Age: 37

Hometown: Alaska, USA

Occupation: Stay-at-Home Father

Will (Panikġruaq) was born in Nome, Alaska. He spent the earlier parts of his childhood at Nuuk, Alaska, a coastal hunting and fishing site that his Iñupiaq Family has called home for many generations. Soon after being old enough to leave his Mother’s hooded parka, it was on the tundra at Nuuk where he began learning how to hunt and trap Arctic Ground Squirrels,
Lemming, and Mice. He learned how to harvest and preserve Salmon from the Family gill-net, which he would set with a very small row boat passed down from his Great-Grandfather. He would trek the Barren Tundra with his Mother and Siblings to gather traditional berries and other various traditional wild greens to store in Seal Oil for the long winter ahead.

At the age of 7, Will moved away from the Seward Peninsula, a place that his Iñupiaq ancestors called home for thousands of years. He found himself in the Interior of Alaska, in the City of Fairbanks. It was here where he first remembers seeing tall trees, and feeling as if they were going to fall down on him while he stood beneath their canopies. He had a hard time adapting to this new urban lifestyle with big buildings, vehicles, and people everywhere. He knew that this urban lifestyle could never be for him.

At the age of 20, Will met his Wife Carrie. He would eventually travel to Kotzebue, Alaska where his wife was raised. Right away, he could see that Kotzebue was similar to the home and lifestyle that he had once lived, and he would eventually move there with only a duffle bag in hand. It was in Kotzebue where he would learn how to hunt and harvest Animals from the land and Sea the Iñupiaq way, while using Iñupiaq tools, methods, and traditions.

In the past, many Iñupiat from Alaska have traveled to the Northwest Territories of Canada by animal skin boats and on foot in search of food during times of famine, ultimately settling there. Will applied for Alone in hopes to bring the Iñupiaq skills and knowledge that was passed down to him throughout his lifetime to the same land, the Canadian Boreal Forest. Waiting for him at home is his incredible wife Ulugaagruk (Carrie), son Kappaisuk (William), and daughters Inukuk (Cassie), Aagayuk (Willow), Taliiraq (Kenna).