FWIW I will automatically bow to anyone who has to shovel snow more than a few days a year, in terms of what type of shovel is effective. I only shovel snow when I have to for shelter above the snowline (not often) or getting a car unstuck (not often), and I use an avalanche shovel that has proven to work well, and I can shovel comfortably with it for 1-2 hours. If I were clearing a driveway every day for 3 months I would hope for a snow blower or a longer handled shovel for Christmas. I finally took a look at the Cold Steel shovels spoken of in this thread and say - really? You use that thing to shovel on a regular basis? So I agree with turbo, short shovels are for the birds...