All language subtitles for Life.Below.Zero.S04E06.Shakedown.720p.NF.WEB-DL.x264-KangMus_track3_eng

SUE: There might be
a storm coming in.

-I think it could
be pretty serious.
-(WHIRRS)

You can see and you can feel,

um, there is
a little bit of south wind.

If you look above,

you've got blue sky above,

all around me

the wind is kicking up
all this frozen particulates,

which is showing me, you know,

the halo effect on the, uh,
on the sun.

The ptarmigan
are coming out to eat.

Shows me that I might not be
too off in my assessment

of where the weather is.

This time of year, you just,

bad weather comes at ya
at 100 miles an hour.

If I'm gonna have hurricane
force winds hitting me,

it's nice to know
and get ready
for that ahead of time

and not wait
till it gets here.

If you're one of those people
that procrastinates
till it gets here,

you're not gonna be here long.

(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)

NARRATOR: In order
to survive the harsh storm
approaching Kavik,

Sue Aikens
must secure her camp

to prevent damage
from high tundra winds.

SUE: All this blowing snow
is like a talcum powder
of snow and

it will get into everything
and stick to everything.

I'm looking
at any trailer, visualising.

I am looking to see

are all the windows up,
are all the doors flush.

Here's a screen

on the top edge I need to
verify that the window is up.

The glass is up.

(CLATTERS)

Normally this is
all sealed up.

That should always be twisted,
locked and secured.

Anything out on the tundra
can become a missile

in these windstorms.

Fifty-five mile an hour
doesn't sound horrific,

but you add it to
20 below zero

brittle things break
and fly off.

Right now,
I am with a specific eye
towards what can fly

and damage camp if the winds
actually do pick up.

One minute thing
happening way out here,

almost a quarter mile away
from where I live,

is going to chain react

and send me to Deadhorse in
about three seconds flat.

My entire life
is invested in this camp.

My heart is
invested in its success.

Every time I think
there's gonna be
a gnarly weather system,

every time I think
I've got a predator

tearing crap up out here,
I will be out here

making sure the integrity
of my camp is maintained.

Did the boundary
and the perimeter on camp.

It's secure.

I have other chores
away from camp
that I need to complete,

so with camp being secure,

now I can get my mind
to other chores.

When there's
a big storm coming in,

you don't plan your chores
for when it starts to blow.

When it starts to blow, you
better have your chores done.

CHIP: We're always preparing
for the next season
or the next hunt

or the next fishing trip.

Preparing to us
is like half of the battle.

We've got a lot of snow now.

We had a pretty good storm,
dumped a lot of snow.

It's just gotten cold, our
river is just freezing solid.

So we're right at the edge of
being able to use these things

anywhere and anytime,

so right now is the time
to make sure they're good.

NARRATOR: The Hailstones
depend on snow machines

to travel along the tundra
and frozen waterways

-to hunt...
-(GUNSHOT)

...fish and gather resources
in dark winter.

But travelling on
icy conditions is dangerous

and to ensure
his family's safety,

Chip must constantly
give his machines

proper maintenance
and care.

CHIP: These aren't
recreational vehicles to us.

These are our cars.

These are not toys to us.

If you don't
take care of your stuff,
it won't take care of you.

I don't want my wife or my
kids to go off in the country

and have to walk back.

I'm definitely gonna get it

maintained and serviced
and ready to go.

So the thing is that
with preventative maintenance,

we don't have
troubles out there

because we're trying
to cure those troubles here.

Go have a look
at the undercarriage.

I look for dead shocks,
the feel of dead shocks.

I want to feel some pressure
and some compression.

These are feeling good.

One of our wear parts
on a snow machine is a belt.

You can burn 'em up,
bust 'em, blow 'em,

all kinds of things
happen to belts.

So we always travel
with a spare.

These are our guide rods.

These are down in the snow
and when we wanna turn,

these are the rods
that make a turn.

These are
essential to steering,

so I always check
the guide rods.

I wanna go take it out
and give it a real ride.

I want to open it up.
We call it a shakedown,

you go out
and go find out what's wrong.

(SNOWMOBILE ENGINE ROARS)

Right now I just wanna check
and make sure

the engine is running fine

and we do that
by opening them up fully

for as long as we can.

You know, anywhere from, uh,

like a 10 to 20-mile ride
is a good shakedown here.

We're always getting ready.

Our winter's just started.

Our river's just froze up.

We've hit some really
cold temperatures.

It's time to use the machines.
So, we've got 'em prepared.

Every time we get a chance,
you know,

you just go out
and get it ready again.

Add gas, check your belts.

It's just
a very routine thing.

I like the engine,
I like the drive train.

My undercarriage sounds good,
my drive train sounds good,

my engine is sounding good.

Now I'm gonna go take it
for a ride across the tundra,

which is a much more torturous
place for a snow machine.

(ENGINE STARTS)

(ENGINE ROARING)

JESSIE: The reward
at the end of the day is
being out there on the trail

with your dogs,
doing what you love.

They're my dogs
and I'm their human.

-(SQUEALS)
-Get off.

Can't go without Flash.

No, I can't go without you.

NARRATOR:
Along the Nenana River,

Jessie Holmes
has devoted his life

to racing sled dogs
in the Arctic.

After weeks
of running frozen trails,

Jessie and his dogs
are preparing for a test run

during the first official race
of the season.

Today's my last day
before the race.

It's gonna be
in the morning at 8:00

and I got to travel
100 miles to get there.

This is my first
kind of shakedown race.

I'm taking
these 14 big dogs out there.

I'm practising
for longer races,
'cause this is 51-mile race.

I'm looking at 300, 400,
and 1,000 miles.

-(HOWLS)
-So I just
get out there and

use this as
a maturing event for the dogs.

I'm gonna be
taking it very easy,
this is a young dog team.

I'm just trying
to set their heads up

and their mentality
to enjoy this.

So I'm not going there
to push or race, per se.

My main thing is
to come home with healthy dogs

that had a good experience.

(SAW WHIRRING)

I got to get this beef cut up
into manageable pieces

to where I can
thaw it out really easily

on the trail for the dogs.

I can't take
a big giant block of beef

out on the trail
and expect to be efficient,

so I've gotta cut this up
into small pieces.

For what I'm doing,
I need about 60 pounds of meat

to feed to my dogs
on the trail.

Dogs need warm meals,
so you have to make it

to where it
doesn't take you hours

and days
to prepare this out there.

So I'll package it up in bags.

What this will do
is it will all freeze thin

and that way I'll take a bag

and I'll put it in
some hot water,

thaw it out in the cooler,
so right when I get
to the checkpoint,

where my dogs
are gonna camp and rest,

I've got that meal ready
and prepared

and they need this
red protein meat to

build muscle and they
burn a lot of calories.

You can't have these dogs
waiting to get their food

because then they
won't recover correctly.

I've got a lot more to do
before this all

can come together
and I've got about 30 hours,

then I got to be down
in Cantwell at the race start.

It's pretty much nonstop
from this point on out.

This is where you get your
sleep deprivation training
for the longer races.

I don't even think
about the finish line,

I'm just trying to make it to
the starting line right now.

GLENN: Some people
don't need variety,

but a lot of people,
they're missing something
and maybe they don't realise

there's a lot of variety
out here the way I'm living.

My camp's on a small lake

in a valley
between the mountains

and all winter long,
when I'm hunting and trapping,

I just get around on foot.

If I need to return home,

I can only go
so far during a day

and then I have to turn around
and come back to camp.

Yeah, you gotta cover
a lot of country.

In order to intercept
the animals out here,

you have to cover
a lot of country.

There's times when I sit here,
looking at this lake

for a month, not a single
large animal crosses it.

That's not uncommon
in the wintertime.

So I gotta
broaden my horizons.

I gotta get out
and travel more country

in order
to intercept animals.

If I build another camp
down here,

that will extend my range.

So I'll build a woodstove,
and I'll build a lamp

and then I'll take
that canvas tent

and I'll set up a camp
further away from home.

This is a little
sweat lodge I built

about a year and a half ago.

It's nice place
to take a sauna,

but this time of year

I'm burning up so much wood

when I heat
this little tent up

that I've decided not to
use it any more this winter.

I'm gonna reappropriate
the woodstove in it

for my camp down the valley.

I'm gonna use some of
this moose fat to light

my tent with.

What I have to do
is get the fat all cleaned up

and then melt it down.

Now I'm gonna use
some of this moose for food,

I'm gonna use some of it
to light my tent with

and what I don't use

something else
will come along and use.

This moose was living its life
eating the willows around here

and those willows
got turned into this fat,
this big cycle.

This is what is happening
in the modern world.

People are
getting disconnected
from the cycles of nature.

You just turn on a switch
and you've got light

and you don't think about
where it came from.

But when I build this lamp,

I'm gonna think more
about where it came from

'cause I killed this moose.

I just heated it up
on the stove until it melted.

This is now liquid,
but I have to cool it off

and turn it back to a solid
so I can transport it.

I'm gonna pack
everything on my sled.

It'll all be wrapped up
in this tarp.

There.

Got everything I need to build
my home away from home
right there.

I'm gonna head out.

(WHISPERS) Hey,
there's caribou right here.

I'm just gonna leave
my sled here.

Try to sneak up close enough
to these caribou

to get a shot.

I'm going to try
to work my way through
the trees really quietly

to get close enough
to get a shot.

They heard me coming down
through the woods

before I got close enough
to get a shot.

They took off and ran away.

Just up ahead

there's another lake.

Caribou kept going.

I don't think I'm gonna get a
second chance at 'em tonight,

but I gotta go
back to my sled,

get my stuff,
bring it down here.

I'm gonna set up camp
in this area.

I'm real close to the lake,

where caribou often
hang out down here

and there's a chance
they will come back.

It's been a couple of months
since I've seen caribou.

It's good
that they're in the area.

Some years they aren't,
you never know.

There are times
when months pass
with no caribou at all,

but right now there's some
caribou around, that's good.

Good chance
I'll find more caribou.

AGNES: I know
in the back of my head,

hey, these girls
are gonna be comfortable
when they grow up out here,

so I don't have
to worry about them.

-The shoulder's
gonna be right there.
-TINMIAQ: Up, up, up.

Up, up, up.

Put like marks,
like right there.

NARRATOR: For the Hailstones,
passing down Native traditions

ensures their way of life
will be preserved.

Today, Agnes will guide
her eldest daughter Tinmiaq

in sewing winter clothing
from harvested animals.

AGNES: We're making me
a parka today.

This is gonna be
a pretty light parka.

When it's all sewn together,
we have three wolf skins.

Our traditional style
for women is
usually wolverine,

so I'm gonna be using
the wolverine

skin as my ruff and my trims.

Most women
don't use wolf skins,

but if it's warm and it works
and the hair don't pull

when you're out
in the extreme cold, why not?

Lay there like this.

This will be
the top of my shoulders
up here and then,

it'll just go rounded up, eh?

While I work in here
and try to make me a parka,

Chip's outdoors, uh,
working on our snow machines

so when we get to actually get
out to the country and travel,

we'll be warm
and we'll have a good ride.

TINMIAQ: Back.

So this would fit over you.

These should be your armpits
right there. Perfect.

Good?

-Good?
-Yeah.

Okay, now that
we have this all

cut out the way we want it

we could just
start getting our sinew
and our sewing bag...

-Start sewing?
-Start sewing.

AGNES: I've been teaching her
all the little tricks and

different kinds of stitches

that I know that my mum
passed on to me.

I am hoping
when she has her own children,

she'll pass those on
to her children.

Right now, the parka's
inside out and, uh,

this is the way we work on it,
but once we get done

we're gonna turn it
the other way

and it should
turn out pretty good.

Custom fit.

JESSIE: If you love
what you do, you never
work a day in your life.

Gotta have my sleeping bag.

Never know what
could happen out there,

so you got to be prepared
to take care of your own self.

This is a very important part
of my equipment right here.

NARRATOR: With his first
test run of the racing season

only hours away, Jessie must
quickly gather his equipment
and 14 sled dogs.

JESSIE: It's time
to race, man.

This is what, you know,
all this training

and all this work
and acquiring and breeding

and getting all these dogs
is all about, is racing, so.

A little bit nervous
until I actually get to

the starting line of the race,
so it's, uh,

still got travel, time,

never be surprised
if the truck broke down.

All right. Well,
these dog boxes are done,

now all they need
is a bunch of dogs
in 'em to christen it.

-Come here, buddy.
-(BARKS)

What I lack in
not being established
in this sport,

I plan on making up for by my
physical and mental toughness.

Hold up there, buddy.

I'm not gonna be the weak link

and it sets
a good example for the dogs

of what we got
to be like out there.

They're looking for leadership

and if I can lead them
with that mindset,

to be physically
and mentally tougher
than other dogs

and other mushers,
that's my goal.

It's yet to see
what this team can do,

but I can do
all the right things
to set them up.

I secure everything now and
give everything a final check,

hit the road.

Still got a good
few hour drive ahead of me.

Gonna take it nice and slow
and make sure we get there.

That's why you start early,
that's why you sleep less,

because you can
take your time and be safe.

(ENGINE STARTING)

(ENGINE ROARS)

(ENGINE STOPS)

Damn it!

(ENGINE STARTS)

Well, the truck's running.
That's a good sign.

I've had
way more problems with trucks

than I've ever had with dogs.

Trucks, you know,
they take a lot of TLC

and love and care,
just like the dogs.

I got all my dogs loaded up
and we're heading south.

Got a three-hour drive
ahead of me

to get to the Denali Highway.

I got precious cargo on board
is the main thing, you know?

This is precious cargo to me.
That's my whole life back
there in those boxes.

This is a good, short race.

It's a good opportunity to
get them young dogs out there

and get 'em some experience,

so I pretty much
have a split team of

my good veteran dogs
to set a good example,

and then I got a lot of
young prospects in there.

They gotta get the experience
and I feel pretty nervous.

When you got nerves like this
before a race,

it means that
it means something to you,
racing, you know?

So...

I'm glad
I'm a little bit nervous.

All right, we're here.

Now the work begins.

So, once I get my dogs all out

and they all get a chance
to use the bathroom,

I can get my sled pulled out
and stretched out

and start planning my exit.

-(BARKING)
-All right, straight ahead,

straight ahead. Easy.

-Jessie Holmes! Jessie Holmes!
-Got it.

Thanks, guys. Thank you.

Being physically
and mentally weak
is not an option.

I have to keep
my head in the game always.

I have dogs that depend on me.

They depend on me
to be a rock in the storm.

I don't care
about first place.

I care about my dog team,
and I care about
their long-term future.

Easy, boys.

SUE: Some people
beat the traffic
to get to their jobs.

I'm beating Mother Nature
to get to my job.

I'd like to say I got
one foot ahead of the storm,

but I think
I'm right in the thick of it.

NARRATOR: As Kavik's
sole resident,

Sue performs various tasks

to ensure safe passage
on the tundra

and prevent damage
to the ecosystem,

but with
a fierce storm on the horizon

heading into high winds
and freezing conditions
to collect the data

is a dangerous mission.

Work that
I'm getting ready to do,
the snow depth,

I've got to take my equipment

several different

spots further north.

I have to stop and take
20 measurements at each site.

For the state to be able
to open the ice road permits,

they need to know
that the ground is a minimum
of five below zero

and that you have certain snow
and ice depths.

So one of my jobs is to go
and take some measurements.

My temperatures
are dropping real quick.

Weather here
during the winter,

the severity of it
is the difference
between life and death.

The wind has now shifted
coming in out of the east,

which is where all
the big wind is coming in at.

If it hits me,
doesn't mean I can't go.

Just means I'll be grateful
for having a cab on a truck.

(ENGINE REVVING)

We're only going
a couple of miles out,

but you can get lost
in between here

and the next building
if a storm kicks up.

Uh, here I just have
some light tools, rope,

tarp if I need to tarp it
and do something.

I've got extra mittens,
extra warm weather gear,

to try and help me stay safe.

The dangers
of going away from camp
in this kind of weather,

I mean, you may not find
your way back.

I can see some,
I can't see everything.

That's a danger.

The wind kicks up any worse,

I may or may not
make it back home.

AGNES: We're able to
live together, work together

and it just makes us
even stronger.

(MOTOR ZOOMS)

NARRATOR:
After performing maintenance

and testing his snow machine
on flat terrain,

Chip must now take the vehicle
out to the more gruelling
tundra landscape.

Right now I'm getting the
machines ready for

using here during the winter.

'Cause it's
only gonna get colder

and the night's
gonna get longer

and pretty soon
it's gonna be really cold.

It only makes sense
to ride something
you can depend on.

If I knew something was wrong
and I took it 20 miles out,

I'd probably be
walking 20 miles back.

The whole trick is to, uh,
is to get ready beforehand,

and, uh, I'm getting ready.

Fucking damn it!

My undercarriage is fucked up.

My undercarriage is frozen.

I don't mean frozen
as in cold,

I mean as in stuck

and the rods got rusted
and the thing is stuck.

(GROANS)

I'll try to see if
I can get this one to go good.

I just need to take it home.

Take it home, thaw it out,
take the undercarriage out.

Uh, probably change
the shocks out.

That's probably my best bet.

But at 35 below zero,
this is no time to be trying

to take
this thing apart outside.

So, I'll have to wait till
the weather warms up,

then I should be able
to unbolt and undo things

without ripping the gaskets,
without ruining the bearings,

without snapping the bolts off
or breaking any plastic,

so, my life's
dictated by weather.

We're not prepared.

This isn't prepared, and I'm
not gonna be going anywhere.

Sometimes you just can't do
anything for it.

JESSIE: When one lets go
of trying to control
the outcome all the time,

I think better things
happen for you.

Haw! Good, straight ahead.

Haw.

Good dogs. Good dogs.

Haw, haw.

Hey.

Haw.

Haw, haw, haw. Haw.

Ho. Ho.

Stay.

NARRATOR: Jessie Holmes
and his sled dogs

are competing in
the first race of the season.

To avoid injury and fatigue,
they must camp out
at the halfway point

of the 51-mile race.

Time to shut these dogs down
for a few hours.

Get some rest in 'em while
they're still looking great
and on a good note.

I just need to get these
booties off the dogs and

get a little
meal into 'em.

We just did 31 miles.

Gonna lay down some straw
and let 'em rest.

Charge their batteries.

I'm gonna mix this in here
and let it sit for a sec

and then what I'm gonna go do
is go take all these

booties off these dogs.

Hey, buddies.
Good dogs, you did so good.

That way I can
get to see every dog

and see how they're feeling.

Try to make sure I get
the food in 'em, within, uh,

30 minutes of arriving
at camp for optimal recovery.

Oh, they're happy.
They're ready to eat.

Oh, yes.

Yup, see,
they're like a family

when they get out here
and do this.

It's important
for team bonding,

eating meals together.

Okay, guys,
we're gonna get
a good little rest

and then
we're gonna hit the trail.

Yeah.

Make a big ol' bed
for you guys,

-you can all cuddle.
-(SQUEALS)

Keep each other warm.

Gonna pull out my sleeping bag

and sit on it
and stay nice and toasty.

That way the dogs
get the idea,

but that's it, you know,
that's what you do

all the work
ahead of time for is
to have your routine down

and that's one of the things
you're practising out here

and getting used to, the dogs
have to get used to it.

Still hard, but I'd say it's
getting a lot easier for me.

Keeping at this.

Nothing to do now but, uh,

wait for the dogs
to have a few hours' sleep

and then bootie 'em back up
and hit the trail again.

My journey don't end here.

SUE: There's dangers
no matter where you go.

You don't let those
dangers rule you,

but you better know
where they are.

NARRATOR: Sue is recording
snow depth measurements

to protect
the tundra's ecosystem.

But with her
visibility worsening

she must
collect the data quickly

or risk being stranded
in a brutal storm.

SUE: The conditions
are worsening.

The wind has picked up.

Harder for me to see.

I wanna get to my location,
I wanna start the process.

(ENGINE STOPS)

Wow, that's some
hard-packed snow, man.

I have got

200 feet of rope here.

I have to go so far,
take a reading, go so far,
take another reading.

If I start to lose visibility,
I won't be able to see how to
get back to my own vehicle.

So I'll do
10 measurements this way,

10 measurements that way,
move on to the next location.

Three. Two and a half.

What they're looking for is
two foot of snow overall.

There we go.

And then this is...

You're getting
damn close again,
three and a half feet.

So...

So far my average
is between three and
three and a half feet.

All right.

So that's a wrap on this side.

There's definitely more wind,
colder temps.

I want to be careful.

'Cause as the wind picks up
and the sun goes down,

the temps are gonna drop

and that means it's
more dangerous on my skin.

The temperature's
getting colder,

it's getting
harder and harder to see,

it also is getting
a little bit harder
to take deeper breaths.

But that's 10 measurements
this way, now.

I'll write it all down.

Once I'm done, I'll move
to the next location.

(ENGINE REVVING)

But

it's really degrading.

The uh, visibility
is not good.

-(ENGINE STARTS)
-If the winds
get horrifically bad,

then I'm gonna have
to bail on the second location

in favour of waiting
for the winds to drop.

I can't do it when it's
a danger to life and limb.

The wind is
filling in my tracks

and those, they're
not even 15 minutes old,

so it's time
to call it a night.

Think I've gone about as far
as I feel comfortable going.

I need to be able to
see my tracks to get home.

I can get lost
pretty easy in this.

I just have
no spatial relevance.

I cannot see shit.

Doesn't take a few minutes
and whatever track
you make is gone.

The wind takes care of
the tracks pretty damn quick.

So I'm back on my own runway.

Well, I made it home.

Definitely not as windy here

as it is just a couple of
miles up to the north.

Time for me to maybe
get some electrics going,

and then look at the,

look at the documentation
that I just got.

This right here,

this is, uh...
This is the gold.

You know,
these are all the locations

and the numbers for the state
to approve the tundra travel.

Right now what I'm seeing with
all the measurements I took,

we're well above that.

Next step is,
put it in an email,
send it to the state

and say, this is what I got,
tell me what you think.

This is the culmination of
all of the efforts of the day.

Getting up, securing camp,
watching the weather,

getting my machine rolling,
trying not to be blown over

by the wind as it picked up.

This is what I'm here for.

This is the information I get
to help people out

to make the decisions that
keep this area what it is.

Simple as that.

CHIP: Some people
are about quantity.

I'm about quality.

I don't want numbers,
I want results.

(ENGINE STARTS)

Earlier today I went
and tested out the rides.

This one here is parked.
It's kind of grounded for now.

It's got some troubles that
we can easily take care of,

but I couldn't find them
till I actually got out
and ran the thing.

About this time of year
we usually have

a pretty big pile of firewood.

Haven't had a chance
to replace it yet,

so this is my first chance
to go out

and go get another
fresh batch of firewood.

Mmm, I'm gonna get some Umaks.

I'm gonna get some woods,
willow woods.

They're good hard-burning,
they're dry,

they're easily available

and they're a lot thinner
than trying to chop
a whole spruce log up.

(GROANS)

When you work for yourself
and you're self-employed,

I tell myself to get up
and get firewood.

I tell myself when to get up
and go and when to stay home.

I make those decisions
and if I make a wrong decision

and I get cold,
I gotta live with it

and since
everybody's counting on me,

I gotta deal with it.

I've seen people
do crazy things for heat,

even burn their clothes
and boots.

I'm not gonna get
that far down.

Hopefully the ladies
have gotten pretty far
on their parkies. I'll go see.

(ENGINE STARTS)

-AGNES: Ta-da!
-Oh, sweet.

That looks really cool.

Wow.

That's the best overcoat
I ever saw

and it'll fit right over
your other parka,

that's the best thing
about it.

We'll be safer
in the deeper cold.

If we break down,

that's the kind you can
curl up and sleep in,

in the middle of the night
on your way home.

Thanks for the help, Bun.

-Your hands
helped out a lot, I'm sure.
-Thank you.

AGNES: I am real happy
with our work.

It's nice for me to know
she's able to make parkas

and sew with sinew
we've made by ourselves

and it's something
I learned from my mum

and it's nice to be able
to pass it down to her

and hopefully she'll be able

to pass her
craftsmanship to her children.

We'll have to wait
till it warms up
and we'll check out

your snow machine
and see what parts you need.

For now, we're double riding?

For now,
we'll just double ride.

(LAUGHS)

To me,
winter's officially here.

I went out
and got a bunch of firewood.

Got some good clothing made
for the deep cold.

Got to go travel around
and look around

and just be outside again.

These are things we do
to get ready for winter.

It's our way of getting ready.

You know, it's preparations
for the deep cold.

So to me, winter's just begun.

GLENN: There's so much
to learn out here.

Life's going by and you only
got one chance at it.

Nice big tree.

(SNIFFLES)

Probably put
my tent right here.

NARRATOR: In the Brooks Range,
Glenn is setting up a new camp
away from his cabin.

The second camp is vital to
improving his travel limits,

and the ability
to hunt animals
for meat and protein.

I wanna face it south,
get the sun.

What little sunlight there is.

Face it right there,
I can get up in the morning,

walk over
and take a look at the lake.

This is the spot.

The first thing I need to do
is to find some good,

straight poles, cut 'em down
and build a tent frame.

I personally
like this lifestyle

because of the direct contact
with natural processes.

I like to have
to learn these things

and learn
how to take care of myself
in different situations.

I've always liked
to operate on my own

and I really enjoy
the autonomy out here.

People are becoming
more and more restricted,
less and less free

and out here, there's still
a lot of freedom.

(GROANS)

It's gonna be so nice
to see the smoke coming up
out of the chimney tonight.

It's getting cold.

I like to be comfortable
when I camp out.

I got to get my stove set up
and get this thing heated.

I got a lot to do still.

It's, this is not
a simple process here.

Now that I got
the tent all set up

I just need to pick
some spruce boughs.

These'll cover the floor.
Makes a nice soft
floor covering.

Hey. Look at that.

There's a grouse.

(WHISPERS) In that tree,
there's a spruce grouse.

(COCKS GUN)

Hey, there it is.

(GUNSHOT)

(COCKS GUN)

A lot of times,

where there's one grouse
you'll find others.

There's another one!
Right there!

(GUNSHOT)

I got 'em both.

Two grouse for dinner.

I got a nice view of that lake

and I got some grouse
right here in my back yard.

This is a nice spot down here.

A lot of caribou sign around.

That's the thing
I've learned out here,
is that if you're patient,

nature always gives you
something to eat.

Sometimes it's not what
you were expecting to find,
but you always find something.

You just have
to take your time

and be patient,

and you will find
something out here.

Got a cup,
got a little moose fat.

I'm gonna melt that
on my stove.

That'll be the fuel
for my lamp.

Here's my fat.

Pour it out

and the moss
should absorb the fat

like a wick.

The fat's highly flammable.

This is gonna take
a little time.

Just have to be patient.

What I like about this
is just the atmosphere,
it's very meditative.

I like running
the little lamp,

running my little woodstove.

The scent
of the spruce boughs.

This is what
life's really about,

it's being able
to take time to enjoy it.

Just to be able
to walk out at night,

look up
at the auroras overhead.

Just to be able
to spend some time

adjusting the flame
on your lamp

and not have to
think about anything else
if you don't want to.

Nothing else really matters.
You got heat, you got light,

you got a comfortable place
with a roof over your head.

What more do you need?

JESSIE: Every time
I push through that barrier,

I know I can go further
and further.

When you want
something bad enough
you can push through anything.

Come on.

Straight ahead.

The dogs are looking strong,

coming out of the checkpoint
like they rested well.

They were eating well,

they're all booted up
and their feet are doing good
and we're making good time

on our way back
to the truck here.

Ho. Ho.

-A couple booties come off
and fix my lines up.
-(SQUEALS)

Give the dogs
just a real quick rest here.

Gotta keep the booties on
in these kind of conditions.

This abrasive snow,
that's what's gonna

tear their pads up.

Good boys, good boys.

Yeah, these two
are just real young dogs,

and they're becoming
my main leaders
with their dad up here,

so that's a huge deal.

(TONGUE CLICKING) Good boy.

Tate, he hasn't been acting
like his normal self.

He's getting
kind of old maybe.

Rather than burn him out,
just give him a good break.

All right.

Straight, straight ahead.

The key thing is just to
be patient and attentive.

Attentive to the dogs' needs

and if you take care of them
they'll take care of you
and perform.

I've learned a
lot of things from these dogs.

Watching how they're as a pack
and how they treat each other,

it transfers over to the way
I treat everybody around me.

Every mile you learn
something about your dogs.

Good dogs. Straight ahead.

I'm gonna be finishing
right in the dark,

so we nailed this run,
pretty much

in our window of opportunity
of daylight in Alaska.

All right,
we made it to the finish line.

(DOGS BARKING)

Dogs made it,
finishing strong.

I'm one proud dad right now.

Straight ahead.

Straight ahead.

That was awesome run.

Fifty-one-mile run
under these dogs' belts.

Look at you, boys.
You sure are learning, huh?

Yeah. Thanks, Flash.

You did a great job, buddy.
Yeah, you're a good boy.

I've been on the trail
all day, all night,

getting ready to come here.

You know, taking care
of my dogs first
over myself, like,

it takes a lot of energy,
so, I'm beat.

I didn't get
to run hard in the race

'cause I had to
set my team up for success and

I can see the product
of my work here now

and the dogs look great.

I really didn't even know
what I wanted out of life
until I found these dogs.

It's humbled me.

It's really changed me
and changed who I am.

I've had many errors and
many trials and tribulations
through this,

but I persevere every time.

I refuse to quit and give up

and that's what

builds in that dog team
from them being around me

when we work together.
We share that attitude.

I love dog mushing,
I love racing,

I want
to succeed in the future.

It's very important
that I just keep them healthy

and happy, loving what they do

and if we love what we do,

then we're gonna
reach our full capability.