HUMAN

Name: Steve Compton

Age: 59

Residence:  Anchorage, Alaska

Occupation:  Cardiologist

Years involved with Iditarod: 3

Iditarod Roles: Pilot for the Iditarod Air Force

Current Location: McGrath, Alaska

Date of Photo: March 9, 2022

Temperature: 29F Outdoors & Snowing

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

I first became involved with the Iditarod very loosely as a kid. Our family… my mother was very excited when the Iditarod Race started running in the ’70s, and we would have bets and we would divvy up all the mushers, and whoever’s musher won would get a fabulous prize. The whole family was very… all the kids were very excited about the Iditarod. We would follow the chart, the map.

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

I am here today and involved with the Iditarod because I enjoy the opportunity to get out and have some real adventures out in Alaska and see the people and the scenery and the mushing, and it’s just a great excuse to immerse yourself in this wild environment.

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

One of my most memorable Iditarod experiences was just a week or so ago when we were doing the Willow Loadout and I thought things… we were a little bit behind because of weather, and I thought, “Well, I’ll just do one last drop-off from Willow on my way back home to Anchorage,” and landed at the end of strip and managed to get myself stuck in some deep snow, and had a narrow window where it was getting dark and it was actually raining a little bit, and I had to get that airplane out of there and get up before dark, and it all came together. It took about 40 minutes of furious digging, and there’s just the biggest sense of relief when that airplane lifted off the snow again.

What in life do you know for sure?

What I know for sure in life is life is short and you have to find your own adventures.