The Rochester VHF Group honored our 70th anniversary with a big effort in the January contest. We had great plans, but mother nature decided she didn’t like them. She brought a winter storm warning, 14+ inches of snow, New York State travel restrictions, and suppressed propagation. With all of that, the local activity was amazing. Our newly appointed contest committee chairman (W2EV) put in a huge effort to rally the local clubs and get dozens of additional people on the air. This effort also brought in some new Canadian members who have been the lifeblood of microwave activity in our area. The level of fixed station activity was the best I have seen in my four years of roving. Since September, several fixed stations added bands and upgraded gear. I was able to make contacts with fixed stations on all 10 bands, something that doesn’t always happen, especially in January. Fortunately, the story doesn’t end there. The rovers were able to put together a last-ditch effort to keep activity going without having access to many of the normal rover locations. As a result, I reached a personal record setting 70 contacts each with two 10 band rovers by working together. Some of our newest members also met us for the Rover lunch on Sunday and joined in the fun with FM gear. As the temperatures reached -1F on Sunday night I decided to pack it up and head home. Seeing a rest stop on the thruway I stopped to see if I could squeeze out a few last contacts. I experienced a small pile-up on FM and then had a 5-band run with club call W2UTH (@N2WK) to end the contest. This ended up being my best contest ever, under the worst conditions ever… Maybe conditions are not the most important thing in a contest.