HUMAN

Name: Greg Tibbits

Age: 78
Residence: Anchorage, Alaska

Occupation: Retired Teacher

How many Years involved with Iditarod: Several years

First Year Ran Iditarod: 1990

Iditarod Role: Musher

Current Location: Anchorage, Alaska

Date of Photo: March 6, 2026
Temperature: 68F, indoors

Question 1: What is it about running sled dogs that you love so much?

What I love most about running sled dogs was for me, it was bonding with the dogs, and watching them athletically perform along the trail. And I’d never been with greater athletes than I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been involved in athletics most of my life, ever witnessed anything like the sled dogs. And so that’s probably the most thing I loved about it.

And when things were going right with the team, which it was one of the greatest highs I think I’ve ever experienced in my life when we were working together as a unit. I was doing my job, and they were performing like the greatest athletes that I’ve ever imagined I’ve been around.

Question 2: What, who or how and when & why did you first get involved running the Iditarod?

 

I got involved running the Iditarod because I’d been, at first, studying the mushers with a group from the University of Alaska on human performance in the cold. And the mushers were an ideal, of course, laboratory for that because they were out there doing this tremendous effort from here to Nome. And so I got involved with them and Joe Redington. And I was out on the trail, and saw the dogs and saw the mushers. And at that point I hadn’t really thought about doing the Iditarod myself because I’d always just either done things alone, running or climbing or things like that, athletically. But then I got the opportunity to get a team of dogs from Joe Redington, and asked if I would be willing to be the human guinea pig on the trail. And so I said, yeah, because the adventurer that I am, I said, yeah.
And didn’t know quite what I was getting to, but I’d always loved animals and I’ve always had dogs, but not sled dogs. And so that’s how I got involved in running the Iditarod, in 1990 I ended up mushing out of town, heading to Nome.

Question 3:  Tell me about just one of your most memorable Iditarod experiences running the Iditarod.

 

My most memorable experience running the Iditarod is, probably for me, I had to just pick one because there’s so many, every day there was memorable experiences. But going through the Alaska Range the first time with the dogs, and not just me and not just human power, but working as a team, and making that transition from here on the coast, going over the Alaska Range and through the Alaska Range, and then going into the interior, was this sensation that I had that I was actually really going somewhere, geographically. And that kind of struck me. I was kind of awed by it.

I’d climbed an Denali before, so I had the feeling that in the sense I was in the same range as Denali and I was going through it. And this time instead of climbing, I was mushing. It just hit me. So I would say that was a real great experience, and sharing that with the dogs, of course.

What in life do you know for sure?:

 

Life, for me, has been a series of adventures. And I hope I keep plugging away at them until I’m finished here.