Not all swanky design-intensive retreats are owned by tech millionaires. This sharply defined dwelling in Snoqualmie, Washington, belongs to guides Scott Schell and Margaret Wheeler, who work with my homies Martin Volken and Mike Hattrup at Pro Guiding Service. Scott, Margaret, and Martin also wrote Backcountry Skiing: Skills for Ski Tour and Ski Mountaineering, a tidy 300-plus page book on everything backcountry you could learn in a book. Their pad is on track for LEED Silver certification and use blow-down trees for the siding, fascias, and trim. Energy is provided via a ground source heat pump.

Weekend Cabin isn’t necessarily about the weekend, or cabins. It’s about the longing for a sense of place, for shelter set in a landscape…for something that speaks to refuge and distance from the everyday. Nostalgic and wistful, it’s about how people create structure in ways to consider the earth and sky and their place in them. It’s not concerned with ownership or real estate, but what people build to fulfill their dreams of escape. The very time-shortened notion of “weekend” reminds that it’s a temporary respite.

Tagged as: shelter, weekend cabin