HUMAN

Name: Bernie Willis

Residence: Wasilla, Alaska

Age: 75

Occupation: I’m retired

Years involved with Iditarod: Well, I guess about 49. I ran the second race.

Past Iditarod Roles: I was a musher and a sled builder, and a guide for the insider. I was on the Rules Committee, too, for about 10 years.

Current Location: Settler’s Bay Lodge in Wasilla, Alaska
Date of Photo: March 1, 2022

Temperature: 68 F Indoors

What, who or how and when did you first get involved with the Iditarod?

I first got involved in Iditarod in 1974, as a result of my acquaintance with Howard Farley. I was living on St. Lawrence Island and he was in Nome. And he had a dog mushing concession there, and he encouraged me to run the race. And of course I did want to, so I did, the next year.

What was one of your most memorable Iditarod experiences?

One of my most memorable experiences with Terry Adkins that year in ’74, we had a horrible storm in the pass, and then we went back to Rainy Pass Lodge and then proceeded the next day, or maybe two days later, and camp down near Hells Gate. We didn’t go through Rainy Pass that year, but Hells Gate was the route.

What does the 50th running of the Iditarod mean to you?

Being that this is the 50th year of the Iditarod, I just wonder where the time went. That doesn’t seem all that long ago. My kids have run it. My daughter ran the Jr. Iditarod and life goes by so fast. I can’t believe it’s been 50 years.

What do you know for sure?:

What do I know for sure about life? Well, about the only thing I really know for sure is that everything just keeps repeating itself. There’s not all that much that’s brand new. We just live over and over again.