TLDR: Aaron Barnard, 40, was born in Haida Gwaii and raised on a hobby farm near Prince George, British Columbia, where his father mentored him in hunting, fishing, and wilderness navigation.
He competed in memory of his close friend Travis Galbraith, a pioneering Canadian MMA fighter who drowned in a rafting accident on the Willow River on his 43rd birthday in May 2024.
Barnard finished the season in second place at 87 days, citing mental and physical exhaustion, just short of becoming the first-ever Alone World Champion.
Aaron Barnard was the only Canadian in a field of ten international survivalists, which made him something of a home-country contestant on a show filmed 125 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Canada’s own Northwest Territories. That added a layer of expectation to what was already a high-stakes situation.
He also gave himself a reason to be there that went beyond prize money or personal challenge, and that kind of motivation carried him further than all but one of his nine competitors.
From Haida Gwaii to Prince George
Barnard was born on Haida Gwaii, the remote archipelago off the northern coast of British Columbia, and grew up on a small family hobby farm near Prince George after his family relocated.
His father Dale was an experienced outdoorsman who introduced him early to hunting, fishing, and wilderness navigation in the dense sub-boreal spruce forests of central British Columbia.
Prince George sits at the confluence of the Fraser and Nechako rivers, surrounded by some of the most productive and demanding backcountry in Canada.
The region has high concentrations of grizzly bears, wolves, and cougars, and its glacial-fed waterways, fast-flowing, cold, and prone to sudden flooding, have claimed lives.
Barnard grew up understanding these conditions not as obstacles but as the normal texture of the outdoors.
His most demanding discipline is late-season sheep hunting in alpine terrain, a pursuit that requires exceptional physical conditioning, mountain navigation, and the ability to track and process large game across steep, icy terrain in sub-zero temperatures while bivouacking with minimal gear.
It proved to be exactly the kind of experience that translated directly to the Richardson Mountains.
Travis Galbraith and the River That Took Him
Travis Galbraith was one of the pioneers of mixed martial arts in western Canada. Fighting under the name “The Gladiator,” he competed from 2001 to 2010 with an 18-7-0 record, facing future UFC champion Georges St-Pierre and competing in international promotions including Pride FC and EliteXC.
Outside the cage he was a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and ran Galbraith Jiu-Jitsu out of the Northern Capital Judo Club in Prince George.
He was deeply embedded in the local athletic community, the kind of person a city like Prince George builds its sporting culture around.
On May 18, 2024, his 43rd birthday, Galbraith went missing during a rafting and scouting trip on the Willow River, approximately 35 kilometers east of Prince George.
His overturned rubber dinghy was found with tracks preserved in the riverbank mud, briefly raising hopes that he had made it to shore.
After a four-day search involving RCMP, a helicopter, and 18 members of Prince George Search and Rescue who logged over 150 search hours, his body was recovered downstream on May 21, 2024. He was survived by his wife Sharon and his sons.
Barnard has said that carrying Galbraith’s memory into the sub-Arctic gave his campaign an anchoring purpose that transformed the solitary experience into something shared.
It is also worth noting that the Willow River, the same waterway that claimed Galbraith, is exactly the kind of glacial-fed channel with strainer logs and lethal cold water that Barnard navigated growing up near Prince George.
He understood what happened there.
His Strategy on Season 13
Barnard was dropped at a location called Lake of the Clouds in the Richardson Mountains.
His approach was defined by two clear priorities: building a heavy, permanent log shelter and establishing an aggressive passive fishing operation.
The shelter drew mixed reactions from viewers early on. Some noted the sheer energy cost of processing the volume of timber he moved, a concern later validated by what happened to Poldi Waldmann-Moloney, whose oversized tipi construction created a caloric deficit severe enough to contribute to his Day 14 exit.
Others pointed out that unlike Waldmann-Moloney’s conical structure, Barnard’s log construction was scaled more appropriately for the winter ahead, a read that held up over the following months.
The fishing operation was unambiguously successful. By Day 3 he was running a six-line passive array and landed a 40-inch Northern Pike, a substantial caloric reserve that most of his competitors were still working to achieve.
He also executed moose calls that same day, demonstrating active big-game awareness alongside his passive strategy.
Barnard remained one of the most stable psychological presences in the competition throughout its run, which survival analysts consistently cite as equally important to technical skill.
The tribute to Galbraith gave him something to sustain forward momentum as the food ran thin and the isolation worked on him for nearly three months.
He Finished Second, Just Short of the Title
Barnard tapped out at 87 days, citing mental and physical exhaustion, finishing runner-up to winner Žiga Ogorelec, who outlasted the field at 90 days to become the first-ever Alone World Champion. Nero Buys finished third, having left the competition on his own terms at 85 days.
The full Season 13 cast and final results are available in our hub guide.
Aaron Barnard and Alone Season 13: Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Aaron Barnard competing in memory of on Alone Season 13?
Aaron Barnard competed in memory of Travis Galbraith, known as The Gladiator in Canadian MMA, who drowned on May 18, 2024 during a rafting trip on the Willow River near Prince George, BC, on his 43rd birthday. Galbraith had an 18-7-0 MMA record, faced Georges St-Pierre, and ran a jiu-jitsu school in Prince George.
Where is Aaron Barnard from?
Aaron Barnard was born in Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, and was raised on a hobby farm near Prince George, BC, after his family relocated. He grew up hunting and tracking under his father’s mentorship in the sub-boreal forests of central British Columbia.
How far did Aaron Barnard make it on Alone Season 13?
He finished in second place, tapping out at 87 days due to mental and physical exhaustion, just behind winner Žiga Ogorelec, who won at 90 days.
