HUMAN
Name: VERN HALTER
Age: 75
Residence: WILLOW, ALASKA
Occupation: DOG MUSHER & KENNEL OWNER
Years involved with Iditarod: SINCE 1983 ON UP TO CURRENT DATE
Iditarod Role: DOG MUSHER
Current Location: IDITAROD HEADQUARTERS
Date of Photo: SATURDAY JUNE 29, 2024 DURING IDITAROD PICNIC
Temperature: 69F
What, who or how and when did you first get involved with the Iditarod?:
I got involved with Iditarod in 1983. That was my first race, rookie year. My dogs came from Susan Butcher. Thanks to David Monson, my friend, who we graduated from law school together and came to Alaska together. So he married Susan and she let me have a young dog team to run my first Iditarod. Then I was only going to run the race once and I got to know him with that young team, and I was a young judge out in Dutch Harbor in Unalaska, and I wound up quitting my job as a judge so I could run my second Iditarod. And now I’ve completed 18 Iditarods, 6 Yukon Quests, 10 John Beargrease marathons, probably 75 to 80 — 300 mile races and things like that over the years. And so it’s been a wonderful life and experience for me.
What is your Why? Why are you here TODAY and involved with the Iditarod?
I’m here today and still involved at Iditarod because I have a new young musher that’s going to be driving our dogs from Dream to Dream Sled Dog Farm, Sydnie Ball, and it’s her rookie year. She qualified last year with our sled dogs and we’re pretty excited. She’s very athletic and really good with sled dogs. I don’t really want her to be Rookie of the Year. I just want her to get to Nome this year, and then she could see. I don’t think she’s a one and done type of musher. There’s quite a few of those. I think she’s got some aspirations, and so it’s really fun to be back here at Iditarod headquarters for signups. It’s the first time in 10 years and to have such a wonderful musher like her.
Tell me about your most memorable Iditarod experiences?:
Well, memorable experiences on Iditarod. I guess one of my favorites, obviously I was third place once with a really good dog team and probably had the potential to win that race, and that one always sticks out in my mind as memorable.
One of my most fun races, well, I guess it wasn’t fun. I was leaving Rohn with a beautiful dog team. In those days, we could still drive 20 and I had 20, and I got sliding sideways on the ice, leaving Rohn in these hilly tough country, hit a tree, knocked the wind out of myself. I think I wound up with a couple cracked ribs and a dislocated shoulder, but still made it to Nome with that same dog team. It was just a little bit more painful the rest of the trip. So those things are hard to put aside or not forget, just how quickly things change on the Iditarod for every musher, to tell you the truth, it wasn’t only me.
Of course, leaving Rohn’s notorious and going down the Dalzell is notorious and just if you could get to Nikolai in one piece with the dog team, you’re probably going to finish a race pretty easily. And so I always remember that night, sliding sideways. There’s not much I could do. It’s like being whipped on a… If you’re ever a skater, a roller skater, get whipped sideways and around the corner and… what a night.
What do you know for sure?:
What I know in life for sure is just how lucky I’ve been to come to Alaska, right out of law school with my friend David Monson, to get into sled dogs and to have this great life. I never imagined growing up that I could have such a wonderful life here in Alaska with sled dogs. I grew up farm boy, flatlander, corn, soybeans, all that stuff. But just to come here and get involved with sled dogs has made my life. I’m 75 years old now, and people always ask me, “What do you keep doing this for?” I think it’s just the love of the lifestyle and the sled dog itself is just, they’re spectacular. They have this beautiful personalities, and so it’s hard for me to get away from them. So I’m a lucky man to tell you the truth.