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DRAPER — Many of us now know that feeling — or surprise might be a better way to put it.
"All right. Woo!" Shannon Pratt said when she opened the side door of her garage.
Like many people in Utah this week, she opened her door to see a wall of snow up to her waist. "We got a lot of snow," she said with a laugh.
"Opened the garage up, and it was like, oh boy! We're in for some work," her husband Riley Pratt said.
The Pratt family has spent the past two days digging out of their Draper home. Since they are in the higher elevation SunCrest neighborhood, it really was possible to walk uphill in snow both ways.
"We got more snow than we thought we were going to get. For sure," he said.
Once he was able to get out, he started helping his neighbors with the plow attached to his four-wheeler. "We all pull together. We've got a great neighborhood here," he said. "We love it up here, and we know this is a little bit of what you get when you live up here."
Buster and Sugar sure love living up here. The two dogs couldn't get enough of the snow. "Buster, the brown one, loves jumping through the deep snow," said Dave Prichard, who owns the dogs.
They moved to SunCrest with their "pawrents" from Hawaii, where temperatures are currently in the 80s.
"Oh man. I would sure like to be there right now," said Prichard. "When I opened the garage door, where you're standing, was above your belt. I just went to town. Four and a half hours."
Clearing the actual roads in SunCrest took a little long and Draper is still working on them. The city had to contract with private plows and even got some help from other cities for snow removal.
"Our street wasn't plowed until 10 o'clock last night. It was like 2 1/2 feet, 3 feet deep out there," said Prichard. "I mean, what are you going to do? Right?"
Draper leaders say this has been the biggest snowstorm up here since SunCrest was created about 20 years ago.
Emergency response has also been an issue here because of all the snow.
Draper Fire Chief Clint Smith said some of his crew had to hike in the snow to houses in a few cases to help with medical emergencies.
"We have been in constant communication with our city administration and public works department and working with them on a plan to ensure we have the best access possible on the main streets of the SunCrest area," Smith said.
The city has also contacted Utah County and Salt Lake County Search and Rescue Team to see if they could help if there is an emergency where someone has to be transported to a hospital.
"They have the necessary equipment to make this possible and are happy to provide those services to us if needed," Smith said.
Another problem is finding a place to put all the snow once it is plowed. There are snowbanks higher than cars in most parts of Suncrest and many roads have become single lanes.
For the next few days, the city is asking residents to be cautious as they're trying to get around. "It just takes a lot of patience right now because it is what it is," Riley Pratt said. "Mother Nature won this one."
