Today on YouTube: How to skin a bear

If you’ve been to Tordrillo Mountain Lodge, you are well aware that we have our fair share of quality people up here. Mike Overcast is the boss man, Tommy Moe has his party skiing and his waffles, Greg Harms has IT, and Bob Nunn has his hysterical 80’s jackets. We have our incredible pilots and chefs and our amazing massage therapist. But there are a few members of the team you have maybe met, but not gotten to know as well as some of our guides. One of the first faces you see when you arrive at TML is our incredible lodge manager and snowboard aficionado, Bret.

Bret came to Alaska from Georgia ten years ago and then, like an angel from the heavens, graced us with her irreplaceable presence at TML in January of 2008.

Bret can do anything and everything. From the incredible garden she maintains up here at TML to client and guide logistics, to heli fueling systems, to managing dispatch for every flight that goes in and out of TML, she can do it all. The very first time Bret skied with TML she broke her arm and didn’t tell ANY of us ALL DAY because she didn’t want to seem like a wuss. Bret is our right-hand-woman…because we know no man could handle her job.

A couple years back, Bret was back at the lodge holding down the fort, while the rest of us were out playing in the snow. Being the only one at home base, she went to check on things in the kitchen. When she got there, the front door was wide open and the kitchen was in absolute chaos. After minutes of inspection, Bret realized that a bear had somehow broken into the kitchen and made a complete mess after getting into all of the flour and the grease and spilling it all over the kitchen.

Now, Bret isn’t one to get mad. She’s a cordial and calm adult who handles every issue accordingly. So, as any other calm and cordial adult would do, Bret went and got her gun.

When she stepped outside she realized that the bear had come back for dessert. From there Bret shot the bear, dragged it inside, and proceeded to skin it using a youtube video as her only instruction. The bear is now a permanent part of the lodge as it sits over the back of her office chair, waiting patiently to greet her every day.

So make sure, the next time you come up and see us, stop in and say hi to Bret. And check out the black bear on the back of her office chair.