STUART HOWE

Wilderness Documentarian · Decision-Making Practitioner · Speaker

Experience Behind the Frameworks

Stuart has spent decades making decisions in places where being wrong can have immediate, physical consequences.

In the backcountry, plans meet terrain, weather, fatigue and uncertainty. There are no rehearsals and no opportunity to make the difficult decision again once its consequences begin to unfold.

Stuart draws practical decision-making lessons from a lifetime outdoors and more than ten years of documented multi-day expeditions. He speaks to outdoor organizations, leadership teams, professional associations, community groups and educational audiences about judgment, risk, resilience and knowing when changing course is the strongest decision available.

Drawing on his earlier career as a Canadian radio broadcaster, Stuart combines unscripted clarity with photographs and video from real expeditions.

If that sounds right for your event, check availability.

He motivates with evidence. With experience. The backcountry, as it is.

10+

Years of Field Documentation

More than a decade of documented wilderness travel across North America.

133+

Documented Expeditions

A growing record of routes attempted, conditions encountered, plans changed and lessons learned.

1.2M+

Lifetime Views on YouTube

A worldwide audience interested in backcountry travel, practical judgment and the realities behind an expedition.

Recognition Grounded in Experience

Stuart is a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.

Stuart is also a former radio broadcaster who worked in multiple markets. That background allows him to bring professional clarity, timing and audience awareness to live presentations without losing the directness that defines his videos.

Current Speaking Themes

These themes are starting points rather than a fixed menu. Each presentation can be adapted to the event, the audience and the decisions they face.

Whether the setting is a wilderness organization, leadership gathering, professional conference, school or community event, the objective is practical: help people recognize changing conditions, question assumptions, communicate uncertainty and make better decisions before consequences make the decision for them.

The Go/No-Go Decision: When to Pull the Plug

Why reversing course is one of the hardest decisions a person or team can make – and how to recognize when it has become the right one.

Audiences examine the emotional and practical forces that keep people committed to a failing plan, including momentum, pride, sunk costs and fear of disappointing others.

When the Rules Change: Recognizing Disruption

What happens when reliable experience stops producing reliable predictions?

Using changing bear behaviour as a backcountry case study, Stuart explores how individuals and organizations can identify meaningful change before old assumptions become dangerous.

Overconfidence & Underestimation

Overconfidence in our own ability and underestimation of the environment frequently appear together.

This presentation examines how familiarity, previous success and incomplete information distort judgment – and how people can build habits that reveal those distortions before they become consequential.

The Loudest Voice in the Room

How groups communicate, establish trust and disagree safely when the stakes are high.

Audiences consider authority, group pressure and the responsibility to make uncertainty speakable – especially when the person with the greatest confidence may not have the strongest information.

Wilderness as Education: Building Resilient Decision-Makers

What young people learn when their choices have real, manageable consequences.

Drawing on years of travelling with his daughters, Stuart explores preparation, responsibility, discomfort, confidence and the difference between removing every obstacle and helping someone learn to navigate one.

What Audiences Take Away

Depending on the presentation, audiences leave better able to:

Recognize when changing conditions have invalidated the original plan.
Separate confidence from reliable evidence.
Identify the influence of pride, momentum and sunk costs.
Communicate uncertainty without weakening trust.
Create room for disagreement before a decision becomes irreversible.
Understand why changing course can represent sound judgment rather than failure.

Featured Lecture

The Real Backcountry

The Real Backcountry is a visually rich evening lecture built from more than ten years of photographs and video recorded across North America.

The Real Backcountry is an honest account of what the backcountry asks of a person: preparation, patience, humility, judgment and a willingness to let the conditions change the story.

The presentation draws from expeditions including:

North Boundary Trail

160 kilometres · 11 days · no resupply One of the most remote maintained trails in the Canadian Rockies - and an extended lesson in preparation, endurance and managing decisions over time.

Yellowstone's Thorofare

Nine days in one of the most remote areas of the contiguous United States, several days’ travel from the nearest road. A journey shaped by distance, wildlife, self-reliance and the consequences of small decisions made far from immediate assistance.

Willmore Wilderness

Twenty-nine river fords and a grizzly encounter in one of Canada’s least-visited wilderness areas. An expedition that demonstrates how quickly changing conditions can transform an ordinary decision into the most important decision of the trip.

“We’ve designed the consequences out of our decisions – and it’s making us worse at everything that matters.”

Available as an evening lecture, conference presentation, executive keynote or condensed talk. The format and emphasis can be adapted to the audience while remaining grounded in documented experience.

Audience Impact

What His Audience Says

“Since I’m on a very busy SAR [Search and Rescue] team… your advice is solid in this video and it’s good you’re putting it out.” – @mediocrehat, SAR team member, YouTube comment on “Why Most Backcountry Rescues Aren’t About Bad Luck”

“I like how you are able to vocalize the framework you play by. I think that many times it is hard for me to put the strategies that I use subconsciously into words.” – @DougLutz, YouTube comment on “Why Most Backcountry Rescues Aren’t About Bad Luck”

“You’re one of the few legit backcountry experts, and we need as many of them in the community as we can maintain.” – @noBearAdventures, via YouTube

“A year ago, I couldn’t make it up the stairs in my own home without stopping to rest. Last summer, after months of preparation using your videos, I completed the Brazeau Loop. This summer I’m booked on the Skyline Trail – and I’ve convinced my daughter to join me on Juan de Fuca.” – via email

I’m just a guy who backpacks. When I get something wrong, I say so out loud on video, just like I would if somebody was there with me. I think that’s why people don’t just watch. They write back, they show up, they tell me what they did differently because of something I said. That’s the whole thing, really.

Availability

Let’s Talk

Whether you’re ready to book or just want to see if this is the right fit for your event, here’s what’s available – there’s no wrong reason to reach out.

Format Capabilities

Keynotes & evening lectures – flexible length, typically 30-75 minutes
TEDx-style talks – condensed to that format’s runtime
Interactive Q&A add-on
In-person or virtual
Custom formats available on request