The first snow usually touches the high country in October, weeks before it means anything down in the valley — a white line on the peaks above town while the last plantings of the season are still going in the ground. Brady's West Garden Center knows both ends of that calendar, and when winter finally drops to seven thousand feet the work turns to clearing it: driveways plowed, walkways opened, entries kept passable through storm after storm. Growing anything at this elevation is a short, bright, stubborn business; moving snow is the long half of the year that makes room for it. The result is unglamorous and welcome — a shoveled path, a lot you can park in, a gate that swings. They serve Salida, Poncha Springs, Nathrop and the surrounding valley.