Mirage Landscaping, based in Calgary, provides complete, residential and commercial landscaping and snow removal services. Over the past few seasons we have provided tips on safe snow removal and icy travel in our blog, and figure it never hurts to be preemptive. Get prepared for yet another Calgary winter!
Dressing For Winter Success
Remember to dress yourself in layers when tackling your snowy walk and driveway. It’s very easy to quickly become too cold…or too hot. Either can be dangerous when the temperatures are low.
By putting on a moisture wicking base layer, a medium warmth layer and a wind/water blocking outer shell, you can remove the middle or outer layer to keep from overheating. Even in your driveway you can suffer from hypothermia, which is unpleasant to deal with while trying to get to work.
Safely Getting Around
We can never stress this principle enough: a snowstorm is no place for fashionable feet. If you are trying get around in heels, or with leather-soled dress shoes, or wearing the athletic shoes you ran in all summer to shovel snow, you are marking time until you take a tumble. Footwear that cannot gain you any purchase in slick conditions, or that make your feet uncomfortably cold, or which will flood if your next step breaks into slush rather than being the snow you thought you were stepping into, will compromise both your balance and your reaction time.
Boots or shoe covers by themselves are not enough to be safe. You also remember you have to walk differently. The carefree days of walking about wherever you’d like are gone in the winter. In the snow, you have to pay attention to every step you take so that you don’t get yourself into a slippery situation needlessly.
If you don’t already have some, purchase a pair of gloves or mittens that can handle the weather. Walking with your hands in your pockets not only impairs you ability to walk with good balance, it reduces your chances of recovering your balance if you suddenly start to fall. Also, remember when climbing or descending, to use a “herringbone” walking technique that keeps your feet splayed, rather than straight on like two downhill skis.
Safe Vehicle Travel
The best advice for safely travelling in a snow storm is to not do it unless absolutely necessary. If you have to travel in your car, make sure you are carrying traction devices and have made, and are carrying, an emergency kit, featuring flares, cat litter for traction, a blanket, food and water, and so on, in case you get profoundly stuck.
And if you are stuck, remember not to spin your wheels if it can be avoided. The spinning of tires heats snow into water, which then refreezes into ice, making self-rescue all the more difficult. It’s also a great idea to carry a snow shovel in your vehicle if you have the room.
What Kind Of Snow Shovel?
There are a number of different types of snow shovels. For the home, weight, reach, and the material a shovel is constructed from are all choices based on personal preference.
Snow Shovelling Strategy
Aside from being in physical condition enough for the work, the most important consideration in snow shovelling, whether from your driveway or away from a snow trapped car, is to form a plan before you go to work. Endeavour to never shovel the same snow twice. A solid plan limits the amount of work you will have to do in the cold.
Spare Yourself, Contact Mirage Landscaping of Calgary
Take a few minutes of your time, contact us for a free quote, and leave the heaviest snow removal work to Mirage Landscaping of Calgary. We can shovel your walks and drive, we know where the snow dumps are and when they are open. Finally, we’ve been on the job for over three generations now, so we’re fast too.
