Tim Smith has been called “America’s greatest naturalist” and is one of North America’s most experienced survival, bushcraft and outdoor living instructors.  Starting Jack Mountain in 1999, he still personally guides each trip and teaches each course himself.

Growing up in a small rural town, Tim, for lack of an alternative, spent most of his childhood in woods passionately reading and learning about the way that the Native Americans lived.  “I don’t think I heard the term bushcraft until I was in my early teens, although that’s what we had been doing.”

Having moved back to university for a masters degree in education with the intent of moving back to teaching, Tim finished his degree with the intention of running courses on bushcraft and offering guided trips figuring he’d get his teaching job the following year.  It’s now been ten years of bushcraft and guiding.

Tim’s passion for passing on his experience is clear – “I like teaching.  Not so much the lecturing or talking about it, but rather watching people learn.  Watching someone’s skill and confidence grow is an amazing thing to witness.  At its best, teaching should be invisible; a person who learns from a mediocre instructor will realize how talented their instructor is. The person who learns from an excellent teacher will realize how talented they are.”

Whilst there can be no doubt that Smith is a survival and bushcraft expert, he displays perhaps a surprising ambivalence about big-time adventure.  “Vilhjalmur Steffanson said that “Adventure is a sign of incompetence”.  Adventure implies you weren’t prepared.  If you’ve spent a lot of nights in improvised shelters in bitter cold weather, what would be a perilous situation to someone inexperienced becomes just another night in a shelter in front of a fire.  I’ve been on extended remote trips, I’ve been cold, I’ve been wet, I’ve been hungry, but I wouldn’t label any of these perilous.”

“A skill we’re lacking in the modern world is the ability to distinguish between a want and a need.  Learning the basics of survival teaches you what your needs are.”

Whilst quite obviously the outdoor type, Tim is under no illusions as to the importance the internet holds for Jack Mountain.  “It allows people all around the world to stay current on what we’re up to by letting us be a publishing house, film making studio and more.  It allows us to communicate ideas instantly – something that wasn’t possible in the days of print brochures and magazine ads.”

Find out more about Tim and Jack Mountain at www.jackmtn.com or contact him here.