing there on Friday and it was wonderful! So good I had a
snack, changed from beat up skis to good wax skis and went out again!
Sunday is supposed to be mostly cloudy, probably around the low 20's
in HH in the morning, with not too much sun to soften things up too
much. Looks like the Foundation is still doing some grooming (Thanks
guys!).

Gary

The Foundation website reports 6" of new snow at Harriet Hollister
today (Thur):
" 6" fresh snow overnight over packed base. Very good conditions- It's
like winter! Will try to get trails groomed soon- Fred is sick."

Maybe they won't have grooming, but 6" of fresh is great sounding!!
Weather is supposed to be mostly sunny with temps 25-32!!
See you there (well if you don't have to work on Friday like I don't!)
Gary

Sunday 3-9-08; Some parts of Mendon have fabulous skiing (classic,
skaters will have to judge for themselves). I skied the Green marked
trail (AKA as the 10K loop, and I think as the "race course")and it
was ungroomed with  a pair of very well established classic tracks,
with compacted snow as a base and 4" of powder loveliness on top of
that. Not a stone was seen poking through (just a rare stick). The
valleys were sufficient to stop the wind from being a problem.
I have not had such a nice day on snow since I took a trip to Sun
Valley/Galena Lodge in Idaho a few years ago.

Since today is clock forward day, you still have time to get over to
Mendon and take advantage of this powdery goodness!

I also skied Hopkins west Esker, but found  it was ridge top almost
all the way and the wind was very cold.
-------------------------------------------
Item # 2
There is a end of season sale (50 to 70% off) at Board and Ski (used
to be Snow Country), and they do have some xc stuff left, but all the
good waxes are gone. Plenty of grip wax left though. They do have some
nice mitts and gloves yet.
--------------------------------------
Item #3
The Rochester Nordic XC ski club elections are coming up at next
months meeting and I am asking anybody with some available time to
pitch in and offer to take over one of the positions. We need more
help, the small number of folks that are active cannot continue doing
everything. Contact Coleridge Gill at 442-8634 or  at
xcski81506@... if you are interested.
Do not worry about wanting a position that someone else has, we are
all very flexible and there are plenty of positions to go around. If
you are not currently a member, it is always a good time to join!
Gary

5 inches at Powder Mills at 9am, but I am headiing over to Mendon
because the xcrochester website says they started grooming at sunrise
and I won't have to break trail!
Gary

I was out skiing lots of trails this morning, (all nicely covered), so
the tracks are formed, the trails broken and you have no excuse to not
get out there and enjoy the great snow! Sunday will be the last day fo
this, because the evil Warm is coming to take the snow away.

Mendon is probably pretty good too, but with lots more traffic, who
knows?
Gary

I was out skiing lots of trails this morning, (all nicely covered), so
the tracks are formed, the trails broken and you have no excuse to not
get out there and enjoy the great snow! Sunday will be the last day fo
this, because the evil Warm is coming to take the snow away.

Mendon is probably pretty good too, but with lots more traffic, who
knows?
Gary

The Foundation website reports 6" at Cumming,
   4-6 groomed at Dryer Rd,
10" at Harriet,
2-4 at Mendon (more really I think).

Foundation site is at;
http://xcrochester.com/new/conditions.htm#

Powder Mills is ungroomed but covered nicely, will ski Saturday in the AM!
gr

Oh, forgot to mention a couple things; pretty cool on the East Esker
Trail; saw 2 deer (one laying in the snow, then then a couple minutes
later a second one grazing behind the first one) that were about 30 feet
from the ski track and just stayed there while I snapped a fair amount
of pictures. I have seen other deer in Mendo that did not seemed
bothered by skiers.
I also saw at least one, and maybe two birds that I think were Eastern
Bluebirds (nice blue on the back and kind of rusty chest). They were
definitely very shy!
gr

David wrote:
>
>
> Skiied Gary's back yards today.   Did the block south of Park west of
> Corduroy and north  of Woolston Roads.   For the large part I stuck to
> the easy trails.   Good snow cover.   Not a lot of foot traffic.   No
> grooming.   Really it amounted to hiking with skiies.
>
> David
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.21.1/1302 - Release Date: 2/27/2008
4:34 PM

Yes, I was out last night and if you do 2 passes on the fluff, the 3rd
pass will have a nice glide.
I was out a Mendon this afternoon, skied around the water tower and then
over behind  Calvary (east esker trail). Nicely covered, glide not bad
(I don't expect great at 10 or 15 degrees!) Start Grip Wax  worked nicely!
gr

David wrote:
>
>
> Skiied Gary's back yards today.   Did the block south of Park west of
> Corduroy and north  of Woolston Roads.   For the large part I stuck to
> the easy trails.   Good snow cover.   Not a lot of foot traffic.   No
> grooming.   Really it amounted to hiking with skiies.
>
> David
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.21.1/1302 - Release Date: 2/27/2008
4:34 PM

Finally we get a good snow dump! Powder Mills Park has 8-9" of lovely
snow at 8am this morning!!
gr

Racing Comes to Lake Ontario June 28, 2008
By Ken Altfather
 
You've heard the term "a drinking team with a racing problem".  On
some days that pretty much sums us up.  Our team often trains out of
Dan Murn's house on the Erie Canal and afterwards, there is usually
something to eat and way too much beer.  It was during one such
training session (read drinking affair) that someone stood up and
said, "We oughta hold a race on Lake Ontario".  A couple of guys
piped up with support for the idea and requests for another beer and
then one bloke jumped up and said "I'll put up $1000 in prize
money".  They tell me I was the one who said that. 
 
Unlike most ideas hatched in such state of affairs, this one still
seemed like a good idea the morning after.  And why not?   Lake
Ontario is the smallest of the Great Lakes, but it's still a big body
of water and it can offer a variety of conditions.  It's capable of
being flatter than a platter or rougher than a maelstrom and anything
in between.  It just depends on the wind.  With the
prevailing southwesterlies, our paddling venue is in the lee of land
and the waves will be modest 1 footers.  Westerlies and easterlies
will bring nice waves (a bit choppy) running parallel to shore.  Only
the winds out of NW, N and NE cause our area of the lake to really
kick up.  And, thanks to the zebra mussels, it's got crystal clear
waters that warm nicely by late June.  Yet, as far as I know, there
isn't a single kayak race on the entire lake – that is until now! 
 
Rochester New York, our home, is an old city with a proud history. 
Amongst its assets, which include great museums and a neat zoo, is a
magnificent lake front park in a neighborhood called Charlotte.  (If
you stop and ask directions to Charlotte, you'll get pointed toward
North Carolina.  The locals here pronounce it Char - LOT.  Nearby, we
have Chili, pronounced CHY- lie.  Go figure).   Anyway, the park,
called Ontario Beach Park and pronounced just as it reads, dates from
the 1800's and is in the grand style of parks of that era with a
large sandy beach, ornate pavilions, an operating carousel, manicured
lawns plus all the modern conveniences of restrooms, showers,
playground, life guarded swimming, etc.  Add to that a bunch of
volunteers, lots of prizes, a catered lunch and a few kegs of beer
(whoops that popped up again) and you have a great place for a family
outing and …..a kayak race!

So, with sponsorship from such great companies as Epic Kayaks, Kayak
Pro and Swift Canoe and Kayak, and the help of Monroe County Sports
Commission, BayCreek Paddling Center, my company, will host this race
on June 28, 2008.  It will feature a 10 mile main event along with a
3 mile novice race.  Because we don't know what kind of conditions
we'll have, we were tempted to call it the "Rochester Crapshoot",
until settling for a more dignified moniker – "ROCHESTER OPEN WATER
CHALLENGE".  However, if things are too rough on race day, we
fortunately have a readymade alternative course on the adjacent
Genesee River.  We invite all you kayakers, surfskiers, and OC
paddlers to come to our fine city and join us in our inaugural
challenge.  Details of the race can be found at
www.rochesteropenwaterchallenge.com.

I skied HH this AM and it is mostly covered (sticks mostly showing
through the 3 inches of powdery  goodness on top of crusty base).
Glide is excellent, not much use (no meets!) and some of the grooming
was still present. Sunday promises to be good also (sunny, 32 degrees!)

I took a drive by Mendon on my way home and saw 2 cars parked on
Canfield and it looked like reasonable snow on the trails.(but no
grooming, just as well with nice thick powder I think)
gr

I skied some of the lesser know trails at Mendon today. The snow was a
bit crusty but not too obnoxious, and actually nice where the sun had
softened it up. All these trails were completely covered, and somewhat
broken in by hikers and a few other ski tracks.

Fern Valley is a nice little trail, very pretty woods,type 8 ft wide,
easy except for one south facing hill at the entrance (rocks showing
through!) it is rated Easy and is somewhat paint marked in Brown. As
it loops around it follows Canfield Rd  shoulder for a bit and it is
tough to see where you re-enter the woods. The middle of Hopkins Pt Rd
is also closed off and very skiable.

Devils Bathtub has a Blue marked and a Green marked trail. Green does
not look to be skiable (maybe with a very large amount of snow).
The Blue trail is rated "More Difficult", at least with minimal snow.
It  is approx 6 to 8 ft wide, goes through woods, brush and a lot of
meadow areas. The markings seem to go away after a bit, but it seems
that any of the wide trails loop back eventually.
gr

From the xcrochester.com trail reports;
Groomed at 4pm Saturday;
Groomed all trails except Bear Trap( Fox Run). Conditions vary: very
good to Marginal. Some wet spots on Raccoon,Blue Spruce,Lower
sidewinder.Caution/ Trails are very fast and bumpy in spots.Sensible
Grooming requires Sensible skiing!

Trails: 1-2 inches  Woods: 4 inches
Surface Condition:  1" new. Hardpacked

I ended up driving to Fair Haven Park. There was about 5 inches on the
ground in most areas. Yet we did most of our skiing on the bay.

Hello - my family and I were at Salmon Hills yesterday (Saturday,
January 26)...it was incredible!  Lots of snow to ski and no snow on
the roads getting there which made it even better.

We took 104 from Webster and didn't find ski-able snow until well past
Oswego, almost to Pulaski.  Not sure if there is any place to ski
between Oswego and Pulaski, but if you're that far you might as well
go to Salmon Hills or Tug Hill/Winona.

Enjoy.

Michael Valleriano

--- In rochesterxc@yahoogroups.com, "ladylark2004" <ladylark2004@...>
wrote:
>
> HI!Does anyone know the snow/ski conditions heading East of Rochester
> (within a hours drive)?
>

Skied Saturday morn. Trails were all well covered but thin except Bear
Cub which had some leaves mixed in with the snow. Lots of high school
races were going on, but the snow did not seem to give out.
gr