All language subtitles for Life.Below.Zero.S02E07.Return.To.The.Wild.720p.NF.WEB-DL

NARRATOR: On this episode of
Life Below Zero,

Mother Nature shows no mercy.

One mistake
can kill you out here.

NARRATOR: An injury threatens
Sue's independence.

SUE: Ouch.

I'm in pain.
I need to get medicine.

NARRATOR: The Hailstones
have a debt to pay.

He set us up good.
We pay him back.

NARRATOR: Glenn Villeneuve
returns to the unknown.

GLENN: Oh, grizzly bear hair!

NARRATOR:
And Andy's apprentice

learns survival the hard way.

Negative 40 degrees,
and I got no wood.

(AIR WHOOSHING)

(CRACKING)

SUE: Wind's been howling.
I got a bit of snow.

I can't get at my food,
'cause it's all snowed in.

So, I can't get into
the freezer right now
until I can dig out the door,

but the body's hurting.

It's, the longer winter
goes on, the more
exhausted I get.

So I gotta be careful.

Out here it's not like you
can take a sick day.

I don't get
two week's vacation,

and a bunch of
sick days to toss around.

You gotta get the work done
when you gotta get it done.

NARRATOR: Isolated in a vast
frozen tundra,

Sue's got only herself to deal
with whatever Mother Nature
throws at her.

This is really built up
over the last few days.

The tip of that little tent
right there,
that's my freezer tent.

I need to, uh,
dig out the door.

You know,
it's where my food is
for the winter.

(CLANGING)

I don't know
what temperature it is.
30, 40 below.

Who in their right mind says,
"Let's grab the shovel
and dig."?

But if I wanna eat,
probably a real good idea.

Shovelling is the one motion
I gotta be careful of.

'Cause you twist,

(SPEAKING)

(GRUNTS)

Yes!

So I got caribou heart
and bear back straps.

You know,
and I can, uh, thaw that out,

and there's a couple of nice
little meals for me.

But I gotta get this
in my cubby.

Get this thawing out,
and then get back to work.

Ouch!

Now that hurt.

As I get older, the body
doesn't bend, it breaks.

I get hurt bad enough
out here,
that could be the end.

It's always good to work
with your family and
to work for yourself.

CHIP: Money really has
no home.

It gets spent almost
as fast as we make it.

(DOGS BARKING)

We got basically
what we call grubstaked
here in Alaska, by a fella,

friend of ours named Kevin.

And what he did was
he provided us with equipment

so that we could
go do some gathering.

-He traded to us a motor.
-(GUN SHOT)

The boat motor
got us some beavers.

-It's gotten us caribou.
-(GUN SHOT)

It's gotten us moose.

And then my wife went out
with the son
and they got seals.

(GRUNTING)

(GROANS)

And my wife's making
him a seal vest

that's going to help pay off
the engine that we got.

He set us up good.
We pay him back.
We all benefit.

NARRATOR: Native villagers
depend on a barter system
to survive.

If the Hailstones
don't honour this debt,

they risk losing the good
faith of the community.

Right now my wife is probably
scraping on the skin,

and what I'm gonna do
is get her some alder bark.

And the alder bark
makes a wonderful solution

that not only dyes
the leather a beautiful red,

it also helps tan the skin
and preserve it.

With the subsistence
living that we do,

we're fortunate
that the tanning solutions

for the skins that we need
are right at hand,

and everything I need
is out here.

Various willows
have different textures.

Water willows have yellow.

Alder has red.

That's what we're
looking for, red bark.

This is what the dye
will be made out of.

That's the red underneath.
That's where the tanning is.

It's the natural way.

Oh, sure smells, too.

(TWIG BREAKING)

I have, uh, four different
types of skin scrapers.

Me, I prefer this one.

This was my mother's
and we call them
(SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE),

which means skin scraper.

It's pretty much
just go over it like this,

and take off all the extra,

um, membrane and stuff.

When I was growing up,

there was me
and I had nine sisters.

So we'd always
be around our mom,

and she'd always have
all different kinds of skins,

and we'll all sit down,
and we'd all learn
how to do it.

-(SCRAPING)
-It's hard work
if you're not used to it,

but it keeps you in shape.

-Oh, yay! You found some?
-Sure did.

-Look like that's
gonna be enough.
-CHIP: Yup.

CHIP: I'm gonna put
all this in here.

These are the shavings
from the alder.

Then I'm gonna put them
in the water to simmer.

Let her rip.

CODY: It's colder
than hell out here.

When you get cold
in this country, you gotta
get up and you gotta move.

That means
you gotta put wood
in the stove.

You gotta
take care of yourself.

(SAWING)

Stupid fucking stick.

(GRUNTS)

I just woke up,
(SNIFFS)

and I can see my own
damn breath in my tent.

Negative 40 degrees.

I, uh, immediately
checked my fire,

and it was out,
and I got no wood.

You have to be in a certain
mind-set out here.

You gotta think ahead,
and I wasn't thinking ahead.

NARRATOR: New to life
in the bush,

Cody Allen is learning
survival skills from Andy
and Kate Bassich.

When you come out
into this environment
with this kind of cold,

if you do the wrong thing
it can take your life.

And actually
I'm hoping he makes mistakes,

and I hope he has
a little bit of a struggle.

'Cause that's when you learn
about how to
take care of yourself.

That's not gonna
fucking cut it.

I gotta go back.

I gotta go get another tree.

And there's no way in hell
I'm going out there
without a damn gun.

Bears are probably
hibernating, but we still
got wolves, coyotes.

Whatever wants to get at you
can if it's got the will
and the means.

Trying to find
a deadfall tree.

Anything that's still got
green on it
is gonna be wet,

and it's not gonna burn
worth a damn.

If I can find something that's
gonna be kind of easy to carry
back to camp,

(SIGHING)
that would be my best bet.

That might actually do.

I'd say right about now
I'm kind of missing
my thermostat.

You know, that's kind of
a get out of bed
and, "Oh, it's 65."

I want 70 degrees.
I'm gonna go turn
that thing a quarter inch.

And out here it's I wake up
and, "Oh, I can see my breath
and I can't feel my hands.

"I'm gonna get dressed,
go spend 20 minutes walking
through the forest,

"freezing cold, find a tree,
drag it back to camp,
cut it up,

"try and get my fire
going again,

"and then hopefully get
back into my sleeping bag
and get warmed up again."

I'm freaking freezing.

It's definitely
a different world,

and I'm, you know,
kind of missing some
of the amenities right now.

-It's just a dumb mistake.
-(SAWING)

I don't need to be
attempting to get
frostbite at all.

Which can very easily happen
in these temperatures.

(CLATTERING)

I'm gonna get my
birch wood in there.

That'll start
the fire up nicely.

Tonight could've
gotten really bad.

You can't make
big mistakes out here.

You make the wrong one
and you could be dead
in a heartbeat.

CODY: I don't ever wanna go
through that again.

But I kind of realise
my knowledge isn't where
it needs to be out here.

I'm not set up in a way
that I'm efficient.

I just don't exactly know
what I need to do.

It's kind of scary.

CHANDALAR: A lot of people
will find it frightening
to be out

in the middle
of the wilderness,

but I actually feel
really comfortable there.

And that's why
I keep going back out there.

-Andy, great.
Thanks for the lift.
-Okay.

-Great to be back. Okay.
-We'll see you.

-See you Andy.
-Stay warm!

-Have a good flight.
-Thank you!

My name's Glenn Villeneuve,
and I live here in Alaska.

I came up here in 1999.

I live a subsistence lifestyle
in the Brooks Range, about
200 miles North of Fairbanks.

I got a really simple camp.
I hunt and gather
most of my food.

Live pretty close to the land.

I use mostly hand tools.

I cut all my wood
with a axe or a hand saw.

Cook all my food
on my wood stove.
I don't have propane.

I've given up
a lot of technology
over the years,

and living with
simpler technology today.

Days are still pretty short
this time of year,

so I wanna go get moved in
before it gets too late.

It's been seven months
since I've been in my camp.

Normally I hunt in the fall
get ready for winter,

but this year I decided
to spend the fall
with my family in town.

I don't like living in town,
because I really miss
being connected to nature.

Basically I have to hit the
ground running, because
I gotta get a fire going

in order to stay warm,
and in order to get
some water.

'Cause the way
I'm gonna get water
is by melting snow.

NARRATOR: 60 miles
from the nearest
point of civilisation,

Glenn faces
every obstacle alone,
and with no lifelines.

GLENN: I have grizzly bears
that come out,

and sometimes
cause problems with the camp.

One time I came in here,
there was a big hole
through the roof

where a bear went through.

The door was still closed,

but I still won't know until
I walk up there exactly
what's happened since I left.

I'm always
concerned about that.

That maybe a bear's
caused damage.

That's what I'm thinking about
walking up to the cabin.

Just looking
for what's been going on.
I can see,

you know, just tracks.

I'm gonna walk over
to the cabin now,

just take a closer look,
walk around it.

See if anything happened.

Oh, something there
isn't there?

Grizzly bear hair.

A grizzly has been here.

Those are all grizzly bear
claw marks.

Grizzly bears,
they come around here
and they rub on this cabin

and scratch on it
all the time.

But they only
went inside one time.

I'm just gonna
take my snowshoes off
and walk around the cabin.

See if I see anything.

Back's all good.
Sides all good.

Sometimes I've come up here
and the place is
just all ripped up.

I've found this canvas
just in shreds.

The bears are usually
hibernating this time of year,

but occasionally
one will come out.

Bears can be very destructive,
there's no question about it.

A lot of the things
that I own have been
chewed on by bears.

There's been a bear standing
right on my bed.

Awesome!

It's nice all the way around.

Nothing ripped it up.

I'm not sure what to expect.

It can get wet
and then it can get
really mouldy.

I think it'll be dry.
We'll see.

Looks good.

Everything looks
the way I left it.

I just gotta go
get all my stuff
and bring it over here.

It's gonna probably take
a couple more trips.

Living in the Brooks Range
the way I do, it requires
a lot of physical work.

But psychologically,
I actually find it easier than
living in modern society.

I just feel really comfortable
living close to nature,

and I miss that a lot
when I live in town.

The final load.
Try to get moved in
before it gets dark.

AGNES: We try our best
to teach our girls what we do.

With all the fishing,
and the wood gathering,
and the harvesting of meat.

NARRATOR: The Hailstones
are working hard
to finish a sealskin vest,

to honour their debt
in a trade.

At the end,
before I do all my alder dye,

I just sand it up and get all
the rough stuff off.

And usually
with all the other skins,

Chip, and the boys,
and the other girls do them.

But, uh, since my husband's
non-native,

I have to work
on the sea mammal.

My wife and my kids
can all do this stuff,
but legally I can't.

She just carries on
with what her ancestors
have always done.

Hi girls, sweetie pies.

Why don't you come sit down
and check out
what your mom's up to.

I'm just in the final stages
of sanding.

I just have
this little section left.

-How to do...
-See all these fuzzies?

That's all
that needs to come off

and we'll be done
with the sanding part.

And then we'll move
on to dying it.

Most of our traditions around
here are like, um, subsistence
things are for survival.

For me, it's real important
that the girls,

all five girls, uh,

get to know all
the traditional things I do.

Sometimes this environment
is real harsh,

and the more the girls
get involved and hands on,
the more they'll know.

-I have the dye!
-AGNES: Yay. Turned out good?

It turned out like it should.

Oh, like those willows
you always used, Daddy?

-Yeah, these are alders.
-Alders.

Yep, those are the willows
I used.

I put these in, then I brought
the water to a boil,
and then I set it to simmer.

You use this
and keep them back.

I gotta see
what I'm doing though.

You don't want to make
it too wet,

and you don't want to try to
get the dye on this side.

You just wanna try to
put it all over the top here.

And you don't wanna
leave stuff pooling like that.

-Make sure you stop.
-Whoa.

There's all kinds
of different things

that they need
to learn to survive

and to pass down to their kids
and try to keep it in our
Inupiat traditional manner.

It's something that you have
to be involved in because

it's always doing something.
(CHUCKLES)

-It's living.
-Yeah, it's living.

There you go.
That's how you do it.

CHIP: If we don't teach our
kids how to utilise the
materials, the animals,

and the other things around
here to heat themselves,
shelter themselves,

clothe themselves,
and make money,

they're not gonna survive
very well.

Looks like it's got
an even coat all over

and you got the majority
of the little pools picked up.

Good job, girls.

You girls did real good.

SUE: If I can't get
my body to work,

the whole structure
of my life
is gonna fall apart.

My life is absolutely
dependent on my ability
to get my chores done.

NARRATOR: Sue threw her
back out shovelling snow,

and every moment she's laid up
puts her very survival
in the arctic at risk.

SUE: I need my mobility back
and right now I don't have it.

It's working against my

bull in a china shop nature

to lay there and be docile.

I need to clear my runway.
I need to move
a bunch of snow.

I have to get that done.
There's nobody here
to help me.

I don't appreciate weakness,

and when I find it in myself
it's abhorrent to me.

(CLEARS THROAT)

It is important to me
to know that
I can rely on myself.

Something I can do
to help myself is go
and get some willow,

mack it up, and make some tea.

Willow has Salic acid,
which is a pain reliever.

So, what I'm gonna do
is look for a bush
I can get to...

(PANTING)

...that's fairly close
that I don't have to go
surfing in the deep snow.

I think that's
my target over there.

You have your vertebrae,
there's little cushions
called discs

that do just that,
they cushion.

So mine are,
were injured previously,
spit out.

Where instead of being
in between,
(IMITATES SPITTING)

they're spit out to the side.

Is surgery gonna be
in my future?

I don't know, I hope not.

Um, I just need to be...

I need to be more resilient
to the pain,

then the pain stops me.

(EXHALES)

(GROANING)

(SNIFFLING)

(SOBBING)

(PANTING)

Yay.

Score one for Sue.

(SNIFFLING)

I gotta get better.
There's a whole world
of stuff I need to get doing.

SUE: These cells
of this plant are gonna leech
into that water.

So, when I drink it
like you would tea,

I will get the benefit
of a natural aspirin,
a natural pain reliever.

My great grandma from Scotland

had a million and one
natural cures.

And she'd always say,

(IN SCOTTISH ACCENT)
"You're not a woman
if you cannot do it by hand."

If you can't do it yourself,
if you can't make it, then
you're not... You're shit.

So I got my drink.
I'll help myself with the pain
with that, hopefully.

And it's hurry up and wait.

It's frustrating.

The colder temperatures
are on their way back.

So, I need to get
as much work done as I can

before the next snow
and windstorm sets in.

Uh! Son of a bitch.

This is not fucking working.

I'm in pain.
I tried the willow,

and it's just not...

It's not working.

I need to get medicine.

Real medicine.

Feeling pain
is a good boundary for me.

By the time I'm in tears
and I'm needing the help,

by God I probably
really need the help.

(LINE RINGING)

My flying conditions
are great,

but looks like
there's a little fog
over Deadhorse.

I'm trying to call Bob to see

whether or not he can
get in the air and
get the medicine to me.

(LINE RINGING)

NARRATOR: Getting medicine
to her remote location
is going to cost Sue $1000.

-BOB: Sue.
-Bob. How's your weather
doing today?

When are you thinking
you might try
to fly my direction?

BOB: Um, probably
within an hour.

Okay.

-All right, Bob.
Well, you fly safe.
-Okay.

-See you in an hour.
-Okay.

SUE:
It is absolutely my choice
to live this way.

Like I say, I wanna be
a lighthouse keeper,

and I got my lighthouse
and it's all groovy
99% of the time,

and then there's that
one percent where
I have to rely on society.

But it reinforces how grateful
I am to be able to catch Bob,

and say, "Hey man,
I'm, I'm hurting.

"Help me out."
And I can count on it.

CODY: Number one danger
up here is the cold.

When you get cold,
you get hypothermic.

The first that shuts down
is your ability to think
properly and to reason.

One mistake
can kill you out here.

(SAWING)

How much wood would
a woodchuck chuck if woodchuck
could chuck wood?

-(LAUGHING)
-KATE: Good morning.

Probably a lot
if you want to stay warm.
(SIGHING)

What happened to you?

Oh, I, uh, kinda ran out
of wood last night.

-Friggin...
-Ooh, big mistake.

-And if you don't have it,
you're not going to survive.
-Yeah.

And you're spending a lot
of time cutting wood
on the ground, right?

-We're gonna try
and fix that today, okay?
-Okay.

What I wanna do,
is I want to get you started
on using some hand tools.

And your first project
is gonna be
to build a sawhorse.

ANDY: It'd be good
to try and find one

without a lot of branches
for the main piece.

There's a ton of dead stuff
here from the flood.

If they feel kind of punkie,
don't take them.

Why don't you just
track me down when you

start getting
your pile together?

Sounds good.

NARRATOR:
With temperatures plummeting
to 40 below at night,

Cody's survival depends on
being able to stock pile wood.

Right now Andy's
having me build

basically a cutting station.

The main thing it's gonna do
is bring me up off the ground
at a level angle with the wood

where I can actually
cut it easily,

and not be down on my knees,

sitting here and
freezing my knees up.

NARRATOR: Every bit of
the cutting station will have
to be assembled by hand.

Okay, it looks like you got
a good pile of raw material.

Yeah.

Um, this is basically
called a shaving horse.

But it's basically just
a clamp that allows you
to use two hands.

(SCRAPING WOOD)

Using this to shape,
we're gonna be using
this to shape the pegs.

So you'll, if you want a peg
that's like this long,
you will be...

-CODY: Shaving it down,
then cutting it off?
-Shaving it down here.

This is probably
one of the better tools
to master,

the drawknife
and the shaving horse.

Let's get it working so where
tonight you don't have to be
on your knees cutting wood.

-Yeah.
-That's kind of the goal
for today.

(SAWING)

ANDY: This'll make cutting
firewood for Cody

probably go more than
twice as fast.

He's gonna be able to just
lay a piece on...
(IMITATES WHACKING)

Whack it off,

move it over, whack it off.

ANDY: Feel pretty tight?

That looks good.

CODY: I'm gonna be happy
to get this built up

so I'm not waking up freezing
in the middle of the night.

If I got into any more
of a desperate situation,

I probably would've ended up
freezing to death out here.

And that's freaking scary.

So far building this, it's,
uh, definitely a challenge.

I feel kinda like I skipped
back in time a bit.

Trees here are two by fours.

You gotta
shave everything down

and there definitely
ain't a Home Depot
around to go

and pick up any supplies
you need.

Kinda taking a little bit
of time to make sure
I don't screw anything up.

Fuck. I just broke it.

(STUTTERING)

I've been notching
this guy out and
trying to be careful,

but I just fucking broke this
off of there,

and I don't know
if it's gonna work any more.

Hey, Andy,
I got a question for you.

When you were talking about
that punkie wood,

the softer stuff, is that it?

Yeah. It's all right.

It's cold now, too,
so things get brittle

and they tend to crack
and break easier
when it's cold.

Uh, that's not gonna matter.

What's important is you have
a shoulder here and
you have a shoulder here

-that's still gonna
lock the joint.
-CODY: Okay.

(TAPPING)

Working outside in
zero degrees
or below zero temperatures

is never easy to begin
with right?

It's kind of frustrating
when you...

Well, hey, this is the
best way to learn though.

I mean, you're, you're doing
this in some of the tougher
conditions right?

Yeah.

(CLANKING)

(GRUNTING)

(SAWING)

(GRUNTING)

(SIGHING)

That's a rewarding feeling.
(CHUCKLES)

You know,
I kinda cracked it right here,
but for the most part,

that's something
pretty damn stable

that I just built on my own.

(WOOD SQUEAKING)

I like it.
(SIGHS)

Pretty soon
I'll be chopping wood
like a mad man.

(SNIFFS)

The thing I always
try to keep in mind

-is that if I do
a good job on this...
-(SAWING)

...it's probably gonna last me
the rest of my life out here.

Yeah.

Often times it seems
quite, uh, futile at times.

You know, you start feeling
like, "God, am I ever gonna
finish this." You know?

-Yeah.
-But really...

Well, I think that may,
it feels like it's...

It's probably not taking
as long as I think it is.

-It's just the fact we
don't have that much daylight.
-Right.

And it just seems like
burning a lot of
daylight sometimes.

Yeah.

Safer.

Somewhat close.
Oh, look at that.
I like that so far.

ANDY: Cody's completed his
project to learn how to use
some basic hand tools.

What he needs to work on
is developing the finesse
with the tools.

It's just gonna take
a little bit of time.

It's the rule of 10,000.

You gotta do it 10,000 times
to be really good at it.

But, uh, for his first project

I think he did
a pretty good job.

Give yourself plenty of room
around it.

Hell, yeah!

What do you think?

-I like it. (PANTING)
-High five, dude.

-Good job.
-My happy dance.

Yeah.

-Yeah.
-All right. I like it.

CHIP: Every animal basically
has enough sinew
to stitch itself up.

It has enough brains
to tan its own hide.

It has enough guts
to make sausages
out of all the meat.

Kind of a crazy thing.

(DOGS BARKING)

-This is the one
you want right?
-AGNES: Yeah.

That's the one.

NARRATOR: In keeping
with Inupiat tradition,

Agnes uses
only natural materials
to make the seal vest.

CHIP: Now here's where
we get the sinews from.

It's these back straps
right here.

Sinew is the tendons.

And, um,
they're nice and long,
make excellent thread.

And, uh, my wife will do
her skin sewing with that.

What I do is I just go along
the edge like this

and just free the edge
of the meat.

Trying to get my sinew out
of there so it will be
nice and clean

and I won't have
no meat hanging on.

-Lay it out flat...
-(DOG BARKING)

...so it'll dry real straight,

and I can be able
to use it later.

Or maybe I'll just cut it out.
Just to cut it out.

That's where
the back of the neck is.

Ready, Qutan?
I'm just gonna cut it out now
and you can hold one side.

Just so I make sure
it's tight.

And there we have the back.

Well, I've learnt how to do
my skinning, and sewing,
and making the patterns,

and stuff just
the way Qutan is.

Pretty soon she'll end up

being the one
to cut the pattern up

and make sure it's correct.
Right, Qutan?

This is what we got

from the caribou earlier.

When you peel the membrane,
and extra fats, and stuff off

it just starts to
separate by itself.

Break it down,
make it into thin strips,

-spin it, spin it, wet it.
-Wet.

And then it becomes
a thread like that.

And you go a few stitches
and then you put a knot there

so in case it rips, the whole
thing won't just come apart.

This is pretty much
almost done.

And the dude is
pretty much my size.

So this will
fit him perfect I think.

Right on.

CHANDALAR: The last
places where there's
real wilderness left

tend to be
the harsher climates.

But I adapted and that suits
my nature pretty well.

Now it's getting dark again.

I'm gonna be up most
of the night tonight I think,

just to get
really moved in here.

I don't think in hours.

So, I go for months without
using a watch out here,
or even a calendar.

NARRATOR: As darkness falls,
the temperatures plummet.

Glenn must get
a fire going if he's going
to survive the night.

I have to get the stovepipe.

(RUSTLING)

(SPEAKING)

(CLATTERING)

Okay.

Um, now I need to get some
materials to start a fire.

Here's my woodpile.

The wood around here
is not good quality firewood.

And the other thing is,
up here a lot of the wood
is twisted.

A lot of the trees are
starting to rot once they get
to be pretty big.

So, I'm looking for
a good piece
to split into kindling

that's straight grained
and solid.

It's getting cold.

(SPEAKING)

Fire's essential
to me living out here.

I do all my cooking
on a wood stove,
heat my water on a wood stove,

heat the camp
with a wood stove.

Can't live without fire
out here.

I go through about
four cubic feet a day
when it's this cold weather.

(WIND HOWLING)

Right now
it's 13 below outside,
it's 13 below inside.

And what I wanna do now
is get it warmed up in here.

'Cause I'd rather not sleep
in 13 below.

(CLATTERING)

This is a system that
arctic people always use
to start fire,

because you can actually do
it with mittens,
even if it's 40 below zero.

I'm just gonna
put this mouthpiece in.

It's made out
of caribou antler.

And that's gonna support it.

Right there.

(GRINDING)

-(BREAKING)
-(GRUNTS)

Problem.

I got a coal, I got an ember
but I knocked everything.

I'm gonna have to pick it up
off the floor.

I don't know if I can do that
without destroying it.

(GRUNTING)

It's definitely going.

It's just a question of it
slid off of my bark,
and I gotta get it.

Save it
without putting it out.

There. Come on.

Yeah. It's gonna go.

(BLOWING)

Having a little blowpipe
is so helpful.

It's almost like an axe,
or a rifle.

My blowpipe is just something
that I can't get by without.

-It's just a shaft
of a feather.
-(FIRE CRACKLING)

Any tube will do
about that size.

You can take a ballpoint pen
apart and use that.

When I first
started living out here,
I didn't know how to do this.

I was completely dependent
on matches.

If something happened
to those matches,
what would happen to me?

I don't have to rely on
anything from town
to start a fire.

100% I can start a fire
with stuff out here.

The most important things,
I need to have shelter.

I need to have heat.
I need to have water.

I haven't had anything to
drink yet today since...
I don't know when.

This morning.
I gotta go out
and get some snow.

I'm starting to get
a little dehydrated.

The way I live is
a mental comfort to me.

It's comforting
to be close to nature,

and to be really connected
to all the resources I use.

I don't wanna just turn on
a faucet to get my water.

Okay.
That snow's just about melted.

Get about a third
of a pan of water

for each full pan of snow.

Had a good day.
Got back to camp.

Got moved in.
Got a fire going.

Got myself some water.

That's everything
I need today.

(FLOOR CREAKING)

CHIP: Up here
rich is being able to provide,

and being rich
is being able to share.

I get what I can,
and I keep what I must,
and I give what I can.

AGNES: Well, I'm here
at Chuck's shop here.

He's making me
some ivory seal buttons,

and, uh, I'll be able
to finish the vest

and then get that sent off.

-Hey, what's going on?
-Hey, Chuck.

Not too much.

I just finally got done
with my vest,

-and I hope you got
done with the buttons.
-Oh, wow!

-Absolutely.
-Yay!

I brought this over
in for trade,

-and I also brought a
few pieces of...
-Oh, wow!

That is just awesome.

-A few pieces of wood, and...
-Oh, you know I need the heat.

Looks like I'm gonna make out
real nice on this trade.

-Yup, you sure are.
-Awesome.

Well, this is what I have.

-I hope it's acceptable.
-Seal?

-AGNES: Yay!
-Ivory seals
with inlayed baleen eyes.

AGNES: Wow, that looks cool.

CHUCK: Oh, wow,
that's just beautiful.

AGNES: Wow!

I want to grubstake you now.
(LAUGHING)

Yay! I'm on the last button.

Feels pretty good
that I'm almost done.

I've been working
at this project
for a few days,

and it's been kind
of exciting.

We caught this sealskin,
we tanned it.

Um, we ate the meat,

and, uh, now here we have it
turned into a seal skin vest.

CHIP: For us it's like a way
to pay off the equipment.

So it's a giant karma thing.
Where we're
helping each other.

We're all getting
what we want in the end,
and it's a giant trade,

but it's also kind of
a business deal.

This is tied in
with subsistence obviously,

because it's
the skin of an animal
that we caught and ate.

AGNES: Not only
the sealskin vest,
the leather, the buttons,

are all from the country.
So is the thread.

So, I didn't really have
to pay for anything.

CHIP: This is how
subsistence comes around.

AGNES: Perfect.

CHIP: Get up and put it on.

Wow.

-Probably gonna
fit him perfect, huh?
-I think he'll like it.

AGNES: Good deal.

SUE: When I'm the only one
that I count on in the winter
to get my chores done,

you know, the only ass
that gets kicked for not
completing the job is my own.

Today is the day.
I've got good conditions here.

Bob has good conditions there.

Um, so he's gonna try
and make my medicine drop.

(PANTING)
Uh, one snag, one little fly
in the ointment is

on my runway.
I have not been
able to go out.

I got some snow,
a little bit of wind.

So, I may have drifts on it.

What's hidden underneath
this little bit of snow
is ice, glare ice.

So, that's the danger.
He can't see where it is.
I can't tell him where it is.

I'm not in good enough shape
to get on my equipment
and groom it for him.

So, he's gonna have to do
what we call an airdrop.

He's gonna line up
with the runway,

and then go as slow as he can,

open up the door,
and kick it out of the window.

Hey, Bob.
You got a copy on Sue?

(BOB SPEAKING)

Zero wind.

(BOB SPEAKING)

I'll start making
my way out towards the runway,

but if you can give me
a minute, I'm a little bit
of a slowpoke.

(BOB SPEAKING)

Come on Sue. Come on. Fuck!

SUE: Okay.
He's gonna start lining up.

I am in position
and ready, buddy.

(PANTING)

Okay. Here we go.
Fuck me, it hurts.

My left leg is shaking.
It wants to give out.

Fuck.

Come on, buddy.
Come on, buddy.

Don't hit me in the head.

He should open it up
right around now.

Boom!

Got it, buddy.
Right on target.

(LAUGHING)

Most of it made it on target.
It's to be taken with food,
so he gave me food, too.

The food just didn't happen
to make it quite as much.

Yay!

Bob, I really appreciate it.
I want you to fly safe.

(BOB SPEAKING)

Thank you, Bob.

(GRUNTS)

(GROANING)

(PANTING)

Three days,
and I've got some medicine.

It's emotional for me

that people
will help me like that.

It makes me
wanna be a better person.

The next challenge
after I start healing

is to slow my
natural personality down,

and say, "Okay. Baby steps.

"Baby steps.
Let's be a toddler on this."

And I wanna go gangbusters
and be a football team.

"Take one tablet by mouth,
three times a day."

Ah!

It's for the swelling.
Anti-inflammatory.

I'm hoping that 24 hours
or less,

for being mobile enough
to get some things done.

What I need to do,

get under these things
right here,

and let the medicine
do its work.

(SIGHING)

Time for healing.

CODY: I don't care
how cold it gets.

I don't care
how tough it gets.

I don't care if I'm freezing
in the middle of the night.

I don't care if I'm hungry.

I'm sort of answering my call
to the wild

I think it's about time
to start getting my wood
cut up.

So, that way I got wood
stacked up on the side
before it gets dark,

and have stuff to burn
throughout the night
so I don't freeze to death.

It's gonna keep me
off the ground.

It's gonna make it
a lot easier for me

to get two hands on the saw.

Cut through a piece,
slide over,
get my next piece.

My knees aren't gonna
be packed down in snow.

It's also gonna make
everything just go
a lot quicker.

'Cause with how short
the days are out here.

You know, you gotta get
enough wood built up to keep
you warm throughout the night.

(SIGHING)

Last piece for the night!

Kind of getting a little
bit more settled in here
than when I first showed up.

I got a, a great little
contraption over there

that really just made,

with the daylight
that we have out here, two
to three days' worth of work,

of on the ground work,
(SNIFFS)

freezing cold,
standing up now.

And I knocked it out
in three or four hours, so...

Cody's completed
his, uh, project

to learn how to use
some basic hand tools.

ANDY: I think he did
a pretty good job.

He's not afraid
of the hard work.

And he seems to be
highly motivated
to wanna live this lifestyle.

And that's what it takes.

(FIRE CRACKLING)

One of the first major lessons
I learnt out here
is being prepared.

I mean, running out of
firewood in the middle
of the night,

that was just dumb.

But I learnt my lesson
from that.

Just from that night,
I can see myself looking
a little farther ahead

in everything I do.

You know, is this gonna
help me for the next
15 minutes,

or is this gonna help me
for the next 15 years?

If you think
short term out here,

then you're gonna end up
in a ditch pretty quick.

After the experiences
I just went through,

I'm feeling damn proud,
damn happy,

and good to be alive.

-(CRACKLING)
-(CLATTERING)