The snow that matters in Denver rarely blows in off the peaks — it wheels up from the northeast, gray and upslope, and stacks slow and even across the flats along the Platte. Sebastian Castillo Snow Removal is out in it before the streetlights give up, plowing driveways and opening the narrow alleys around Globeville and Elyria-Swansea, where one drift can shut in a whole block. Walks get shoveled down to bare concrete and treated, because the shaded north side of a house will glaze over by noon if it isn't. Storms here come in halves, so the truck stays out between rounds rather than calling it early. There is a real satisfaction in a driveway opened at five in the morning: headlights back out, and the day simply proceeds.