Introducing Jim Baird, the F&S Adventurer

My name is Jim Baird. I’m 30 years old. I live in Ontario. And I just quit my desk job to become the F&S Adventurer. If you think that’s crazy, just wait until you see some of the stuff I’ll be doing for this blog. Take a look:

As you can tell by the name, this blog is all about adventure, and I’m preparing for one that’s rapidly approaching. On March 20, I’ll leave home to begin a 14-day snowmobile journey crossing Great Bear Lake, where I’ll have the chance to catch world-record-size lake trout. From eastern Great Bear, I’ll travel 100 miles of some of the most brutal (and beautiful) terrain you can imagine until I reach the Inuit community of Kugluktuk, Nunavut, on the Arctic coast. Then, for the last leg, I’ll log another 220 miles on the Arctic Ocean to Ulukhaktok, a hamlet on the west coast of Victoria Island, where I’ll meet my friend Pat. An expert hunter and survivalist, Pat grew up traditionally in the region of his people, the legendary Copper Inuit. Reuniting with him, and learning more about how he hunts close to the land and survives in extreme conditions, should be the perfect end to the adventure. Assuming I get there.

This adventure will be long and cold. The dangers will be very real: hypothermia, frostbite, remote terrain…and polar bears. Which is why I plan to use the time I have left before the trip to train for the kind of survival scenarios I might encounter: I’ll intentionally break through the ice so I can teach myself to crawl out. I’ll practice starting a fire with cold, wet hands. I’ll construct a snow shelter for when I need to escape heavy winds. I’ll stage a shooting test that simulates a charging polar bear, should I ever get into a life-or-death situation with one. And during all of this, I’ll have the video camera recording so you can see what works and what fails. I’m a fairly self-reliant outdoorsman, but I’m no expert. My goal with this blog is to learn as I go, and then share those skills and lessons with you.

My snow machine saga will be the first of three big trips I’ll be making this year for the F&S Adventurer. And while I’m in the wild, I’ll be blogging about my progress: capturing video, taking photos, and chronicling about the ups and downs of the journey. There’s bound to be something amazing around every turn — some new challenge to face every day and night. I’ll do my best to make you feel like you’re right there with me.