Stone holds cold. The flagstone steps and paver drives around Traverse City go slick early and stay that way long after the lawn beside them has thawed. Northern Michigan Hardscapes LLC works winter on that ground — plowing, clearing walks and steps by hand where a blade has no business going, and treating ice on the hard surfaces people actually cross. Snow gets moved carefully around stonework, because what is underneath has to still be there in April. An open, dry-footed path to a door in the middle of February is worth the care it takes.