Welcome to the 2024/25 Snow Season!

Hello and welcome to the start of our 2024/25 snow season! It is an honor to serve you this winter, and to our many returning clients, thank so you much for once again putting your trust in us for yet another winter!

As we kick off the new season, I just want to go over a few things. First of all, for those new to the route this year, this is the Snow Blog. We will update this blog regularly throughout the season with information on the storms that hit South Park, and status updates on our plow route. If you haven’t already, please make sure that you are subscribed to our text list so that you receive notifications when the Snow Blog is updated. We live in Valley of the Sun too, so we are the best source for information on how much snowfall we’ve received and when you can be expected to have a clear driveway. Which is a great segue into our second item…

Per our terms and conditions, which you all agreed to by accepting your quote, we guarantee that we will plow your driveway within 48 hours of a storm ending. We prefer to wait until the snow stops, or at least lightens up, before we start the route, because there’s no point in coming twice- it eats up all your plows for the month in one or two storms and wastes your money. That’s not how we like to do things. We like to make sure you’re getting the most bang for your buck…not unnecessarily charging you for a bunch of extra pushes. So please, trust us to show up, because we definitely will, we would never leave you hanging. If you have any questions, you can always reach out to Carey Bjornnes (me, aka Christian’s wife) or Christin Lander (aka Clint’s wife). We know where they are and we know how the route is going, so we are your best option for getting more information on your service. We do ask every season that you refrain from reaching out to Christian Bjornnes or Clint Lander directly, as answering message can disrupt the route and be a major cause for distracted driving. We want them home safe, and we know you do too, so please direct your questions to the ladies, and we will do our best to address your needs.

Finally, if you haven’t checked out our page, When & How We Remove Snow, I’d encourage you to take a few minutes to read through it. This will give you a good understanding of how we operate our snow removal services. The main highlights are as follows:

• In the early and late season (before there’s a good snowpack around here), we try to pick up our blades when we plow so that we don’t move around a bunch of your driveway materials, nor do we damage our blades in the process.

• We do not come out to plow unless there are 4 inches or more of fallen snow. Drifting is not considered fallen snow, so if you need drifting cleared, you need to reach out to us and schedule a separate push outside of the normal route.

• Shoveling is done on a monthly basis, not per storm. YOU MUST SPECIFY WHEN YOU SIGN UP THAT YOU WANT SHOVELING, THIS IS NOT AN INCLUDED SERVICE IN YOUR STANDARD MONTHLY CONTRACT. IT IS AN ADD-ON SERVICE WITH A SEPARATE FEE. If this is a service you’d like to add, please reach out to us asap so we can see if we have room on the route for you.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to Carey or Christin with any questions you may have- we are happy to help you! And thank you again for choosing CaveBuug for the 2024/25 winter season! Stay safe out there!

Last Big Storm of the Season!

WOO HOOOOO!!!!! One last storm to close out the regular plow season and boy howdy did Mother Nature deliver! We woke up to about 7 inches on our deck and it has continued to steadily snow all day. Christian left after breakfast to get started on the rentals, with Clint joining after a quick repair, and the boys will be out pretty much all afternoon and all day tomorrow.

Please reach out to Christin Lander if you need assistance. She is available to answer any questions.

Please remember that this is likely the final storm of the season. Starting May 1st, we will be in what is called a shoulder month. Shoulder months are not covered by our contract, so if you need a plow in May, you will need to call and let us know, as opposed to us automatically coming.

Enjoy the snowy Saturday and stay warm!

April Showers...

Well, what initially looked like a dud of a storm overnight transformed into a stud of a storm. It’s super windy out there today, blowing around what we got and making piles and drifts everywhere, so it’s hard to tell how much we actually got. The guys are out plowing today, so you should see them sometime in the next 48, but likely sooner.

Christin Lander is out of town visiting family, so if you need anything, please reach out ONLY TO CAREY. I will answer any questions you may have, and will help you to the best of my abilities.

Thank you so much! I know it’s been a roller coaster of a season, and we are so grateful that you’re on this ride with us. :)

Stay safe and warm out there today!

One More Time for Good Measure

Last night’s storm was a quick little dump that dropped just over 4 inches on Valley of the Sun, but be warned- it IS icy, thanks to all the warm weather last weekend, so proceed with caution. I saw two wrecks on the way to Summit this morning, and the day has only just started.

The guys were gone well before dawn to get the route started. They expect to be out all day today and into tomorrow, so you should see them sometime over the next 48 hours, providing that your driveway has 4+ inches in it. Remember, we measure from the middle, not the edges where it is not an even measurement.

Please reach out if you think you’ve been missed, but understand that we plan our route well in advance to maximize our time and minimize your wait. If you expect us to drop everything and come to you, you will be delaying our route and making things take even longer, so we ask that you just be patient and wait. We will be there.

One thing I’d like to address from the last storm- we received a lot of calls from renters and from property managers who were relaying messages from renters who were insistent that they needed to get out immediately, and were quite rude about it. To be clear- a trip to the hospital is an emergency, wanting to go skiing is not. Winter in the mountains is unpredictable and can be quite treacherous, and those who vacation here MUST be prepared for this- this means 4WD, chains or traction devices, and above all PATIENCE. If they would like to assist in making the route proceed more quickly, they can park their cars out of the way or be mindful of when we honk. Hearing from clients that their renters got into yelling matches with the county plow drivers and then blaming it on us is NOT going to make us plow any faster. As we say throughout our website, on many of these blogs, and when we initiate your service with us: kindness will get you everywhere, rudeness will get you nowhere. We are people too, not robots, so please treat our drivers with respect. They are working their tails off, and they do a damn good job so that you don’t have to.

Stay safe and warm out there!

Final Update on Last Week's Storm

We have finally managed to catch up from this monster storm and boy, oh, boy, the guys are exhausted. We plowed 12+ hours daily from Wednesday until Tuesday, and it was a beat down. We have been shoveling sporadically this week, but in all reality, that’s not going to be a priority until next week. For the next couple of days, you will probably hear from Christian or Clint regarding pushbacks. After the winter we’ve had, a lot of you are running out of snow storage, and when time permits, the guys like to make room in your driveways for more snow. Life in the mountains usually means snow through May, so we are not out of the woods yet.

We have another storm coming this weekend, so prepare yourself and buckle up for a wild and crazy end to March.

Stay warm and safe!

UPDATE ON THE STORM OF THE YEAR

Okay, things have finally started to lighten up and it looks like the storm is moving on. Hallelujah! All said and done, we have about 3 feet at our house in Valley of the Sun. This has been brutal.

I’d like to thank everyone who reached out to send well wishes and prayers for Clint. He is home and resting now, and we are so thankful that he is on the road to recovery. This was a scary mid-storm event that certainly shook us. Your kindness has meant the world to us. Thank you.

With that in mind, I’d like to remind everyone of a few things:

1. With Clint out, Christian is our ONLY driver. We serve 150 clients. Please be patient. He was out for 12 hours yesterday, and left early this morning to keep it going. ON HIS OWN. He will get to you, but this is going to take time. As we state in our terms every year, we have 48 hours AFTER THE STORM ENDS to clear your driveway. Any time spent out beforehand is at our discretion. We will get to you, but it is going to take time, and as I stated in prior blogs and on our Instagram page, it will absolutely take the full 48, if not all weekend.

2. If you have guests who are calling you, demanding to get out, please explain to them that they aren’t going anywhere any time soon. This is a catastrophic storm that has dropped FEET OF SNOW on every corner of Central Colorado. There is 22” in Golden. Loveland SKI Area is closed. Eldora is closed because the roads are impassable. As of this writing, HOOSIER PASS IS CLOSED and 285 is under Traction Law with multiple accidents reported. No one is going anywhere. Period.

3. We are not the only company in Park County with staffing difficulties. CDOT and Park County Roads and Bridge are both suffering from staffing shortages. The reality of that situation is that there is one, maybe two if we are very lucky, graders plowing the county roads in each neighborhood at the moment. They are working as hard as they can, but this too will take time. Most of the tertiary roads are still buried, and will not be dug out any time soon. If we can’t get to you because the roads are bad, that’s just how it is. We can’t waste a ton of time getting stuck on your road and having to shovel out when we have to keep the route going, especially as we are a one-man show today.

4. Lastly, and most importantly- IT IS ILLEGAL FOR US TO PLOW YOUR ROAD WITHOUT SPECIAL PERMISSION FROM THE COUNTY. PLEASE STOP ASKING.

I know that some of your renters can be a pain. They are often unprepared for our mountain conditions and do not listen to your warnings ahead of time. They think that it’s like the city up here, where you can just call someone and have immediate access to whatever you want, but that’s just not the case. Everyone is working their butts off, and every call is just as important as the last one. We can’t let someone skip the line just because they think their travel plans are more important than our safety, our health, or our other clients.

Please reach out if you have any questions, but also remember that Christin is taking care of their two young children while also nursing Clint back to health, and Carey is taking care of their two young children as well. Texting is best, phone calls will be returned by EOD if possible.

Stay warm, and stay inside.

Hoosier Pass yesterday

EMERGENCY UPDATE

We woke up not only to a fresh 25 inches, but a medical emergency. Clint, our beloved partner and driver, is currently hospitalized, and unable to participate in this storm. This means that everyone is going to be cleared by Christian. This is unfortunate timing, but we are asking, begging, you all for patience and understanding as we dig out from this monster of a storm. It is slow work and will take time. We know everyone needs plowing, and we promise we will get to you. In the meantime, if you need to reach out, please only call Carey, so that Christin can focus on helping Clint get better and Christian can focus on clearing that route.

Thank you. This storm is not done yet. There’s another 9 inches in the forecast for today. Stay inside, stay warm, and stay safe.

WARNING: MAJOR STORM TO HIT FRONT RANGE AND CENTRAL MOUNTAINS

We don’t normally send out a preemptive blog, but this storm warrants one. We are currently forecast to get at least 2-3 FEET OF SNOW over the next 48 hours. PLEASE TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY AND BE PREPARED TO BE SNOWED IN. This means-

1. If you have a bathtub, fill it up. This will give you water for your toilets if the power goes out.

2. Fill containers with drinking water. If you don’t have any containers, go into to town TODAY and get drinking water from Prather’s, Dollar General, or Family Dollar.

3. If you have a wood-burning stove, pile as much firewood in an accessible place as you can, and cover it with a tarp.

4. Have candles on-hand.

5. Charge your computer and cell phones now while you have power.

6. Have food on-hand that doesn’t require electricity to prepare- sandwiches, salads, cereal, etc.

Please do not try to travel in this. It would be my recommendation that you do not try to leave your house if possible until Saturday. The plows are going to do their best, but there’s not much they can do against 3 feet of snow, so if you can stay home, do. I will alert you all when the guys start the route, but we are asking for patience on this one. It’s easily going to take us the full 48, if not longer, to dig everyone out.

If you are planning on coming up to your mountain home from elsewhere, try to be here no later than 5 pm this evening. After 5 pm, we are expecting around an inch an hour until Thursday evening. Have a safety kit in your car with flashlights, blankets, water, and food, as well as traction devices on or in your vehicle. This means chains, studded tires, or Autosocks. And if you can, please reach out to Carey or Christin and let us know your plan, so that we can make sure that those who are here get priority this time around.

Honestly, unless you live here full-time, I really would strongly recommend that you plan to come another weekend. All of next week looks gorgeous and sunny, with some light snow here and there. This is the biggest storm of the year and it’s going to pound us, the Front Range, and RMNP. Don’t risk it.

Stay safe and warm, and above all, be prepared. :)

Fat Flakes and Fresh Powder

This was a weird storm. It completely shut down Hoosier Pass but just quietly snowed all day on our side, while melting off quickly on the Breck side. Mountain life, amirite? We ended up with about 6 inches when it was all said and done, and the boys set out in the afternoon and through the night to get it cleared. They’re out today finishing up, and said it’s going quickly, so everyone should be done by tomorrow morning at that latest. If you have any questions or concerns, call Carey or Christin, and we can help you out.

One thing to remember with these March storms is that the snow can be pretty wet. Thankfully, the temperature yesterday was still really cold, so it’s not nearly as wet as it could be. However, as the sun hits it and it melts quickly today, you’re likely going to see a lot of ice and slush around the forest roads. Just take it slow and give yourself plenty of time to get where you are going.

Stay safe and warm out there!

March comes in like a...

I say it every year- nowhere embodies the old adage about March and lions better than Colorado. March started off with a huge storm, the same storm that has paralyzed California and made national news. Mountain life is weird for a lot of reasons but none more so than the microclimates that exist here. Some parts of our neighborhood saw a pretty decent drop (6+ inches at our house), whereas other parts didn’t even hit the trigger of 4 inches. We are still under an avalanche warning, as well as a winter storm warning (into tomorrow morning). You can expect to see us over the next 48 hours, but if you live below 11,000 feet, don’t be surprised if we come in and check without plowing. As a reminder, we do not plow under trigger because it moves around your driveway material and the exposed rocks can damage our blades. Yes, we know we are already there, but we plow this way for a reason, one based in years of experience doing this all winter long. Trust us. We know what we’re doing.

The guys have been out since the storm started to let up around noon and they will continue into the night, returning to the route tomorrow to get to those whose snowfall continues overnight. Please make sure your cars are out of the way so that they can get in and get out quickly with little disruption.

Before we sign off here, I wanted to give you a bit of a heads up. We all know that March tends to be an exceptionally busy tourist season up here. Spring Break for much of Texas starts next week, and we are already seeing an influx of out-of-state plates in town. We are slated to get another big storm on Friday which is forecast to drop at least 4 inches on Valley of the Sun, and likely more at higher elevations. If you rent your home out, please communicate with your guests and advise them to have proper snow gear in their car- this means winter tires/chains/AutoSocks, a tow strap, shovel, cat litter or sandbags for weight and traction, as well as extra food, blankets, water, and flashlights. These are the things that can make the difference between sitting in a ditch waiting hours for the tow truck and being able to get themselves out of the ditch and to their nice, warm AirBnB. This shouldn’t be news to anyone, as there are sign all throughout the neighborhoods here that tell you that snow chains are required, but unfortunately, some people still need you to hold their hands. Just be clear with your guests and let them know that this should be taken seriously. If they don’t know where to go for this stuff, direct them to Napa in Fairplay, or Al-Mart in Alma, where. you can buy traction devices. The more prepared they are, the better time they will have here.

Stay safe and warm out there folks!

UPDATE 3/4/24: CaveBuug continues its route. Please make sure your cars are out of the way so that we an get in and out quickly.