Best Vehicle setup for Alpinism?

[leimrod]

As with most climbers/skiers/alpinists I've been thinking about investing in some long term setup for living on the road.

 

I'm looking for some inspiration as to what setups I should look into to get this started.

 

As it stands here is what I'm thinking about for being able to live a mobile existence long term.

 

An SUV large enough to sleep in + a small Caravan

 

My thinking is that the entire system is mobile, but also modular. I could replace the SUV or Caravan if either of them irreparably breaks down. I'm not left with a single point of failure.

 

Also, I'd like to be able to roll into somewhere. Basecamp my caravan somewhere and then day trip away from it in the SUV. This would mean I wouldn't have to haul my entire life to every trailhead or sketchy parking lot. This is why I'd like an SUV I could sleep in.

 

For vehicles I was thinking of:

 

Honda Element w/ trailer hitch

Boler of some kind (retains value well)

 

My needs are different to the dirtbag climber as I want to also be able to access mountains hidden up deactivated forestry roads and ski and ice climb in the winter.

 

Has anyone any experience with a setup like this? What are some pitfalls to look out for? What other vehicles and caravans should I research?

[Jason4]

As luck would have it my GF is selling a 2005 Element with AWD and a manual transmission, it already has a hitch on it too but isn't wired for a trailer. She's selling it because her living is not as transient as it once was and we need a truck.

 

It's been a great car for sleeping at the trailhead and still gets 25mpg.

[leimrod]

Hey Jason, did you do any mods to it? I've seen a lot of people make it so that the tailgate can be opened from the inside, did you guys do this?

[Jason4]

As far as I know the only mod was adding a hitch for a bike rack. I don't know how hard it would be to mod the tail gate to open from the inside but I could see that being pretty handy. Let me know if you want more info about the car, it's posted on Craigslist in Bellingham. I'd give you a link here but I can't get to CL from my work computer.

Edited December 1, 2014 by Jason4

[num1mc]

The best vehicle is the one having the most fun

[KaiLarson]

Toyota Tacoma (or similar 4wd pickup) with a 4-Wheel Camper pop-top.

 

Will go more places, and get better gas mileage than an SUV/Trailer combination.

 

http://www.fourwh.com/

 

 

[fenderfour]

I'm not sure I would recommend an Element for towing. I've got a 2011. It's a fat bastard with a relatively small engine. Things go slow with a full load of friends driving over mountain passes. I'm not sure if I would also ask it to pull even a small trailer (caravan).

[christophbenells]

 

 

[DPS]

 

 

Nice beaver.

[Water]

it is partially stuffed in that picture.