>  These are the colonies that I obtained the mite counts from revealing infestation rates from 8 - 14%.  These colonies survived winter and came back strong enough to make a good harvest.

In our area (NYS), bees can't get out of the hive for almost 6 months. Winter losses have always been a problem. 100 years ago, there were years when beekeepers lost 50 to 80 percent of the colonies. Many gave up trying to winter over and restocked with bees from the south, or simply moved their whole outfits to the south. 

One of the key factors in overwintering in a cold climate is presence or absence of disease. Probably varroa wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the viruses. That's why we try to knock them down before autumn. If you cut mites back too late, they may have already damaged the colony and doomed them to failure.

Nobody in this region would expect a colony to survive winter with mite levels you are describing. Our target is to push the level below 3%. Location is the most important factor in survival, the second would be health of the colony, next would be genetic background. Management fits in there somewhere, depending on the skill of the operator.

PLB

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