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The polar regions are more hostile
to life than any other part of the Earth.

Human beings have little
natural protection against the

cold. So why for thousands
of years have we endured the

hardships that come from
living here? And what keeps us

coming back today to the
farthest extremes of our planet?

Winter in the most northerly
town on Earth, Longyearben.

Here, for three months of
the year, the sun never rises.

Only the full moon,
which never sets as far

north as this, sheds any
light into the darkness.

This town was built here in
Svalbard, only 700 miles from

the North Pole, to support
a mine. The Arctic is rich in

coal, oil and minerals.

In Siberia, the Russian Arctic, the mineral
wealth has given rise to large cities.

This is Norilsk, the coldest city on Earth.

Temperatures regularly drop
to below minus 50 degrees

centigrade. Fuel freezes in
the tanks of the trucks and has

to be melted in a rather alarming way.

Ships are frozen into the
rivers for nine months of the

year. The ice must be cut
away from their hulls because

steel becomes brittle and
vulnerable to the thickening ice.

Like all Arctic cities, Norilsk
depends on a power plant,

which heats everybody's home.
Waste heat from the plant even

keeps a lake ice-free all
winter. Even at air temperatures

of minus 50, the Norilsk Walrus
Club come here every day.

There is evidence that a
dip in cold water is good for

the immune system. But when
the water is a degree above

freezing, it's hard to imagine that
the benefits could outweigh the pain.

Today's Arctic city dwellers
can lead an almost normal

existence thanks to technology.
But towns and cities are

very recent arrivals
in the polar landscape.

The polar regions are the
least populated part of our

planet. Most of the Arctic
remains empty of human beings.

In the north, the pole itself
is covered by a freezing

ocean. Around it lie vast
lands, of which Siberia is the

largest and coldest.

Human beings first ventured
onto the Great Plains of

Siberia, the tundra, thousands
of years ago, and some live

here still.

The Dalgan are one of
the few tribes who still live

in much the same way as
those first Arctic pioneers.

They are reindeer people.
Reindeer are one of the few

animals that can endure
these bitterly cold conditions,

scraping a living by nibbling tiny
plants that survive beneath the snow.

Nobody has ever totally tamed
reindeer, but today's animals

are docile enough to allow
the Dalgan to drive them across

the tundra in an everlasting
search for their food.

This is a typical Dalgan village,
home to just two extended families.

Here, in the coldest part of
the Arctic, the only way to get

water for nine months of
the year is to melt ice from the

frozen rivers.

At least there's no
problem preventing food

from decay. Outside
is one big, deep freeze.

Survival is only possible
because of reindeer fur. It makes

wonderfully warm clothing.
Those small children still have

to be sewn into their clothes
to prevent instant frostbite.

The Dalgan even use
reindeer fur to insulate their huts.

This is living at its most communal. Good
relations with the in-laws are essential.

Reindeer are so valuable
that the people only eat them if

they have no other choice.
Their favorite food is raw fish

from the frozen rivers.

Every week or so, these
families have to travel

to find new feeding
grounds for their herds.

First, they round up their
strongest animals with lassoes, a

skill that their ancestors brought
with them when they came

north from Central Asia.

And then, literally, they move house.

A whole Dalgan village can
move on in just a few hours. Over

the year, they travel hundreds
of miles like this across the

vast tundra.

It was the herds of reindeer
wandering over the lands of

the Arctic that brought the
first Dalgan here. Other people,

however, took on an even
greater challenge. They left

the land and looked for their
food out on the frozen sea.

Here, in the shifting world of the
sea ice, they found sea mammals.

Pasha leads a group of
Inuit men in Chukotka, the

northeastern corner of Russia.
The men have traveled many

hours from home
in the bitter cold,

fighting their way through
a dangerous maze.

These hundred-ton ice floes could
crush their small boats like eggshells.

The men have big families, and this is
the only way they have of feeding them.

Pasha is looking for the
puffs of steamy air produced by

their quarry, an animal that
is bigger than many Arctic

whales,

a two-ton seal with formidable tusks,

a walrus, it's heading for open water.
They must reach it before it dives.

An angry walrus could
easily overturn the bonus.

The harpoon sticks firmly
in the walrus's thick layer of

blubber and floats attached
to it to prevent the animal from

diving.

Pasha wants to kill quickly
with a single clean shot.

The hunters are exhausted
after a long day, but they still

have a lot more work to do.
This enormous prize will feed

everyone's family for weeks.

It will take many hours to
butcher. Nothing will go to waste.

The meat is parceled up in
bags made of the animal's skin.

It's midnight, but the sun is
still up. Summer is almost here.

This far north, the seasons
change fast. The sun is

rising higher and growing
warmer with each passing day.

The transformation from
winter to summer is so dramatic

that it dominates the
lives of all who live here.

The ice around the coast has
almost disappeared, and gone

are the seals and walrus that
Pasha and his men rely on.

They set off on another search for food.

Their destination is an island in the bay.

Their walrus skin boat has
an ancient design, light enough

to carry high up the beach
so it doesn't drift away.

Once again, the men will
have to work as a team,

but one of them will be
taking very serious risks.

The lightest man in the
group, Kholia, is also the oldest.

He will trust his life to a
length of old nylon rope and the

strength of his friends.

These 100 meter high
cliffs are home to thousands

of gillimots, and Kholia
is after their eggs.

He relies on the men above
to lower him to the right pace.

Kholia is tough, but his stress is obvious.

The men lower Kholia down
to the bottom of the cliff, and

from there he works his way
back up the crumbling rock face.

This mission will produce
no more than about 50 eggs,

but at least there's no
need to carry a packed lunch.

Over the years, many men
have fallen to their deaths

collecting seabird eggs.
This is truly dangerous work.

These Arctic peoples can't
grow crops. The frozen ground

never thaws to allow them to
do so. They rely on animals for

their food, so the chance
to collect a few dozen eggs

has to be taken, even if
it means risking your life.

The change of season
has transformed the Arctic's

coastline, and inland the
difference is just as extreme.

July temperatures
on the tundra can be

surprisingly high, over
30 degrees centigrade.

Reindeer now move not just
to find fresh pasture, but also

to avoid the summer swarms
of blood-sucking flies. To keep

their animals healthy, the
local herders are driving them to

the sea. The cooler conditions
on the coast bring relief to

the herds, and the chance every
year for different tribes to meet.

Pasha and his hunters live close by.
They've had word of the herder's arrival.

The hunters' cargo is highly
prized for the winter ahead.

Fat-rich walrus meat that's
been fermenting in the skin bags

for two months. Today, we'll
see an exchange that has

taken place every summer for
centuries. The herder's barter

reindeer skins for walrus
meat. Pooling their resources

has helped these communities
to survive for so long.

A fry-up of Gilimot eggs is all the
better when shared with old friends.

Summer brings a brief chance
for isolated peoples to meet.

This is an opportunity to
exchange news, arrange weddings,

and tell the latest jokes.

By August, the summer is
over. Winter arrives only too

swiftly, but the peoples of
the Arctic, who came here

originally to hunt, have
devised ways to deal with the

hostile and changing conditions
that have stood the test of

time. Today, there's a
new draw to the Arctic.

This is Greenland, a
territory of Denmark now

known to be rich in
oil and precious metals.

This sled team is part of the
Danish Special Forces. They're

on one of the world's
toughest journeys, a 2,000-mile

patrol, to maintain Denmark's
claim to this valuable wilderness.

But the patrol's mission
is only possible with

the help of man's
oldest Arctic companion.

Rasmus and Roland have spent
the summer months training and

getting to know their team of
Greenland huskies. They need

to have a very close bond
with every single dog. And

Armstrong, actually the oldest
dog in the whole patrol, but

he's still going strong.

The men are totally dependent
on the stamina of their dogs,

which will keep on running
all through the bitter cold of

the winter.

This is the last time the team
will see the sun for two months.

The most intelligent dogs
always lead, choosing the

safest route, feeling for
hidden crevasses and thin ice.

This is one of six teams that
patrol the whole of northeast

Greenland, the only people
in an empty wilderness that is

larger than France and
Great Britain combined.

Conditions here are too
extreme for current mining

technology, but someday
ways will be found of digging out

the huge mineral treasures
that lie hidden within these

mountains. The patrol secures
Denmark's claim to do so

simply by being here.

But it's not the prospect of
getting rich that makes men

sign up for this patrol. It's a
chance for the journey of a

lifetime. The team
travel over the ice for

six months, covering
up to 40 miles in a day.

Friendship and teamwork are
essential if they're to succeed.

The dogs can sleep
outside no matter how cold it

gets. Rasmus and Roland
have a nice cozy tent.

They have a few modern
conveniences, including a radio with

which they report their
position back to headquarters in

Denmark and catch up on the latest news.

Right now it's the section
of money. What's new in the

economy in Denmark, the
financial crisis and all the other

things that we actually don't
care about out here. If you

can cope with the conditions,
then winter in the Arctic can

be magical, especially when the
greatest light show on Earth is overhead.

The first humans in the Arctic
believed the Northern Lights,

or aurora borealis, were
dancing spirits. Now we know the

lights are caused by
electrically charged particles

streaming from the sun,
attracted by the magnetic pull of

the Earth's poles.

A big aurora storm contains
enough energy to knock out

satellite communications
and power supplies across the

Northern Hemisphere, so
understanding the aurora is vital.

In Alaska, rockets are
used to study the lights.

A hundred miles up at the
edge of outer space, the rockets

release a cloud of glowing
smoke that's visible from Earth.

The smoke is blown by fierce winds
which are generated by the aurora.

Mapping the movement of
the smoke helps scientists to

understand how this
unearthly spectacle affects our

atmosphere.

They constantly monitor the
aurora to help protect us from

its effects, so the rest of us
can simply enjoy the magic,

just as the Arctic's first people must
have done thousands of years ago.

For all the many peoples
of the Arctic, the aurora is a

reminder of the sun's presence
throughout the dark days of

winter.

But when the sun is below
the horizon in the north,

it's above it at the
southern end of our planet.

Here, humanity's history
has been very different.

Antarctica is far colder
than the Arctic, and 99% of its

land is permanently blanketed
by ice. Antarctica is so

utterly remote and inhospitable
that no people ever settled here.

It was only 200
years ago that the first

human beings even
glimpsed the vast continent.

The first people who crossed
the Southern Ocean did so for

the same reason that the
first people went to the Arctic

Ocean, to hunt sea mammals.

The populations of whales
and seals are only now

beginning to recover from
150 years of intensive hunting.

But none of those hunters
ever tried to venture into the

frigid interior of the
Antarctic continent. The first

successful attempt to do that
was made only 100 years ago.

This hut was the base for one
of the most famous expeditions

in polar history.

It was from here, in 1911,
that Captain Scott and his team

launched their attempt to
be the first people to reach the

South Pole.

The cold, dry conditions
have preserved the interior of

the hut almost exactly as
the expedition members left it.

Expedition photographer
Herbert Ponting

captured the spirit of
the age of exploration.

These first explorers borrowed
the techniques of the Arctic

peoples. They wore fur gloves
and boots and burned seal

blubber to keep warm. They built
sleds based on a traditional Inuit design.

They even made their
sleeping bags from reindeer hide.

Scott and his men sought
the glory of discovery in an

untouched wilderness and
died in the attempt. But he and

those who followed him
were the first to reveal the

splendor of Antarctica
to the rest of the world.

The lure of adventure still
draws intrepid travelers today.

Like the first explorers, most
modern visitors come during

the brief summer when the
cold relents enough for the

toughest icebreakers to reach
the edge of the continent. But

most still need a helicopter to go further.

The scenery in Antarctica
is magnificent and dramatic,

but what really attracts
people here is the wildlife.

An emperor penguin colony
is a particular highlight.

Because human beings
didn't arrive in the Antarctic until

the part of the world. In
the last few centuries, the

animals have never developed a fear of man.

But very strict regulations
govern how close people can

approach any wildlife. And
when visitors leave, they must

take every trace of
their visit away with them.

Since 1959, the whole of
Antarctica has been protected by an

international treaty. The
nations of the world have agreed

that no country can claim Antarctica
or prospect for its oil or minerals.

The only significant human
activities allowed here

are those that extend
our scientific knowledge.

But unlocking Antarctica's
secrets requires some unusual tools.

This brand new robot
submarine has been designed

to go far beyond the
limits of any human.

Today, this diver is putting
the sub through its paces on

one of its very first dives.
It's designed to be small and

nimble enough to explore the
Antarctic seabed without damaging it.

The submarine's mission, as
it journeys into the unknown,

is to map the seafloor and
look for species new to science.

The seawater here is a
degree below zero, so even

the toughest human diver
can't stay down for long.

The submarine will explore deeper
under the ice than anyone has gone before.

From the depths of the ocean
to the highest peaks of the

land, new discoveries are
being made, even in places which

were first visited over a century ago.

Mount Erebus was an
irresistible draw to the legendary

explorer Ernest Shackleton.
In 1908, his men became the

first to climb this active
volcano. They soon discovered

that this is the coldest
place on the Antarctic coast.

Today's explorers still have
to guard against frostbite in

the height of summer, when
temperatures rarely creep above

minus 30 degrees centigrade.

Shackleton's men had
no idea of the extraordinary

spectacle that lay
beneath their feet.

Under the ice and snow is a
network of caves which only

a handful of expert cavers
have ever dared to enter.

This is the first scientific
expedition to explore them in detail.

Here, there are ice formations
that occur nowhere else on Earth.

Each cave contains its own
unique collection of structures.

The team is mapping the caves to see
how their shape changes over the years.

That's 126.8 degrees to the
angle. The steam leaking from

vents in the side of the
volcano is constantly sculpting

this labyrinth that extends
deep under the ice. When the hot

breath of the volcano hits
the icy walls, the moisture in

the air freezes into beautiful shapes.

Some of the crystals are so
unusual that the cavers are

investigating a remote but
tantalizing possibility about

their formation.

Could it be that some of these
extraordinary crystal shapes

are formed by highly specialized
bacteria living in the ice?

Nobody yet knows the answer.
This is just one of the many

strange mysteries that draw
people to work in a place that

is so hostile to human life.

While some scientists come
to Erebus to explore its bizarre

ice caves, others visit the
volcano to study the innermost

workings of our planet.

Erebus is one of the most
active volcanoes on Earth, but

even so, volcanologists work
on the very rim of its crater.

They stand in the bitter cold,
while 100 meters below them

is a lava lake where temperatures
are over 1,000 degrees

centigrade.

This is a rare glimpse of the molten
rock that lies beneath the Earth's crust.

But research here is looking
up as well as down, measuring

how the gases that bubble
out of the volcano influence the

makeup of the air we breathe.

Antarctica is the best place
to measure any changes in our

atmosphere because it has
the least polluted air on Earth.

It's also the perfect place to launch
more outward-looking missions.

This balloon, made of
material no thicker than cling

film, will eventually
grow to be 300 meters tall.

It will carry a device for
detecting cosmic rays, tiny

particles from the beginning
of time that are only now

reaching Earth.

The balloon will travel to
the very edge of outer space

to gather clues about the
formation of the universe.

Even today, very few people
have ever been able to find

out about the formation of the
universe. Who ever make the

journey inland from
the coast? We still know

remarkably little about
the interior of the continent.

The people on this plane
are trying to answer one of the

fundamental questions. How
much ice is there in Antarctica?

They measure the depth of
the ice sheet, which is over 4,000

meters in places, using radar.
Their work will enable us to

see how the volume of
Antarctica's ice changes in the

future. It also makes it possible
to map a hidden landscape.

This plane is following the
same route through the Trans

-Antarctic Mountains that
Captain Scott took a hundred years

ago. His team hauled their
sleds over a hundred miles up

this glacier, the Beardmoor.
The Earth's surface is now

covered in ice.

Skirting seemingly endless
crevasses with no map to guide

them and no idea of what
lay ahead, it was a journey of

extraordinary suffering.

Their target lay beyond
the mountains, over 3,000

meters above sea level,
on the Antarctic Plateau.

An unbroken sheet of ice larger
than Western Europe, this is

the coldest, the windiest, the
most lifeless place on Earth.

Rowald Amundsen's team
narrowly defeated Scots to become

the first people to reach
the South Pole on the 14th of

December, 1911. Nobody
else successfully completed

the journey for nearly
50 years after that.

But since 1957, there's
been a permanent base at the

South Pole. You could even
land a plane on the ice runway.

The early explorers would be astounded
by the facilities at the South Pole today.

Construction work isn't easy
when the average summer

temperature is minus 25
degrees centigrade. But despite the

difficulties, the most
high-tech scientific research

station ever built was
unveiled here in 2006.

The brand new Amundsen-Scots
South Pole station is designed

to cope with the world's
most extreme conditions. The

building's sloping edge
deflects the prevailing wind.

Beneath, there are stilts that
can raise the whole building

a further eight meters to keep
it above the accumulating snow.

Living inside is as close to
being on a space station as you

can find on Earth. This
space is totally self-sufficient.

The people are completely
cut off from the outside

world for more than
half the year over winter.

The total darkness makes this the
perfect place to study the night sky.

The group of stargazers will
be the most isolated community

on our planet, but they will
have all their needs catered

for.

There is even a greenhouse
where fresh vegetables grow under

artificial light all through
the darkest, coldest winter

anywhere.

The sun sets in March at the South
Pole, and won't rise again for six months.

For a few days at this time
of year, high altitudes are

expected to rise. The remote
clouds of ice crystals continue

to catch the sunlight even when
the sun itself is far below the horizon.

But soon, all trace of the
sun disappears, and today's

overwintering scientists
remember the first explorers.

These men, who endured the
winter in flimsy wooden huts,

borrowed knowledge from the
Arctic pioneers before them. But

they came here to study and
explore, rather than to hunt or

exploit. They embodied the
human spirit that has enabled us

to survive at the poles.

Here, we are pushed to our
limits, but in being pushed,

humanity has achieved the
extraordinary and opened up the

last frontier.

To tell the story of how we
survive at the poles, Frozen

Planet travelled to Siberia,
the far north of Russia, where

most of the Arctic's people live.

The team got to know
many extraordinary people.

But one group of men above
all really opened their eyes to

what it means to live off the
land in the most unforgiving

environment on Earth.
Men who take their life in

their hands every day
just to find their food.

Producer Dan Rees led the
Frozen Planet team on their

longest journey in the Arctic.
Their mission was to film

walrus hunters in Russia's
most remote region, Chukotka, the

closest point to their old
enemy, the United States, 4000

miles and nine time zones
east of Moscow. It's still a

sensitive region, and the team
soon learned that the border

guards remain twitchy
about foreigners with cameras.

To get permission to film, the
crew relied on anthropologist

Naomi Thompson, one of the
few Westerners to have worked

with the people here.

But even Naomi finds a
lot of doors closed to him. I

have experienced a level of
red tape I never could have

anticipated. We've got our
Russian visas in our passports.

That's fine, but that's just
the beginning. Here is the

special permission given
by the security services to be

in the region of Chukotka.
The special permission to be in

every one of the population
centers we will visit on our

trip. Permission to shoot with
a telephoto lens. Permission

to shoot from a helicopter.
Permission to shoot in a natural

reserve. But we still don't
have our migration cards. I'm

trying to get them. And if we
don't get them by the end of

the day, we're going to be
deported back to Alaska. It'll

take three months to get new
ones. Naomi's paper chase takes

two days, but finally the
team is allowed to begin their

journey to the hunters' camp.
With no roads, sometimes the

only possible route is over
the fast melting surfaces of the

lakes.

OK.

They need to be prepared for a quick exit.

The next day, the crew finally
reach the coast. The hunting

camp is now just 30 miles
away across a bay, but the

crossing could be risky. The frozen
sea is melting fast in the spring sunshine.

I'm confident it's safe. It's
not going to break underneath

us. 50-50. 50-50. 50-50.
The locals employ several

generations of Arctic transport,
from the ancient to the merely antique.

With the sea ice cracking up
beneath them, Dan has to trust

the crew and a ton of filming
gear to the experience of the

locals. Even by their standards,
this was fast becoming a risky journey.

Where the first sleds crossed just
minutes before is now impossible.

It's broken right up. We
can't cross the leads in the ice

here, so we need to get on
some boats and the ice is just

breaking up too fast for us at
the moment. Fortunately, the

hunters from the camp turn
up in the nick of time to rescue

the crew for the final leg of the journey.

6 days and 5,000 miles from
home, the crew finally arrive

at the place that will be
their home for the next month.

This is an active hunting
camp, and that evening the team

are introduced to the
realities of what it's like to be a

part of this. It's no offending
for yourself in the Arctic.

We've just seen a walrus hunt
out here in the waters of the

Bering Sea. All the meat
will be eaten, they eat an awful

lot of the internal organs as
well, they use the skin, they

use the sinews, they use the
stomach for making drums. So it

will get used very heavily
and it is completely free range,

wild caught animal. You can't
grow any vegetables up here,

but sea mammal meat contains
all the nutrients the hunters

need and is very low in
cholesterol. Dan is keen to try some

of Collier's health food. Well
this is yesterday's seal, and

a chunk of flesh there,
behind it is some intestine.

We should try a bit.
That's seal intestine.

It's quite fishy, fishy
rubber. That's not too bad, I

thought it was going to be
more disgusting than it actually

is. The salt helps. Would
you like to try what we eat?

Chicken korma? No? I don't
blame you, yours is much better.

That's what I thought.

As well as providing food,
the animals here traditionally

provided transport. Collier
and Pasha, the oldest hunters,

keep alive the skill of
building walrus skin boats. You

don't need a welding torch
to repair this boat, just a juicy

lump of seal fat to bung any
holes. By living amongst them,

the crew had really begun to
get to know the hunters. But

there was one big part of their
lives which remained a mystery.

As spring turns to summer,
the hunters head out to an island

to gather seabird eggs. The
crew had heard stories of this,

but had little idea of what it
was going to involve. That's

where they climb, those are
impressive heights. It's quite

something.

For cameraman Ted
Giffords, this was the first

sight of the rock face
he was about to work on.

These cliffs can be
treacherous as Collier,

the expert egg collector,
knows only too well.

Ted will rely on steel stakes
for anchors and an array of

climbing gear and ropes.
Collier preferred to stick with the

simpler method that has
served him well for many years.

The crew can't quite
believe what they're seeing.

If you fell on that, that would be
absolutely horrendous. Horrendous.

It's a bit sketchy and the
rope is only about that thick.

It's an interesting method.
The limestone cliff is loose and

crumbling because of
hundreds of years of freezing and

thawing. Even for a highly
trained professional climber like

Ted, it's a dangerous descent.

Collier has been climbing
here for four decades, but this

is the first time he's had
company and sometimes he forgets

that Ted is just below him.

Climbing supervisor Adam
Scott holds his breath as he

watches. A fall to the rocks
100 metres below would almost

certainly be fatal.

This is the most hardcore
thing I've ever seen.

It was when the team returned
to the boat to finish filming

that they got their most
spectacular view of the lengths

Collier was going to, to get his dinner.

This shot sent the team home
with a fresh perspective and a

deep respect for these people
who still live off the land in

the Arctic. A way of life for
which there is no safety net.

Music