The van is truly freedom in any season, when winter comes we put away the summer camp gear and transform the van to our ski lodge on wheels.
How We Converted the Van for Any Season
We have spent the past two years decking out the van to be the most efficient winter climate van you can imagine. Especially to accomodate kids and pets. At that time we didn’t realize how functional it would be for so many all-weather adventures.
We bought the van out of necessity to survive Sprinterdad’s emergency medicine residency in the Bay. Definitely not because we had an extra hundred thousand laying around. We took out a loan for the shell, and Sprinterdad worked grueling moonlighting shifts while a second-year resident to squeeze enough money to get it converted. It was sacrifice. Never did we imagine how much we’d love it, how it would become our homeschool, and how it would simply be the gift that keeps on giving in any season.
Ski Storage System
Born of necessity and imagination, our beloved ski storage system. Backstory: in 2018, as a family of four gearing up to truck our kids to Northstar for ski team every weekend, we realized we needed a place to keep our skis and keep our van a tiny home. We opted to not store on the top of the van, because when I was bringing the kids to ski team solo the last thing I wanted to do was climb up on the top, shovel snow off, to get the gear. No way. Our skis live right behind the bed, in the back door, a breeze to load and unload.
We love our ski storage system. So very much we’ve discussed making it our second (and last) product we’ll sell besides our most used and loved front bunk system for two growing kids. We just have to figure out how to ditch the tie system for a more efficient latch. I can’t tell you how much excitement we’ve gotten on how we store from random goers in ski hill parking lots. We don’t see how we’d ski without it!
Diesel Heat
Diesel heat was part of the original install; see our post here on how much we love our build by Pata Vans. So when we bring our cats (yes, our cats) up to a stormy alpine mountain, they are perfectly cozy. It is so nice to always walk into a warm space that is ours. And cook warm soup. Especially with kids. It’s all about the morale on the mountain. If we ever have to replace the our current heater, we would consider a combo propane heat/water heater unit, but that’s a luxury and not a necessity.
Suspension and 4×4
Time and time again we praise all that is good that we have 4×4 – this is absolutely essential for travel into the mountains in winter months. It comes at a price premium, but is well worth it.
Additionally, the stock sprinter van has a box truck sway to it, especially when going over curbs and bumps. Enter in Van Compass. These guys, based out of Idaho make a variety of awesome custom products for the sprinter van and other vehicles – including custom tuned suspension systems. We went with the Stage 3 Van Compass Suspension package, and couldn’t be happier with it! Not only does it smooth out bumpy road conditions, but it also tightens up control in slick conditions which is critical in winter weather.
For our tires, we went with the BF Goodrich T/A KO2 All-Season Tire. These tires are beefy, but have pleasantly low road noise. Rated for mud and snow, these things are great for mountainous winter weather. We elected to install on our stock alloy wheels, as we don’t plan on anything remotely close to rock crawling (we’ll save that for the Jeep Wrangler – more to come on that this spring).
Insulation for Any Season
This is the third winter season we have used our Strawfoot Handmade window covers and they are as new and functional as the day we bought them, highly recommend. It makes a massive difference in keeping the van cozy in cold weather climates and gives the diesel heater a big break. See our previous post, here, on how these window covers keep the van cool in the summer and warm in the winter. A must purchase for any dedicated van family. Plus you can take an ocean trip to Santa Cruz to grab them from the Strawfoot Handmade workshop.
We also spent last spring deconstructing parts of the van to add even more sound-dampening and insulation for quieter rides and even better climate control. We used this insulation. This is one thing we wish would have been done at the beginning.
The Kitchen
Who needs a ski lodge or a food truck when you have a kitchen on wheels? Just in cost savings alone, the van lodge kitchen is worth it every time. Bake some rolls, cook some soup, brew some coffee or cocoa. Everything you need for a fraction of the cost. We utilized the van kitchen a lot the past two ski seasons, but we are using it all day every day now. We ski a lot, and eat a lot. The van fridge stocked with beer after a day on the slopes is a nice perk, too.
All year every year, we love our ski lodge vome. We hope if you don’t already have one, this post will convince you it’s worth the effort to get one, however you can and whenever you can. No matter the time or labor of love, it will be worth it. Home, or vome, is where the heart is.
