The Tim Ferriss Show Transcripts: Jordan Jonas, Champion of Alone — The Art of Survival, Lessons from Nomadic Tribes, Hardship as the Path to Peace, How to Handle Rogue Wolverines, and Why Not to Photograph Attacking Bears (#853)

Please enjoy this transcript of my interview with Jordan Jonas (@hobojordo). Jordan grew up on a farm in Idaho, rode freight trains across the US, spent time in remote Russian villages, fur trapped and travelled for several years with nomads in Siberia, and won Alone Season 6, after being the first contestant to truly thrive […]

The post The Tim Ferriss Show Transcripts: Jordan Jonas, Champion of Alone — The Art of Survival, Lessons from Nomadic Tribes, Hardship as the Path to Peace, How to Handle Rogue Wolverines, and Why Not to Photograph Attacking Bears (#853) appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.

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Tim Ferriss

February 12, 2026

The Tim Ferriss Show Transcripts: Jordan Jonas, Champion of Alone — The Art of Survival, Lessons from Nomadic Tribes, Hardship as the Path to Peace, How to Handle Rogue Wolverines, and Why Not to Photograph Attacking Bears (#853)

Topics: The Tim Ferriss Show Transcripts

Please enjoy this transcript of my interview with Jordan Jonas (@hobojordo). Jordan grew up on a farm in Idaho, rode freight trains across the US, spent time in remote Russian villages, fur trapped and travelled for several years with nomads in Siberia, and won Alone Season 6, after being the first contestant to truly thrive in the wilderness and harvest big game. He now leads people from all over the world and all walks of life on extraordinary outdoor adventures, facilitating once-in-a-lifetime wilderness expeditions, hunts, family adventures, and team-building events.

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Jordan Jonas, Champion of Alone — The Art of Survival, Lessons from Nomadic Tribes, Hardship as the Path to Peace, How to Handle Rogue Wolverines, and Why Not to Photograph Attacking Bears

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Transcripts may contain a few typos. With many episodes lasting 2+ hours, it can be difficult to catch minor errors. Enjoy!

Tim Ferriss: Jordan, great to see you, man.

Jordan Jonas: Good to see you, Tim. Good to see you.

Tim Ferriss: And we’ve upgraded our interaction to in person because for those who are listening, we had some audio glitches, some technological woes, and we just decided to do it in person. So here we are.

Jordan Jonas: Fun.

Tim Ferriss: And I have twice the number of pooches, meaning two versus one since you last saw me, got a stray adopted a few days ago. We’re also drinking what people might think are ridiculously heavy pours of whiskey, but this is not whiskey. This is Lake Missoula Tea Company, Lake Missoula Breakfast. It is delicious. Just a bit of caffeine, a little bit of a topper, let’s call it.

Jordan Jonas: Yeah. We just both arrived in some city we’re not from.

Tim Ferriss: At high altitude.

Jordan Jonas: Yeah.

Tim Ferriss: And we’re just getting back into the groove of the conversation. So we are going to get to Russia, but first I wanted you to, and they just tie together, I suppose, explain what we have here on the table besides the tea. Because you made the joke, even if the interview’s not going very well. Might as well have this —

Jordan Jonas: — the handle this way.

Tim Ferriss: Yeah, the handle is pointed towards you. What are we looking at?

Jordan Jonas: What we’re looking at is an axe. It’s one I’ve kind of designed specifically using the knowledge and experience I have had in Siberia in particular with the native folks and such. It’s got some unique features, some that I’ve really grown to love. So in the forest, first off, just to set the foundation, the one tool you need is an axe to give yourself a chance at survival.

Tim Ferriss: More than a knife.

Jordan Jonas: More than a knife because you can do all the things you can do with a knife. You could get a fire, you could build some traps, you can get through the ice. It just kind of gives you the ability to do everything, maybe not as well as you want. But as the Natives would say, “The one tool you need is an axe,” and I concur. So the problem though is that a lot of people in the States don’t know what a good axe is. And so you’ll go buy one at Lowe’s and go home. It just doesn’t do the job you need. So I designed one that has all the features I like. It’s kind of a Siberian axe head shape with some of the Evenki modifications.

Tim Ferriss: The Evenki being the native people.

Jordan Jonas: The Evenki are the Natives, nomadic folks that I lived with, they live in the woods all the time, so they kind of know what they like. And so some of the features of this axe in particular, most interestingly is it’s sharpened from one side.

Tim Ferriss: It’s like a single bevel.

Jordan Jonas: It’s a single bevel grind, which means you have to have a right or a left-handed axe based on what you are. But what that allows you to do is when you’re in the woods, very often you’ll be carving things, whether you’re building a sleigh or building a trap or building whatever it might be. And it really helps it work as a planer and really helps do accurate work that way. It also on most trees that you chop down in the woods, they’re quite narrow. You’re rarely chopping down a giant cedar tree. You’re going to be chopping down things about the size of your arm, and a couple swings with this bevel design and you can slice right through them.

Tim Ferriss: Assuming it is matched to your dominant hand?

Jordan Jonas: Exactly.

Tim Ferriss: So that it’s sticking instead of deflecting.

Jordan Jonas: Exactly, exactly. So if you picture a bevel hitting against the tree, if it’s ground off on that side, there’s a bit of a deflection. And by grinding it from the opposite side, when it hits that tree, it just bites right in.

Tim Ferriss: I guess you have some experience with deflection.

Jordan Jonas: Deflection. Yes, we do. And yeah, just to finalize a few last points, you’ll notice on a lot of American axes, they have a narrow eye.

Tim Ferriss: And can you describe the eye? The eye is basically — you have the axe — what would you call it?

Jordan Jonas: Blade.

Tim Ferriss: Blade. Right. There’s the hole through which the handle would fit.

Jordan Jonas: On a Siberian axe, it’s quite wide, which allows you in the field to repair it with a solid piece of wood. And you can slide the handle through like a tomahawk. From the top, the handle goes all the way on. That way, when you swing, the pressure is always tightening the head. You don’t need wedges and all that, which is a cool design. There’s a bunch of other little nuances to the design. I don’t want to bore you too long, but Tim knows, he’s been up in the woods with me and we got to use it a bunch. I got to show him how to use it.

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