An 89-year-old snow plow driver has been battling through California's 'vicious' winter storms. Here's why he doesn't plan to slow down anytime soon.
Donner Summit Historical Society
- An 89-year-old California snow plow driver has cleared more than 50 feet of snow so far this winter.
- Norm Sayler has been snow plowing for 65 years, and says "it's a way of life."
- A series of storms have pummeled the Lake Tahoe region over the past few weeks, continuing into this weekend.
89-year-old Norm Sayler has been plowing snow in the Lake Tahoe region of northern California for over six decades, but this year's winter storms have been especially "vicious."
Still, even at his age, he says he has no plans of stopping any time soon.
Northern California has been clobbered by a series of storms over the past several weeks, with more than 15 feet of snow accumulating in some parts of the Sierra Nevada mountains, according to SFGate.
The region surrounding Lake Tahoe near where Sayler works has received more than 51 feet of snow since November 1, according to the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab located in Donner Pass.
And Sayler, who lives in Soda Springs, has been working hard all through the winter to plow all that snow. ABC7 shared a video on Twitter of massive banks of snow that Sayler had plowed on the side of a driveway.
—ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) March 7, 2023
He says the storms this winter have been so "vicious" that they sometimes cause whiteouts where you can't see a thing around you in any direction.
"When it gets like that, all you can do is stop because you don't know where you are," Sayler told Insider on Friday. "Hopefully it would clear just a little bit and you'd catch a tree or some kind of a building or something to where you could keep working again."
When Sayler spoke to Insider over the phone from inside his snow plow, he said he had been plowing for the past 7 hours, since around 4 a.m. He said he doesn't know how many hours a day he works, he just "keeps going until it's done."
Sayler is racing to clear away snow before a series of storms are due to bring rain to the area, prompting concerns that the heavy snow will soak up rainwater.
For Sayler, who owns his own business, snow-plowing is a "way of life" that he loves.
"I can get in this little machine and I can sit in it all day long and have a ball," he said.
Sayler says he can't imagine ever stopping. "What would I do if I stopped?" he asked "I don't know what I'd do."
When asked if he ever plans to retire, Sayler said he's been, in a way, "retired" ever since he first moved to the mountain in 1954.
"That's the way I look at it," he said. "How much more lucky can you be than to live like this? It's been a wonderful thing."