Musher Details

2017 Iditarod » Mushers » Ketil Reitan

Ketil Reitan

Bib Number: 11
Hometown: Kaktovik, Alaska
Website:


Biography

Ketil Reitan, 57, was born in Trondheim, Norway. He received his Master’s Degree in Fisheries Science from the University of Tromso. He came to Alaska in 1986 to work on his Master’s thesis about Inupiat whaling and to mush from Ambler to Alelavik. He met his wife, Evelyn, in Kaktovik. Since 2010, he’s been taking people out by boat to photograph the polar bears around Kaktovik. When he was in high school in Norway he became a member of the mushing club. He ran the Finnnmark race in 1986. Now he is the only musher to have finished the five longest sled dog races: the Iditarod six times, the Yukon Quest, La Grande Odyssee, the Hope Race from Nome to Anadyr, Chukotka, and the Finnmarksløpet. Ketil says, “I am the only musher that trains my Iditarod team on the north coast of Alaska. In the summer, I train dogs with a four wheeler on the gravel roads and beaches by the Arctic ocean in Kaktovik. In October and November, I use my dog team for hunting caribou on the tundra and hunting Dall sheep in the Hulahula Mountains in the Brooks Range. The dogs get used to running through blizzards, ice and overflow. Our sons, Vebjorn, 21, and Martin, 20, also help train the dogs.” After last year’s Iditarod, Ketil and Martin went from Nome to Kaktovik with Martin running the dog team and Ketil on the snow machine.

Sponsors

Kaktovik Tours LLC
Greg Gulbransen


2017 Standings

Checkpoint Time In Dogs In Time Out Dogs Out Rest Time Previous Layover Status Distance
Enroute Time Speed (mph) 8hr 24hr
Fairbanks 3/06 11:18:00 16
Nenana 3/06 16:57:00 16 3/06 19:10:00 16 2h 13m 5h 39m 10.62 60
Manley 3/07 09:09:00 16 3/07 11:39:00 16 2h 30m 13h 59m 6.44 90
Tanana 3/07 22:46:00 16 3/08 07:05:00 14 8h 19m 11h 7m 5.94 ✔ 66
Ruby 3/09 03:10:00 14 3/09 08:46:00 13 5h 36m 20h 5m 5.93 ✔ 119
Galena 3/09 14:05:00 13 3/10 16:09:00 13 26h 4m 5h 19m 9.40 ✔ ✔ 50
Huslia 3/11 03:15:00 13 3/11 08:46:00 13 5h 31m 11h 6m 7.39 ✔ ✔ 82
Koyukuk 3/12 04:00:00 13 3/12 10:06:00 12 6h 6m 18h 14m 4.72 ✔ ✔ 86
Nulato 3/12 12:44:00 12 3/12 12:47:00 12 0h 3m 2h 38m 8.35 ✔ ✔ 22
Kaltag 3/12 17:12:00 12 3/12 19:50:00 11 2h 38m 4h 25m 10.64 ✔ ✔ 47
Unalakleet 3/13 14:43:00 11 3/13 19:36:00 11 4h 53m 18h 53m 4.50 ✔ ✔ 85
Shaktoolik 3/14 01:33:00 11 3/14 06:45:00 11 5h 12m 5h 57m 6.72 ✔ ✔ 40
Koyuk 3/14 12:45:00 11 3/14 17:05:00 11 4h 20m 6h 0m 8.33 ✔ ✔ 50
Elim 3/14 23:13:00 11 3/15 03:45:00 11 4h 32m 6h 8m 7.83 ✔ ✔ 48
White Mountain 3/15 09:35:00 11 3/15 17:40:00 10 8h 5m 5h 50m 7.89 ✔ ✔ 46
Safety 3/15 23:48:00 10 3/15 23:49:00 10 0h 1m 6h 8m 8.97 ✔ ✔ 55
Nome 3/16 02:48:58 10 2h 59m 7.37 ✔ ✔ 22