In the winter, getting to town usually takes about a half hour by snowmobile and car.

In the summer, foraging deer and elk might not recognize a backyard garden as belonging only to the residents.

And in between, during spring and fall, a home may be an island in a sea of mesa mud waiting either to dry out or freeze up.

But sunset paints a pastel glow on the craggy west face of Hayden Peak about 2 miles from the front porch. And if you climb and ski that mountain, you can savor the sine-wave signature of your turns from the comfort of your living room.

And you don't have to look around for peace and quiet. It's already there.

This is life on the mesa.

At 9,400 feet above sea level and about 3 miles from the nearest paved road, it's not the most convenient address. But it's affordable for most and still within striking distance of the Telluride ski resort's vertigo-inspiring steeps. And it's still close enough in to qualify for the economic juggernaut of mountain real estate.

Owners Eric Johnson and Jason Bombardieri say they hope they've figured out a way to own their own ski country home and one day cash in on the boom.

"I was basically living in a miner's dump in town, and I was sick and tired of paying rent to a property owner who was never in town and never gave any maintenance to the building at all," says Johnson, 27, a production manager for a Telluride newspaper. But once he started looking into buying a home of his own, he quickly learned what it was like to be at the bottom of a real-estate food chain that primarily caters to second-home buyers, movie stars and other well-moneyed folk.

"I was having trouble getting a loan alone, and that's when Jason and I hooked up. We had both been doing the same thing," he says. "It made our loan ceiling double what it would have been individually, and we decided Hasting's Mesa was the right place for us. We were able to get a good bit of acreage for a reasonable price."

What they got was a 576 square-foot cabin on almost 6 acres. They paid $120,000. A year later, they've remodeled the summer, uninsulated cabin into a well-insulated, two story, 1,020 square-foot, two-bedroom house.

They've done all the work themselves, helped along by donations of surplus building materials from larger construction sites.

They spent another $12,000 on what Johnson estimated to be about $35,000 worth of improvements.

[To see some more construction photos click here.]

[To see more pictures of Telluride area and the house before construction click here]

As ski town real estate prices continue to skyrocket -- the cheapest vacant lot it Telluride these days goes for $215,000 -- more would-be buyers are taking the route less traveled toward home ownership, said Ed Andrews, the broker who helped Johnson and Bombardieri buy their home.

For many, Andrews says, efforts to find a home close to town are stymied, sending them looking farther afield.

"I think we're seeing it happen more and more, maybe due to the fact that prices are escalating and sweat equity means a lot in a market with ever-increasing values," he says.

Since they've bought, remodeled and moved into their home Johnson and Bombardieri have had few complaints about life in the high-priced high country.

"It's just a beautiful area," says Bombardieri, 27, who works as a surveyor and a ski instructor. He has a degree in construction management and has built several houses.

He and Johnson have taken advantage of the unique setting, Bombardieri says. It's only about a mile to the Mount Sneffels Wilderness Area.

Backcountry skiing, snowmobiling, hiking, mountain biking, wild-life viewing and mushroom hunting expeditions start from the front porch.

But the challenges of mesa life probably aren't for everyone.

"To be honest, most people try it and it's too hard for them," Johnson says.

"It really takes a lot of planning. It's not like you can just run out to the store, and it's a little bit of a commute to town."

As they've settled into their mountain home, they've learned a lot about solar energy, microwave telephones and other aspects of living beyond paved roads and power lines, he says.

They've kept busy chopping wood for heat, adjusting solar-panel circuitry, making sure the propane tank gets filled before the snow flies and building a 6-foot fence to guard their summer's garden against wild, would-be poachers.

But it's all worth it, they say. They own their own house in a place where that's not supposed to be possible for anyone of their means.

"That's huge," Johnson says. "That's the biggest thing for me. I'm a first-time homeowner, and it's really a tangible feeling."

And as bottom-rung speculators, Bombardieri says, they, too, stand to get a piece of the economic pie that is 1990s mountain real estate.

"We stand to make a good profit, as long as the economy stays strong and the local market stays strong," he says.