A new gravel driveway approach under mature trees, with fresh stone edging.

Snow Removal · Black Mountain

Snow Removal in Black Mountain, NC

Name: M&S Land Management
Address: Asheville, NC, US
Telephone: (828) 540-6856

Up the cove and back.

Black Mountain sits at the head of the Swannanoa valley at about 2,300 feet, fifteen miles east of Asheville, and nearly every house here is up a cove rather than on the valley floor. Cottages, cabins and second homes sit on cut benches at the top of narrow, steep drives. McKinley plows and treats those drives, the shared roads below them and the lots in town.

Free on-site estimates
Steep cove drives plowed
Cabin contracts set up

Call (828) 540-6856 Get a Free Estimate

Snow Removal · Black Mountain

Snow removal in Black Mountain

A higher, shadier valley

The town sits at the south end of the Black Mountain range, and the ground climbs fast toward Montreat to the north and up both sides of the valley. Winters still bring a few real snows and more ice than snow, but the coves are narrow and steep, and a cove that faces north gets very little winter sun. Ice that forms there on a Monday can still be there on Friday.

Freezing rain is the bigger problem than depth. A glaze on a steep cove road stops more cars than a real snow does, because there is nothing for a tire to bite. The east end of the valley toward Ridgecrest and Swannanoa Gap sits higher still and often holds snow after town has melted. Treatment on the steep pitches and the shaded turns is most of what keeps a cove drive open.

Town streets, state roads, private coves

The Town of Black Mountain handles the streets it maintains inside town limits, and NCDOT handles US 70, which is State Street through town, along with I-40, NC 9 and the other state roads. Both clear the main routes first. A lot of the roads up the coves are neither. They are private gravel roads, built to reach a few cabins and never taken over by anyone, and in a snow they are the owners' problem.

Montreat is its own town with its own streets. Outside the town limits, a cove road shared by several houses is simplest as one contract agreed by the owners: one route from the public road up, each drive opened in an agreed order, and the cost split however they decide. That saves four neighbors calling on the same morning about the same road.

Steep cove drives and cut benches

Cove roads here are narrow, steep and often gravel, with the house at the top on a bench cut into the slope. McKinley picks the machine for the road, as he does the rest of the year. The tracked skid steer has the footing for these grades and the size for a narrow road. It plows to the house and clears the turnaround on the bench so a car can turn and face down. On gravel the blade rides high to keep the stone on the drive.

Snow goes off the downhill edge, not stacked against the cut bank above the drive, where its melt would seep out across the surface and freeze. Ditches and culvert inlets are kept clear so the melt goes under the drive. On drives still soft from Helene, the plow keeps off the weak edges. The steep driveway snow plowing page has more on how climbs and switchbacks are handled.

Rental cabins and second homes

A lot of the cabins and second homes up the coves are empty during the week or rented by the night. A snow on a Thursday leaves a guest at the bottom of the hill on Friday with a car that cannot make the climb, and an owner in another state who cannot do anything about it. A seasonal contract settles that ahead of time: the drive is plowed and treated when it snows, whether or not anyone is there to call.

Owners decide what the contract covers: the drive, the turnaround, the parking pad, the steps to the door, and whether treatment goes down before guests arrive. Property managers who look after several cabins can put them on one route. Everything is agreed before the first storm, so the plowing is not waiting on a phone call from a house nobody is in.

Lots in town, churches and retreats

Black Mountain grew up as a camp-and-retreat town, and churches, retreat grounds and small businesses along State Street and downtown still make up much of the commercial work. Lots in town are smaller and often sloped. They are plowed and stacked clear of the entrance and the drains, and walks, steps and ramps are treated where people walk. On a sloped church lot, the walk from the car to the door matters more than the lane.

When snow fills a small lot, the dump truck hauls it out. The snow removal page covers hauling, walks and the rest of the work, and the Black Mountain service area page lists what else McKinley does up the valley, from gravel drives to retaining walls. The estimate is free and given on site, after he has walked the road or the lot.

A steep gravel driveway rising to a house, edged with stone.

Main snow page

Snow Removal and Ice Control

Plowing, salting, hauling and walk clearing for homes, private roads and businesses around Asheville.

See the page Talk to McKinley

(828) 540-6856

Call or text the address and what needs clearing: a lot, a drive, walks or all three. McKinley sets the route and the terms with you before the first snow.

Call now

What it includes

What that covers

Cove drives. Narrow, steep gravel drives plowed to the bench at the top.
Shared cove roads. Private roads cleared from the public road up for every house on them.
Rental cabins. Drives, pads and steps cleared for guests while the owner is away.
Ice treatment. Steep pitches and north-facing turns treated where they glaze.
Church and retreat lots. Lots plowed, piles hauled, walks and steps treated.

Call (828) 540-6856 Free Estimate

Black Mountain and nearby

Main snow page

Snow Removal and Ice Control

Plowing, salting, hauling and walk clearing for homes, private roads and businesses around Asheville.

See the page Snow service

Commercial Snow Contracts

Seasonal, per-push and per-event snow and ice contracts, walked and mapped before the first storm.

See the page Snow service

Salting and Ice Management

Pre-treating, salting and refreeze visits for ice storms, freezing rain and shaded mountain grades.

See the page Snow service

Sidewalk and Entrance Clearing

Walks, entrances, steps and ramps cleared and treated so people get from the car to the door safely.

See the page Snow service

Snow Hauling

Snow piles loaded out with the skid steer and dump truck when a tight mountain lot has nowhere to push.

See the page

Black Mountain and the towns nearby

Black Mountain is the east end of the Swannanoa valley run, with Swannanoa, Montreat and Ridgecrest on the same roads. Down the valley, the steep streets and commercial lots of the city are covered at snow removal in Asheville. North over the ridge, the long drives up Reems Creek are covered at snow removal in Weaverville. Fairview and Old Fort are within reach as well.

How a snow customer gets set up

Set up before the first storm.

You call

Call or text with the address, how steep the drive or road is and what needs clearing: lot, drive, walks or all of it.

McKinley walks it

He walks the property before the season, notes the grades, the shaded stretches and where the snow can go.

Terms in writing

Seasonal, per push or per event, the trigger, salt and walks are written down before anyone needs them.

Cleared when it falls

When the storm comes, the property is worked in the agreed order and treated where ice will form.

On the ground

The machines and the crew.

These are photographs from McKinley's actual jobs: the same equipment and the same crew that run the snow routes. See more recent work.

An excavator on a freshly cut driveway grade.

A mini excavator working a steep cut bank alongside a new driveway.

A gravel driveway turnaround built in a wooded lot.

Questions about snow work

Questions people ask

Not seeing yours? Call (828) 540-6856 and ask McKinley, or read the guides.

Answers & guides

All guides

Who plows the private road up my cove?

The owners do, or whoever they hire. The Town of Black Mountain clears the streets it maintains and NCDOT clears the state roads. A private gravel road up a cove belongs to the people who live on it. Most are handled as one contract the neighbors agree on, with each drive opened off the road in an agreed order.

Can a machine get up my narrow cove drive in snow?

Usually. The tracked skid steer is small enough for a narrow road and has better footing on a grade than a wheeled machine. McKinley drives the road on the estimate visit, before winter, and looks at the turnaround at the top, so the job is set up for the road you actually have.

My cabin is a rental. Can you plow it when no one is there?

Yes. That is what a seasonal contract is for. It sets out the drive, the parking pad and the steps, and what triggers a visit, so plowing and treatment happen in a storm without anyone having to call from out of town. Property managers can put several cabins on one route.

Why is my drive icy days after town has melted?

Most likely it faces north or runs under evergreens. In a narrow cove, a north slope gets very little winter sun, so the snow melts a little each afternoon and refreezes each night. That stretch needs treatment, and the snow beside it is pushed downhill so its melt drains away from the surface.

Will plowing damage a drive that was repaired after Helene?

It should not. On gravel the blade is kept high, so it takes snow and leaves stone. Where an edge is still soft or a culvert was reset, McKinley keeps the plow off it and notes it on the walk-through. If the drive needs more work in spring, that is a regular driveway repair job.

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