HUMAN

Name: Jeff King

Age: 66

Residence: Denali, Alaska

Occupation: Musher

Iditarod Roles: Musher

Years involved with Iditarod: 30

Current Location: Willow, Alaska
Date of Photo: March 6, 2022

Temperature: 30 F Outdoors 

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

I first came to Alaska in 1975 and the first I became involved with the Iditarod was when my summer tourism job at Denali, when I was just 20-21 years old. I had to go to Nenana, Alaska, to take an SAT test because I intended to go to college the following fall. And I made arrangements to take my SAT test at the Nenana school. And they put me in a classroom all by myself to take the test. And on the chalkboard it said, “Congratulations Iditarod champion, Jerry Riley,” who was a local Native Alaskan who had won the Iditarod the previous year and on the chalkboard was the word Iditarod and his name. And that’s the first time it really went through my head. I didn’t even own a sled dog then. I didn’t own a dog at that time. But over those next few years, I continued to be fascinated with it. I had more of an interest in living out a childhood dream. I lived in a tent for a winter with 13 dogs and ran a trapline out of Kantishna, north of Mount McKinley. And I had an AM radio that I would string wires into the trees to listen to the radio because it was my only connection with Outside, the outside world. And I was out there when the Iditarod was finishing and I listened to Joe May finish the Iditarod and I listened to a little bit of live footage of the race from my tent. And I thought, I want to do that. And if they can do it, I can do it. It seems impossible to go a thousand miles on a dog sled, but I know it’s not impossible because these guys are doing it and I want to do that. 

What is your Why? Why are you here TODAY and involved with the Iditarod?

I’m here today and involved in the 2022 Iditarod as quite a surprise. A week ago today, I had no idea I was going to be in the race. I’ve been helping the team driver for Husky Homestead. Amanda Otto is running our A-team. She’s been working for me for the last three years. She’s also stepped up since the last two years. I’ve had three abdominal surgeries. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to race again. And we did her last training run on Tuesday out the Denali Highway. This is the Tuesday, just this past [Tuesday], and got back to the parking lot, had a message from Nic Petit saying, “Jeff, I tested positive for COVID, do you want to run my team?” And since then it’s been a whirlwind. It didn’t take me long to say yes, I considered it for about 30 minutes. You know, always been impressed with Nic Petit’s dog team. And I love the weather forecast, I love the snowy trail, and I love the fact that I didn’t have to worry for the last year up to the start line. I’ve had plenty of worries, but they weren’t about me running the Iditarod and between the wonderful surgeons at Providence and my local physical therapist, Patty Sanders, I haven’t felt this good in years. So my physical fitness seems good. My endurance is definitely not what it used to be but I get the impression from Nic’s team, all I got to do is hang on.

Tell me about just one of your most memorable Iditarod experiences.

I believe the most memorable moment for me in the Iditarod…Keep in mind, I’ve been in it 29 times and I’ve traveled almost 200,000 miles on a dog sled in the last 40 years. But my last Iditarod victory in 2006, my team was very dominant at the end. And I could tell that I had put a real magical team together. But on the run between Kaltag and the Old Woman Cabin, in blowing snow and very low visibility, while trying to help my team up a hill by getting off and running, I postholed through the snow and lost my balance and let go of the sled. And they went off into the white abyss without me. I completely lost sight of them. I remember yelling to my lead dog Salem, a dog that was, we were joined at the hip, but it’s pretty unrealistic to expect them to stop in such conditions. I got up and did my best to trundle down the trail in their direction, yelling into the blowing snow. And I have vivid memories of my light, my whole team facing away from me in the direction they were going, and Salem was sitting very erect. And he had stopped them and he was looking back towards me and it almost brings me to tears because, well, he could have easily lost that Iditarod victory and, not to mention, it showed such devotion from him to me.

What do you know for sure?

The one thing I know for sure in life, I learn more and more as the years go by, and that is every day is a gift. I’m so thankful to be here today. I’m so thankful for a healthy family at home. And I’m thankful for people like Senator Murkowski and others that are representing our nation as very scary times come to the world. I want to believe… The one thing I know is that we have really good people on our side and we need to promote the good and discourage the bad.