Over this summer we’ve done a ton of work to make WildSnow Field HQ (a ‘tiny house on wheels’ in central Colorado, near the town of Marble) better than ever. As an experiment, with the help of production assistant Joe we installed a 450 gallon water tank, half buried in the ground inside a temporary insulated enclosure. Works fine in summer of course, but will it freeze? Stay tuned. The land was choked with overgrown unhealthly forest when we bought it, and after a brutal amount of “defensible space” work it’s looking good thanks to lots of help from friends. Lisa even planted those apple trees she was blogging about a while ago!
Caleb and Jennie pitched in on the last of our big slash burning project. Other folks contributed as well. Thanks goes to all!
Job with a view -- yours truly sweeps the stove vent. We burn aspen wood for heat. Curious about how much creosote would build up from that. Really wasn't bad but a yearly cleaning is in order and perhaps once during winter with heavy use.
Job with not such a great view--vacuuming creosote from wood stove after the brush knocks it down.
Kate and Jen put finishing touches on the water tank enclosure. If this thing works in winter during backcountry skiing days, it'll be fantastic. Plan is to get water from a freeze proof hose bib I installed exterior to the tank. That's where the freeze point might be. Critical thing is when it'll start to snow and insulate the ground. If we have a dry December we could have a problem.
Other improvements include fire resistant cushions on a bench near the wood stove, and some work on the solar system so we have more lighting options. The place is totally ready for snow so now we hope our ski burning (to be honest, our prayers) bring a good safe winter for all!
Build your dream. Attend a tiny house workshop!
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
