Winter storm impacts businesses on Mt. Lemmon

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The winter storm that brought frigid temperatures throughout Southern Arizona also brought snow to Mt. Lemmon on Monday.

“It’s definitely a fun time, but it’s a very stressful time for our staff,” said Mt. Lemmon Hotel Owner, Justin Hafner.

Hafner and his staff spent the morning clearing snow around his cabins.

“We have a couple of different snow blowers, lots of shovels, lots of salt, lots of people because when we get a foot of snow up here, it’s a couple day process to try to remove everything,” said Hafner.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department closed the main road leading to Mt. Lemmon in the morning, later re-opening it only for vehicles with four-wheel drive or tire chains.

RELATED: Road to Mount Lemmon re-opens

Hafner said before the road re-opened, there were 12 different families snowed in at his hotel cabins.

“We try to provide all the information that we can to our guests ahead of time—that’s one of the challenges of staying up here in the winter, you have to be a little flexible with your dates,” Hafner said.

He recommends having four-wheel drive or tire chains whenever making a trip up the mountain—regardless of the forecast.

“Just be prepared that if there’s snow in the forecast, it doesn’t matter if it’s just a couple of inches or a couple of feet, the forecast is not guaranteed that that’s what actually happens and you need to be prepared that maybe your stay is a little longer,” said Hafner.

Hafner said although the snow sometimes adds on extra stress, the look on guests’ faces when they see Arizona’s “winter wonderland” is priceless.

“Most of these kids have grown up in the desert so actually being in their own winter wonderland and not just looking at it in a picture, they’ve been pretty awestruck,” Hafner said.