MAMMOTH LAKES, California — As Mammoth Lakes, California, sees record amounts of snow, it takes a team of professionals to clear the snow accumulating on homes.
“I think they said we have the most snow in the world right now here in Mammoth. It’s pretty nuts,” said Clark Tapia, the owner of Old Faithful Property Management, whose team is working to clear off the homes in town. “This is probably about our ninth or 10th one. We got about 30 guys rolling. I have another couple of crews. Friends of ours are bringing up another 80 on Monday.”
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“We are trying to take care of the local community first and then get on to our second homes and stuff,” said Tapia, who noted that many homes in town are rentals or second homes due to the popular ski resort. “We manage a bunch of HOA complexes, second homes, Airbnbs, VRBOs. On our list currently, we have probably about 15 houses left to do.”
Tapia’s team starts bright and early, at 7 a.m., to take down the snow and ice hanging over the roof of a home. The team members have to strap in with ropes and harnesses because the snow and ice are dangerously slippery.
It is a slow and tedious process. Due to the inches of ice cementing the snow to the roof, the whole piece does not tend to slide off in a satisfying way. Plus, it would be dangerous and could be destructive to let the whole sheet come down at once. The crew works with commercial shovels and sledgehammers to try and chip away the stubborn pieces clinging together.
This job was one of the more difficult ones and took eight hours. Tapia showed pictures of other homes completely buried or with caved-in roofs due to the weight of the snow, a warning of what could happen if you do not clear off the roof in time.
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Tapia told us due to this storm, his team will be removing snow until May.
“We are going to be shoveling for months. It’s going to be hectic.”
