CAZENOVIA — Since last winter, a small group of Cazenovia residents has been working hard to bring the sport of curling to Carpenter’s Pond in the village.
Curling is a sport in which two teams take turns sliding polished granite stones, called rocks, across a sheet of ice towards the house, a circular target marked on the ice with concentric bands. The goal is to accumulate the highest score; points are scored for the stones resting closest to the center of the house once both teams have thrown all their stones. To help a stone get to its target, players are permitted to start sweeping the ice in front of the sliding stone with brooms or brushes after it has been thrown. Sweeping helps clear away debris that might slow the stone down or interfere with its path; it also melts the ice slightly, creating a slippery surface that can adjust the stone’s path and/or increase the distance it travels.
Aaron Wolf, who spearheaded the local curling initiative, said the idea came to him during the COVID-19 pandemic when he was looking for something social to do outdoors.
Although he had been interested in the sport for a while, he had never actually played before last year.
“My mother-in-law, who lives in Ontario and is a long-time curler, talked me through the fundamentals,” Wolf said. “The game was originally played on frozen ponds, so I thought I’d try to replicate that version of it.”
With help from his friends and fellow Cazenovians Ben Cook and Nathan LeMesurier, Wolf was able to bring his vision to fruition.
Cook, a long-time metal fabricator, assisted with the design and construction of the curling stones, and LeMesurier served as Wolf’s “go-to” for all things related to maintaining the ice.
“I think what made it work is that we all love a good engineering problem,” said Wolf.
According to Cook, Wolf initially approached him with a fairly advanced idea of how the stones should be made.
“Over a period of several months and several brainstorming sessions, usually adjacent to other social gatherings, [Aaron] collected the materials we needed, and we began the fabrication process,” Cook recalled. “We made a prototype and, as that seemed to be successful, continued fabricating the rest of the collection.”
Last winter, Wolf modified the original curling stone design and created what LeMesurier described as “basically ice-filled bowls with a handle.”
Once the pond conditions were right, Wolf and LeMesurier cleared a makeshift sheet, Wolf jury-rigged a Zamboni based on information from the internet, and the group got out on the ice for their first curling session.
“We had a ton of fun for a couple of weekends,” said LeMesurier. “It was the highlight of an otherwise kind of dismal winter.”
Cook, who was initially skeptical of the whole endeavor, said he was impressed by the thorough planning and attention to detail.
“The opening event was far more fun than I expected it to be, and I was hooked,” he said.
In the spring, the group began planning for the next winter, focusing their attentions on refining both the equipment and the ice sheet.
Given the cost of genuine granite curling stones, Wolf and Cook settled on a design utilizing heavy-gauge stainless steel mixing bowls purchased from a restaurant supply store.
“These were bolted together and filled with concrete, with a handle on top made from pipe fittings,” Wolf explained.
Wolf also noted that the hacks — the footholds players push off from when delivering the stone — are wheel ramps bolted into the ice, and the scoring circles are carved into the ice with a chisel. Each player is responsible for bringing their own broom for sweeping.
While Wolf and Cook worked on improving the equipment, LeMesurier took on the challenge of finding a more practical way of flooding the ice to create a better playing surface.
According to LeMesurier, the previous flooding technique involved hauling buckets of water to the pond in a vehicle.
Over the summer, LeMesurier determined what the group would need for a water pump and power source and then started purchasing the gear.
The beginning of this winter was mostly spent waiting for the rain to stop and the temperature to drop.
Finally, in January, the pond froze over, and the team got to work.
“[There was] so much trial and error,” said LeMesurier. “I very quickly realized the planning wasn’t sufficient; the pump took too much power [and] the distance from parking to the pond site was too far. [After] a quick crash course in electricity/power basics, [we] pivoted to portable power stations/solar panels to run the pump, and we were in business.”
Throughout the winter, the group got together to play on five occasions, each time improving the setup process and refining their techniques.
According to LeMesurier, the curlers also discovered that they could use the power stations/solar panels to run speakers for music and set up a portable pond WIFI network to run it all.
“As it turns out, I’m better at the preparation than the actual game itself, but it’s just so much fun to work through the challenges, see it all come together, and then get to enjoy it with people,” LeMesurier said. “We had so many people in the community come by to see how it all worked, [and] some even took some practice turns with a few stones. It was great.”
According to Wolf, every curling session requires cooperative weather and a few days to prepare the ice.
“The ice under the snow tends to be fairly rough and uneven,” he explained. “So, the first thing we do after clearing the snow is to resurface it with a coat of water, which we pull from under the ice with a battery-powered pump. Once that freezes, we try to even out any high and low spots using scrapers and a propane torch. The aim is to get the ice as flat and smooth as possible so the stones can slide easily, and we’re still refining our techniques. The ice conditions deteriorate when left to the elements, so we do some version of this process every time we play.”
Wolf, Cook and LeMesurier are already planning ways to improve their methodologies for next season.
“I’m really excited,” said LeMesurier.
