You may want to consider hiring a local that owns a truck with a snow blade to keep your driveway clear. A local can keep up with the snow. It appears that you do plenty of work there as it is. Remember, it's your vacation house.

-Deerslayer

Here, here, what deereslayer said.

Sign a annual contract with a local snow removal company and let it be their worry. They when you decide to go there it is nice an clear for you so you can enjoy yourself.

With all that equipment you have - how about a 4wd pickup or suv. with a blade. Or as others have said put a local contractor (snow removal) on a contract to clean out when you are there. I guess it depends on how often you are there.

I don't normally reply to posts in this category, but just a observation, if you have shrubs on each side that you dont like snow pouring onto from your FEL, a angle plow will do the same thing since driveway is only one car wide. Only option there i see is to empty FEL over (beyond) the shrubs each time it fills up, taking longer of course, but the snow has to go somewhere..
On shrubs or over top them, which a angle plow wont do.
And the hard pack the road crew piles up, might as well forget anything other than a FEL for that.
Sure would be nice to be able to get to house and equipment right off, so if you aren't considering having someone else do it while you aren't there, to save money, if that is even a concern, hire someone to clear the entrance when it snows "after" the main road crews piles it up. Least the worst part of the snow removal would be done, and you could get off the main road with your car/truck.
Way i see it, with the ice build up, you leave the ice and salt or gravel it for traction after "you" plow. Or as others said, have snow cleared by someone else with each snow fall so ice doesnt form. Just not worth it trying to get melted and refrozen snow/ice off after its there.

Do you really need to have the snow removed when you're not there full-time? If you're just going up for the weekend, assuming you have a decent 4wd truck, why not just drive on the snow? Throw some calcium chloride down and shovel the immediate area from the truck to the door so your wife doesn't have to walk on ice. Then go inside, start a fire and enjoy some hot cocoa with your family instead of spending your Saturday plowing snow for a house which will sit empty all week. Sounds ridiculous, but I don't mind driving my Yukon through deep snow, over ice, sand or just good old mud. But that's me. With 265/70R17 (32") BFG All-Terrain T/As it's never a problem.
That approach would work in PA. I'm not sure what part of NY you're talking about. If it's lake-effect snow, you might be driving on four feet of ice after a few weeks of not plowing. But if not, why bother? It's not like you have to clean off the driveway so your wife can get to work in her Civic or anything. And I'd imagine paying someone to plow it, while the best option in the interest of keeping the snow clear, would be pretty expensive.

A buddy of mine lived in Fairbanks for about a decade. He said most of the roads up there were not plowed. They just drove on the snow.

marineguy, good idea just driving on the packed snow, although calcuim is not the best, pretty messy, just lowers the freezing point of the snow it melts - use cat litter for traction. Alway's carry 2 20# bags in trunk in winter and a couple of bags in truck (put'm in heavy garbage bags to keep dry and ready to use when needed).
FWIW, SIL use to plow driveway's and parking lots, $80.00/hr or $40.00 min charge, for call in's, annual contracts were specific charges depending on snowfall and other requirements. A call in on a 1/4 mile 1 lane drive would be probably in the $50 to $60 range unless there was 12"+ snow with drifts of 24"+.
A poorly landscaped drive (for the weather conditions) can add money. (advertisement) Thats where my landscaping business can help the homeowner as well as the small commercial business. I make it look good as well as easy to maintain, not just the plants and beds themselves, but all functions required around them.

Hi Tracktor
My neighbor up the road has a GT 5000 . He put's wheel weights and chains on his and he bought the Sears plow for the front and I've seen him push some really heavy snow out of his drivway. I think the 2 stage blower you have for yours would probably do better than his plow. I never looked but he told me the GT5000 wieghs about 900 pounds. His does really well with his setup
Pap

"the GT5000 wieghs about 900 pounds"

Maybe with your neighbor sitting on it if he's real fat! 8^)

-Deerslayer

Another possibility is one of those blowers that fit on the front of your truck.

One problem with hiring people from out of State is knowing who is dependable and will not cause future problems. I had some neighbor ensure my driveway was always plowed but I was guaranteed additional work in the Spring such as filling wheel holes, fixing plow damage and reseeding.

I finally gave up and bought a commercial snowblower. If you want a job done right.....