Age: 47

Hometown: Red Devil, AK

Profession: Hunting Guide

Here you have one of these individuals every outdoor enthusiast secretly longs to be. Roland may even go on to say, in the midst of a spellbinding tale of the Far North: “I have done everything I ever wanted and nothing I don’t feel like.” His legions of expeditions and accomplishments bear out such bold talk.

Roland comes from a reckless boyhood in the hard-scrabble mountains of Shiloh, Pennsylvania—a stronghold of Appalachia and hillbilly culture. He shunned sports and all other forms of high school restraint to master all the Keystone State had to offer, including hunting, fishing, trapping and bushcraft.

Upon deciding that relocating fulltime into the darkest recesses of Southwestern Bush Alaska was in order, the village of Red Devil on the forgotten banks of the Kuskokwim River became his headquarters for adventure. Here, he seamlessly fell into an existence of an all-season subsistence hunter/trapper, filling in any gaps ofner the off-season with chances of placer gold mining. Eventually, he reached old-timer status in the winter of 2011 when he completed an overland heavy-equipment delivery to his claims via the 100-mile winter trail between Red Devil and Taylor Mountain—a long-unused and possibly the lengthiest and most perilous of the trails the North has to offer.

Roland Welker and his lifestyle emulate and have become a living link back into times of the old.

His goal in joining Alone Season 7 is to conquer this challenge, as well as adding yet another feather in his hat full of plumes. He is hoping to dedicate the win to his recently departed mother, Mona Welker.

Here are the ten items Roland selected to bring on his survival journey to the Arctic:

1. Ferro rod

2. Gill net

3. Pot

4. Trapping wire

5. Ax

6. Saw

7. Multitool

8. Belt knife

9. Bow and arrows

10. Sleeping bag