$1.2M Mount Charleston retreat features panoramic views — VIDEO

Louis Castle, a Las Vegas video game designer, and his family have spent two decades escaping to their A-frame chalet with panoramic views of the Spring Mountains, spacious decks, a fireplace and a wraparound bar in the great room.

The more than 4,128-square-foot home, nestled atop Echo Canyon, a small subdivision on Mount Charleston, opens to the mountain air, sweet with creosote bush and pines. Originally built by Las Vegas real estate attorney Albert Marquis, it was designed according to season, maintaining warmth in the winter when the sun is low, and staying cool in the summer by its eaves blocking the sun.

“We’ve had a few white Christmases up here,” Castle said, standing under the chandelier with a floor-to-ceiling windows behind him.

“I love sitting by the fire in the winter. When you’re sitting in here, you don’t see any other homes. You just see the mountain.”

Castle and his family first stayed at the home on Crestview Drive in the 1990s, renting it for a week over Christmastime. They fell in love with the house. Shortly after, it went on the market. Four years later it was on the market again and they bought it as a second home.

“This is the place where you come, if you’re a native Las Vegan, to get away from the heat,” he said. “I’ve hiked almost all the trails. I used to run up here in high school. Trail Canyon is just a short walk up the road here and it goes up to the rim trail that goes all the way around the canyon. Cathedral Rock’s right over there. Beautiful view.”

But, he said, “The kids are all grown now. We just don’t get up here quite as often. So, I think it’s just time. We just don’t use it as much as we used to.”

The two-bedroom, three-bath home that sleeps 16 comfortably (pullout sofa beds and bunk beds) is back on the market with surround-sound speakers and hot tub on its bottom deck for winter evening soaks among the pines.

Listed at $1.2 million, it comes with a two-car garage, a full-sized kitchen, dining area and great room, extending from one side of the home to the other. Stairs lead to a loft area and the master bedroom where its master bath looks out a window at the mountains. In the basement is an entertainment and media room, laundry and large walk-in storage space.

The only cooling system is a small air conditioner in the master bedroom on the top floor. The dual-pane windows act as the central heating system in the winter. From top to bottom the house is outfitted in rustic blonde wood log furniture purchased from a furniture maker in Seattle.

Aside from the rarely seen neighbors, the lodge and the hotel down the way, the church and library in another subdivision, the campgrounds and hikers, there’s not a lot of activity on this side of the mountain. At night, the sky is dark and the stars are gorgeous, Castle said. Not a gas station or strip mall in sight.

As someone involved in the arts and always working in technology, the home has been a sanctuary only 45 minutes from his front door in Las Vegas.

“I love being able to get away from the technology, get away from the city. I do like cities, but it’s really nice to be able go to the mountains as a contrast. That’s what’s really special about Mount Charleston. You don’t have to plan a lot for it. You can literally just throw some stuff in the car and come up, especially with a house up here.

“It’s just nice to feel like you’ve gotten really away from it all without having to go really far.”