The big snow blower was barely able to get through the drifts. It finally got badly stuck, then broke a shear pin. Came back two days later to finish the job.
Snow blower in daylight.
We opened the road to the Lodge one foot at a time.
The Lane into the ranch getting opened.
The wind blows here very hard sometimes. The way the mountains and hills are it just funnels the wind right down on top of us. That is why the road drifts over so much.
We went on vacation to Arizona. When we left, January 14, 2012, there wasn't much snow at all, a very dry winter. When we came back, Jan 25, we had MAJOR problems getting to our house. The snow was 2 1/2 feet deep on the level, 4 feet in drifts. We hiked down the long driveway, 1/4 mile, then called two neighbors to come help. One punched his way in with a V plow. The other had a HUGE snow blower on the front of his truck. I (Jonesy) had to shovel all the snow away from the front gate by hand so we could swing it open. The snow had drifted all around it. We worked for three hours that night, half of the time on trying to get the snow-removal trucks unstuck. Then I went and got the snow plow put on my truck the next day, then we worked 5 more hours the following day with the big truck snow blower and my truck and my two shovels and my hand snow-blower. I had to move a big snowbank out of the way so his blower could continue. The snowbank was very hard and crusty. Quite an adventure!
Left, my new blade the first day, getting a workout. Below, two weeks later (today Feb 4), I put a flap on it to keep the snow from coming over the top of it and obliterating my windshield. I bought the materials and I installed it by drilling the holes and mounting it (very cold weather for a project). It makes a huge difference.