Head west on US 40 toward Milner in a January wind and the road disappears into a sheet of moving snow at knee height. Native Excavating Inc brings equipment sized for that kind of winter to Steamboat Springs and the ground around it — plowing lots and long drives, pushing banks back, and hauling snow away when there is simply no room left to stack it. Big machines are patient in a way shovels cannot be; a loader can undo a night of drifting in one long sweep. The measure of the work is a lot that is usable at eight in the morning, curb to curb, with room to park. Out in this valley, that is not a small thing.