Crews plow ahead without snowfall

MAT-SU — As winter shows its frigid face, some Mat-Su Valley residents are wondering when the white stuff will fall.

An unusual lack of snow so far for the season has left local snowplow operators experiencing a dreary down time right in the heart of their busy season.

“When there is weather like this it can get pretty dicey,” said Ryan Seibert, owner of Lead Dog enterprises.

Seibert said some snow cover has kept him pushing forward, but without a heavy snowfall since November it can be hard to meet costs and maintain a full crew of drivers.

“It’s definitely been slow,” Seibert said. “I think keeping guys around and keeping them busy has been the biggest problem. Typically, when things like this happen the guys that are motivated are out looking for other jobs.”

During slow winter stretches for clearing snow, Seibert said he keeps a keen eye on the sky — watching for signs of snow and waiting for the clouds to come. In addition to using his own set of weather predictions, the plowman usually tunes in weather reports, but said they can be misleading. Again and again a report will call for snow, but nothing falls besides the hopes of those waiting to drive the plow trucks.

“For somebody like myself, the biggest challenge is not losing my mind,” he said.

Although plowing snow is the main part of his business, Seibert said cold weather and clear skies can supply some work to fill the day. Instead of dropping the plow and pushing snow, sanding becomes a necessary job during a snowless winter’s day. Along with sanding, Seibert said equipment maintenance is another task on the downtime to-do list.

Dave Rykaczewski owns Mat-Su Landscaping and Lawn Maintenance. When summer ends and winter begins, his landscaping business hibernates and his plow business sprouts.

This year’s lack of snow may present some challenges, but Rykaczewski said his business isn’t taking a huge hit. The key is to supplement residential jobs with a healthy amount of commercial jobs that require a little more attention.

“As far as plowing goes, if you’re doing driveways you’re going broke,” Rykaczewski said.

Not only do big jobs help keep Rykaczewski busy, but he said some small jobs like sidewalks add to the workload.

When it comes to winters in the Valley, Rykaczewski said the conditions have been less than satisfactory for several years. One exception was last year, when snow pounded the Valley during December and January and provided plenty of work for plowing and clearing companies.

Although many private snowplowing businesses rely on snow to bring home the bacon, city maintenance crews have enough on their plates to stay busy, said Tony Leoni, maintenance supervisor for Wasilla.

“If it’s not snowing there are other things that fill up the day,” Leoni said.

With four crew members working 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday, the city’s crew spends no-snow days catching up on other important work, Leoni said. Clearing culverts and cleaning up cul-de-sacs are a couple of those tasks.

Similar to Rykaczewski, Leoni has noticed the diminishing presence of snow over the last few winters, but the city crew isn’t ready to give up on this winter.

“It’s been my experience that Alaska will get the snow,” Leoni said. “But we may get winter in April at this rate.”

Contact Chris Gillow at chris.gillow@frontiersman.com or 352-2284.