One contest, two incredible projects and countless pounds of snow stabilized

By Emma Peterson. 

Learn firsthand from award-winning contractors about the importance of snow retention. 

In a new Roofing Road Trips® episode, Karen Edwards sat down to discuss the 2025 “Show Us Our Snow Guards” contest sponsored by Rocky Mountain Snow Guards with Adrian Oliver, Josh Yandle and Brian Cross. 2025 marks the second year of the contest, as contractors entered their work to showcase their craftsmanship and the importance of snow guards. Brian shared, “Without snow guards, you risk uncontrolled snow sliding off the roof in an avalanche. What snow retention does is it stabilizes that snow and stop it from sliding dangerously...the projects submitted to the contest are great examples of this in action.”  

First runner-up: Umbrella Roofing 

Earning the first runner-up title of the 2025 “Show Us Our Snow Guards” contest is Umbrella Roofing. Josh, the company owner, shared a bit about the project they submitted for consideration. He shared, “It's a vacation home in Edwards, Colorado, on a road called Cresta, which sits about a thousand feet higher than majority of the homes in Edwards on the north side of the mountain at about 8,200 feet.”  

Because of this elevation, it was crucial that the home be designed with snow protection as a top priority. That means both building with a higher snow load in mind (90 pounds as compared to the Edwards standard of 55 pounds) as well as incorporating a high-performance snow retention system.  

What Josh and his team ended up choosing for the roof was a combination of DaVinci Select Shake with Rocky Mountain Snow Guards RG16. He shared more details about the roof, explaining, “We pretty much put the RG16s on every facet of the roof. We specifically laid it out with the areas that had any egress, decks/doors or anything that really could be damaged in mind. Above those we used full snow guards from eave to ridge in a soldier pattern.”  

The result? A stunning mountain getaway that is as safe as it is picturesque. 

Grand prize winner: Home Grown Roofing and Contracting 

As for Adrian, his team at Home Grown Roofing and Contracting took home the grand prize for their work on a roof in Breckenridge, Colorado. Adrian gave some background on the project, sharing, “In the town of Breckenridge, it's required by code that you have a snow retention system. For this roof in particular, it was extra important [to install guards] because it had very steep slopes.” 

What the Home Grown team ended up doing was installing a soldier pattern of Yeti 18 snow guards. Adrian explained, “We did that for ease of installation and it’s also aesthetically appealing.” Similar to what Josh’s team did, they also recommended use of a DaVinci roof underneath the snow guards. Adrian shared, “The client originally wanted a stone coated steel roof. And I typically love that option, but it wasn’t great for the elevation because it’s a thinner gauge. So instead, we got him a DaVinci composite with the snow guards and some heat cables.” 

And that ended up being the perfect choice. Now, the client has a safe and stunning roof for their client, and Home Grown has the grand prize winner title from the 2025 “Show Us Our Snow Guards” contest. 

Learn more about snow retention and these incredible projects by listening to the whole episode!