
After training in deep snow and bitter cold, ex-reality show star seeks to win the Iditarod again
ABC News
The winner of last year's Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Alaska says he's feeling intense pressure to repeat as champion
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Riches and paid appearances haven’t followed Jessie Holmes since he won the world’s most famous sled dog race, the Iditarod, last year.
He doesn't mind.
A carpenter and a former cast member of National Geographic's reality show “Life Below Zero,” Holmes has instead been content to return to his austere, hand-built homestead in the wilderness near the continent's tallest mountain. His life is solitary and frugal. His closest neighbors are 30 miles (50 kilometers) away.
“There’s a lot of things that can happen in your life once you win the Iditarod,” Holmes told The Associated Press in an interview before this year's race. “You could become a real big deal, or you could just go back out in the bush and get right back to work, you know? And that’s what I did.”
Holmes took off Sunday along with 33 other competitive mushers in an effort defend his title in the rigorous Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, the 1,000-mile (1,610-kilometer) journey from Willow to Nome. A day later he was in the lead.













