Alaska
TORDRILLO MOUNTAINS
RECOMMENDED BY Tommy Moe
Nothing tops off a great day of skiing like a crisp craft beer. And there are few more inviting places to kick back with a good glass of ale than the Tordrillo Mountains and Tordrillo Mountain Lodge.
The Tordrillos are a compact range seventy-five miles northwest of Anchorage, Alaska's largest city. They rest between the Aleutian Range (to the south) and the Alaska Range (to the west and north) and span some sixty miles north to south. Several peaks eclipse the eleven-thousand-foot mark. A combination of volcanic and glacial activity through the ages has carved an endless array of couloirs and towers; many runs range from three thousand to four thousand vertical feet. (One chute, which the guides have dubbed "Manhattan," is only fifty feet wide and boasts thousand-foot walls!) With an average of six hundred inches of fluffy snow (thanks to its proximity to the Pacific) and some 1.2 million acres of terrain to choose from, fresh powder (or in the spring, soft corn) is always in reach. There's some really extreme terrain available to explore, but there are also immense bowls where skiers or snowboarders of modest ability can experience the thrill of heli-skiing. On clear days—and there are a number of them—you can look out in the distance to see Denali (Mount McKinley), North America's highest peak, at 20,320 feet.
You reach the runs via a Eurocopter A-Star helicopter. A ride in the A-Star sets the tone for a day in the Tordrillos; many visitors are as invigorated by the flight as the skiing. (It's hard to describe the sensation of climbing over—and then falling away from—three-thousand-foot spires.) One of your guides may be Tommy Moe, gold medal winner in the downhill at the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. And your home as you explore the Tordrillos is a five-thousand-square-foot log cabin set on the banks of Judd Lake and the Talachulitna River. The cabin can only be reached by float plane or helicopter, a roughly forty-five-minute flight from Anchorage. You can look out at two eleven-thousand-foot volcanoes from the deck (as well as Denali) or from the lakeside wood-fired hot tub. During the latter part of the season, it's not uncommon to see black bears and occasionally grizzlies foraging around the lake or exploring surrounding hillsides.
"The hot tub at Tordrillo has to be one of the nicest spots in Alaska to enjoy a beer," Tommy offered. "The days are long, and you can bring a pitcher of beer down from the lodge, slip in the tub, and enjoy. We like to keep nice pale ale on tap at the lodge, something that can appeal to a range of tastes. One of my favorites is the American pale ale from Alaskan Brewing Company. During our spring skiing season, you can stay in the hot tub as late as you want and watch loon—and sometimes moose—come out on the lake. [During Cast and Carve weeks, guests mix spring skiing with salmon and trout fishing in the Talachulitna … all enabled by the Eurocopter.] The west deck is another great spot to enjoy a beer in the spring and early summer as the sun hangs in the west over the Tordrillos."
Alaska has a population of under 750,000 hearty souls spread over 570,641 square miles, but according to the Brewers Guild of Alaska, the "Last Frontier" supports twenty-seven breweries and brewpubs … despite the challenges of transporting equipment and raw materials to such an isolated locale. Anchorage has the greatest concentration of brewpubs, but Alaska's best-known beers hail from the state capital of Juneau in the southeast and Alaskan Brewing Company. The brewery was opened in 1986 by the then-twenty-eighty-year-olds Marcy and Geoff Larson, who had been drawn to Alaska by the state's beauty without a clear vision of exactly how they'd make a living and be able to stay. When pondering what to do to make ends meet, a friend suggested starting a brewery. When Marcy discovered a recipe for a gold rush–era beer that had been originally brewed by the Douglas City Brewing Company (circa 1900) and Geoff brewed a batch, the seeds were sown. That beer would become known as Alaskan Amber and would become the Alaskan Brewing Company's flagship brand.
The summer solstice is a special time to be in the Tordrillos, as the sun never quite sets. It's even more special if you can celebrate it with an evening ski. "It's a tradition at Tordrillo Mountain Lodge that we fly up for a few runs on the solstice after dinner. We'll load up the 'copter around 9:30 and set down above a run—usually something mellow, as everyone has a full stomach. The light is just amazing, a steady alpenglow. We'll make our turns down to the bottom of the bowl, and then break out some snacks—maybe some Alaskan king crab, crackers, and cheese—and some wine and cans of craft beer. Then we'll toast the solstice, and look around at the great state of Alaska."
TOMMY MOE knew that skiing would be part of his future since his grade school days, when his father let him play hooky to ski powder. What he didn't know was that he would become a World Cup contender and take home the gold in the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway—where he won the downhill by .04 of a second—followed by a silver in the super-G. Today, Tommy is a partner and founder of Tordrillo Mountain Lodge. He finds the greatest reward in sharing the property and newly discovered terrain with skiers and snowboarders seeking the trip of a lifetime, whether it's a week of powder skiing in the winter, whitewater rafting the Tal and Coal Creek, or paddleboarding under the summer midnight sun. He resides in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with his wife, Megan Gerety, and two daughters, Taylor and Taryn.
If You Go
Getting There: Guests gather in Anchorage, Alaska, which is served by many carriers. From there, it's a forty-five-minute floatplane ride to Tordrillo Mountain Lodge.
Best Time to Visit: Early February through April for ski packages; mid-June through early July for ski/fish packages.
Spots to Visit: If you visit Juneau, stop by Alaskan Brewing Company (907-780-5866; www.alaskanbeer.com).
Accommodations: Tordrillo Mountain Lodge (907-569-5588; www.tordrillomountainlodge.com) offers a number of all-inclusive ski packages. Captain Cook (907-276-6000; www.captaincook.com) is a popular hotel in Anchorage.