Musher -
Sven Haltmann
Sven Haltmann was born in 1977 in
Appenzell, Switzerland. Growing up with cows, dogs, cats, pigs
and other farm animals in a small village in the Swiss mountains
connected him with nature and animals at an early age. As a teenager
he spent his summers at a remote farm camp at 4000 feet elevation,
taking care of cattle, pigs, chickens and dogs. During winters
he was snowboarding with his friends, descending crazy slopes
in the Swiss and Austrian Mountains and skijoring with his friend’s
dog; Leiff. Winter and animals, especially dogs, were and still
are his big passions.
At the age of 19 he
got his degree in Health Insurance, but was never really satisfied
with his job, sitting on his butt all day long, so he applied
for a job as a tour guide for a well known Swiss tour company
and got accepted. His first destination was Tenerife, Spain. That
job taught him a lot about life. Being on an island by himself
taking care of 150-200 tourists a week strengthened his personality
and he got a taste of what it means to be sleep deprived ?. After
that summer he definitely needed a “Breather” so he
went to Carcross (Yukon Territory) to learn more about sleddogs.
His next destination
after Canada was Greece. For 2 summers he was in charge of a small
island and again had just a blast. During winters he stayed with
Iditarod Champ Martin Buser in Big Lake, Alaska and got a good
knowledge base how to run a kennel and how to train and run dogs.
Falling in Love with
his awesome wife Andrea and mushing, being electrified by Alaska’s
beauty and size; all that was just too much to return back to
Switzerland and Sven decided to stay in the “Last Frontier”.
He works as a Wildland firefighter for the State of Alaska in
the summer and Andrea is a Veterinarian at Big Lake Susitna Vet
Hospital. Together, they now own and operate “Willow Creek
Kennel”.
Sven participated in
the Serum Run in 2002 and 2003. He is very excited to have been
chosen as a participant for 2006 and is looking forward to meet
old friends in villages, making new ones along the way and teach
my puppy team the lessons they need to know for future competitive
racing.
To learn more about
Sven and Andrea and their dogs visit their website: www.willowcreekkennelak.com
