# Lake Tahoe's last 3-day storm



## Tahoe Workz

We just received 7-8 feet of freshies at the top of the slopes!

(What ever you do, please don't plow this at home- we are trained professionals)... ha ha ha...


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## Tahoe Workz




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## Tahoe Workz




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## Tahoe Workz




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## Tahoe Workz




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## stroker79

WOW!!!

I miss Lake Tahoe so much!!

I have been there during the summer a few times and the tail end of winter once. It was beautiful but nothing like those pics!!


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## JD Dave

Wow is right.


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## CityGuy

Drooling for that much snow.

Ahh the memories of years past.


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## nicksplowing

*sweet pics thanks for sharing*


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## grandview

So what do you charge for the season ? Is it still 200.00?


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## CityGuy

How fast doesone of those machines travel blowing and roading?


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## Tahoe Workz

You can have it all for just $19.95... No, average driveway is in the $700 neighborhood. Or I offer per-time which is around $45. Then, my will-calls start at $85. More of the photos are will-call jobs since they build up so much more than the ones I keep up with.

The machine I believe is 0-6 MPH in low gear blowing snow. And travel speeds in high range of up to 23MPH. I especially like the hydrostatic transmission where I only have to rock a foot pedal forward to go, back to reverse and depressed to stop. That saves so much time and effort.


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## plowindiesel

awesome pics...great website you have there also.


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## Mark Oomkes

:salute::salute::salute:ussmileyflag


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## DeVries

Wow very impressive amount of snow. If we got that here I'm sure we could weed out the under cutters real fast.

Looking at the pic of the ski hill made me start to drool.


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## Tahoe Workz

Don't drool on the keyboard- you might short things out. And yes, these storms do separate the men from the low-ballers! We get huge storms almost every year so I know the phone will start ringing hard when the skies start dropping. Let 'em ring!


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## blowerman

Looking good Jeff..Keep at it and you can add the TV6070 for next year.


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## gc3

awesome pics, nice machine.


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## Tahoe Workz

blowerman;768601 said:


> Looking good Jeff..Keep at it and you can add the TV6070 for next year.


Would love to get my hands on one to play with for some of these will-call jobs. Just to see what it can do. Also, sitting up that high would be great for backing out of these driveways. It's a bit nerve-racking when the banks get this high in the MT5. I also need to get Snoquip to build a bigger XX so I wouldn't be compromising on my blower attachment. I've used the Pronovost models when I first started and I just feel these XX's have evolved.

All in all, we've had a very slow season as far as snowfall goes. Can you guess that from the pics? Couple that with all the extra competition we got from the crumbling economy which forced almost every building contractor and their brother into our line of work, and it isn't adding up to a good season for expanding. Ever since last year, I was even on my own with only one machine. This year we did add the second MT5 with a driver and that has worked out well. I have such a work load that it is impossible to keep up if a machine goes down with the backup plow. Knowing I have 2 machines running eases the stress a bit. 3 would be perfect.


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## Tahoe Workz

plowindiesel;768467 said:


> awesome pics...great website you have there also.


Thanks! I have been throwing that site together for a few years. I think it's at a good place now. These snow removal guys get a bunch of off time to mess with stuff like that. I have started a side job building sites here locally too. I have even built 3 snow removal sites for competitors here as well as the Snoquip site which is my equipment dealer! Living in this small town, it's great to have a relationship like that with the competition.

And the site drives all my advertisement. No phonebook or newspaper ads for me. They were delivering them in the middle of the driveway in white bags and we were all shredding them on accident under 2 feet of snow. "Great, there goes my ad." So I went all web besides the magnets on the machine.


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## flakesmeangreen

Awesome pics indeed! This year is a light year for snowfall? How much do you usually get?


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## Tahoe Workz

I think our snowpack is only at 70% and they are calling this a drought year. Could all change with another few big ones but this next week looks clear.

At lake level which is 6250 feet, I believe they only average about 125 inches a year. The ski resorts who's bases are within some of my account elevations, average 300-500 inches per year. It can and has snowed any given month of the year but out season is November 1 - mid April. We can also see some impressive accumulation like in December of 1992 where Alpine Meadows recorded 173 inches and Squaw Valley had 194 for the month alone. During that season, Kirkwood recorded 700 inches of snowpack! That's over 58 feet of snow for those without a calculator... 

The best part about it is that the sun also shines about 307 days a year here on average.


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## DareDog

Do you have any more pics of the Yellow Snow Blower?


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## Tahoe Workz

You can find a few videos of the machine in action on my site. I have to work on getting some stills of the machine blowing snow. So far, I've shot everything myself. The videos were done on a tripod but taking stills that way is a bit difficult as I run back into the machine... Check out the footage here: http://tahoeworkz.com/Movie.html. And a few more driveway shots here: http://tahoeworkz.com/Photos.html.


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## Tahoe Workz




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## Tahoe Workz

A job from 2005....


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## plowindiesel

how hard is it to get the machine through that amount of snow on the first pass? Do you just raise the blower and shear off a layer or two on the first pass?


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## Tahoe Workz

plowindiesel;769016 said:


> how hard is it to get the machine through that amount of snow on the first pass? Do you just raise the blower and shear off a layer or two on the first pass?


Yes, Once it's above the height of the blower, you have to lift up, dig in, back up, drop and clean up. About 3 feet at a time. You can see this process in one of our videos: tahoeworkz.com/Snow_Removal_2008.html. Once the first cut is made, the second path is much easier but with that much snow, it is necessary to get an extra cleanup pass in. Most important thing is to keep the tires on hard pavement. If you go too deep into the pile and up on snow, when you life up the attachment, all that weight will go to the front tires and they can sink in deep and get you stuck. As long as the rubber is on pavement, you are all good.


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## Tahoe Workz




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## magnatrac

Very very cool pics and video. I can only imagine pulling up to a job with that much snow I have been lucky enough to watch a machine like yours in person clearing snow in calumet mi. It was only about a foot of snow not feet Again thanks for sharing it reminds me how lame winter is here !!!

, shaun


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## CityGuy

How is that machine for comfort? It looks like it could be alittle uncomfortable at time.


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## Tahoe Workz

Hamelfire;769191 said:


> How is that machine for comfort? It looks like it could be alittle uncomfortable at time.


I have to say so so. There is no suspension much like a loader other than the air ride seat and accumulator on the front attachment. I am 6' 8" tall so I am pushing the limit inside there but I do have room to bounce around in. It's the other luxuries that keep the comfort on the iffy side like the defroster. I know we're blowing snow but I'd be willing to bet the defroster in my Ford F350 is more powerful than the one in here. Plus, with the smaller cab, you'd think it could keep up but it can't.

I'll still take it though....


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## Tahoe Workz

*Snow Wars*

Ok guys, we need more snow real bad. You can obviously see I have way too much time on my hands....






By the way, this was shot 3-16-09 on a will-call situation. I had done the driveway a few times but not for a few years. I was a bit unfamiliar as to where the pavement goes and there were only markers on one side. I did not crop this video footage mostly for you all so you can see how the machine works in real time. I am twice as fast on driveways we're familiar with so an average drive is probably 2- 2:30 minutes to clear. I had a little trouble turning around at the top due to the tree but once I trusted the force, I made it around. Funny, the street one down is named Galaxy and this is one of our upper elevation locations. Snow level is way down this year but there were still some deep sections. Enough to make you cry if all you had was a shovel... Please rate the movie when finished so I can get my YouTube video channel a bustling with chatter. THANKS!


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## Tahoe Workz

Anyone use google maps street view? Here is that driveway from the site. Good way to guess what's under the snow...

http://maps.google.com/maps/sv?cbp=12,59.93229574580201,,0,-1.6618287373004372&cbll=39.277821,-119.945287&v=1&panoid=&gl=&hl=en
View Larger Mapll>


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## DareDog

Tahoe Workz;771390 said:


> Please rate the movie when finished so I can get my YouTube video channel a bustling with chatter. THANKS!


ok i did that :waving:


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## DareDog

The city here has one of those machines with a v plow on it to plow the sidewalks and a small blower for it.


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## Tahoe Workz

Thanks DareDog- I was going to look into a v-plow option. Only for those super slushy days at lake level. Sometimes the slush will clog us up and slow things down. I already own a brand new Western Ultra Mount 9ft V-plow that has been used basically never for a few years now. But I'd love to look into a way to fit that to the MT5. I think it would come in handy at times. Anyone ever made a conversion like this? Western Ultra-Mount truck plow converted to a 3-point hitch setup? Is it doable?


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## Tahoe Workz

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## lawnproslawncar

Nice photos.

How much money do you figure you have invested into your mt5?


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## Storsy23

im moving to Tahoe haha


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## SullivanSeptic

I just want to go to tahoe to go Skiing and Snowmobiling. The wife just saw the pictures and agreed that we should load up the sleds and go.  Never been to tahoe s I need to figure out when to go and where to stay that has good snowmobiling and skiing.


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## lawnproslawncar

If he's posting pictures and the piles are that deep. Its time to hop on the sleds in that town!

Just go now haha


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## Tahoe Workz

lawnproslawncar;953875 said:


> Nice photos.
> 
> How much money do you figure you have invested into your mt5?


Too Much! Yikes, maybe $95K for the one pictured. It's nice to have the extras though...


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## Tahoe Workz

SullivanSeptic;954309 said:


> I just want to go to tahoe to go Skiing and Snowmobiling. The wife just saw the pictures and agreed that we should load up the sleds and go.  Never been to tahoe s I need to figure out when to go and where to stay that has good snowmobiling and skiing.


Well, we have to be one of the ski capitals of the world so no worries there. I think there are 7 at the lake and probably 12+ within an hour drive. Major resorts are: Squaw Valley, Alpine Meadows, Homewood, North Star, Heavenly, Mt. Rose, Kirkwood, Diamond Peak, Sierra at Tahoe, and on and on. Search for their sites on google to take a look. Most have live cams and conditions so you can gauge when the best time to go is. This year is slower than last. Such a bummer but they are calling for a new 8 feet by end of next week so keep your fingers crossed for me.... Greased and ready!

ussmileyflag "Keep Free Speech Alive on Plowsite.com" Mods, please don't edit me!


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## Banksy

That's awesome.


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## lawnproslawncar

How do you figure a toolcat would work with a standard bobcat 84" snow blower?


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## Tahoe Workz

lawnproslawncar;962351 said:


> How do you figure a toolcat would work with a standard bobcat 84" snow blower?


It depends. Mostly on snow conditions- how wet, how frozen, and depth. A few operations run even up here but they can't keep up when times get real bad at the upper elevations. The concept is nice though. If you are dealing with foot and under totals, I think you'd be happy with that selection. For deeper, wetter snow, noting compares to a PTO drive vs the hydraulic flow.


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## fordf350super

nice piece of equipment and your right it separates the men from the boys


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## Plow Chaser

They are calling for 10 FEET next week!! I was planning a 4 day weekend up there next week to go skiing, but if El Nino has its way, I will be sitting in the foothills in the rain. By the way, Kirkwood is so great to ski at. It's a bit off the beaten path, but a really great place to ski.


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## eshskis

What walk behind blower is that in the last picture


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## Tahoe Workz

eshskis;962501 said:


> What walk behind blower is that in the last picture


That would be a Honda 928 Track clearing off a back deck. Some companies run 3-4 guys, each with a walk behind blower to do driveways up here. It's a fine way to start out and ok for light storms, but nothing is more satisfying when I pull up next door in the Trackless and clear my larger job in a few minutes- faster than they can make one pass. I love that. Sitting in a t-shirt to boot.. :laughing:

10 FRESH FEET BY NEXT WEEK'S END. BRING IT !


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## OrganicsL&L

Good luck w/ the 10'. I am considering a toolcat for drives, and I have roughly calculated that they would take about 2-3 min. each for actual snow blowing. To make it worth my while I would need to do about 100 drives/storm. 

How many do you do? I would say our average storm is in the 6" range, with a few that may be 18-24" and a few that would be in the 2-4" range. Our average is 72" /season.

Are my numbers accurate....2-3 minutes per drive of actual blowing? I have a pretty tight route now....everything is within 8 miles, so I would just need to increase the density.

I would use an 84" blower attachment for this.

Great thread and thanks for all of the info you have already given here.


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## benz2329

Awesome Machine!


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## NW Snow Removal

awesome thread!! Hopefully you're doing great with this new batch of 5-10 feet you've been getting. Any chance you aregonna post some pics after that crazy event? WE ARE IN AWE OF YOU DEEP SNOW GUYS. MACHINE>PLOW


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## lawnproslawncar

WE GOT TO SEE PICTURES. I havent ever seen 10 fresh foot of snow


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## ConnorExum

Tahoe Workz;766956 said:


>


Does that have Schmidt Snowblower on it? I'm jealous I would love to get 10 feet of fresh snow to play in with my truck.


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## DareDog

How did the storm go?


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## NW Snow Removal

he is still working. Has to be. he mentioned that some of his work is unoccupied vacation homes and I am sure it takes a few days to get to them. We are all drooling over what 10 feet fresh looks like! WHOA that's a lot of snow!!!!


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## Tahoe Workz

Sorry Gang- Been BUSY. I've posted the snow totals for Squaw Valley below. 6250 is our Lake level and our route may go up to 7600 ft(?). We never got a huge dumping on any one night but it is slowly adding up. Feels more like winter now.

Sadly, I we are still behind in precipitation so far...








I'll get some footage when we get a chance... xysport

And check out the new snow storm on our website- the kind that never piles up....


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## NW Snow Removal

We would have hit our numbers by dec 11th. WOW!! thanks for the update. We are all looking forward to the pics of this snowfall!! Especially on some of the will call jobs that just let it pile up. Kudos!! edit---What's the most snow received at the lower elevation in one day? the most we see in a day is 12 inches.


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## crazyman

Money, Money, Money, Money, Moneyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy


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## Tahoe Workz

*More tips..*

Learn brilliant marketing strategies and business practices necessary for starting a snow-plowing business.

Difficulty: Average
Time Required: Days

Here's How:

1. Purchase a $20,000 snow plow at a local auto show. Try to find a salesman who cracks an imaginary whip.

2. Place flyers on every car in a large parking lot. Best results are achieved on a day with very little wind.

3. When it comes time to read a lesson from the Bible at your church service, instead use the time to advertise your snow-plowing business.

4. Buy cheap air time on a local channel, for example Channel 92, to run your commercial. For the commercial, cast your family and sing a catchy jingle.

5. Don't forget to include customers such as your local convenient store, retirement community, and elementary school.

Tips:

1. Never tell your best friend about your business. He may attempt to compete against you. In case he does, send him to plow the highest mountain in your area, Widow's Peak, for instance, while you take back your business locally.

2. Wear a jacket with your logo emblazoned on the back. It may come in handy for amorous occasions.

3. Persuade a famous, grammy award-winning singer to perform in your commercial, such as Linda Ronstadt.

4. Above all, never attempt to rap a jingle.

What You Need:

Snow Plow
Cool Jacket
Catchy Jingle


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