Q: I want to go to Alaska for a once in a lifetime trip. I like fishing. My wife just wants to be pampered and have a spa experience, and my 15-year old is a great athlete with energy to burn. Where can we go where we can all be together but get to do things we each want?
A: There's a company up here specializing in "multi-sport" itineraries, which would be perfect for you and your family. Tordrillo Mountain Lodge was started by big mountain heli-skiing guides, who built the lodge around their guiding mentality. You'll be able to fish, your teenager can go on big adventures and your wife can join you or enjoy the fine meals, wine cellar, massages and hot tub at the Lodge.
You’ll find high-end fishing lodges in Alaska and high-end wilderness lodges (focusing on other activities, like bear viewing or kayaking) But you don’t often find both in the same lodge. Tordrillo Mountain Lodge, operated by Chugach Adventure Guides, is an exception.
The options for adventure (and adrenaline rushes) are limitless here, because of the background of the guides and their tools (helicopters, boats, kayaks). You can be dropped off by helicopter at a remote river, where you can fish for rainbow trout or king salmon. Then your guide will call in the helicopter and you’ll fly to alpine terrain for an afternoon of hiking overlooking glaciers and lakes.
Or you can go rock climbing in the crags of the Alaska Range. Or paddleboard amongst icebergs in a lake. Or snorkel with spawning sockeye salmon! It really is limitless.
And they picked this part of Alaska, near Denali National Park , because of it offers access to all this terrain, and rivers and lakes hosting all five species of salmon, rainbow trout, grayling and Arctic Char.
The lakefront lodge is also a great place to relax. When I was there several years ago, I spent hours making photographs from the dock. Your wife can go on mellow walks in the rolling terrain around the lodge, fish for sockeye out the front door or soak in the hot tub. The lodge is intimate and comfortable with wireless internet and flat screen televisions.
And their chefs are excellent. One afternoon, we went out by helicopter to catch some kings for a sushi dinner, accompanied by king crab legs and wine from their cellar. This is high livin’!
A lodge like this is not inexpensive. But, if you want to come back from Alaska with a story no one else has, Tordrillo Mountain Lodge offers a unique and personal experience in the Alaska wilderness.
