All language subtitles for Arctic.Ascent.with.Alex.Honnold.S01E02.On.Thin.Ice.WEBRip.HOTSTAR.en[cc]

♪ ♪

[wind whistling]

♪ ♪

[creaking]

[Aldo] 3, 2, 1. Heave.

Again.

♪ ♪

Uhh.

Quite warm, isn't it?

[crash]

[Heïdi] Ice!

Hide your hands!

[Mikey] Dagger.
Look at that thing.

[Aldo] This is treacherous.

[crash]

[Heïdi] Oh, rock.
Head, head, head!

[Aldo] Ice!

-[crash]
-[Alex] Oww, [bleep].

[Aldo] Did it hit you?

[Alex] Right on the bridge
of my nose.

Mike, is that blood?

[Hazel] Yeah, you're bleeding.

[Aldo] Whoa.

[Heïdi] Coming!

[ice clattering]

[Hazel] It actually sliced you.
It's like a little knife wound.

[Alex] It's definitely way better
to get hit by ice than rock.

If that had been a rock
that size that hit me,

it for sure would have
broken my nose at least.

If not put a hole
straight through my face.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Did I get most of the blood off?

[Aldo] Yeah. Does it hurt?

[Alex] I'm definitely like
a little sore, but.

I think the thing with
the ice falls is really scary,

but there's nothing
you can do about it.

You either give up on the climb
entirely or you play through it.

Combat medic Aldo
frickin' taking care of me.

[Hazel] Okay, I've got ya.
Go for it.

[Aldo] Nice one, mate.

[Alex] Classic, we're like,
"Oh, better conditions today,"

like, nope, different set
of bad conditions.

It's always something
in Greenland.

♪ ♪

We're 70 miles from
a 4,000-foot sea cliff

called Ingmikortilaq.

It's one of the highest
unclimbed rock faces

on the planet.

♪ ♪

To get there, we want to be
the first people

ever to cross
the Renland Ice Cap.

But to reach the ice cap,

we'll all have to complete
a two-day climb

up what we're calling
the Pool Wall.

♪ ♪

A 1,500-foot unclimbed
Arctic cliff.

[Mikey] Given the complications
of our team,

we've got a couple rookie
big wall climbers with us.

Today's like probably one of the
more complicated big wall days

of the whole trip, honestly.

[Heïdi] Whoa,
this feels so scary!

Wuh!

[Adam] I don't focus
on the height at all.

I'm just focused
on those bits of ice.

You know, I felt a couple
of pieces hit me,

and I can feel the force of it,

and when they hit me,
I say some Greenlandic words

that I'm not allowed
to say for my mom.

[laughs]

[ice falls]

♪ ♪

I was the last one climbing up.

That's the point where
I was the most scared.

It just struck me, okay,

this rope is the only thing
holding me.

A rock could hit
the rope and just cut it.

♪ ♪

This was serious business.

♪ ♪

[Heïdi] Whoa, okay.

[exhales]

[breathing heavily]

♪ ♪

I'm now about 1,000 feet up.

I've made a decision
not to look down.

If I do, I'm worried
I'll be paralyzed by fear.

[Hazel] Yeah!

[Alex] Yeah!

[Hazel laughs]

[Aldo] All good, Heïdi?

-[Heïdi] Horizontal ground!
-[laughs]

-[Alex] Nice climb.
-[Aldo] Yeah.

[Adam] This is crazy, huh?

[Heïdi laughs]

Yoooo!

[Heïdi] And the view
is pretty nice, huh?

[Adam] It's, it's beautiful.

I got a bit scared actually!

[Heïdi] It's hard to imagine, but
you're gonna spend the night

attached to a thin tent
made of fabric

that is only secured by one bolt
stuck into the rock.

♪ ♪

[Mikey] It's a bit lonely over
here on this side of the camp.

Definitely the cool kids
are over there.

[Hazel] I love portaledges.

[Alex] Oh, it's so much cozier
than being outside.

[Hazel] And it's nice
to get out of the wind.

[Alex] Yeah, it's so much warmer.

[Hazel] Are we taking
helmets off?

[Alex] Well, I am.

[Heïdi] When I look out
the window,

I'm like, whoa! [laughs]
Where is the floor?

[laughs]

♪ ♪

I'm glad that tomorrow is
the second and last day.

[chuckles]
Yeah.

[Alex] Yeah, nothing like
9 o'clock bedtime.

[Heïdi laughs]

[Adam] I think
I'm ready to sleep.

[Alex] Yeah, how do you feel?
How was the day?

[Adam] Good, I was actually
a bit scared down here,

I was kind of left alone
like the last man.

And you guys?

[Alex] We, we're good, we're
pretty beat. Our hands, like...

[Adam] Must have been cold.

[Alex] Yeah, the climbing today
kind of took

a little bit out of us,
actually.

[Aldo] Here we are, me and Mikey.

[Mikey] Hey there!

[Aldo] But look at this
for a view.

[unzips]

There we go. Sorry, Hazel.

[laughs]

[Aldo] I think I was filming
when Hazel was having a wee.

[laughs]

[Alex] What was the drama
of the day?

[Hazel] The drama of the day
was Alex got hit on the noggin

with a piece of ice.

And at one point
it looked really extreme,

because there was blood dripping
all down his face.

[Alex] There was blood dripping
into my mouth,

I was like, that's unusual
when you get hit on the face

hard enough that it bleeds
into your mouth.

[Adam] Sleep well.

[Alex] Bonne nuit!

♪ ♪

[Hazel] The first day
was kind of scary,

because there was
a lot of falling ice.

But today when I woke up,

I didn't even think I'd be able
to get my climbing shoes on,

I was so cold.

Ahhh.

[Hazel] Yeah.

[Alex] I was so impressed that

she just put on her things
and went.

I was like, that is,
like, that's a hard woman.

Today's the day the whole team
has to get to the top.

♪ ♪

We're about 900 feet up.

To summit,
we have to get through

the steep top section
of the wall.

We only have thin cracks
to follow.

Plus the rock is
constantly crumbling.

It's really difficult
to get good gear.

♪ ♪

[Hazel] Some people might think
that climbers

are just cut from
a different cloth

and that they're just
comfortable in these places,

but it really comes
through practice,

and I think that
the biggest growth for me

has actually been learning
how to manage that fear.

♪ ♪

Ah! Rock!

[Alex] You alright?

[Hazel] It's actually just making
hand-fingerlocks big enough.

♪ ♪

Ah, okay.

Ah, [bleep].
It's just so [bleep].

Ugh.

♪ ♪

The crack is really narrow.

My hands are freezing,
and the rock is so crumbly.

I can see one handhold above.

♪ ♪

Ahh!

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Pbbbt.

Ahhh.

Well, that's kind of the last
hard pitch for sure.

Okay, safe, Alex!

Growing up it was challenging
to feel like I fit in,

you know, as a climber,

and as a girl who was into
more of a boys' sport.

I'm just so thankful and
grateful to my younger self

that I stuck with it.

Because climbing's
given me everything.

My whole life has this meaning
that I just wouldn't have

if I didn't stick with climbing.

♪ ♪

[Alex] Ugh!

[Hazel] Nice. Yeah.

[Alex] Nice lead.
That was very impressive.

My fingers hurt, they're numb,
they're bleeding.

That was very impressive.

[Hazel] We're losing the sun
a little bit, actually.

[Alex] Yeah, at least we only
have 300 feet to the summit,

and they're much easier.

♪ ♪

-[Adam] Aldo.
-[Aldo] Yeah.

[Adam] This thing, do I get...

[Aldo] Just keep coming up.

[Adam] Before I started climbing,
we saw two ravens.

In my culture that's a sign

that something is happening
over there, something good.

[Alex] Yeah, Adam!

Almost there.

[Adam] It gave me a boost,

it gave me
a "you can do this" feeling.

[Aldo] Are you enjoying it?

[Adam] Not really.

[chuckling]

[Hazel] Wow, that was direct.

-[Adam] No, for real, not really.
-[laughs]

It was nice to get up to the
other guys and laugh a little.

[Aldo] Hugs for Adam, yeah.

[Adam] It was comforting.

[Alex] Adam, we're thinking
we're gonna name the route

Two Ravens.

-[Mikey] Good name, huh?
-[Adam] Perfect, huh?

-[Alex] You saw the ravens.
-[Adam] Yeah, seriously.

[Alex] For you and Heïdi.
Two ravens flying up the wall.

-[Adam] Yeah.
-[Alex] Pretty exciting, huh?

[Adam] Oh, yeah.
That's a good name, huh?

[chuckling]

At that moment when they said

they wanted to name it
Two Ravens, I felt honored,

because I couldn't have done it
at all without them.

[Hazel] Final pitch!

Let's get to the summit.

[Alex] Okay, Hazel. Send it!

♪ ♪

Great success.

[Hazel] High five. Nice one.

[Alex] We're on top. Yay!

[Hazel] Yay!

[Alex] That's something.
We're on top.

[Hazel] Nice, Aldo.

[Aldo] What a mission.

[Alex] Yeah.

[Aldo] Woo-hoo. Not bad
for a practice wall.

[Mikey] Practice run?
This is like my retirement run.

[Aldo] How you feeling?

[Adam] Worked.

[Hazel] Nice one.

You did so well, hey?

[Adam] Crazy experience.

Right now, never again. Never.

[Hazel] Yeah.

[Aldo] Heïdi!

[Heïdi] Hey, guys!

[Aldo] Welcome!

[Adam] Yeee!

[Alex] Yeah.

-[Heïdi] We made it, huh?
-[Adam] We made it.

-[Heïdi] The two newbies.
-[Aldo] Well done.

[Heïdi] Thank you, team.
It's all thanks to you guys.

-[Adam] Thank you, guys.
-[Heïdi] Ahhh.

Oh, this is incredible.

[Alex] Two Ravens.

♪ ♪

[muffled conversation]

Okay, we got everything?

[Aldo] That was a haul and a half.

[Alex] Oh, my gosh,
that was insane.

♪ ♪

I'm starting to think
that Ingmikortilaq,

which is three times higher
than the Pool Wall,

might be a bit
of an undertaking.

So next up we'll have to try
to find somewhere flat to camp.

We still have a long ways to go
before we sleep tonight.

Finally we've made it
onto the Renland Ice Cap,

a 42-mile-wide reservoir of ice,

some of which has been here
for tens of thousands of years.

It will be the highest and
coldest part of the expedition.

♪ ♪

This will be the first time

anyone's tried to cross
this ice cap on foot.

Our plan is to ski
northwest 40 miles,

taking measurements for
Heïdi's research as we go.

Then, we'll then descend
a glacier to the fjord below.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

-[Adam] Aldo.
-[Aldo] Yeah. Huh?

[Adam] Where we putting up the
tents? Somewhere over here?

[Aldo] Yeah, where do you think?

Here's good.

Up here we're so exposed,

temperatures are
well below freezing.

It's quite a bit of a change
from being on the wall

and being slightly protected

to being out in the elements and
needing to get things done fast.

What's your thoughts
with bears up here?

[Adam] We'll put up a bear fence,

make sure...we have
a good night's sleep,

because we need that, all of us.

[Alex] It's been a long day.

Our skin is killing us,

my fingers, the skin on
my fingers really hurts.

Hard to believe that
Ingmikortilaq is supposed to be

at least two, maybe
three times bigger.

I just don't know if we can do
three times more.

Hopefully we'll recover
a bit before then.

[wind blowing]

[Alex] This is my first
expedition as a father.

And I do miss my daughter.

It's a pretty long trip
to be away from family.

And it's certainly gonna
be hard on my wife,

to have to be a single parent
for six weeks.

I really hope that June will
grow up on a healthy planet.

We're in the midst of a crisis,

and we need to actually help
change the world

as quickly as possible.

The first year
that I started earning

more income than I needed,

I started donating
a third of my income

to help fund solar projects
around the world.

♪ ♪

I think expeditions should be
about more than just climbing.

Yeah, it's cool to make
first ascents,

but it's great that
we're also collecting data

from the front line
of climate change.

♪ ♪

[wind whistling]

[Aldo] Morning.
You guys sleep well?

[Mikey] Good thing
we got skis, huh?

[Alex] Today we head out
across the ice cap.

It should take around four days,

but we don't really know,
since no one's ever done it.

To lighten the load,

we're gonna leave a lot of
our climbing gear behind.

Our support team
will pick it up later.

It's time to shift
into science mode.

Heïdi's going to be gathering
important data

as we cross the ice.

[Heïdi] So we have here
two different radars.

This will help us to measure
ice thickness,

and the way it works is
that the transmitter here

will send pulses of radio waves
into the ground

and it will give us information
on how thick the ice is.

It works almost like a sonar.

It enables us to see
what's underneath our feet.

-[Alex] Okay, we're all ready?
-[Heïdi] Yeah.

[Alex] Okay, walking.

♪ ♪

[Heïdi] Measuring the thickness
of the ice will help us

calculate how much water
the Renland Ice Cap holds.

We want to understand how
sea levels might rise

if temperatures keep going up
and all of this melts.

♪ ♪

[Alex] It's not as if I've ever
wanted to be a polar explorer,

you know, I'm a rock climber
for a reason,

but in this case,
to spend, you know,

between four days and a week

going somewhere that
no one's ever been

to help Heïdi for science,

I mean, it's rare to have that
kind of opportunity in life.

♪ ♪

[Heïdi] Stay a bit more
on your right if you can.

[Adam] How's this speed?

[Heïdi] Yeah, that's good, yeah.

[Adam] Okay?

♪ ♪

[Aldo] So difficult to get
any bearings in this light.

♪ ♪

[Mikey] Want to stop, Alex?

[Alex] Yeah, can we stop
for a sec?

[Mikey] Sure.

[Heïdi] You have collected loads
of files. That's good, Adam.

[Adam] Yeah, that's what I do
normally when I cross ice caps.

[Alex] Are we taking a look
at your numbers?

[Heïdi] I mean these files
are gigantic, actually.

So when we left camp,
I mean, have a guess,

how thick was the ice when
we left camp this morning?

[Aldo] 900 feet.

[Mikey] No, I'd say 300 feet.

[Heïdi] So it was about
200 meters, so.

[Alex] 600, yeah, 700 feet.

[Heïdi] And now we are walking
or skiing on ice

that is 120,000 years old.

This ice has seen
the last ice age

and even the period before that.

[Alex] The deepest ice here
is over 2,000 feet down.

I mean, it's crazy.

This ice cap holds more than
350 billion tons of fresh water,

enough to submerge the entire
island of Manhattan

under almost
four miles of water.

♪ ♪

[wind whistling]

[Aldo] So we're just skiing in
on, on the bearing now

because it's kind of whiteout,

but you can see the relief
of that crevasse there.

♪ ♪

Crevasses are the biggest hazard
on the ice cap.

They're deep cracks in the ice,
some going hundreds of feet.

In this flat light,
they're tough to spot

until you're actually
on top of them.

And if you fall in one
whilst you're pulling a sled,

then you're in deep trouble.

[Aldo] So, crevasse is that way,

so we'll basically
head that direction.

[Alex] Yeah, looks like it.

[Mikey] Yeah, I was like,
I think we really want

to get out of here, huh?

-[Aldo] Yeah.
-[Alex] Yeah.

♪ ♪

[Aldo] You go out in front,
Mikey, I'll keep you on track.

[Mikey] Yeah, I'll be
the crevasse poodle,

I'm the lightest.

♪ ♪

[Aldo] Alright, you're bang
on course there, Mikey.

Navigating in whiteout
is never fun.

♪ ♪

[Mikey] A landmark
would be great.

[Aldo] So difficult when there's
absolutely nothing to focus on.

[Mikey] I just close my eyes.

[Aldo] Yeah.

[Mikey] I feel it, Aldo,
I just feel it.

[Aldo] 10 degrees right.

[Mikey] Oh, that's not
working, is it?

♪ ♪

[Hazel] What's the plan?

[Alex] I mean,
my goal for the day

is to get all the way
across the ice cap.

[Mikey] Okay, I think
we should stop.

[Alex] Are you kidding?

[Aldo] Basically we need
to make a decision

about whether we push on or not.

[Alex] We've only been skiing
for an hour and a half.

I don't like stopping
if I don't have to;

I'd much rather keep moving.

[Aldo] The fact
from my point of view

is that Mikey and I
looked at a map

and we're heading straight into

the center of that
crevasse field.

I know that it's probably
pretty dangerous.

Is it safe to push on?

Or is it better to stop
and put up camp,

and maybe we get better vis
later on.

We do have 24-hour daylight,

when the vis is good,
we crack on again.

[Alex] We could also rope up
and just keep going through.

[Adam] I don't think, roping up
doesn't make it much safer,

because we can't see.

[Alex] But you're
less likely to die.

[Adam] The hazard is
already there.

I'm, I'm in on camping here.

[Heïdi] Absolutely, same for me,

I think it's totally unsafe
to continue.

[Mikey] With Alex, it's, you
know, it's a little different,

because he has
so much self confidence

and so much ability.

It's a little harder for me
to blindly sort of trust

what he says to do.

[Alex] What's the group vote?

[Mikey] I don't think
we should move right now.

[Heïdi] Yeah.

[Aldo] We'll go and probe
an area for camp

and then we'll whack up
some tents

and then we'll just
ride it out for a bit.

[Mikey] Where's your tent, Heïdi?

[Heïdi] Just here.

♪ ♪

[Alex] Uh. Whoa!

Kind of like,
has this been probed?

'Cause I just punched through
like to my, like, past my thigh.

Like I punched through
that corner,

and then I punched through the
other corner, I was like, man.

My whole tent is like
a minefield over here.

[Aldo] The dry glacier underneath
feels fairly solid at 115, 120.

The story of this trip is

basically don't
fight the weather,

get the tents up, get dinner on,
and wait it out.

[Heïdi] How are your feet?

[Hazel] Should probably
check my blisters.

[Heïdi] Ah, this looks good.

[Hazel] Yeah. This is coming away
a little bit there, but.

[Heïdi] And you have the same
on the other side?

[Hazel] Yeah, exactly
the same place, yeah,

this one's slightly worse, but.

[Heïdi] It doesn't look infected
at all, so that's great.

[Hazel] No.

-[Aldo] Come on in.
-[Alex] Oh, it's so cozy in here.

[Aldo] It's nice, eh?

[Alex] Sanni said that
June's been waking up

four times a night again.

-[Aldo] Yeah.
-[Alex] Oh, jeez.

I think I'm missing the worst
part right now, honestly.

[Aldo] Yeah.

[Alex] How disrupted has
your sleep been?

[Aldo] It's kind of funny going
from being a new dad

and no sleep,
to then coming on expedition

where you get in theory
full sleeps.

I've been craving those
for months. [chuckles]

[Alex] It is quite the change.

♪ ♪

[Heïdi] Being on
the Renland Ice Cap

is such a rare opportunity
for a scientist

that I felt a lot of pressure to
collect as much data as I could.

[Alex] I've never met anybody
who likes the snow or ice

as much as Heïdi.

This is like, this is insane.

Here, I brought you dinner, too.
[Heïdi] It's getting so deep.

Oh, you have!
Oh, that's so nice.

[Alex] Though now it's probably
a little bit cold, but.

♪ ♪

[Heïdi] My biggest passion
is ice.

When I was a kid,
someone told me

that actually there
are some people,

these glaciologists who spend
all of their time exploring

remote areas of the world,

and I thought, hey,
that sounds like

the coolest job in the world.

[Alex] Are you proud
of your hole?

[Heïdi] Yeah, but I really want
to dig another one here, uh.

[Alex] I could start, but.

[Heïdi] Yeah, if you're keen.

[Alex] Here, actually,
let me start while you eat.

[Heïdi] Are you sure?

[Alex] Yeah, yeah, just so
you can relax for a minute.

[Heïdi] I can't even get out now.
[chuckles]

[Alex] Do you need a hand?

Is that why you didn't
come out for dinner

because you didn't know how
to get out of the hole?

[Heïdi] [laughs]
I was just stuck, yeah.

♪ ♪

I want to see what
the snowpack is like up here.

[Alex] I don't think this will
take me that long, actually,

you see I'm making
pretty good progress.

[Heïdi] This far north,
and this high up,

I'm expecting the snow to be
more or less pristine.

This is like
the ultimate snow pit.

And in between the two holes
is a very fine wall of snow,

that will kind of reveal itself

when the light is
shining through it.

[Alex] Okay, cover me in!

[Hazel] That could be
your bed tonight!

[Alex] This could be my bed!

Oh, it's pretty cool, actually.

You can just really
see the layers.

[Heïdi] Nice.

[Alex] It's like
very clear lines.

♪ ♪

-[Heïdi] Thanks, Adam.
-[Adam] Okay?

[Heïdi] Alright, let's do it,
Ahh. Oh, this is great.

I mean, what I'm seeing here

is a very clear picture
of the snowpack.

The depth of this snow pit spans
a period of about 12 months.

And every time we have
one of these layers,

it means that
the Renland Ice Cap was melting.

I was hoping just to find
beautiful snow without any melt,

but actually melt is happening
all the time

throughout the year up here.

The entire snowpack is crippled
by these ice lenses.

This is really concerning.

I think there's a good chance
that the Renland Ice Cap

is melting faster and making
more of a contribution

to sea level rise.

And that contribution is only
going to increase in the future.

♪ ♪

[Aldo] Morning.

[Alex] It's been two days, but
the weather's finally clear.

Now we can get a good look
at where we are.

[drone buzzing]

[Heïdi] I'm actually just going
straight up from camp.

♪ ♪

[Hazel] Kind of scary that
there's one right there.

[Heïdi] Yeah, I'm glad
we stopped eventually.

♪ ♪

[Alex] Big holes, big holes,
little bit of death.

[Heïdi] We are literally
surrounded by crevasses.

I mean, these are insane.

♪ ♪

[Aldo] Yeah, I think based on
that, Mikey, you and I should be

roped up at least.

[Mikey] Yeah, seems reasonable.

[Aldo] We're slowly
dropping altitude.

[Mikey] Yeah.

No, I think it's
all downhill now.

[Aldo] Yeah.

[Alex] Now that we've gotten
our bearings,

it's easier to scout the route
and avoid crevasses.

♪ ♪

[Hazel] My load feels
pretty light today,

so I'm pretty psyched.

Yeah.

[Aldo] We've got weather on our
side, the wind has died down,

we're heading in
the right direction,

and we can see the fjord.

[Alex] That'll be the end
of our ice cap crossing,

and where we hope that
our support boats

are waiting for us.

We knew that we were still
something like 15 miles away

from the ocean, even though
it looked super close.

I mean, the distances
and the scale in Greenland

is just beyond anything
that you experience

in most other parts
of the world.

The snow's gotten
so much softer.

Like really punching in.

[Aldo] Yeah, it's quite annoying.

♪ ♪

[Hazel] Ah. It's so horrible.

[Aldo] This is not fun. Wait!

Whoa!

Does that look like a bridge
down there we could cross

straight in your front?

[Mikey] Yeah, I think we'll go
through these flats

and then, like, arc around.

[Aldo] Yeah.

[Alex] It's wild to think
that we've almost completed

the first crossing
of the Renland Ice Cap.

♪ ♪

Heïdi has a ton
of important data.

Now we just need
to get off the ice.

♪ ♪

Basically the glacier just gets
more and more broken

and difficult to navigate as
you descend down to the fjord.

[Hazel] Ah!

Danger.

That was sketchy.

[Aldo] If you go in there,
you're in a bad way.

[Adam] Keep moving,
that's the main thing.

♪ ♪

[Mikey] I'm going around.

[Hazel] Someone's gonna get
dragged into a crevasse,

because they've got
a heavy pulka.

[Alex] No, I know, I think
this is kind of crazy.

♪ ♪

Uh, here, watch out, watch out.

[Heïdi] Wait a sec,
wait, wait, wait.

[Alex] Somebody pull.

[Aldo] Whoa.

That was close.

[Alex] You alright?

[Heïdi] That's it,
one, two, three.

-[Alex] Awesome.
-[Aldo] You still good, yeah?

[Heïdi] Yeah, I'm good.

Wait, wait, wait, slowly.

[Alex] Whoa, whoa, don't push it.

Here, if you go up and over.

[Aldo] Yeah.

[Alex] Yeah, and now, like,
walk to your left.

[Heïdi] But take it very slow.

[Alex] And then hard right
and just go fast.

♪ ♪

[Aldo] Woo hoo hoo.

[Mikey] He said go fast.

[Aldo] Yeah.

[Alex] I know, but I didn't
mean right up our skis.

[Mikey] Oh, god, yeah.

Finally, Alex was like, "Oh,
that was a little too much."

[Alex] Well, it just started
to look a little quick

at the bottom there.

[creaking]

The difficulty in
getting off a glacier

is that there's never
gonna be an easy way.

There's always going
to be a river

along the side of the glacier,

or just, you know, calving face
of the glacier at the end

falling into the ocean.

There's never like an off-ramp.

[Hazel] It's just so complex,
this terrain.

You think it's going to go,
and then you get down there,

and there can just be
this big, gaping crevasse.

[Alex] So far, so good,
give me another minute.

[Hazel] It's a bit like a maze
finding your way through.

Is it good, Alex?

[Alex] It's good,
we're good, guys.

[Mikey] Did you guys
come this way?

[Alex] Yeah, this is the way.

♪ ♪

I think we did a good job
of finding a decent way

off the glacier.

And as we were descending

you can hear big chunks
falling off and things moving,

and it's all pretty dramatic,
very living area.

But it definitely just reminds
you how alive the glaciers are,

like things are
constantly moving.

[Mikey] Hey, Alex, don't you
think we should get going?

[Alex] Yeah, let's go.

Okay, we're going.

It's such a relief
to see our support team.

[Adam speaking Greenlandic]

♪ ♪

We made it!
[Hazel] Yeah.

[Aldo] Oh, there's a dog in here.

[Hazel] Yeah.

[Aldo] There's a dog.

Hello, mate.

[Alex] You're right.
This is cool.

So nice to be moving
not under our own power.

[Hazel] Oh, my god, yes!

[Alex] This. This is pure joy.

Ingmikortilaq is still
almost 30 miles from here.

And the only way to get there
is up a long, deep fjord.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[Alex] This landscape is one of
the more beautiful things

I've ever seen,
it's pretty incredible.

[Mikey] Wow.

This fjord is like just
absolutely magical.

[Heïdi] Yeah, honestly, I can't
believe the amount of ice

there is here.

Makes me sick
when I see this, yeah.

[Alex] We're all looking
at this landscape

and thinking it's amazing.

But where we see beauty,

Heïdi sees something
completely different.

[Heïdi] This is all ice
that is of course being lost

by the glaciers.

And it's not a good sign

when you see so many icebergs
floating around.

Yeah, no, it's quite scary,
actually, yeah.

I mean, when I see what's around
me today, my heart shrinks.

The Greenland Ice Sheet
contains enough ice

to increase sea levels globally

by about 24 feet.

♪ ♪

This is our future
and it's also our demise.

If we save the Arctic,
we will save ourselves.

♪ ♪

These are the GPS coordinates
for the launch.

So is it okay if we give it
to the captain?

[Adam] Yeah, go in there
and give it to the captain.

[Heïdi] Okay.

[Alex] When it comes to science,
I've never met anyone

as committed to
the mission as Heïdi.

She just never quits.

Before Ingmikortilaq,

she's got something special
to do on behalf of her friends

at one of the coolest
agencies on Earth.

[Heïdi] Hi, is it NASA?

Hi, Beth! [laughs]

[Alex] Heïdi is launching
a probe for NASA

that will help monitor
how the ocean is melting

Greenland's glaciers from below.

[Heïdi] Ah, fantastic news. Okay.

Beth has just received
the package from the float,

and everything looks well.

We have barely any information
about the interaction

between the ice and the fjords.

And NASA very quickly understood
that this is a key factor

in global sea level rise.

[Alex] Known as the Oceans
Melting Greenland project,

or OMG, more than 1,600 probes
have been launched

around Greenland.

[Heïdi] It's a robot, and what
it does is measures salinity,

temperature and depth
of the fjord here.

And it will keep going
up and down the fjord,

from the surface to the bottom
for more than a year.

[Alex] Our probe, number 9317,

will send daily readings
via satellite,

and record thousands of
measurements over its lifetime.

♪ ♪

[Heïdi] So we have the green
light, we can launch the probe.

Really happy, yeah,
all systems go.

[Man] Alright, let's go.

[Heïdi] Let's do this.

Okay, ready, everyone?

[All] Yeah.

[Heïdi] Okay, it's going in.

Woo.

Do you see it?

[Hazel] Fly away, little robot.

[Alex] There it goes. Goodbye.

♪ ♪

We've spent a whole month
getting to this big wall.

♪ ♪

You could see Ingmikortilaq
in the distance

as this big spire, tooth
sticking out

that just steadily got
bigger and bigger.

[Aldo] There's a lot of ice
in there!

[Alex] There are icebergs
everywhere.

It's not that easy to get in
with the boat.

Like, everything about it
seemed more intimidating

and more difficult
than we hoped for.

[Mikey] It became very evident
very quickly,

I mean, the thing is
absolutely massive.

♪ ♪

[Hazel] This is like
the craziest wall.

[Alex] I know, it looks,
it looks evil.

[Hazel] Ingmikortilaq is growing
in front of us,

but it's also I think
growing in our minds.

[Heïdi] They are the best
climbers in the world,

and I feel that they are
totally unstoppable.

But actually when
they were on the boat

looking at the face
for the first time,

they felt human.

♪ ♪

[Alex] That's so big.

[Hazel] Oh, my god, guys!

[Mikey] Sweet.
What did we sign up for?

♪ ♪

[Alex] Ultimately what's at stake
with climbing

is always your life.

You could die in a lot
of different ways on a wall.

The fact that Ingmikortilaq
is so remote and big

makes it more intimidating
for sure.

It looks insane.

It looks impossible.

♪ ♪

Captioned by
Side Door Media Services