Most people who visit Alaska’s Denali National Park will do so by bus, often as a shore excursion from a cruise, a day trip from the town of Talkeetna, or a hotel near the park entrance. Others will spring for a few-hours-long flightseeing trip, boarding a small plane to see much more of the park, but from a much greater distance away. And some will choose to overnight inside the preserve, at one of the wilderness lodges in the Kantishna area, a six-hour, 90-mile rough ride from the entrance.
Now, however, there’s a new—and considerably more luxe and private—way to explore Denali. Sheldon Chalet welcomed its first group of guests earlier this week as the park’s only exclusive-use vacation villa. The lodge sits 6,000 feet above sea level, atop a granite outcrop and amid a 35-square-mile snowfield amphitheater, offering knockout views of the peak of Denali—North America’s highest mountain—only ten miles to the northwest. But it’s not just the setting and vistas that impress. The five-bedroom, hexagonally shaped, eco-conscious chalet sleeps ten in plush digs and comes with an expert staff of two guides, a chef, and a concierge.
“It's totally turnkey,” says Marne Sheldon, who together with her husband, Robert, and his sister Kate masterminded the chalet on the family’s 4.9-acre homestead in the park’s southeastern reaches. “You show up; we take care of everything.”
"Everything" comes at a price, to be sure: $23,000 a night, with a two-night minimum stay (and three nights recommended). It's the kind of once-in-a-lifetime, tell-the-grandkids trip where every detail is memorable. The Sheldons worked with Alaskan artisans to appoint the big-windowed, weather-safe, and seismically secure steel structure in local woods, collaborating with craftsmen in Talkeetna, for example, to make a massive round table from birch. The culinary side of things proves equally tied to a sense of place: “Alaska gourmet, we’re calling it: seafood, game, foraged items,” says Marne.
The chalet may be new, but the family’s history on this land goes back some six decades: “My father claimed this spot in the 1950s,” Robert says. Don Sheldon was not only a well-known pilot, but also a surveyor who, together with the founder of the Boston Museum of Science, Bradford Washburn, mapped this area. He subsequently was able to claim the acreage under the Homestead Act. The law required him to operate it as a commercial enterprise, so he built a mountain house for backcountry enthusiasts passing through. Opened in 1966, it still welcomes rough and ready outdoorsmen and –women today.
“Original brochures from the day refer to it as ‘Mountain House Number 1,’” Robert says. “My dad was clearly planning more.” After Don passed away in 1975, though, nothing further was developed. Nothing, that is, until 2015, a year after the death of Robert and Kate’s mother, when this next generation set off on the chalet project and eventually uncovered plans in the family archives for the additional buildings Don had wanted to erect.
Those who book the new chalet will discover a level of luxury Don probably never thought possible. Over the course of a three-night stay, guests will be flown to the lodge from Talkeetna on a 45-minute helicopter flightseeing trip, then met with glasses of champagne and what Marne calls “an Alaskan seafood extravaganza.”
That evening over dinner, they’ll discuss with the guides what to do on their first full day—trekking out on Ruth Glacier, igloo-building, snow-cave digging, or just enjoying the coziness of the lodge and the vantage it provides over the wilderness. Winter evenings present a strong chance to spot the [Northern Lights, while shooting stars are an almost nightly occurrence year round. The following day can involve a longer, full-day trip to a massive gorge as deep as the Grand Canyon with a picnic lunch at midday. The Sheldons have created a wide menu of activities; all those inside the amphitheater are included in the price of the chalet rental, while those beyond are available for additional fees. (The chopper transfers, all meals, and most beverages are also included.)
“My mom and dad's goal for the original mountain house was for people to have as much of an authentic experience as possible here,” Robert says, explaining how this new project continues his parents’ legacy. “Above all, they wanted nature here to be respected and revered. That was the whole idea, to help people appreciate it.”
