When Bjorn Kårén got Peab’s snow-clearing assignment, he already had everything he really needed in the way of machines and ploughing equipment. But not quite. To handle all his assignments, he needed to use his new Valtra, a P194 really intended as a farm tractor, and equip it. “There was no question it would be a DPD from Mählers. And I also added a side wing and an underbody scraper/grader.

People who know Bjorn Kårén from outside Sollefteå also know he’s meticulous when choosing his machines’ equipment. For example, when he pimped up two Volvo wheel loaders, he first dismantled them into their component parts, painted everything black and metallic red and then fitted them out with ‘extra everything’, such as lighting, cameras and specially made seats. So his choice of a Mählers Diagonal Plow Double (DPD) came as no surprise. “Mählers is the best, there’s no two ways about it. They’ve helped me many times with special solutions – they know what they’re doing. I’d read and heard plenty about DPD, and it was something I really wanted.”

A lot of work

He got a DPD last autumn, and it has truly shown what it’s worth. It started snowing at the beginning of November and it hasn’t stopped since. DPD uses his Valtra and DPD along a 45 mile minor road that winds its way between Sollefteå and Örnsköldsvik. “The round trip takes six hours and demands concentration all the time. And the DPD is excellent! Its ability to throw snow in both directions makes it really flexible. What’s more, I can switch quickly and in tight spaces I can spread the snow. “But there’s so much more that’s good, like the positive cutting angle and springloaded blade holders. And it throws the snow so well, but so do all the ploughs from Mählers.” For a long while, Kåréns Maskin was a one-man band, but in 2013, Björn began employing a driver and the floodgates just opened. “Demand increased, and because I find it hard to say no, well… Today I have nine fulltime employees and I take on extra people and equipment during peaks. Because its my turn for my son Axel every second week – dropping him off and picking him up from daycare and so forth – I try to work normal hours. But the other weeks are always long, since this winter has been so extreme.

Mountains of snow

How extreme? We checked with the SMHI meteorological station, which just by chance measures snow depth in Multrå, just a stone’s throw from where Kåréns Maskin has its yard. The first inch of snow arrived on 12 November. Two weeks later it was 10 inches and then it snowed throughout most of December and January interspersed with periods of mild weather and thaws that compacted the snow. At the end of January, the snow in Multrå was 28 inches deep, and a stressed-out Björn Kårén could see that yet another big snowstorm was on the way. “Mustn’t grumble – I get paid by the ploughed mile. But if things carry on like this – I have a multiyear contract – I don’t know how it will all end,” he laughs, adding: “As it turns out, I have good, hard-wearing kit that does the job well in this kind of weather.