# Avalanche Roof Rake



## shooterm (Feb 23, 2010)

This has to go down as one of the smartest tools I've used in a long time. Its basically a slip and slide you roll under the snow and snow rolls out. I've seen videos of it before and blew it off as a gimmick but got to use it today was amazed how easy and much faster it worked. 

Problem is we have a heat wave up here in the high 20s:laughing: with a strong sun so we've got alot of melting snow/turning it into concrete. I used it on all my families houses got to mine and it broke of course. The first fiberglass pole shattered at the head. Easy fix I'll shorten it abit rebolt it in. Now does anyone have ideas on how to reinforce the fiberglass pole to which the head goes in? I was thinking maybe wrapping it in athletic tape.

Besides this small problem I'm really amazed how well this works. I even got to use next to a roofing crew that was shoveling a roof off. I finished a much larger, higher roof before they finished up. When I was packing out they came over asking questions aboot it. I'll order another one if I can patch the head problem up.


----------



## shooterm (Feb 23, 2010)

http://www.avalanche-snow.com/index.asp

Oh and here's a link.


----------



## watatrp (Jan 10, 2001)

Interesting concept. Looks like it works well. How does it compare to a traditional roof rake?


----------



## shooterm (Feb 23, 2010)

If you watch the promo video it works at that speed. After looking at the broken head though I'm going to really slow down to baby the thing because its light years ahead of roof raking traditionally.


----------



## WIPensFan (Jan 31, 2009)

No way. Maybe if it was wider, but a good roof rake will kill that thing on time.


----------



## shooterm (Feb 23, 2010)

I said the same thing WIPensFan it really is that slick. I was going to use it for 10mins to entertain the old man but ended up liking it. Even the fiberglass that was broken wasn't really its fault I noticed it was missing a cap on the head so was shoving snow/ice into open fiberglass pipe. With this amount of snow your going to kill yourself trying to roof rake traditionally.


----------



## WIPensFan (Jan 31, 2009)

Ok, I just roof raked my house. It's supposed to be in the middle 40's for a few days with rain, WTF, so I wanted the gutters to melt off. My aluminum rake is hooked on the end so you don't have to stand so far from the house on the ground. I rake about 3-4' from the gutter up. The back of my house is 2 stories tall, you would have to stand so far away to achieve the correct angle with that Avalanch it would be more tiring. Next thing is, you're pushing instead of pulling. That's why you broke the thing already. Mine has wheels on it and it just pulls with little effort. Anyway, if you like it and it works, cool. 

Still think mines better.


----------



## shooterm (Feb 23, 2010)

I have a 14' stepladder laying around that I go halfway up for mine. Its very simple to stand there and nudge it through the snow much much easier then pulling. I'm also working on a bad 2 story.


----------



## canoebuildah (Oct 20, 2007)

I have not used an Avalanche rake but did research it. I was worried about the stress of pushing rather than pulling. I would up purchasing a Phillips Snowcutter three winters ago. http://snowcutter.com/

It has increased my efficiency by at least three times. It really does work as advertised and I can get much further up on roofs than with traditional plastic scoops. So much so that there are buildings that i used to have to climb up and shovel and now I can stay on the ground and get the snow off with the Snowcutter. I have managed to break a few of the wires over the past few years but that was due to me not paying attention and dragging it down the edge of a roof and snapping it. I tried to make my own wires but found it easier to just order the replacements from the Phillips.


----------



## SnowGuy73 (Apr 7, 2003)

canoebuildah;1174246 said:


> I have not used an Avalanche rake but did research it. I was worried about the stress of pushing rather than pulling. I would up purchasing a Phillips Snowcutter three winters ago. http://snowcutter.com/
> 
> It has increased my efficiency by at least three times. It really does work as advertised and I can get much further up on roofs than with traditional plastic scoops. So much so that there are buildings that i used to have to climb up and shovel and now I can stay on the ground and get the snow off with the Snowcutter. I have managed to break a few of the wires over the past few years but that was due to me not paying attention and dragging it down the edge of a roof and snapping it. I tried to make my own wires but found it easier to just order the replacements from the Phillips.


Snow cutter is a nice setup.


----------

