London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Aug 30, 2025

This Mountain Retreat in Alaska Offers a Stylish Escape from Extreme Conditions

This Mountain Retreat in Alaska Offers a Stylish Escape from Extreme Conditions

A remote, hexagonal lodge in the Alaskan wilderness invites adventurous guests to take refuge from the elements.

Set on a granite outcropping known as a nunatak, atop Ruth Glacier in the snowy landscape of Alaska’s Denali National Park, this five-room hotel-built by the descendants of bush pilot and original homesteader Don Sheldon-rests on the mountain at 6,000 feet, surrounded by nothing but sky and compressed ice. Animals are few, and there’s no internet-the nearest town is 50 miles away. Everyone who visits has to arrive by air transportation.



Located just 10 miles from the summit of Ruth Glacier, Sheldon Chalet is dwarfed by its mountainous setting. "I don’t get to spend enough time there, but when I do it leaves me with a full and content heart," says owner Marne Sheldon.

"The beauty exists outside and we didn’t want the interiors competing with the gorgeous landscape," says the hotel’s owner, Marne Sheldon, of the family’s approach to designing the hexagon-shaped lodge, which now attracts guests from around the world. "Loud, bold colors would have been out of place. Instead we chose a warm, inviting, and clean style that focuses attention on the grandeur outside," she says.



Hunter Douglas shades soften the natural light and prevent UV rays from damaging the furniture, flooring, and artwork at Sheldon Chalet.

For visitors, the chalet experience is a mix of austerity and comfort. Guests can hike on the glacier or dip into nearby hot springs before enjoying a glass of champagne back at the lodge. They can cast a line into icy water to catch salmon, and then indulge in artisan chocolates decorated to resemble the aurora borealis before tucking into a plush bed.

But amid all the natural beauty to take in, there’s one element that has the potential to eclipse everything-sunlight. In this environment, the sun is intense and in summer it shines well into the night. "The light becomes uncomfortably bright when it is bouncing off the snow and relentlessly reflecting back at you," says Marne, recalling how she often noticed guests and staff would wear sunglasses even when inside the chalet.



The chalet’s common areas feature windows that have been optimized with Hunter Douglas shades to shield guests from harsh light while allowing views.

To mitigate the glare, the Sheldon family decided to upgrade the lodge’s windows with state-of-the-art treatments by Hunter Douglas. In the living room, for instance, the S-shaped veins of the brand’s ​​Silhouette ClearView shades filter light without blocking views, making it possible to recline on an Eames chair in the library and comfortably read a good book.

In the bedrooms, Duette Honeycomb shades seamlessly blend with the window frames while providing insulation and total light blockage, so guests can get a good night’s rest. "The channels have a black, ridged interior that traps and absorbs the light from all angles, preventing it from entering the room around the perimeter of the shade," says Natalie Hatmaker, Senior Product Manager for Hunter Douglas, explaining how the system works.

The chalet’s new window coverings may seem like a small detail, but they’ve had an enormous impact. "The experience before had a survival element to it, along the lines of traditional mountaineering," says Marne. "Now guests can be immersed in all the wonder and awe of Denali in comfort-and enjoy it without sunglasses."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
A new faith called Robotheism claims artificial intelligence isn’t just smart but actually God itself
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner Purchases Third Property Amid Housing Tax Reforms Debate
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Italian Facebook Group Sharing Intimate Images Without Consent Shut Down Amid Police Investigation
Dutch Foreign Minister Resigns Amid Deadlock Over Israel Sanctions
Trump and Allies Send Messages of Support to Ukraine on Independence Day Amid Ongoing Conflict
China Reels as Telegram Chat Group Shares Hidden-Camera Footage of Women and Children
Sam Nicoresti becomes first transgender comedian to win Edinburgh Comedy Award
Builders uncover historic human remains in Lancashire house renovation
Australia Wants to Tax Your Empty Bedrooms
MotoGP Cameraman Narrowly Avoids Pedro Acosta Crash at Hungarian Grand Prix
FBI Investigates John Bolton Over Classified Documents in High-Profile Raids
Report reveals OpenAI pitched national ChatGPT Plus subscription to UK ministers
×