Comments for Allegany Nordic http://alleganynordic.org/blog Advancing the sport of cross country skiing on the Art Roscoe Trails of the Allegany State Park Fri, 10 Jun 2011 12:07:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.3 Comment on Fundraising Campaign Reaches $6,830 by Dan Schwenk http://alleganynordic.org/blog/2011/06/next-steering-committee-agneda/comment-page-1/#comment-648 Dan Schwenk Fri, 10 Jun 2011 12:07:41 +0000 http://alleganynordic.org/blog/?p=1566#comment-648 ... I'm at least sending a check for the fundraising campaign. A question that came up: The park has plans for things such as storage near the summit, expanding/renovating the warming hut, etc. My (a skier's) input for what it's worth: I think the priority should be making sure there is working trail grooming equipment. The website says the park is NOT going to purchase a new snowmobile, and we MIGHT be able to help out with repairs to the Scandic with donated funds. That doesn't make me too confident with expecting trails to be groomed consistently. I've seen other areas that offer x-c skiing and they make changes for creature comforts, but don't seem to realize that without the grooming equipment working...there is no skiing. No one's going to care if the warming hut is renovated or bigger, or if the signage is nice, or if there's a leanto on the trail, or if there's food available, or even if the roads are plowed well, if the trails aren't groomed. Groomed trail are what draws the skiers. Salmon Hills in Redfield found out that you can offer lodging, massage, home cooked food, etc., but if you don't have consistency with the trail grooming, the skiers stop coming.... If I'm responding to a fundraising effort for donations to keep skiing viable, I want to know that my money is going for trail grooming first and foremost. Anything else is just icing on the cake once I'm confident the trails will be groomed when I drive 2 hours to ski in such an awesome area as Allegany State Park. We hope the park continues to do as great a job as last year. … I’m at least sending a check for the fundraising campaign. A question that came up: The park has plans for things such as storage near the summit, expanding/renovating the warming hut, etc. My (a skier’s) input for what it’s worth: I think the priority should be making sure there is working trail grooming equipment. The website says the park is NOT going to purchase a new snowmobile, and we MIGHT be able to help out with repairs to the Scandic with donated funds. That doesn’t make me too confident with expecting trails to be groomed consistently. I’ve seen other areas that offer x-c skiing and they make changes for creature comforts, but don’t seem to realize that without the grooming equipment working…there is no skiing. No one’s going to care if the warming hut is renovated or bigger, or if the signage is nice, or if there’s a leanto on the trail, or if there’s food available, or even if the roads are plowed well, if the trails aren’t groomed.

Groomed trail are what draws the skiers. Salmon Hills in Redfield found out that you can offer lodging, massage, home cooked food, etc., but if you don’t have consistency with the trail grooming, the skiers stop coming…. If I’m responding to a fundraising effort for donations to keep skiing viable, I want to know that my money is going for trail grooming first and foremost. Anything else is just icing on the cake once I’m confident the trails will be groomed when I drive 2 hours to ski in such an awesome area as Allegany State Park. We hope the park continues to do as great a job as last year.

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