So. Much. Snow. We’re used to snow in the Finger Lakes region of New York. Sometimes there is fluffy snow and sometimes slushy “warm” snow. We get wet snowman-making snow and even sharp, shiny, painful snow courtesy of sub-zero temperatures. Upstate NY is perfectly willing and able to host any of those in a given storm…but for the past two weeks, we’ve had ALL of them neatly compressed into layers like a cup of trifle pudding. And while that posed little disruption to highway travel, the seasonal roads I planned for the Hollows, Gulches, and Hills Road Rally are not really designed for trifle pudding snow.
Imagine my horror when I checked my planned route to find THREE of the roads impassable. And by impassable, I don’t just mean that they weren’t plowed. Some…er…creative plowing of OTHER roads resulted in a 4-foot mound of snow blocking traffic to said seasonal road. And since I left my tunneling equipment at home, I had to do some fancy rerouting footwork. Ten hours and a handful of expletives later, I had a new route. Enter a second Nor’Easter, except this one, dumped 15 inches of snow two days before my rally.
On Friday, February 4th, the day before the event, I set out at 6 am, snow still pummeling the area. But the surprise of all surprises, my new route was still passable. The plow gods had delivered. The rally was ON!
Saturday was decently sunny but cold. We met at Scovill’s Grill in Dansville, NY, to start the day’s festivities. Competitors traversed 165 miles with 17 checkpoints through the Southern Tier, winding through mountain roads, up and down pretty steep hills and tree-canopied state forest roads before making their way back to Dansville for results. The snowy conditions were challenging. Several competitors required tow-strap assistance, and more than one snowbank was grazed. Time Allowances were plentiful, though one of the 12 teams competing in the limited division managed to finish without one.
The night’s top score was an impressive 22 – an amazing score given the conditions. Another team finished with a 37, and two others finished with scores under 100. I want to give a special shout-out to the stock teams, who performed remarkably given that the slippery conditions made odometer readings unreliable. In total, 12 cars in all classes entered. There were 11 finishers, as 1 team had to retire due to an issue with their car. All had a good time.
Though I previously assisted in road planning and scoring the HGH rally, this was my first time as the Rallymaster. I consider it a great honor to continue the Hollows, Gulches, and Hills rally tradition for 2022. Many volunteers helped make this rally a success. I would like to offer my sincere thanks for every checkpoint worker, registrar, car tech, sweep, and safety steward. I quite literally couldn’t have done it without you.
Finally, I would like to thank Scovill’s for hosting our event and offering a full menu for workers and participants. I spied more than 1 participant enjoying a prime rib dinner at 10 pm.
If challenging winter road rallies sound like something you’d like to do, please check out our webpage or our Finger Lakes Region Facebook page. Our next rally, “Cabin Fever,” is on 2.19.2022.
Lloyd Murray, Rallymaster
