All language subtitles for Life.Below.Zero.S02E08.No.Mercy.720p.NF.WEB-DL

NARRATOR: On this episode of
Life Below Zero,

Alaskans battle
winter's icy grip.

Water!

Sue braves the open tundra
to expand her arsenal.

I'm not used to driving.

Glenn digs deep for survival.

GLENN:
I can feel it in my feet.
It vibrates.

Chip scrambles
to beat the freeze.

CHIP: This is
subsistence heating.

NARRATOR: And a novice fights
for a foothold in the wild.

ANDY: Snowshoes aren't exactly
modern technology.

SUE: I have a little journey
I'm gonna go on.

So, I want my bullets,
my tiny medical kit.

My mobility and ability

to get to other locations,

I'd like to widen my sphere
with that.

And so, I ordered up and
had specifically made
an Argo.

It's an eight-wheeled
all-terrain vehicle
with tracks.

So that I can have
a mode of transportation.

Bob's gonna be coming in
in about an hour,

picking me up, and Ermie.

I don't feel comfortable
leaving her

for an undetermined amount
of days on her own, out here.

NARRATOR:
In order to retrieve the ATV,

Sue will have to face
the thing she's spent
years avoiding...

Civilisation.

SUE: When I go to town
I am bombarded

by jets going over,
people having
conversations everywhere.

It's just way too much info.

Living like this is not
something you do on a whim.

I live alone.

I'm very comfortable
being alone.

I've always craved
extreme isolation.

I register that I live alone,

but that does not mean and
does not go hand in hand
with being lonely.

When I go away,
I'm preoccupied with
making it bulletproof

as I can, from the elements

and from possible
people coming in.

The windows, the doors,
are they shut?

That one's shut.

Those windows are secure.

That door is shut.

Go check the other side.

Looks good on this side.

You know,
in a really strong wind,

these trailers will be
buckling and,
you know, twisting

and it will pop the door.

I have no control
over the weather.

It blows like a son of a bitch
out here

and the snow drifts build.

(WIND WHOOSHING)

The winds that I get out here

can be upwards of
100 mile an hour.

Let that go a few days,
and your camp is done.

I mean, I could lock
every door in the place,

but a lock only
keeps out an honest man.

Bush law states you always
leave the door open,

you always leave some food,
and fuel, and a note.

And that's just the way it is.

"This is Sue.

"There is food
and fuel available,

"please leave me a note
if you do use anything.

"Remember, this is my home,
treat it with respect.

"Thank you, Susan."

ANDY: It's a good life
but it can be a hard life.

It's one of these lives
living out here

that if you screw up,
nobody pays the piper
except for you.

(DOGS BARKING)

When you go to set these,

that's called the dog,
that goes back.

Push down.

You always leave that one up.

-Okay.
-Okay?

Pinch it with your fingers.

That goes over top of it.

And then you use your finger
from underneath,
to hold the pan there.

When I moved out here,

I didn't know jack shit
about anything.

I really had
no trapping skills,

but it became very obvious
I needed to find a way
to make a living.

And I was fairly successful
at marten trapping.

NARRATOR: Marten furs
are coveted by trappers,

typically fetching close to
$150 per pelt.

Cody's got to make a living
and that means
going out trapping.

NARRATOR: Cody Allen recently
moved up from the lower 48

in order to learn
the subsistence lifestyle
from Kate and Andy.

These are fairly powerful.
They'll hurt your finger.

They're not gonna
break your finger
if you get caught,

but it's gonna hurt like hell
if you do it.

We're gonna basically
wire these up,

we're gonna boil
some water outside,
get this oil off of them,

and then we'll be set
with that.

First thing I think
I'd like you to do,

is just take a pair
of wire cutters,

I've got this
bailing wire here.

Okay?

-You're gonna take this...
-Yeah.

Put a couple bends in it.

What that's gonna do is,
when we make the set,

this is gonna go around a pole
or around a branch, right?

And tie it off.

This second thing
I want you to do,

is you take the wire,
you go through here,

so that it's basically
like that. Right?

Bring that one around,

and this one, you want to tie
fairly tight, onto there.

-So just grab it.
-Okay.

-Twist it,
so it's fairly tight.
-And turn it up?

Yeah.

ANDY: Probably, the first
year or two,

that's gonna be your only way
of making any money.

As much as you don't need
money out here,

you still need money out here.

You're gonna have to buy ammo.
You're gonna have to buy
some food.

Trapping is kind of an issue
down in the lower 48.

You know, there's a lot
of people who don't like fur,

people who do like fur.

And I've never actually seen
what it takes to get fur.

Never reach inside of there,

-'cause if it snaps shut,
it's gonna hurt.
-Yeah.

Your trap's sitting there,
it's on the pole.

The animal runs up the pole

trying to get to the bait
that's hanging.

It steps one foot,
sometimes, two foot into that.

It gets caught,
jumps off the pole,

and then he's hanging
off the pole.

-Okay?
-All right.

So we're gonna boil these
to get all the oil
and everything off of them,

and then take them out,
hang them up,

-and let them
cool tonight, okay?
-Okay.

(CHUCKLING)

CODY: Yeah, buddy.

ANDY: Got it? That'll work.
CODY: Yeah.

ANDY: We gotta get
these things boiled up,

and get the oil off of
these things.

When they make them
at the factory
they put a lot of oil on them,

to keep them from rusting.

I want that oil off 'cause
the animals could smell that.

I also like the traps
to take on a little bit,
a slight rusty colour.

We'll let those
dry up overnight,

and then, tomorrow, we'll
put them in a box with some
spruce boughs and stuff.

All right. Those look good.

Let's get those hung up.

We'll get all of our gear
together tomorrow,

and do some hiking
up in the mountains.

So, hopefully, we'll get
a little bit of fur for you.

CODY: All right.
Sounds like a plan.

CHIP: If we're not having fun,
we just don't do it.

We'll just walk away.
We'll quit.

When the fun's gone,
there's no point in it.

This is the Arctic,
and right now

it's about zero degrees.

And I'm gonna go get me
some firewood,

so I can quit burning
some stove oil.

I prefer to use the stove oil
to heat just my water up,

and maybe let me sleep
at 4:00 in the morning,

so I don't have
to stoke a dying fire.

But I can't really afford
the stove oil.

NARRATOR: In Noorvik,
heating oil is just over
six dollars a gallon.

Every dollar Chip saves
on fuel

is money that he can spend
on his large family's needs.

If my sled's not up to snuff,
I can't use it.

This is a cargo sled.

This is something
I would put wood, gasoline.

If I have a tarp with it,
I put some meat.

But this is an all-round
utility sled.

It was on rocks quite a bit,

and the rocks have taken off
the heads of my screws

that are holding down
my runners.

This last one gave out,
so I gotta, kind of,
be on top of all that.

That's the best
that one's gonna go.

People can't ride on it.
It'll beat them to death.

You need a basket sled
for that.

This right here is
pretty important to me, 'cause
this does a lot of work.

This is my pickup truck bed.

(CAROL SPEAKING)

CHIP: It seized.

Yeah.

CHIP: It might be
a shattered piston,
I don't know.

I'm gonna take it apart
and fix it, I guess.

I still got to go get wood.

Would you do me a favour?

Take this in the house
so it thaws out,
and I can clean it up.

And I'll take it apart tonight
and put it on the workbench,
okay?

Thank you, babe.

Tell your mom,
if I don't come back
until well after dark,

it's only because
the chainsaw is
messed up, okay?

-Okay.
-Thanks, bun.

That changes my day.
It's gonna slow me down
quite a bit.

NARRATOR: With the chainsaw
out of commission,
Chip must chop wood by hand.

It does suck big time,
that's a $350 chainsaw.

But I can sit here
and pitch a bitch,

or I can just get to working
with what I'm going to do,

and I just prefer to get
the day over.

I don't want
to be mad anyway.

I'll find out later
what happened,

and then I'll decide whether
I should be mad or not.

(CHUCKLES)

If I can manage it, I'll knock
off enough wood to sell,
to buy me another chainsaw.

Trees aren't very big here.

They burn fast.

We have eight-month winters.

It's the Arctic. It's cold.

So, this is a constant chore.

GLENN: I think
it's a good idea to live
in the moment.

You don't want to
miss the moment

thinking about the future
or the past too often, do you?

NARRATOR: Seven months ago,
Glenn Villeneuve left his
remote camp

to spend time with
his children in town.

Now that he's back
living his chosen
isolated existence,

he must load up
on his most vital resource.

GLENN: Since I got back
to camp,

I've been melting snow
for water,

and it's fine
for getting water to drink,

but it takes a lot of work

to get enough water
to do dishes,

to do laundry, take a bath.

When I take a bath
I use five gallons of water.

I'd have to melt probably
15 gallons of snow
to get five gallons of water.

I'd be here for hours.

So today, I'm gonna go out and
chisel a hole through the ice,

get water out of the lake.

Once I have a hole and
I can take out 20, 30 gallons
of water at one time,

and then I can take a bath,
I can do my laundry,
I can do my dishes,

and I got plenty of water
for anything I want.

Even though
it's 34 below zero,
I got to take clothes off

because I'll just
get overheated
and I'll start perspiring,

and my clothes will get damp,

and then, later,
when I stop working,
I'll get cold.

I make a square here
about three paces each side,

because if I leave this snow
on the ice,

and I just make a little,
tiny hole through the snow
where I drill my ice hole,

this snow will get all packed
down around it.

It will be a big mess.

The snow turns to ice
after it gets
water dripping on it.

I plan to keep this hole
right here, until spring.

That's good.

Got the ice all exposed.

I'm gonna put a hole
right in the middle of it,

and I'm gonna
put on a face mask.

I just need to protect my skin
from freezing.

It's 34 below zero

and I can just feel
my ears and my nose
getting a little cold.

I like to put in
a pretty big hole.

It's easier for me
to keep it open.

It's easier for me
to get water out of it.

I don't know how long
this is gonna take.

I don't really care.

I have all the time to do it
that it's gonna take.

I just don't like to look
at a watch out here,

or think about
hours and minutes.
I just keep track of the sun.

I think about time
very differently out here

than people think about it
down in civilisation,
you know.

I don't think about
how many hours
I'm gonna spend cutting wood.

The sun just goes around
in a circle in the summer,

the moon goes around
in a circle in the winter,

those are the time keepers
out here.

I don't know how thick
the ice is,

but I think it's probably
at least three feet thick.

I can feel it in my feet

that when I strike
the ice now, it vibrates.

I'm getting close.

Water!

Yeah.

Nice.

Hit water.

As soon as I hit water,
the hole filled up.

But, I still have to make it
the same diameter,
all the way to the bottom.

I need to get all the ice out
at the bottom,

so it doesn't refreeze
too quickly.

Look at this, it's ripping the
leather off my glove

when it, I just splashed it
and I froze my glove,
34 below zero.

Once I get the hole
the same diameter
all the way down through,

then I don't have to
worry about it
refreezing so fast.

I'll be able to leave it open
the rest of the day.

That's the stuff
down at the bottom
I'm chiselling out right now.

I can feel it.

Now I'm gonna
take a slush scoop
and just clean that ice out.

I do have to be careful
walking around the hole

because these mukluks,
they're warm but they
don't have the best traction.

The lake water is
so nice and clear.
It's so nice to drink it.

I never purify the water
or boil it.

I just drink
straight out of the lake.

You can't do that
in a lot of places any more.

Up here, things are still
clean enough, you can drink
right out of the lake.

Happy to have a hole
through the ice now and
get my water out of this lake,

instead of having
to melt snow every day.

Okay, I'm gonna go
get my sled, and my buckets,

and get some of this water.

First thing I'm gonna do
with this water
is take a bath.

ANDY: Pretty much everything
I've learnt to do out here,
I've learnt on my own.

Trial and error.

Seems like more error
than trial.

(DOGS BARKING)

Attaboys.

Up we go. Straight ahead.

NARRATOR:
If Cody's going to make a life
for himself in the bush,

he has to master

the fundamentals
of trapping fur.

ANDY: Attaboys.
Straight ahead.

Attaboy. Little more. Gee.

The trail's over there.
There you go, buddy.

Cody and I are getting ready
to set a walking trap line
up in the hills.

Attaboy! Good job.
Right there.

Good job, Iceberg.

Good boys.

We'll picket out the dogs,

which means to basically
tie them off to a cable
between two trees.

And that way,
they can just lay down,
take a nap,

and wait for us
while we're out
setting the traps.

I'm gonna take one dog
with us.

Good boy. All right.
You know what
work is all about, huh?

Iceberg is gonna have a pack
on him.

He'll be carrying baits,
traps, snares,
things like that

so that I don't have
to pack it.

CODY:
Say I'm a little bit nervous
and apprehensive about today.

I mean, still kind of
on the fence
about it a little bit.

We'll see how I feel about it
when it happens.

I mean, it's not that
one-shot, quick, clean kill.

It's a little bit more harsh
on the animal.

ANDY: Let's go.

Come on, buddy boy.

I don't know how much
Cody's walked around
on snowshoes.

It's a completely different
way of moving
through the country.

Snowshoes aren't exactly
modern technology.

And it takes some
practise to know how to step,
and where to step,

and how to negotiate
steep inclines.

CODY:
This one's not set up right,

so every time I step,
it's not letting my toe
slip past the front,

and walk like I should be.

Taking off some of the clothes
right now.

I'm gonna keep myself
from getting too wet.

When you start working
you gotta strip down,

and start the day cold.

'Cause you're gonna get hot
during the day.

CODY:
This is difficult all around.

I mean, I'm just now learning
how to walk in snowshoes.

They're not making
for a very enjoyable hike.

(EXHALES DEEPLY)

Please stay on.

God damn it.

Son of a bitch.

Gee. Gee, up.

CODY: I kind of feel like
I'm out in the
middle of nowhere,

having some extreme issues,

and I know Andy's probably
farther up that hill.

Come on, boy!

Pump it.

He's doing pretty good.

I don't think he's used to
walking on snowshoes
and that takes practise.

I think he's having
a lot of problems
with slipping, falling.

And that gets
really exhausting.

I'm working on it.

My dog just had
a 10-minute nap
waiting for you.

This is where the fur is.

So I wanna make a couple
marten sets around here.

CODY:
I noticed a lot of tracks.

Just pick a tree.

-Go do your thing.
-All righty.

Best case scenario for today
is gonna be

getting some traps set up
in a good position, with bait,

getting back down to
the bottom of the hill,
and warming up.

Get this bait set.

Right here, we got
a piece of nice
salmon steak.

Normally it's dog food,
but today it's gonna double
as bait for a marten trap.

And you just hang it
so a marten comes up,
walks down this guy,

and as he's trying to
get to there,

he's focused on this and
not so much looking at this.

And when he steps
across, snap,

and we've got ourselves
a little bit of money
in the pocket.

ANDY: He's picking up
the trapping part
pretty quick.

A lot of enthusiasm.
He's paying attention.

A few things a little awkward,

but that's normal for anybody
doing something
for the first time.

Shit.

The whole trapping idea
in my head at first,

I was kind of up in arms
about it, just 'cause of,
it's trapping,

you know, it's not
one shot, one kill.
It's not clean.

But after hiking and
working my butt off
to get up that trail,

and setting traps,
and setting the bait,

if I don't catch something,
(CHUCKLES) I'm gonna be
quite disappointed.

Should work.

Hopefully, I get
some money out of it.

SUE: I wonder sometimes
if people really realise

how much
ever-present noise there is.

Jesus Christ.

It makes me batty.

Come on, girl.

You better get your business
done.

Ermie and I have to
get out of camp.

I made a new acquisition,

and this is something

that cannot fit
in an aeroplane,

and definitely won't go
in my back pocket.

So, we are on a journey
to retrieve it.

Come on, Ermie.

(SUE GRUNTS)

(CHUCKLES) I can't pick her
up that high with my back.

(SUE SPEAKING)

SUE: I am excited to be
going to Deadhorse,
going to town.

You know, there are
some luxuries there
that I don't get,

but a lot of trepidation, too.

This is exactly one year
since I was in Deadhorse.

This place stinks. (LAUGHS)

This is an industrial place.

It's got... Ugh!

Exhaust smell, engine smell,

noise, lights.

It's daunting.

I've got my own little world
going on up there.

I can give myself the illusion
that I am the centre
of my personal sphere.

But when I get into town,
I'm just another ant
in the ant farm.

Okay, that's unusual to me.

If I'm not running it,
what the hell
is that doing moving?

You know,
there's other people here.

But I want that. I want that.

That's cool. I want one.

Next stop, Prudhoe Bay Hotel.

I mean, I talk about
everything is alien
and it's, ah, a little creepy,

but they have hot showers.

I could put up with
a hell of a lot of creepy

to get some
scrubbing going down.

CHIP: We don't have roads,
we don't have speed limits,

we don't have stop signs.
We don't have flashing
red lights or green lights.

My driver's licence expired
in 1991.

NARRATOR: With plunging winter
temperatures in Noorvik,

Chip has two choices
to warm his home,

spend cash on heating oil or
head out on his snow machine

and chop down firewood.

CHIP: I go to the
last spring's break up ice,

hit the banks,
and knock these trees over.

And they've been drying
all summer.

Nobody else has been here.
I don't see a mark on them.

They haven't been claimed.

So, I'm free to
get what I want

off the riverbank.

(EXHALES DEEPLY)
So that's what I'm doing.

I have a lot of chopping
to do, and not much sunlight.

So I'm gonna get to this.

I need heat whether
I have a chainsaw working
or not.

Like Abraham Lincoln said,

he who cuts his own wood
warms himself twice.

So, I think I'm gonna be
pretty freaking warm here
for a while.

This is subsistence heating.

This is getting heat from
the material around us.

Oh, I got an accident for you.

Last summer, I was
cutting wood in my yard.

My axe handle broke,

my double bitted axe flew up,
stuck in my forehead.

And this scar right here is
where I pulled the axe
out of my head.

I got a big piece of bone
that came out of the cut,

and is lodged right here,
making a lump.

And I bled all over the place.

That's my axe story,
and I'm sticking to it
'cause it stuck to me.

This is another tree.

The pine needles
are dead on it.

It's dry and it's going home
with me.

I think that's enough
for today.

It's almost dark
and there's no more dry ones
laying around.

Whoa.

I got some heat here
for the next few days.

Three trees together,
I have three days'
worth of wood.

I hauled a lot of wood
and I saved a lot of money,

not buying a lot of stove oil.

I need a fire started
pretty quick

inside the house
in the wood stove.

If you're lazy about heat,
it'll be what we call
parka time.

And that's when people
who have run out of heat
completely

put their parkas on
and sit in their house.

Probably next to a candle.

Kindling.

Tomorrow, I will borrow
someone's chainsaw.

AGNES: Wow,
I find a pretty good
dinner for tonight, Idi.

Care to join us
for a good nook back?

Yeah, even muktuk.

We're gonna have a feast
night tonight.

When we sit down and
eat native foods,

it's a nook back.

And when we're eating,
it's nika piak took.

Frozen foods, dried foods,

and all your berries
to sweeten stuff up,
and all the fats.

Yummy.

CAROL: My card wouldn't
go on it!

So what?
My card's still on there!

-Then mine will go
right there.
-Cheater!

CHIP:
Fairly normal dinner here
that we've got going.

I wanted tongue,
so there's tongue.

There's a bible,
which is a ruminants bag

and it's full of the tundra
that the caribou chewed up.

This is one of their
stomach chambers.

And we boil this up,

and we'll chop it up,
and we'll add it to rice.

These right here are from
caribou that we got up here
on Kobuk River.

AGNES: Carolyn. The big one.
Right in front of you.

-(GUNSHOT)
-Got it!

CHIP: This is qualghuq,
which is a kind of green
that we get from the tundra

and we boil and ferment.

And this is pretty tasty.

And then over here
are aqpiks, which they call
salmonberries in other places.

And it's a pretty good berry.
It's full of Vitamin C.

This here is seal oil blubber
from the seal that my wife
and my son brought home.

One, two, three. Go.

Hey!

This is a soft,
half dried caribou.

And this is pretty good stuff.

Then I have some completely
dried and crumbly.

This is pretty
freaking hard stuff.

It will shatter
if you break it up.

And then these are pike
from this last summer,
that we dried up.

Food is kind of
what it's all about.

We basically make a living
on the chase for food.

This is a salmon from when
we were down
in our salmon camp.

When we were at Kookoochaiq.

It's all for good health.

Everybody has their hand
in this stuff

and everybody knows
where it came from.

So, it always makes it
taste a little bit better.

Come on, kiddos.
Come get a plate.

Excuse me.

CHIP: I'm drizzling seal oil
all over it.

It's a way of taking
all these lean meats
and fattening them up.

And it's got a flavour
I kinda like.

And I don't know,
it's just good.
It's my dinner. (LAUGHS)

For me, the social setting
here is the same
at these kind of dinners,

as it was when I was a kid.

Our family got together
on weekends
and especially at dinnertime.

That's when I saw
my mom and dad the most.

And it's kind of, like,
the same way with us.

We all gather again
at the end of the day.

Mom, what is this called?

It's greens. Qualghuq.

-QUTAN: You told him...
-Greens.

CHIP: The chase
is a good healthy thing.

The food
is a good healthy thing.

Knowing the
proper preparations

makes for a smart person.

And you live long, live good,

and you don't rely on anybody
but yourself.

SUE: Can't be Mary Poppins
about it, man.

(LAUGHS)

It's not always
a beautiful day
in the neighbourhood.

Sometimes, it's game on.

I'm here because I've got
some new equipment,

and made it to my specs,

and I need to get ready,
go over and see it
for the very first time.

NARRATOR: Travelling across
the Arctic tundra requires
specialised equipment.

Today, Sue is picking up
an all-terrain vehicle

she hopes will give her
greater mobility
in and around Kavik.

SUE: I know in my mind
what it looks like,

but kid in a candy store,
it's different when
you actually get to see it.

I feel like I'm on the moon.

The first thing that hits me
is the change of colour scheme

in Kavik, because
I don't get the sun yet,

it has to, it's still
below my horizon.

Very much in the
way of yellow light.

I get a little bit of pinks
because the sun can
reach my clouds,

but not, you know,
my landscape.

So, this orange and yellow,
that's brand new.

I haven't seen that
since October.

I don't get the opportunity
to buy things for myself,

and this represents...
It's not just a vehicle.

It's not just a tool.

This is so emotional.

It represents getting
my personal freedom back,
my ability to explore.

Okay. There's tyre tracks.

Oh, wow!

Oh, it's so cute!

Check it out, home fries.

Maybe, I should've counted
on the fact that
I'm a little fat.

(ENGINE STARTING)

(HORN HONKING)

This is a really unique rig,

specifically for these kind
of conditions.

It's an
all-year-round vehicle.

I'm not used to driving.

I'm mobile.

If I wanna go see
some amazing site, I don't
have to worry I'm alone,

and I can't do it on foot
'cause I'll freeze to death.

I'm overwhelmed that
I'm gonna have
my mobility back.

I'm gonna have my freedom.

It's a little smaller
than I anticipated,

but it's pretty cool.

It's, uh, it's mine.

GLENN: I think when you have
fewer things,
you have a clearer mind.

And you definitely have
a different relationship
with the things you have.

They mean more to you.

One thing I really enjoy about
living out here,

is all these jobs, you know.

Because you get
a very concrete
reward out of it.

I really enjoy living
this way.

I like heating my water
this way, cutting my firewood,
taking a bath outdoors.

It just keeps you
fit and alive,

and I don't know, I just feel
really vital out here.

Water's good and hot.

I'm just adjusting
the temperature.

I want it about as hot
as I can tolerate ideally.

Yeah. That's just right.

And then I like to leave
the stove going, good and hot,

so that when I come back in,
I can warm right up.

I tell you, I remember getting
pretty strung out one time,

with just too much going on,
and I didn't take a bath
for a long time.

I mean, one winter
I really didn't bathe
hardly at all that...

I was just, I was too busy.

So, I realised, "Wow,
I haven't taken a bath
or washed my clothes in ages."

What a nice day for a bath.

It's up to 28 below.

As long as the water's
hot enough, you can
actually take plenty of time.

You don't really have to
worry too much
about getting frostbite

if there's no breeze.

If it's calm, I'll take baths
down to 40 below, no problem.

Maybe even colder.

Sometimes, you feel the hairs
getting a little frozen,

but as long as the skin
doesn't get frozen,
no problem.

With the hole through
the ice like that,

I can take a bath as often
as I want to.

If I'm melting snow,
I don't take a bath
very often.

Oh, that hot water
feels so nice, though.

Okay.

Out of water.

Okay. I'm starting
to get a little chilly.

So I better slip
these boots on.

I've only been out here
a few minutes.

Look at that view.
Isn't that beautiful?

ANDY: The way
of doing this life is,

you get ahead
by needing less.

CODY: Today, Andy sent me
out here

to come check
on the traps by myself,

and kind of
a little bit nervous.

Wanna make sure
I don't get lost, but you know
with the snow how it is,

I should be able to
follow my tracks pretty easy.

Still kind of a little freaky
to be out here by myself.

That first set's right there.

It's gonna be a hard day.

I'm still on the fence
about all this.

I mean, it's taking
an animal's life.

Can't ever feel good
about that, but you gotta
make money to live.

If you ain't got cash
in your pocket,

you're pretty much broke
and on the street.

Looks like the first trap
came across here,
and nothing here right now,

but you know, hopefully
I'll come back another time
and might be something there.

But for now, we're just
gonna leave it
and keep on pushing on.

I think my biggest problem is
just gonna be, maybe coming up
on an animal in a trap,

for the first time.

You know, if it's still alive,
I'm gonna have to
put it down.

Got another trap over here,

and from the looks of it,
nothing's really been
through here.

I don't see any fresh tracks
coming through here.

Should probably just
leave it alone
and come back another day.

Make sure I mark my trail,
and blaze some trees.

With the snow,
it's not too bad,

but you know, you want to
have a good sight line
going up and going back down.

You get caught in a blizzard
up here,

it'd be pretty damn easy
to get turned around.

Well, trap still looks good.

Bait looks good.

Everything looks fine,
just no animal.

It's gonna be depressing
if none of these
have anything in them.

A lot of work for nothing.

Yeah, there's freaking
marten tracks everywhere,

and haven't caught
a single one.

I got one more set to check.

Hopefully, there's something
in there.

If not, this was a hell
of a long day
for absolutely nothing.

Gotta keep on keeping on.

First trap on this line
is a bust.

These traps I set
pretty close to each other

so I'd be able to kind of
eye one from the other,

and I can already look at
my next trap down the row,

and tell there's nothing
in it.

This is really
starting to get depressing.

Every time I take a step,
I'm sinking down,
like, two feet.

So, throw on the snowshoes.

Snowshoes keep you
from sweating and
working a little bit too hard.

Son of a gun.

This is starting
to piss me off.

I don't feel so bad
for those animals any more.

They're elusive
little bastards.

Losing motivation
every time I see a trap empty,

but I only got
so much light left.

So I need to go get
the rest of these checked out,

and get my butt back
down the hill

while I can still see my trail
good and clearly.

Otherwise, I could find myself
in a predicament

I really don't wanna
end up in.

Son of a bitch!

I'm a little bit more
off the fence,

I guess, about it now.

It's definitely a fair fight.

If they're smart enough
to avoid this or not go after
a nice piece of hanging fish,

then they're smart enough
to live another day.

I got one more coming up.

If there's nothing in that,
then we got skunked.

This should be
the last set in my trap.

As soon as I come around
this brush,

find out if I got lucky or...

I got nothing.

This trapping thing has
just created mixed feelings
this entire time.

I mean, I'm staring at this
right now just wishing
there was an animal in it,

and, of course, there's not.

And that's a paycheck
gone right there.

I guess I kind of had it
in my mind
that we'd come back

and there'd be animals
in every single one,

and I'd have a whole
bunch of cash in my pocket.

It's gonna be a lot tougher
than I thought it was.

GLENN: Just being connected
to the whole flow
of nature out here.

When you're living in town,
you can even lose track of
what phase the moon is in.

Like, that would be
totally unthinkable out here.

I'm gonna go down now

and I'm gonna cover up my
water hole with snow
to insulate it.

If I don't insulate it,
that thing will freeze solid

and I'll have to start
all over again.

There'd be a whole lot of work
chiselling it out again,

but if I insulate it
real well,
next time I open it up,

there might only be
a couple inches of ice.

This hole's frozen over now,

and I can tell by the cracks
in the ice how thick it is.

It looks like I've got already
about a half an inch of ice.

So there's plenty of ice
to cover it with snow.

It's about 30 below zero out,
and that water's about
32 above.

So this is gonna keep
the heat of that water
in there.

Keep the hole
from freezing in too fast.

With this snow I might have
2, 3, 4, 6 inches of ice

when I want to open this up
in three or four days.

Without this snow,

I could have
a foot-and-a-half
or two feet of ice

to chisel through, easy.

I spent seven years getting
ready to move out here.

Seven years before
I ever came out here,

I decided this was what
I wanted to do,
just go live in the wilderness

in the Brooks Range,
and during that time period
I was preparing,

arranging my life
so I could do it.

Studying the information
I needed in order to do it,

and then, of course,
you come out here
and you learn more.

You know, when you see
how things

work and don't work.

The way I live
is a mental comfort to me.

It's comforting to be
close to nature,

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

Physically it's a demanding
way to live,

but psychologically,
I actually find it easier

than living in modern society.