Sailing in the Mediterranean and Beyond Episode 229 Chris Axelson pt. 1

Sailing in the Mediterranean and Beyond

This episode is part 1 of a 2 part interview with Chris Axelson Chris Axelson and his family decided to take the plunge and go sailing in the: treacherous Covid Plandemic waters of 2020. Against all odds he is able to live the dream this year when the rest of us are sitting stuck in our homes because of this Plandemic Covid crisis. Chris and his family Homestake Lodge a Ski Touring Lodge in Montana here is a link to his webpage http://www.homestakelodge.com/about/ About Homestake Lodge A history of our lodge Chris and I bought the property in August of 2007 and began rough work on the ski trails. We lived in a camping tent until the middle of October when we got our Yurt put together and assembled. We thought we were living the good life when we moved into the yurt. We planned to run the ski operations out of the yurt during our first winter, and try to get as many trails established as possible. We worked sun up to sun down cutting trails, mowing, stumping, etc. Christmas Eve we moved into our cabin, and got the yurt set up for the ski season and our customers. We were officially open for business. January of 2008 we started construction on the lodge which was completed by November of that year. This allowed us to the run the ski business out of the lodge for the 2009/2010 season, and we picked up the yurt on a trailer and moved it out to the meadow to get ready for a ski-in/ski-out overnight destination for guests. The yurt has been our most popular overnight accommodation so far. Guests enjoy skiing out and pulling their gear in a sled, firing up the wood stove to keep them warm, and the coziness of a yurt with 2 sets of bunk beds, a futon, and a small kitchenette. The last few years we have worked diligently to add more ski trails and improve the ones we already have in place. Chris and I have cut about 70% of the trails ourselves, and the remaining 30% were established roads or trails already in place when we bought the property. When we bought the property, no buildings existed. We added a lodge, barn, cabin, house, and yurt. Our future plans in expanding include waiting to see which overnight accommodations are most popular and either build 1 or 2 more cabins or yurts. We have a snowmaking system which has been a great success. It is a small system, but it allows us to pump water from our pond below the lodge and get an early snow pack on our learn-to-ski area. This sets it up for the season in great shape. Life at Homestake Lodge is wonderful and peaceful and full of constant work that we enjoy. We have to force ourselves to take time off once in awhile because there is a never ending list of projects to be done. We love every bit of it-even the shoveling of cow patty's off the trail once the cattle leave for the season! Our lodge is completely off-the-grid. We rely completely on our solar PV panels for electricity and solar hot water panels and wood stoves for our heat. See more on that below. Sustainability One of our major goals in the design and operation of Homestake Lodge was to minimize our carbon footprint. For us, "going green" and living "off grid" was a new concept. We had to do a lot of our own research as well as talking with people that know this industry. Electricity and Heat Homestake Lodge now has a grid-tied solar power system (summer 2014). What you read below is more like history. The electricity here at the lodge comes from the power system in the barn. The photovoltaic (PV) panels are on the roof of the barn and supply electricity to the barn, cabin, and lodge. There are 36 panels on the roof and almost the same amount of batteries to store the electricity. If we don't get enough sun or use up all our stores in the batteries, the generator comes on. The generator has a 30kwh capacity, which is much more than we need right now. In the lodge, we heat with many different things.