The shortest and longest sledding slopes in town: present and past

Posted by [email protected] | Jan 8, 2022 | Cultural Life | 0 |

[1/8/22 David Kramer attempting the 30 foot slide at McQuaid. Photo: H. Park]

Today I discovered what might be the shortest but often used sledding slope in Brighton.

H. Park and A. Jain each have two children. At least once a week, they take the kids to the short slope adjacent to the McQuaid Jesuit High School’s lacrosse practice field off Lac De Ville Boulevard. Park estimates the incline is 30 feet, but on a good slide, the kids can travel 60 – 80 feet.

1/8/22 Sledding at McQuaid. Photo: David Kramer

Park introduced his children to sledding at age two. His eldest is six with four years under her belt. His son is two, so this is his first full sledding season. Park also takes them to the slopes next to the Lamberton Conservatory in Highland Park, a descent that makes the McQuaid slope feel tame.

(left) Park and Jain [Photo: David Kramer]; (right) David Kramer on the descent [Photo: Park]

Park says drivers and passengers in passing cars often honk and wave, admiring how the sledders find joy in the Rochester winter.

From there, I trekked to the longest sledding venue in Rochester: Cobb’s Hill. To my surprise, while McQuaid had four sledders, the Hill only had two. Normally, Cobb’s Hill is packed, as it has been for generations.

1/8/22 Where is everyone? Liam Clary (green hat) and Matthew Burrola (red jacket) on the slopes. Ross Clary, to the left, looks on. [Photo: David Kramer]

Today, Ross Clary accompanied his son Liam and Matthew Barrola for an afternoon of sledding where the boys had the Hill to themselves. Ross, who often takes the boys to Cobb’s as well as other sledding sites around Monroe County, couldn’t explain the absence of the usual masses willing to risk life and limb, especially on this sparkling day. Neither could I.

16 Feb 1969, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: The fresh air is great, but the logistics can exhaust a mother

Ross Clary and Matthew Barrola

I asked Ross and Matthew if they could sled all the way to Monroe Avenue. Ross says reaching Monroe is pretty easy on a tube. Making the Monroe on a snowboard takes a lot of skill. On a sled, getting as far as the Avenue takes luck.

1/8/22 Where is everyone? Photo: David Kramer

Feb 16, 1969, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Mike Diamond hauls his toboggan to the crest at Cobb’s Hill sledding area

(left) Liam and Matthew had the slopes to themselves; (right) Matthew all by himself

26 Dec 1970, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Martin Presberg, 7, of 191 Willowbend Road takes spill as he tries to pull sled through snow to top of hill in Cobb’s Hill for slide down. You’ll have more snow today if sledding’s your game. Weatherman says up to 4 inches NOTE: Martin, Brighton High School ’81, still lives in Rochester and is a Trusted Advisor.

1/8/22 David Kramer’s slide. He did not make it to Monroe Avenue. [Photos: Ross Clary]

Mar 04, 2009, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: World of Inquiry, School 58, held their Family Winter Party at Cobb’s Hill Park.

SEE ALSO

Eric Kemperman, Brighton High School ’81, is back in town and sledding!

Adding a snow day to the Cobb’s Hill series

Adding a March blizzard to the Cobb’s Hill series

About The Author

[email protected]

Welcome to Talker of the Town! My name is David Kramer. I have a Ph.D in English and teach at Keuka College. I am a former and still active Fellow at the Nazareth College Center for Public History and a Storyteller in Residence at the SmallMatters Institute. Over the years, I have taught at Monroe Community College, the Rochester Institute of Technology and St. John Fisher College. I have published numerous Guest Essays, Letters, Book Reviews and Opinion pieces in The New York Times, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the Buffalo News, the Rochester Patriot, the Providence Journal, the Providence Business News, the Brown Alumni Magazine, the New London Day, the Boston Herald, the Messenger Post Newspapers, the Wedge, the Empty Closet, the CITY, Lake Affect Magazine and Brighton Connections. My poetry appears in The Criterion: An International Journal in English and Rundenalia and my academic writing in War, Literature and the Arts and Twentieth Century Literary Criticism. Starting in February 2013, I wrote for three Democratic and Chronicle blogs, "Make City Schools Better," "Unite Rochester," and the "Editorial Board." When my tenure at the D & C ended, I wanted to continue conversations first begun there. And start new ones. So we created this new space, Talker of the Town, where all are invited to join. I don’t like to say these posts are “mine.” Very few of them are the sole product of my sometimes overheated imagination. Instead, I call them partnerships and collaborations. Or as they say in education, “peer group work.” Talker of the Town might better be Talkers of the Town. The blog won’t thrive without your leads, text, pictures, ideas, facebook shares, tweets, comments and criticisms.