The Experience At A Glance

“Adventure in place” on the flanks of Denali at an exclusive-use family owned property that sits on top of a glacier in one of the most remote locations on the planet. Glacier trekking, rappelling, rock climbing, snow cavern spelunking, ice climbing, gourmet glacier picnics, and stargazing are just some of the awesome adventures to be had in this truly extraordinary spot on the globe. Read about our founder Mark Lakin’s experience at Sheldon Chalet and other adventures in Alaska in Travel + Leisure.

The Why

1. Where to Stay on Denali: A Chalet at 6,000 Feet

99.9% of travelers to Alaska see Denali (North America’s highest peak at 20,310 feet) only from a distance, and only on the rare days its summit breaks through the clouds. When you stay at Sheldon Chalet, you wake up on the mountain itself. The property sits at 6,000 feet on a private nunatak (a rocky outcrop surrounded by ice) in the Don Sheldon Amphitheater, less than ten miles from the peak. It is the only standing structure within the 6 million acres of Denali National Park & Preserve. Don Sheldon, the bush pilot who pioneered glacier landings on Denali, acquired the land in the 1950s and used it to shelter stranded climbers during storms. Today his family hosts one group at a time, with five bedrooms and a maximum of ten guests.

2. See the Northern Lights in Alaska From Your Bed

The northern lights are most visible in the darkest skies, and few skies on the planet are darker than these. In fact, the nearest settlement and any source of artificial light lie far beyond the horizon and impassable terrain. The chalet’s hexagonal design turns each bedroom toward the surrounding peaks behind wide picture windows, so when the aurora borealis starts to ripple green and violet over the jagged skyline, you can take in the entire performance from the comfort of your bed, wrapped in plush throws.

3. Guided Adventures on the Ruth Glacier and Great Gorge

The Ruth Glacier is a 40-mile river of ice flowing down from the slopes of Denali, and the chalet sits at its head. Just below, the glacier squeezes through the Great Gorge, where granite walls tower 5,000 feet above the ice and the ice itself runs nearly 3,800 feet deep. Measured from clifftop to bedrock, the gorge is deeper than the Grand Canyon. Most visitors only ever see it from the air. Here, it is your own playground. Each morning, expert mountaineering guides lead you out onto the glacier to descend into frozen blue caverns, scale walls of ice, or carve fresh lines in untouched powder, before a gourmet lunch is laid out amid the snow. You return as the evening sun sets the peaks aglow.

4. Chef-Prepared Dining and a Sauna With Mountain Views

As the day’s adventures come to an end, the chalet’s rituals take over. From the cedar sauna, a single window frames the mountain as it turns pink in the last light of day. Downstairs, a fire crackles in the library, where the shelves hold biographies of the pilot himself, while your chef, flown in by helicopter for the length of your stay, prepares dinners built on Alaska’s finest — king crab, wild salmon, and halibut — sourced locally, cooked to your liking, and served with homemade bread as the ridgelines outside fade from rose to indigo. The next morning, breakfast in bed arrives garnished with edible wildflowers.

5. Water Melted From Fresh Alpine Snow

Here, even a glass of water has a story. The chalet draws its supply from the pristine snowfields of the amphitheater — snow that settled high in the mountains, far from any city — and shovels it by hand, melting it on site for everything from the carafe on your nightstand to a hot shower at the end of the day. It is a quiet, constant reminder of just how far you have traveled from the ordinary world. Power comes from solar panels backed by a generator, and the family works to keep plastic and emissions to a minimum.

6. Arriving by Private Helicopter From Talkeetna

No road leads here, and there is no front desk. Your arrival begins in Talkeetna, the storied frontier town at the foot of the Alaska Range, where a private helicopter lifts off for a 30-minute flight deep into the mountains. Below, braided rivers give way to spruce forest, then to vast fields of ice and knife-edged arêtes, until you touch down beside the chalet, set above the Ruth. Anchored to the bedrock with titanium rods, it is built to withstand 220 mph winds. The rotors fall silent, and the mountain goes quiet.

Sheldon Chalet is for the intrepid family marking a milestone, the couple seeking a wilderness entirely their own, and the traveler who has admired one of the world’s greatest peaks from afar and is ready, at last, to sleep on it.

Take me there