Jan Skrentny

Several weeks ago we had three separate winter storms roll through the San Bernardino Mountains starting on Monday and carrying through to Thursday.

Snow depths ranged from three feet in Crestline to over four feet in Lake Arrowhead (the difference is based on altitude: Crestline is just below 5,000 feet and Arrowhead is at a mile high, 5,280 feet — with every 1,000 feet of elevation temperature drops roughly three degrees — thusly the higher the altitude the colder the air and the more snow.)

On Saturday I got a call from clients saying they wanted to come up and view property. I told them that  there was lots of snow and that I doubted if many of the homes had been shoveled out. They said they were okay to climb over snow berms (where the snow plows had piled snow to clear the roads) and trek through knee high snow fall.

And by God, they were.

The group,  myself and six others, in two SUV’s blasted our way down snow packed streets and trudged through deep snow. The skies were blue, the sun was shining brightly and the temperature was in the high 40’s. It was a delightful time, even when we had to shovel snow away from doorways to gain entrance. One of the men offered his sweat shirt so we could wipe our feet when we viewed a newly remodeled home that had no entrance mat.

Amazingly, they found a place that they loved: A very rustic cabin with huge views that in the white dressing of the day looked as picturesque as you could  ever imagine.

Afterwards, over a hearty lunch at a local lakeside restaurat, Woody’s Boat House,  everyone admitted it was fun. 

It was fun: Embracing the elements instead of hiding from them. 

Just don’t wear tennis shoes, they get pretty soggy.

In winter my SUVs are outfitted with extra boots, gloves, coats, shovels, towels, powerbars, water and buckets of salt. I can’t guarentee I have sizes for everyone but I do my best to take care of my people - my clients and friends.