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(dramatic orchestral music)
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In the state of Alaska
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the people, the wildlife, and even the ice
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are always on the move.
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Predicting their movements is pretty much impossible.
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It's a best guess scenario.
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The annual ebb and flow
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of long summer days and harsh winter nights
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creates a pattern of seasonal migration.
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We spent quite a bit of time on our four-wheelers
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getting back into these remote areas.
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It hurts, you've gotta earn it.
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You can't just have it given to you.
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These epic migrations
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are part of an amazing annual cycle
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on display in Alaska, as life feeds upon life.
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These animals do not live in this area.
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They're constantly moving through.
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Yay, I caught a fish!
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The very landscape of Alaska itself
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is the creation of a great migration.
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Massive glaciers carve through the landscape
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over millions of years.
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There's a lot that could go wrong ice climbing.
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You have to know what you're doing.
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(woman screams)
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And many Alaskans find themselves
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migrating as well, for seasonal jobs and vacations,
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as their livelihood also fluctuates
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with the same seasonal cycle.
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It's amazing how just a day or two off the rock
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will make you wanna be right back here.
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(wind howling)
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(western banjo melody)
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Alaska, the land of the midnight sun.
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The northernmost regions of this state
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see 65 days a year without a sunrise.
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And 65 days without a sunset.
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The constant cycle of freezing and thawing
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fuels the state's rushing rivers
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and abundant habitat for wildlife.
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The wild animals of Alaska have adapted
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to this ebb and flow through different means.
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While Alaska's most famous residents
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choose to sleep through the winter,
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many species travel across hundreds
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or even thousands of kilometers
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to find suitable habitat for nourishment and reproduction.
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Every year the caribou of Alaska
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migrate thousands of kilometers, from the arctic coast
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to the protected mountains to the south
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The longest migration of any terrestrial animal on Earth.
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(dramatic orchestral music)
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North of the arctic circle, hundreds of kilometers
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from the nearest form of pavement,
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barren-ground caribou are on the move.
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Outdoors-men fly far North into the Alaskan tundra
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to intercept these caribou
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as they migrate in front of their camp.
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Mark and Scott Beyung came in today
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and we're going to have an epic trip.
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Intercepting a herd of thousands of caribou
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is a more challenging task than it sounds,
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as their migration meanders across the Alaskan tundra.
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Yeah, he's really tall.
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Some nice bulls in there.
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It's a herd of about 62 to 64 thousand animals.
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Predicting their movements is pretty much impossible.
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It's a best guess scenario because they'll wander,
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they'll go east today and west tomorrow.
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They have a pretty tough life.
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They're the bottom of the food chain.
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Everything out here is trying to get them.
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The migration is really on up here.
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We've seen some from the air coming in,
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and I think things are looking really good.
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You know, I'm always telling people
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to break the piggy bank or rob the kids college fund.
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I'd hate to say it again,
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but boy, this is a trip that you've gotta do.
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Life is really short, and not to come up
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to the arctic and see this fabulous land
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would be a travesty in my opinion.
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Every year, the population
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of caribou herds fluctuate, as approximately 50% of calves
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and 10% of adult caribou do not survive through the winter.
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And predators will pick through these carcasses
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leaving only it's unique antlers behind.
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This is a dead caribou
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that probably didn't make it through the winter.
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What you got here is a shovel, this is called a shovel.
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Now on good, good, good bulls,
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you're looking for a double-shovel.
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And these are called bez points right here.
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This is the bez on a caribou.
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You've got your main bean, and then you've got your tops.
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Now some of them are U-shaped
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and some of them are V-shaped.
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Right.
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The herds down on the peninsula have that big U shape.
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Most of these caribou up here have that V-shape.
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Watching the caribou
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as they travel across the Alaskan tundra
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require a journey all in itself.
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It'll be about five hours
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by the time we get to the trail head.
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Okay, and then offload the ATVs,
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and then we're four-wheeling it up
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32 miles back up in there.
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Following these herds on foot is impossible.
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These men will use four-wheeled horsepower
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to get into the caribou habitat.
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We spent quite a bit of time on our four-wheelers
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getting back into these remote areas.
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(upbeat country guitar)
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We're like modern mountain men out there.
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Our horses are these four-wheelers.
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I love being muddy, I love being wet.
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You know, when it sucks, I'm having the most fun.
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They aren't the only ones
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following this migration.
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Caribou country is also bear country.
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So what we're dealing with is a black bear.
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I think he's about six feet.
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And these experienced outdoors-men
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are always on the lookout for dangerous predators.
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(dramatic orchestra music)
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Word on the street is they're here, so.
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It's amazing that they survive off this terrain.
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There's another one over here, skyline.
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Well, let's go see some more.
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Well, sitting up here, looking around.
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Looks like about a two and a half year old bull
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from the area we just came through
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came in about maybe 100 meters or so.
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By tomorrow he could be 15 miles away, right?
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At least, that's if he sleeps at night.
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You have to be optimistic about what's happening.
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We have had two flat tires.
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We've had stuck in the mud, we had to winch each other out.
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You get out here and you realize
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that you kind of depend on other folks.
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It's not just one person doing the job.
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Living with the caribou for days
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is an unforgettable experience.
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But traveling for seven days straight on an ATV
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can be a painful journey.
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We actually made two or three moves
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around the Alaskan wilderness areas
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to go find out where the migration
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might be starting to happen,
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where they're starting to kind of herd together.
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But we finally ended up making a decision.
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Scott did, he says look guys,
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nothing is happening, we gotta do something.
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And so we made that move.
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(ATV engine roars)
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Modern day mountain men on those four-wheelers
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back through those bogs and swamps and the creeks.
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And you think that doesn't take a toll on you
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after 10 days of that, I gotta tell you
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I'm sore, every muscle in my body right now.
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It hurts, you've gotta earn it.
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You can't just have it given to you.
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It was such a hell of an adventure here in Alaska.
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A hell of an adventure.
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I'm coming to Alaska for my first time
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so very happy that Scott was persistent
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and got us here to Alaska for this Alaskan adventure.
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While the caribou migration
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takes place annually, the migration
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of Alaska's great glaciers
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has been ongoing for millions of years.
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Look how beautiful it is out there.
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Isn't it gorgeous?
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This is crazy.
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There are over 100 thousand glaciers in Alaska,
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each formed my melting snow compacting into ice
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then slowly traveling down it's path
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at a rate of one meter per day.
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To see a glacier in person is thrilling.
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To climb one, unforgettable.
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When are you looking at doing an ice climbing adventure?
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So I just got a call from three ice climbers,
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they wanna go out to Knik Glacier.
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I'm gonna set them up with Josiah
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because he is the perfect pilot
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to take them out ice climbing,
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cause he's an avid ice climber
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and outdoors-man himself.
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Hey guys.
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Hey, how's it going?
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Ready to go ice climbing?
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Yeah.
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Alright.
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High-five.
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The sport of ice climbing
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began in the Italian alps, and is similar to rock climbing.
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To ascend the slope of a glacier
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climbers use sharp pickaxes and crampons.
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So it's your first time in a helicopter?
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Yeah, super excited.
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Oh, it's gonna be the best.
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Cool.
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What could go wrong?
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Yeah, well hopefully nothing.
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(all laugh)
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Let's go.
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Okay, everybody ready.
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Yeah.
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Let's go flying.
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This group is flying
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north of Anchorage to the Knik glacier,
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40 kilometers long and eight kilometers wide,
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the Knik is one of the largest glaciers
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in south-central Alaska.
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It's a great valley up there.
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It'll be grand.
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Oh, yeah.
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Flying around up here is just, it's incredible.
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The wilderness is so big here.
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The beauty, a lot of times I'm kinda in church up here.
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We're in Alaska, this is dangerous, it's scary.
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But if we get to go
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to some of the most amazing places on earth.
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(upbeat guitar)
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So normally when we head out to Knik Glacier
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we'll start climbing right away
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and go up and over the mountain.
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But today we got high winds
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and some cloud cover up in the mountains.
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So we're kinda having to go around a little bit.
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Flight plans in Alaska can change quickly
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as pilots constantly adjust to fluctuating conditions
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as they cross over high mountain passes.
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This is usually the worst spot.
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It is more dangerous to fly in Alaska than other places.
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It's the unknowns.
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It's the weather, and the wind, and the mountains
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and all the things you encounter that you can't predict.
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We'll get a few bumps here driving this ridge line
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and then we'll drop down out of the wind.
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Cause this looks nasty.
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Finding the glacier is easy.
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Finding a safe place to land is the hard part.
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It's pretty windy out here today, pretty bumpy.
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So I'll just take it nice and easy.
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I think being a bush pilot in Alaska
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kinda covers a lot of areas.
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It's everything you have to deal with.
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The weather, the mountain flying, the wind.
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So flying in Alaska brings unique challenges.
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Actually it looks a little better here.
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Let's go see if we can check out equipment.
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Alright.
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The glacier is always changing
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so we don't have a specific spot we always go to.
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Sometimes you'll see a spot that looks good
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from up high and you'll get down low
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and it's not as good as it looked from up high.
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Hey, there's some ice.
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Yeah I don't know guys,
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I don't think I wanna land on this ice.
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I don't trust it, it's just been so warm
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The ice could be rotten, we just don't know.
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If you land on the glacier in the wrong spot
267
00:11:50,860 --> 00:11:52,840
it can be a million dollar mistake.
268
00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:54,890
The worst thing that could happen is you land on the ice
269
00:11:54,890 --> 00:11:57,550
and break through and go in the water.
270
00:11:57,550 --> 00:11:59,860
I'm looking for a spot right now.
271
00:11:59,860 --> 00:12:02,320
There's a place on top of this thing to land.
272
00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:05,973
Oh look at this, okay guys I think I got a good spot here.
273
00:12:06,868 --> 00:12:09,980
Nice and level, looks like some good climbing nearby.
274
00:12:09,980 --> 00:12:11,840
We'll have to land and look at the ice
275
00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:15,731
to see if it's okay to walk around on.
276
00:12:15,731 --> 00:12:18,570
The glacier in the winter can be pretty tricky.
277
00:12:18,570 --> 00:12:23,310
The snow will mask crevasses and holes on the glacier,
278
00:12:23,310 --> 00:12:25,220
and you could end up falling right through the snow
279
00:12:25,220 --> 00:12:28,050
into a crevasse.
280
00:12:28,050 --> 00:12:31,250
Glacial ice is far denser than regular ice.
281
00:12:31,250 --> 00:12:33,300
Air bubbles are squeezed out of the crystals
282
00:12:33,300 --> 00:12:36,160
over hundreds of years, giving glacier ice
283
00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:37,993
it's distinctive blue color.
284
00:12:44,940 --> 00:12:47,580
Yeah, this looks good here.
285
00:12:47,580 --> 00:12:48,990
Like most of Alaska,
286
00:12:48,990 --> 00:12:50,510
the Knik glacier is on land
287
00:12:50,510 --> 00:12:54,060
designated for public access and recreational use.
288
00:12:54,060 --> 00:12:56,583
If you can get here, you can play here.
289
00:13:00,060 --> 00:13:02,469
How about just this whole wall.
290
00:13:02,469 --> 00:13:04,530
That looks pretty steep, but.
291
00:13:04,530 --> 00:13:07,730
It's steeper than you'll get on most any waterfall.
292
00:13:07,730 --> 00:13:10,393
When we're climbing, watch out for ice breaking off.
293
00:13:12,860 --> 00:13:14,420
What we don't want is to get underneath
294
00:13:14,420 --> 00:13:18,740
one of these overhanging blocks of ice.
295
00:13:18,740 --> 00:13:20,410
While they appear static,
296
00:13:20,410 --> 00:13:22,910
glaciers are constantly in motion,
297
00:13:22,910 --> 00:13:26,893
and large chunks of heavy ice can break away at any moment.
298
00:13:28,730 --> 00:13:29,563
It's going to be hard
299
00:13:29,563 --> 00:13:30,950
keeping your feet on the wall.
300
00:13:30,950 --> 00:13:33,450
Alright, climbing.
301
00:13:33,450 --> 00:13:34,450
Climb on.
302
00:13:38,142 --> 00:13:38,975
(Gillian screams)
303
00:13:38,975 --> 00:13:42,480
It's alright, you got it.
304
00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:43,990
Keep your toes pointed straight.
305
00:13:43,990 --> 00:13:45,940
There you go, don't turn your heels in.
306
00:13:48,330 --> 00:13:51,170
This glacier ice is really hard right now.
307
00:13:51,170 --> 00:13:52,570
It makes it tough.
308
00:13:52,570 --> 00:13:54,459
It's a lot harder than it looks.
309
00:13:54,459 --> 00:13:56,480
(Gillian screams)
310
00:13:56,480 --> 00:13:57,480
This is not.
311
00:13:58,341 --> 00:13:59,770
(screams)
312
00:13:59,770 --> 00:14:01,900
Oh, boy, nice.
313
00:14:01,900 --> 00:14:04,240
There's a lot that could go wrong ice climbing.
314
00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:07,760
Anchors could pull out, gear can fail.
315
00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:09,350
You have to know what you're doing.
316
00:14:09,350 --> 00:14:10,183
Be careful.
317
00:14:11,322 --> 00:14:13,989
(Gillian gasps)
318
00:14:19,350 --> 00:14:20,183
Nice.
319
00:14:23,820 --> 00:14:25,100
These holds are not--
320
00:14:25,100 --> 00:14:27,150
It's steep, it's really steep.
321
00:14:29,308 --> 00:14:31,975
(Gillian gasps)
322
00:14:34,450 --> 00:14:36,230
Ice climbing can be tough.
323
00:14:36,230 --> 00:14:40,440
The ice we had on this climb was really hard
324
00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:43,280
so you're picks aren't going in very deep
325
00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:46,700
your crampons aren't sticking into the ice very deep.
326
00:14:46,700 --> 00:14:48,255
Oh, man.
327
00:14:48,255 --> 00:14:49,385
(screams)
328
00:14:49,385 --> 00:14:50,552
Oh!
329
00:14:52,530 --> 00:14:53,590
Oh, man.
330
00:14:53,590 --> 00:14:54,720
It's really hard.
331
00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:56,978
Yeah, I hate it.
332
00:14:56,978 --> 00:14:58,610
Uh, oh, watch the anchor.
333
00:14:58,610 --> 00:14:59,977
Watch the rope.
334
00:14:59,977 --> 00:15:01,710
(Gillian screams)
335
00:15:01,710 --> 00:15:03,940
I think the parts where you are falling
336
00:15:03,940 --> 00:15:07,090
you're pulling the butt of the ax away from the wall.
337
00:15:07,090 --> 00:15:10,200
You just allow it to be straight pull,
338
00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:11,577
and you don't pull out.
339
00:15:11,577 --> 00:15:12,410
There you go.
340
00:15:12,410 --> 00:15:13,670
Yeah, just like that.
341
00:15:13,670 --> 00:15:14,620
Watch the anchor.
342
00:15:16,650 --> 00:15:17,720
Unless you're totally comfortable.
343
00:15:17,720 --> 00:15:19,530
Man she's cruising.
344
00:15:19,530 --> 00:15:20,442
Nice.
345
00:15:20,442 --> 00:15:23,150
(Gillian cheers)
346
00:15:23,150 --> 00:15:24,083
Nice work!
347
00:15:26,608 --> 00:15:28,063
How do your forearms feel?
348
00:15:28,063 --> 00:15:29,124
I can't feel them.
349
00:15:29,124 --> 00:15:31,309
I'll let you know when I can feel them.
350
00:15:31,309 --> 00:15:33,220
Totally worth it!
351
00:15:33,220 --> 00:15:35,200
Gillian are you ready to come down?
352
00:15:35,200 --> 00:15:36,400
Yes, please.
353
00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:40,900
I like doing tours
354
00:15:40,900 --> 00:15:43,260
because I get to show off the state, and we get to
355
00:15:43,260 --> 00:15:45,663
go to some of the most amazing places on earth.
356
00:15:46,630 --> 00:15:48,310
Glaciers melt into streams,
357
00:15:48,310 --> 00:15:50,690
and then flow into the great rivers of Alaska,
358
00:15:50,690 --> 00:15:52,180
which every year play host
359
00:15:52,180 --> 00:15:54,400
to one of the amazing miracles on Earth,
360
00:15:54,400 --> 00:15:58,880
the annual runs of millions upon millions of salmon.
361
00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:03,160
Alaska's Bristol Bay has been called America's fish basket,
362
00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:06,450
and is the most productive fishery in the world.
363
00:16:06,450 --> 00:16:08,460
The salmon industry in Bristol Bay
364
00:16:08,460 --> 00:16:11,450
earns up to 1.5 billion dollars a year
365
00:16:11,450 --> 00:16:13,530
providing up to 20 thousand jobs
366
00:16:13,530 --> 00:16:16,440
throughout the United States, as every year
367
00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:20,730
up to 50 million sockeye return to this pristine habitat.
368
00:16:20,730 --> 00:16:22,810
The reason that Bristol Bay is so spectacular
369
00:16:22,810 --> 00:16:24,600
is the salmon ecosystem.
370
00:16:24,600 --> 00:16:27,400
It's a couple of factors, one is it was all glaciated,
371
00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:29,610
and so it's just full of spawning gravel.
372
00:16:29,610 --> 00:16:32,260
It's one basic sheet of water
373
00:16:32,260 --> 00:16:35,480
with a thin layer of land on top of it.
374
00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:38,290
The whole basin is just underlaid
375
00:16:38,290 --> 00:16:40,350
with cold clear water that appears
376
00:16:40,350 --> 00:16:42,170
and goes in and out of the gravel matrix.
377
00:16:42,170 --> 00:16:43,710
The second thing that happened
378
00:16:43,710 --> 00:16:47,840
is the glaciers created these alluvial dams
379
00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:49,840
which created a series of lakes.
380
00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:51,510
Now sockeye are a lake species.
381
00:16:51,510 --> 00:16:54,130
They rear in lakes, and then they go out to the ocean.
382
00:16:54,130 --> 00:16:56,370
So it has this incredible number of streams
383
00:16:56,370 --> 00:16:59,570
and spring creeks, and it has all these lakes.
384
00:16:59,570 --> 00:17:02,930
And then, you drive all the salmon nutrients
385
00:17:02,930 --> 00:17:05,450
up into it in the form of massive migrations
386
00:17:05,450 --> 00:17:09,260
of sockeye, silvers, or coho, pink,
387
00:17:09,260 --> 00:17:11,340
and these amazing lake run rainbows.
388
00:17:11,340 --> 00:17:13,270
And all those nutrients come in
389
00:17:13,270 --> 00:17:17,480
and create this perfect soup of biological productivity
390
00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:19,270
that drives the salmon ecosystem
391
00:17:19,270 --> 00:17:21,470
and makes it the most productive in the world.
392
00:17:21,470 --> 00:17:24,456
Don't be shy, show yourself to us.
393
00:17:24,456 --> 00:17:25,289
Whoa!
394
00:17:28,660 --> 00:17:29,610
There we go.
395
00:17:29,610 --> 00:17:31,230
The salmon with their miraculous
396
00:17:31,230 --> 00:17:33,690
movement of nutrients into these rivers
397
00:17:33,690 --> 00:17:37,270
support caddisflies, and trout,
398
00:17:37,270 --> 00:17:41,010
and bald eagles, and brown bears, and wolves,
399
00:17:41,010 --> 00:17:45,530
and over 100 species depend upon these wild salmon runs.
400
00:17:45,530 --> 00:17:47,690
And commercial fisheries that are providing
401
00:17:47,690 --> 00:17:52,690
much needed healthy sources of wild protein for humankind.
402
00:17:52,740 --> 00:17:55,880
It's a miracle, it's one of the great miracles on Earth.
403
00:17:55,880 --> 00:17:57,426
What the hell do you do with that?
404
00:17:57,426 --> 00:17:59,610
You still got him!
405
00:17:59,610 --> 00:18:02,000
Lotta fight in that beast.
406
00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:05,900
An amazing thing happens in the rivers that flow
407
00:18:05,900 --> 00:18:10,900
into the giant post glacial moraine lakes of Bristol Bay.
408
00:18:11,870 --> 00:18:15,240
A race of rainbows has evolved to live in these lakes
409
00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:16,790
almost like a steelhead in the ocean
410
00:18:16,790 --> 00:18:21,170
or a salmon, and feed on the juvenile sockeyes in the lakes.
411
00:18:21,170 --> 00:18:22,700
And then in the fall,
412
00:18:22,700 --> 00:18:25,020
when the salmon are spawning in the rivers,
413
00:18:25,020 --> 00:18:27,450
these big silvery lake run rainbows
414
00:18:27,450 --> 00:18:28,550
sneak up into those rivers
415
00:18:28,550 --> 00:18:30,950
and start feeding on the salmon eggs.
416
00:18:30,950 --> 00:18:32,900
And it's a chance for a fisherman
417
00:18:32,900 --> 00:18:34,903
to catch a fish of a lifetime.
418
00:18:37,180 --> 00:18:38,930
Alaska sells 300 thousand
419
00:18:38,930 --> 00:18:41,720
non resident fishing licenses every year.
420
00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:44,980
And these angling tourists all come to the last frontier
421
00:18:44,980 --> 00:18:48,010
hoping to land their own fish of a lifetime
422
00:18:48,010 --> 00:18:51,230
including country music singer, Kristy Lee Cook.
423
00:18:51,230 --> 00:18:52,200
Everybody that comes to Alaska
424
00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:53,750
wants to do a little fishing.
425
00:18:53,750 --> 00:18:55,470
She didn't realize we were on the Deshka River,
426
00:18:55,470 --> 00:18:58,420
one of the finest salmon rivers in south central Alaska.
427
00:18:58,420 --> 00:19:00,030
With a little nudging on her part,
428
00:19:00,030 --> 00:19:02,780
it didn't take long for Kristy to get out on the water.
429
00:19:04,830 --> 00:19:06,360
From the very beginning she was telling me
430
00:19:06,360 --> 00:19:07,930
she wasn't any good at fishing.
431
00:19:07,930 --> 00:19:09,800
I said Kristy, let's go out and give it a shot.
432
00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:11,270
I think we have a very good chance
433
00:19:11,270 --> 00:19:13,400
for you to catch your first Alaskan king salmon.
434
00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:16,600
We went out there, kind of a one-on-one, tutoring her.
435
00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:19,070
Alright, a little faster, lemme show you that spinner.
436
00:19:19,070 --> 00:19:21,580
When that spinner goes through the water, you can see it.
437
00:19:21,580 --> 00:19:23,765
Right off the bat we hooked a king.
438
00:19:23,765 --> 00:19:24,598
I can't believe you already hooked
439
00:19:24,598 --> 00:19:26,790
your first king salmon, what was that, two casts?
440
00:19:27,950 --> 00:19:29,520
Take your time, now, take your time.
441
00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:30,610
Is it, oh.
442
00:19:30,610 --> 00:19:31,720
Okay, it came off.
443
00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:33,660
It got off, caught a couple grayling,
444
00:19:33,660 --> 00:19:36,000
beautiful Alaskan arctic grayling.
445
00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:37,830
Course, every time she landed another fish
446
00:19:37,830 --> 00:19:39,620
she's got bigger expectation.
447
00:19:39,620 --> 00:19:41,720
It was funny because Kristy would sit there and tell me,
448
00:19:41,720 --> 00:19:43,730
I want this yellow Vibrax.
449
00:19:43,730 --> 00:19:45,600
She said I gotta have that spinner,
450
00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:47,290
since she saw it sitting in my tackle box.
451
00:19:47,290 --> 00:19:49,120
So I went and put the spinner on,
452
00:19:49,120 --> 00:19:52,223
and it didn't take long before I heard, fish on.
453
00:19:54,515 --> 00:19:56,353
Lemme get over here now, I got one.
454
00:19:59,681 --> 00:20:00,573
You got your first Alaskan king salmon, Kristy.
455
00:20:01,790 --> 00:20:03,690
Well don't say that, yet.
456
00:20:03,690 --> 00:20:05,340
I think positive.
457
00:20:05,340 --> 00:20:06,410
Kristy was so excited
458
00:20:06,410 --> 00:20:09,010
that King was running all over the place.
459
00:20:09,010 --> 00:20:10,180
Okay, bring him right over here.
460
00:20:10,180 --> 00:20:13,985
Point him this way, no.
461
00:20:13,985 --> 00:20:16,180
Don't horse him, don't horse him.
462
00:20:16,180 --> 00:20:17,013
You're good.
463
00:20:20,163 --> 00:20:22,191
Yay, I caught one!
464
00:20:22,191 --> 00:20:25,630
Kristy, you suck at fishing.
465
00:20:25,630 --> 00:20:26,761
Congratulations.
466
00:20:26,761 --> 00:20:28,592
Yay, I caught a fish.
467
00:20:28,592 --> 00:20:30,620
Boy you should've seen the smile.
468
00:20:30,620 --> 00:20:33,320
I mean, it's as big as the last frontier on that girl.
469
00:20:34,306 --> 00:20:35,139
Should we let him go?
470
00:20:35,139 --> 00:20:35,972
No way!
471
00:20:36,950 --> 00:20:38,370
Crazy.
472
00:20:38,370 --> 00:20:40,450
She hooked the fish, she landed the fish.
473
00:20:40,450 --> 00:20:43,300
It was her first Alaskan king salmon,
474
00:20:43,300 --> 00:20:45,310
and throughout the day we were talking
475
00:20:45,310 --> 00:20:48,000
and I found out that she had never been to Alaska before.
476
00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:53,000
I'm so excited, this is my first king salmon in Alaska.
477
00:20:54,650 --> 00:20:56,050
Tourists aren't the only ones
478
00:20:56,050 --> 00:20:58,110
in pursuit of Alaskan salmon.
479
00:20:58,110 --> 00:21:00,560
Every year, the coastal brown bear of Alaska
480
00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:03,120
migrate down to the rivers to gorge themselves
481
00:21:03,120 --> 00:21:06,420
on the seemingly endless supply of calories.
482
00:21:06,420 --> 00:21:08,140
And they grow so massive
483
00:21:08,140 --> 00:21:10,240
that they are considered a separate species
484
00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:12,930
from their grizzly cousins of the interior.
485
00:21:12,930 --> 00:21:16,190
Here's an interior bear, here's a coastal brown bear.
486
00:21:16,190 --> 00:21:17,760
They're the same genetic bear,
487
00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:20,670
except one lives off of ground squirrels and berries,
488
00:21:20,670 --> 00:21:22,410
carrying whatever it can find,
489
00:21:22,410 --> 00:21:26,580
the other spends his summers and falls feasting on salmon.
490
00:21:26,580 --> 00:21:27,790
This is a nice grizzly,
491
00:21:27,790 --> 00:21:30,400
this is what they classify as an aphid grizzly.
492
00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:33,590
But he doesn't have the same diet as King Kong here.
493
00:21:33,590 --> 00:21:36,450
Now this is a 10 foot six bear, lived off of salmon.
494
00:21:36,450 --> 00:21:37,820
You can see the difference.
495
00:21:37,820 --> 00:21:40,340
Carrying his rifle in case of a bear attack,
496
00:21:40,340 --> 00:21:43,360
artist Steve LeBlanc travels into the Alaskan bush
497
00:21:43,360 --> 00:21:45,730
to study his favorite subject.
498
00:21:45,730 --> 00:21:48,860
Two miles away we saw a little tiny band of caribou
499
00:21:48,860 --> 00:21:50,810
and I said well let's just climb a couple ridges
500
00:21:50,810 --> 00:21:52,410
and see if we can get close.
501
00:21:52,410 --> 00:21:54,180
While I started glassing the caribou,
502
00:21:54,180 --> 00:21:55,577
Jason turned around and said,
503
00:21:55,577 --> 00:21:58,470
"Look behind us on that far ridge, there's a grizzly."
504
00:21:58,470 --> 00:22:00,147
Right on top of the ridge line.
505
00:22:00,147 --> 00:22:03,120
Looks like a nice fat one too, big grizzly.
506
00:22:03,120 --> 00:22:06,420
It was a really nice grizzly up there.
507
00:22:06,420 --> 00:22:09,670
You could see the blonde hair on him glistening,
508
00:22:09,670 --> 00:22:14,180
the black legs on him, you could see the wave of the hair
509
00:22:14,180 --> 00:22:16,470
going as the wind was blowing.
510
00:22:16,470 --> 00:22:19,677
And Steve said, "Hey that is a really nice grizzly."
511
00:22:21,770 --> 00:22:23,440
The salmon runs can be predicted
512
00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:25,620
with remarkable consistency.
513
00:22:25,620 --> 00:22:28,540
The fish not only return to the same location,
514
00:22:28,540 --> 00:22:31,347
but do so on the same days of the year.
515
00:22:31,347 --> 00:22:34,523
And the local bears know this schedule by heart.
516
00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:37,060
They're all here because of the salmon.
517
00:22:37,060 --> 00:22:38,330
The trout are here because of the salmon.
518
00:22:38,330 --> 00:22:41,190
The bears are here, the eagles are here, the gulls are here,
519
00:22:41,190 --> 00:22:42,800
the wolves are coming down here, as we've heard,
520
00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:45,870
I mean without the salmon, what are these rivers?
521
00:22:45,870 --> 00:22:47,900
How big do you think she is?
522
00:22:47,900 --> 00:22:50,360
She's 900 plus.
523
00:22:50,360 --> 00:22:51,640
There's the full picture.
524
00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:55,640
You know, about 75 sockeye, a handful of monster rainbows,
525
00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:57,210
and a great big giant brown bear.
526
00:22:57,210 --> 00:22:58,043
There you go.
527
00:22:58,043 --> 00:22:59,879
And a bunch of nervous gringos.
528
00:22:59,879 --> 00:23:02,462
(Chris laughs)
529
00:23:07,870 --> 00:23:09,281
You ready?
530
00:23:09,281 --> 00:23:10,137
I'm ready.
531
00:23:10,137 --> 00:23:11,887
Alright.
532
00:23:13,443 --> 00:23:16,080
These animals do not live in this area
533
00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:17,680
they are constantly moving through
534
00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:19,305
and walking and traveling,
535
00:23:19,305 --> 00:23:23,820
so there's no way we can try to look for one,
536
00:23:23,820 --> 00:23:25,960
go somewhere where we think there might be one.
537
00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:28,690
We just have to wait, and let them come to us.
538
00:23:28,690 --> 00:23:31,380
We can see much further than we can walk.
539
00:23:31,380 --> 00:23:33,510
Their physical attributes are incredible.
540
00:23:33,510 --> 00:23:35,910
I mean, you get these big male grizzly bears
541
00:23:35,910 --> 00:23:38,660
that can weigh 800 pounds or more,
542
00:23:38,660 --> 00:23:42,270
and their claws can be four to six inches long,
543
00:23:42,270 --> 00:23:44,090
their teeth, three to four inches long,
544
00:23:44,090 --> 00:23:49,070
and they're just incredibly powerful, they're also so quick.
545
00:23:49,070 --> 00:23:52,490
It's incredible to watch how quickly they can move.
546
00:23:52,490 --> 00:23:54,980
As the apex predator in North America,
547
00:23:54,980 --> 00:23:58,090
the brown bear demand respect.
548
00:23:58,090 --> 00:24:00,740
They're just an awesome animal, all the way around.
549
00:24:05,170 --> 00:24:06,140
And every year,
550
00:24:06,140 --> 00:24:09,210
Alaska also sees a great migration of people.
551
00:24:09,210 --> 00:24:11,970
12% of the jobs in this state are in tourism,
552
00:24:11,970 --> 00:24:15,710
an industry that shuts down for most of the Alaskan winter.
553
00:24:15,710 --> 00:24:18,500
For some Alaskans, they either migrate south
554
00:24:18,500 --> 00:24:21,830
or hibernate indoors during the darkest months of the year.
555
00:24:21,830 --> 00:24:24,230
January, February, March it slows way down.
556
00:24:24,230 --> 00:24:28,703
You know, the whole heartbeat of the island is very slow.
557
00:24:29,770 --> 00:24:32,050
The Alaskans working seasonal jobs,
558
00:24:32,050 --> 00:24:34,853
this off season is their chance to have fun.
559
00:24:37,470 --> 00:24:40,270
I get longer naps in the afternoon, that's what I get.
560
00:24:41,750 --> 00:24:44,130
We had a real busy summer, and now we're working
561
00:24:44,130 --> 00:24:45,560
on getting some more planes on the line.
562
00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:48,200
And we're already looking forward to next summer.
563
00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:50,480
We'll have bonfires at the beach,
564
00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:53,330
or go to visit the local brewery.
565
00:24:53,330 --> 00:24:54,820
We have good times.
566
00:24:54,820 --> 00:24:55,653
Now's the time of year
567
00:24:55,653 --> 00:24:57,450
where people are gonna start taking vacations
568
00:24:57,450 --> 00:25:00,730
and going and warming up and thawing out.
569
00:25:00,730 --> 00:25:03,550
It's amazing how just a day or two off the rock
570
00:25:03,550 --> 00:25:06,513
will make you wanna be right back here.
571
00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:08,990
So I've got a big trip planned in March,
572
00:25:08,990 --> 00:25:11,440
I'm gonna try to fly the Iditarod with a couple of friends
573
00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:13,623
and go hang out and see what that's like.
574
00:25:14,510 --> 00:25:16,370
After our summer schedule,
575
00:25:16,370 --> 00:25:18,730
we all need some kind of a rest.
576
00:25:18,730 --> 00:25:21,853
I just tell people that it's our time to hibernate.
577
00:25:24,120 --> 00:25:27,513
Al Kilo's about a mile short of Left Cape.
578
00:25:29,060 --> 00:25:30,970
I don't think my bucket will ever be full.
579
00:25:30,970 --> 00:25:32,977
There's always something new.
580
00:25:32,977 --> 00:25:36,940
But as I get older, my list of items, they change.
581
00:25:36,940 --> 00:25:38,470
If you can survive this long enough
582
00:25:38,470 --> 00:25:40,290
you get a little different perspective.
583
00:25:40,290 --> 00:25:42,700
It's a lot wider angle lens, so.
584
00:25:42,700 --> 00:25:44,300
Only plane in the world, you can
585
00:25:46,770 --> 00:25:48,690
hang out elbow out the window.
586
00:25:48,690 --> 00:25:50,823
When I get to the old folks home,
587
00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:53,410
there'll be plenty of stories.
588
00:25:53,410 --> 00:25:55,710
That's what this job has given me.
589
00:25:55,710 --> 00:25:57,160
That's been the beauty of it.
590
00:25:58,180 --> 00:26:00,433
Every day is different, still is.
44538
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