“Chat”, when properly packed can provide a pavement like surface. But, I don’t think that’s an option unless you remove the gravel base. Asphalt overlay is the best I can come up with.

Your snow blower almost certainly has a setting for how close to the ground it plows. If you haven't done so, you should put this on the highest setting for a gravel driveway. In theory, it should solve your problem. It won't get as much snow up, but gravel should be a better surface for a thaw-freeze cycles than asphalt.

Thanks, Sigrid. I have it set at the maximum, but still pick up rocks (and usually spit them out).

Our first house had a gravel driveway. My husband replaced the wheels on the snowblower to make it higher so it wouldn't pick up the gravel.

We had a big snowstorm last week, and our plow guy came up with the machine shown in the photo. In clearing the snow, there was a lot of damage to the driveway (this frequently happens if snow needs to be cleared when the driveway is not frozen). Any thoughts?

i had the same problem with a gravel driveway. i went to home depot and got a piece of aluminum angle . i think it was about 3''x3'' xi2'' and cut it half. cut one side down to the flat side and bend it up at about a 30 degree angle and drill holes to match . i now have a blacktop driveway. never picked up a stone after putting on that aluminum ski.

I don't think you'll ever have a solution if you keep on using a 20K-40K pound Deere wheel loader with chains. Certainly no pavement, you'll just have to keep grading the gravel each spring and cleaning up the grass.

Probably best to get a UTV with a box grading blade for each spring.

I had no choice on that Deere! It was an especially heavy, wet snowfall and the company who does my plowing chose it, and for a snowfall a couple of months ago, their pickup plow truck got stuck. The issue with the driveway surface is 2-fold. After the plow guy does his job, there are piles of gravel-impregnated snow around the outside, which includes part of our lawn and when the snow melts, all the gravel needs to be removed by hand. And when I try to clean up these snow piles or other parts of the driveway not cleared by the plow, the gravel gets caught in my snow blower and breaks the shear pins.

I now am having various landscapers/contractors evaluate my property to see what hardscape (including driveway surfaces) and plantings should be done. One of the contractors is the very one who did the plowing (and also, incidently, built the original driveway). Another contractor said that for their plowing customers, they clean up in the spring.