Out toward the Lake Creek valley the calendar doesn't negotiate — the aspens go bare in about a week, and the first plowable storm can land while the mower deck is still warm. Mountain Maintenance keeps both sets of gear loaded. The green months mean mowing, string trimming, edging and hauling the debris away; the white ones mean plowing driveways, clearing by hand where a blade can't reach, and sanding the bottoms of pitches that ice over overnight. West Lake Creek Road teaches you fast which corners hold drift and which melt out by noon, and that knowledge is most of the work. Either half of the year, the aim is the same: a place somebody can get in and out of, looking like it has someone looking after it.