Haley Stevens: “this past August, Alaska lost a great hero and the Stevens family lost a cherished friend. Susan Butcher was the…”

“this past August, Alaska lost a great hero and the Stevens family lost a cherished friend. Susan Butcher was the four-time Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Champion and the first and only woman to mush her team to the summit of Mt. McKinley--with her friend and Iditarod race founder, Joe Redington, Sr. She is the reason we say ``Alaska--where men are men and women win the Iditarod.'' Susan left behind her husband David Monson and daughters Tekla and Chisana, and friends and admirers everywhere. In the solitude of the unforgiving Arctic terrain, this tough, focused, intelligent woman traveled and ran many thousands of miles with her dog teams over the years--a distance greater than a trip around the world. In David's words, she was the most driven woman on the face of this earth. Susan's skill as a musher was matched only by her great and abiding love for her dogs. If her dogs were happy, Susan was happy. Whether on the trail or at home, Susan always took care of her huskies before tending to her own needs. With only her ax and a parka, she once fended off a moose attacking her team along the trail. The moose killed two dogs and stomped 13 others. In another harrowing experience, she was rescued by her dogs when her sled broke through the ice on a remote river in the Wrangell Mountains. After that escape, Susan said she looked at every moment of her life as a gift. Susan did it all--living a life without many regrets and always great humor.”