New Year, Fresh Snow!
Yesterday started strong with 2 inches already on our deck in Valley of the Sun when we woke up, with the promise of more to come. The storm continued through the day and by sundown, some pockets of the Valley had 4 inches, while others merely had a dusting. That’s that weird mountain weather for you- tons of microclimates all coexisting in one valley! Christian and Clint headed out in the early afternoon to start the route in Blue River (where they got a FOOT!) before making their way back through the upper parts of Placer and lower VOS, and called it for the night just shy of midnight (yay!) They both headed out early this morning, and finally finished clearing everyone just before sundown. If you had 4” in your driveway, they cleared you.
With this storm being over New Years, it was no surprise that we got a lot of calls from renters wondering if they were going to get plowed. As such, it’s probably a good time to review some information for renters.
First, make sure you educate your guests on how to measure fallen snow. A good trick is to tell your renters to measure the driveway with their credit card, starting in the middle of driveway, not on the edges where roll-off accumulates. Credit cards are just about 4” long, so it gives them a good idea as to how much snow they actually have. I can’t tell you the number of times we have received a panicked call from a client saying their renters are telling them there’s 8” in the driveway, only to discover that in reality, it’s not quite 3”. Some of our clients have been great about communicating this to their renters, and include a clause in their rental agreement that places the financial burden of plows outside our contract firmly on the renters. I’d strongly suggest following suit, as you can easily run through all your monthly plows with pushes that are below trigger.
Second, as it says throughout the neighborhood, snow chains or adequate snow tires are required to drive around our mountain roads. It’s not a suggestion or an opinion, it is a fact. Most rental companies are not going to equip their cars with expensive studded snow tires, but there are a number of places locally where you can purchase chains or AutoSocks. Al-Mart and Napa both carry these items and are less than five minutes from both Valley of the Sun and Placer Valley. Plowing cannot remedy being unprepared for this environment, and ultimately it will be a lot cheaper to buy chains than it will be to have their car towed from a ditch.
Finally, you know that we always ask that you do not call Christian or Clint directly during their route to inquire as to when your driveway will be plowed. We are going to take this one step further and ask that you also remove their contact information from your House Information Booklets, and instead provide your guests with Carey’s information or Christin’s information. We are both more than happy to speak to them and assist if we can. As we tell you with each storm, stopping to answer calls can put our men’s lives and your property at risk, and it delays the route, which means it will take longer for everyone to get plowed. We don’t want that, and we know you don’t either. Please make a point to update your information packets with the following-
Carey Bjornnes
469-396-4601
carey@cavebuug.com
Christin Lander
469-396-6141
christin@cavebuug.com
Main CaveBuug line
970-406-2724
If we work together on this, we can make sure that the rest of the season runs smoothly for all of us, including your guests.
Happy New Year! :)