Tiny Ski Chalet... on wheels!

[Aggie]

Article and photos here:
http://inhabitat.com/mobile-tiny-house-transports-5-skiers-boarders-in-search-of-fresh-powder-snow/livin-tiny-sidecountry-sessions-4/

[youtube=425,350]q4U7isvtCHA[/youtube]

Which makes me wonder.... how much harder would it to be to mount this on tracks and pull it with a snow cat right into the mountains?

[Sibling DavidH]

What's more, you could put skis under it and slide down inside it, in comfort.

[Darlica]

I WANT!!!  

You don't need tracks, skis will do fine, given that the frame is sturdy enough and that you have some springs/suspension between the skis and the frame like you have on a snowmobile sled.

Around Kiruna in the very north of Sweden they have little huts on skis with a hatch in the floor for ice fishing called an"Ark"




You pull them out on the ice with a snowmobile when it's thick enough and leave it on "your" spot until spring comes.

I have also seen regular caravans adapted to be pulled by a snowcat so I don't think it would be a problem at all.  

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

The house looks pretty but heavy (which means more fuel burned to move it around) unless the idea is not to be moving it around all the time...

[Roland Deschain]

If you're going to be putting something heavy on wheels or skis up a mountain, you'd better make sure you have access to decent anchorage (no, not the town on Tattooine). I wouldn't want to wake up to a moving view in the morning. 

[Opsa]

It sure looks neat on the inside.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

If you're going to be putting something heavy on wheels or skis up a mountain, you'd better make sure you have access to decent anchorage (no, not the town on Tattooine). I wouldn't want to wake up to a moving view in the morning. 

Indeed.  I would think simple chocks (on the skis) to be insufficient to the task-- ice under pressure melts, after all.  (did it not, skates would not work)   I'd insist on a minimum of 3 ice-screws driven deeply into the ice on 3 sides. Two on the windward side, naturally.

[Aggie]

Or, just be sure to park it in a flat location, preferably in the trees and out of the path of any prospective avalanches.  The hut would be best left near the end of the ski run, not on a mountain top, so that the ski day finishes up without a long cat ride.  The cats are for getting up the hill, once the cabin is parked.

[pieces o nine]

What's more, you could put skis under it and slide down inside it, in comfort.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Or, just be sure to park it in a flat location, preferably in the trees and out of the path of any prospective avalanches.  The hut would be best left near the end of the ski run, not on a mountain top, so that the ski day finishes up without a long cat ride.  The cats are for getting up the hill, once the cabin is parked.

One word:  wind.



I'd be afraid of strong winds, blowing my ice-house all over the lake...

[Griffin NoName]

I'd use the  hole inn  the bottom for dumping waste into the lake.

[Lindorm]

Aggie, no need for a snow chalet. Generations of Swedish conscripts have already proven that you can live a long, comfortable and fulfilling life in a Bv206 (the "snow cat" you posted a picture of). Should the vehicle be subject to NBC contamination, the chassis can be cleaned by a ordinary high-pressure water jet. The body is fibreglass attached with handy snaplocks -in case of heavy contamination, the suggested decontaminatin procedure was to simply de-attach the body and burn it.   

The "Arks" Darlica mention are a local fixture all along the Torne älv river valley up in the far north of Sweden. For full pleasure, you should have the heater going at full tilt, so you can sit in just your undies, drink beer and ice-fish at the same time. The trick is then to be able to walk out in the snowstorm outside to wee, without getting a frostbite on your pecker. A bit like having a sauna built on top of the ice sheet, with a hole down to the lake in the floor.

Nowadays, arkar are regulated to some extent and are required ot carry a plate with the owner´s name and contact information, to enable their recovery when they snap loose of their moorings and drift away across lake Torne träsk. The arks are actually a fairly recent invention, and can be traced back to the railway staff working at Vassijaure station in the late 1940'ies. In southern Sweden, gardening associations became really popular, with lots of working-class people building little gardening sheds-cum-miniature-chalets on their plots, as well as growing stupendous amounts of veggies and flowers. In a way, I suppose that the ark filled a similar social niche, but adapted for a place where the seasons consist of "eleven months of winter and one month of rain".

One of those things that remind you that the far north of Sweden is a bit different from the rest of the country...

[Sibling DavidH]

One word:  wind.

Yes, you'd need some kind of anti-flatulence ventilation in such a small cabin.

[Swatopluk]

In other places those ice-fishing huts (or the more traditionall tents) are outright banned. If you want to ice-fish there, you have to do it in the open. Any use of lights as a lure tends to be banned in the same locations. I assume the fishes there just have a good lobby working on their behalf.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

...  I suppose that the ark filled a similar social niche, but adapted for a place where the seasons consist of "eleven months of winter and one month of rain".

One of those things that remind you that the far north of Sweden is a bit different from the rest of the country...

One word:  wind.

Yes, you'd need some kind of anti-flatulence ventilation in such a small cabin.

LOL!