Who Is Aaron Barnard on Alone Season 13? Background and Gear

Aaron Barnard is one of the tradesmen in the season 13 cast, the "Alone: World Championship" run that pulls contestants from seven countries into the Richardson Mountains, inside the Arctic Circle in Canada's Northwest Territories. He is 40 years old and from Prince George, British Columbia, and his page on the site is at /contestants/us-season-13/aaron-barnard/.

Who he is

Barnard is a tradesman raised on a hobby farm, the kind of background this show tends to favor over pure wilderness-guide resumes because it teaches problem-solving with limited tools rather than textbook bushcraft. According to the show's own materials, he grew up in Prince George surrounded by an outdoorsman father who introduced him to hunting and fishing early, and he was raised alongside two older brothers on a small family property. That combination of trade skills (building, fixing, working with his hands under pressure) and a childhood spent hunting and tracking is the profile the casting team usually looks for.

The detail that stands out most in his season 13 bio is personal rather than practical: Barnard says he is competing in honor of his friend Travis, who died in a rafting accident. Contestants on this show are asked why they are doing it, and most answers involve money or personal test. A tribute like this is less common and worth noting without over-interpreting it; it is his stated motivation, not something we can independently verify beyond what the show has published.

What he brought into the Arctic

Season 13's gear lists lean traditional. Barnard's kit, as recorded in our data, includes a sleeping bag, an axe, a saw, a bow and arrows, a multitool, paracord, snare wire, a cooking pot, a ferro rod, and fishing line and hooks. That is a close match to the standard ten-item Alone loadout going back to the early US seasons: one cutting tool for big wood, one for fine work, a fire starter, a way to trap, a way to fish, and cold-weather sleep gear as the non-negotiable safety item.

Nothing in his kit is unusual compared to the rest of the season 13 cast, which suggests he built his ten around fundamentals rather than a specialized bet on one survival strategy (heavy trapping, say, or an all-in fishing approach). That is a defensible choice in a location with real winter risk, where staying warm and fed on the basics matters more than a clever niche tool.

Why season 13 is different

Season 13 is not a normal numbered US season. It is the first "World Championship" format, gathering competitors from Canada, Australia, Wales, the US, Slovenia, Portugal, and New Zealand into one cast rather than drawing entirely from North America. Our rules page covers the standard scoring and tap-out criteria the show has used for years; this season applies the same core rules to an internationally mixed field.

Because season 13 is still airing at the time of this post, we are not making any claim about how far Barnard gets, when he taps out, or where he places. Those are the parts of the story that only the episodes themselves can answer, and posting a placement before it airs would be exactly the kind of unverifiable claim this site avoids. Once the season wraps, his contestant page will be the place to check for the confirmed outcome.

For now, what's verifiable is the setup: a tradesman from Prince George, a personal reason for being there, and a fundamentals-first gear kit built for an Arctic Circle location that does not forgive shortcuts.