The Team

Expedition Leader
David Reid
David Reid moved from Scotland to the Canadian Arctic in 1989. After living and working in several Arctic communities, he moved to Pond Inlet in Baffin Island in 1991. For over 20 years, he has been involved in the Arctic expedition and travel business. To date he has led, organized or participated in more than 300 Arctic and Antarctic expeditions, trips and projects. In that time he has traveled thousands of miles by dog sled, ski, snowmobile, boat, kayak, ship, foot and most recently by bike, becoming the first person to cross Baffin Island by fat-tire bike. He has completed eighteen successful expeditions through the famous Northwest Passage and guided over seventy trips to the polar bear capital of the world – Churchill, Manitoba. He was recently honoured by Canada Goose by being asked to be a “Goose Person” (one of only 50 people chosen across Canada) and share in the 50th anniversary of this great Canadian company. David has been recognized by the Explorers Club and was recently honoured by becoming a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.

Filmmaker
Garry Tutte
Garry is an adventure filmmaker from Toronto, Canada. His passion lies in documenting expedition related projects in an effort to inspire and educate. Combining his passion for exploration with his storytelling skills he has forged an award winning career that has taken him to over 50 countries. Garry has shot and directed an educational web-series on location from Mt. Everest. He’s documented a 7000 km car rally across the Sahara Desert in a used $500 vehicle, and he’s travelled from the remote islands of the Philippines to Hong Kong to create a unique film about the socio-economic journey of one of the world’s most expensive foods, bird’s nest soup.
In 2017, Garry led the media team aboard the CanadaC3 expedition as it circumnavigated the country’s entire 23,000km coastline from Toronto to Victoria via the famed Northwest Passage. This journey ignited a strong interest in the people, places and history of the North. Garry now looks forward to any opportunity to learn from and share the rich stories of our home on native land. He’s never done an overland Arctic expedition.

Richard Smith
Richard Smith, PhD, studied as an astrophysicist, moved into Information Technology and served with the Royal Marine Commandos and the Special Boat Service. Having brushed shoulders with cancer he made a couple of re calculations on the track his life was heading, and decided to jump the corporate ‘rat race’ ship he was at that time sailing, and disappeared around the world for half a year to have a ‘wee’ think about what to do next. Returning home he started up a friendly and successful luxury motorhome rental business in the beautiful country of Scotland, where he lives just outside Edinburgh. Always keen to share what Scotland has to offer to visitors from all around the world, he has always been a passionate outdoors man, never more happy than sea kayaking off the west coast of Scotland, or trekking and climbing the peaks of the Scottish Highlands. He has climbed, trekked or kayaked in Alaska, Greenland, Nepal and the French Alps, and explored the jungles of Belize and the deserts of Oman.
Richard is delighted to be able to contribute to the Arctic Return expedition, with like- minded soles, and in so doing, contribute to raising awareness of the achievements of the extraordinary John Rae, and his contribution to Arctic exploration.

Frank Wolf
Frank Wolf is a Canadian adventurer, writer, photographer, and environmentalist. He is known for feature magazine articles and films that document wilderness expeditions around the world, with a focus on the Canadian North. His journeys include being the first to canoe across Canada in one season, and cycling 2,000 km in winter on the Yukon River from Dawson to Nome. In 2015 he was named One of Canada’s Top 100 Explorers by Canadian Geographic Magazine and in 2012 he was named one of Canada’s Top Ten Adventurers by Explore Magazine. His first book of adventures- Lines on a Map – was published in October 2018 by RMB.