WINTERSPORTS -- Snowmobilers and other winter outdoor enthusiasts have a new place to warm up in the mountains north of Sandpoint.

Two dozen students from the University of Idaho’s College of Art and Architecture worked with U.S. Forest Service and regional partners over the past year to design and construct a warming hut up the Lightning Creek drainage. The completed hut unveiled on Saturday includes a wood-burning stove and a covered area for parking snowmobiles.

Karen DiBari, National Forest Foundation director, praised the group effort in a Forest Service news release. “The hut will be a resource to families recreating on their backyard national forest lands for years to come,” she said.

Located in the upper Lightning Creek drainage on Moose Creek Road, the hut will provide a safe haven for the public during snowstorms, as well as a gathering place for friends or a base camp for search and rescue parties.

“This was a great project across the board,” said Randy Teal, head of the UI architecture program. “From the industry partnerships, to the scope of the project, which afforded student involvement from the design phase through completion, it was a great opportunity to provide the outdoor community with a structure that celebrates so much of what Idaho is all about.”

The project was supported by the National Forest Foundation, Idaho Forest Group, Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation, the Winter Riders Snowmobile Club, as well as the Sandpoint Ranger District. Also contributing were the National Forest Foundation, the Weyerhaeuser Family Foundation and the Idaho Panhandle Resource Advisory Committee.