Original subtitles

Dangerous out here.

God, I feel like I'm on the moon right now.

I just want to go check out this open water that we have.

We got this, like, massive lead right there.

I've never dealt with unstable ice like this before.

This is freaking me out.

At this point, the ice should be pretty stable,

this point in the year.

The fact that it isn't is pretty alarming.

The ice is so thin right here.

It's open ocean.

In February, it's open ocean.

I'm just not comfortable being out here right now.

This is frickin' nuts.

oh!

This is the bering sea, man.

This isn't supposed to happen until may.

It's breaking off or it's broken off.

The ice is probably

right here, right where I'm sitting,

the ice is about a foot,

which I'm really glad I didn't bring my snow machine out here.

dude.

I don't know if any of this is viable this year.

This is nuts.

Doesn't bode well for this ice season.

For the truly dedicated...

The quest for gold never stops...

...Even when temperatures plummet...

And the gold is locked beneath a sheet of bering sea ice.

Your hand's numb. Your face freezes.

Nothing works. Everything's shut down.

Suddenly, you can't breathe.

Then you're trapped under the ice.

But this winter...

Nature's wrath is bringing a new enemy to the battlefield...

Thinning, unpredictable ice.

The ice is like nothing we've ever seen.

Thinner than ever.

It could just break apart at any minute.

It's deadly.

There's open water everywhere you look.

The window is short, and survival is not guaranteed.

But the lure of winter's price jump in gold

is too tempting to resist.

The few with the courage and perseverance

to dive into this deadly race

will find that hell can indeed freeze over.

Captions by vitac www.Vitac.Com

captions paid for by discovery communications

off the coast of nome...

On the frozen bering sea...

not looking good.

The ice is more stable than it ever has been before.

...Shawn pomrenke is meeting the challenge

of the thin ice head-on.

This ice is probably three, four feet thick.

And then you look out here, just a jumbled-up mess.

How do you pull equipment across this stuff?

If it's like this down at the tomcod, we're screwed.

Despite the conditions,

the chance of a lifetime has mr. Gold back on the ice,

first time in years.

I had an opportunity to purchase tomcod.

I got the deal signed.

Now I just got to come up with the cash.

Soon as I make it out of debt,

I put myself right back into the fire.

Out of the blue, the tomcod come up for sale.

I've been mining there for years.

I've built my empire off of it.

I had no choice but to jump on it.

This season's goal is to get $400,000

to finish paying off the down payment for the tomcod

so it's mine.

It's a big goal, but I think I can do it.

Just one half of the claim is worth $80 million.

I'm sure the other half's worth that yet, too.

Tomcod's the mack daddy of all the claims.

That's why I'm putting all my chips into it.

I have to make this happen.

With the ice layers so uncertain,

the question is...

How are the grounds at shawn's pricy new purchase?

yeah!

With the purchase of tomcod,

I received a bunch of drill log information.

So it gives you a really good idea where to start.

The drill logs list potential hot spots

that are too deep for the christine rose to access.

Got to get the gps out here,

make sure we're on the right spot.

Which means ice diving will give shawn the opportunity

to mine ground he's never been able to reach before.

We're gonna go ahead and pop a couple holes here,

take the camera out, see what the bottom looks like.

What do you think, goldy?

The gold's right here.

first hole.

Miners hunt for patches of rock known as cobble,

where gold is trapped in large pockets.

In summer, dredges move on open water,

making the search as easy as pulling anchor.

But in winter,

large dive holes must be sawed out of the ice

for a diver to access the water below.

And moving the entire operation each time a new hole is cut

can take days.

whoa.

We got water.

Maybe a foot and a half of ice.

This thin is a little sketchy to have your equipment out on.

Grab the camera, see what the hell's down there.

Alls it takes is one good north wind to blow

and drop the sea level out on the ocean down,

and this all will just break up, go out to sea.

All your gear could be out here.

You could be out here and lose everything.

Instead of coming here, cutting a dive hole,

and finding out there's a bunch of sand,

we're gonna just drop a camera.

-There it is. -Sand.

Pretty much just seeing sand.

We're gonna go ahead and move in a little bit.

See what it looks like.

And we don't want to be in deep sand

with a little six-inch dredge.

We want to be in cobble.

The tomcod's huge a thousand acres.

You don't know how thin the ice is wherever you go.

But I have no choice. I got to go find good ground.

Lot more sand.

Move to another spot.

So this spot, 722 from may 2008.

12 years ago.

There's known to be really good gold right in this area.

There's a lot of these mining claims

that have absolutely nothing on it.

No rocks, no sand, no gold.

The clock's ticking.

At any point, I could drive over a thin section of ice

and fall through.

But I have to find cobble.

Third time's a charm, right?

Third time's the charm.

I hope third time's the charm.

oh, it's deep.

ooh. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, yeah!

There we are.

Oh, yeah. There we go.

Yeah!

Like, if I was some gold,

I'd be hiding in that stuff right there.

-Untouched ground. -Yep.

Now we're on the decline.

We're close to a good drill hole.

I think this is a good place to start.

Why don't you head to town and start getting the gear together?

This is where we're gonna mine.

If I can't pay out $400,000,

I've spent a fortune for nothing.

I'll lose access to the grounds. It'll be devastating.

I have to get on the gold a.S.A.P.

now instead of spending money, time to make some money, honey.

Hoo-hoo-hoo.

Coming up...

Hey, be careful, dude.

Okay, back up.

Hey, that's water you're walking in, dude.

I know it is. Calm down.

Winter has come to the bering sea

and with it the thinnest, most unstable ice in decades.

But in nome...

Back at ice-mining season.

Going to pick my dad and brother up right now at the airport,

and we're gonna get a lot of gold this season.

Freezing temperatures and precarious conditions

aren't enough to keep captain kris kelly away.

I've got a plan so good and so epic,

pennies on the dollar.

You know, and I love that. Let me tell you.

And he's got a plan yet again

to elevate his family to mining's top tier.

I hope my dad and brother are in a good mood.

What a piece of

As summer mining ended...

It really is kind of a piece of

...The boat kris anchored his hopes and dreams on...

Look at the picture and then look at the boat.

...Turned out to be a dud.

It's not what I thought it was gonna be.

The summer plan, the bering explorer, that was a disaster.

We sunk a bunch of money into that deal.

But there's no way we're gonna be able to finish it.

Right now my dad and brother are really pissed at me.

But that was plan "a.'

I have a plan "b," and I know they're gonna love it...

Maybe.

everybody's gone. Now we're the last ones here.

You know, waiting for this guy.

Waiting for the captain.

Here they are, and they're standing outside,

and I'm a little late, and they're probably pissed.

Ah, here we go.

Ice mining, baby.

Here he is. Let's go. Come on. Grab your stuff.

Hey! I'm glad you guys are here.

You guys ready to make some gold?

What the are we doing here?

What are we doing here?

We said we would never come back for ice.

This is another step in the ladder

to getting rich and famous.

Wait until you guys see what I have planned this year.

You guys are gonna be blown away.

Come on. Come on, let's go.

Plan "b" is simple. We're gonna get this other boat.

You can basically live on this thing and go anywhere in alaska.

This one's awesome. Trust me.

This is the perfect operation.

Are you guys ready for the next step in your life?

Looks like a boat.

Don't get too excited at once.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

Okay, it's good.

Take your phone and take a video.

Be careful, okay, dad?

Watch out. I'm gonna come down.

Okay, there you go.

Come up here. This is our future.

I'm good from down here.

Whoa!

Be careful here. It's very slippery.

This is a completely new game.

Look how wide the sluice box is for this thing.

huge, dude.

This boat doesn't need a massive amount of work,

and it's here in nome.

This boat can get us to the places I want to go.

This boat right now is the answer.

It's the future.

Dad, it's equipped for long-range operations.

It has a galley. It's got bunks.

You can live for like two weeks at a time.

It looks brand-new in here, dude.

I can rent this boat out this summer.

It's only gonna cost me 50 ounces.

I can just feel the gold.

I'm telling you, huh, dad?

well, it's real nice.

Yeah, I'll be honest with you.

I didn't really want to come up here for ice season.

Ice mining sucks. I'm not trying to candy-coat.

Now we see what we're working toward.

You see the prize at the end.

Now we just got to get the gold and make this all come together.

We're getting it on tonight. Andy, give me the ladder.

50 bucks.

Give me the ladder.

75.

Give me the ladder!

While the kellys embark on their winter plan...

it's wintertime in nome, alaska.

...Emily riedel is brewing up a plan of her own.

The summer is over.

The eroica is put to bed for the wintertime.

She's getting a break.

And there's still gold out there on the bering sea.

After lining up a second dredge,

this winter, emily is looking for 60 ounces

to get her expanded fleet fully equipped

and ready for next summer.

Mining gold in the winter is like an exercise

in how much you want to suffer.

But I'm gonna give it another go.

But this winter,

she'll be without her lead diver.

You know, I talked to daryl about coming up

and doing ice with me.

He's not an ice miner. He's not into it.

He's smart.

so daryl's not coming back.

But I do have a couple guys that are insane enough

to want to do ice mining.

These guys are good.

They're solid dudes. We get along pretty well.

They're up here to suffer along with me.

And we're gonna see it through. And I think they will.

I think they will see it through.

-What's up, boss? -Come in.

-Hey, what's up? -Hey, what's going on?

-How you doing? -What up, boss?

Hey, hey. Nice ear flaps.

With the thin ice shaking up the landscape...

Well, let me kind of show you what I was thinking.

I'll pull out some maps here.

...Choosing the right place to base operations

is priority number one.

Alright, there's tomcod down the coast here.

I've probably got about 600 hours of dive time on tomcod.

And I don't I don't have any hot spots.

We could go back to my old spots

and then hope that gold would somehow replenish itself.

Yeah, I mean, I think we should

consider that as a possibility.

There's good old trusty 14.

I have hundreds of coordinates on 14.

Something, you know some kind of proven gold spot.

Whether there's still gold there,

whether there's a decent quantity of gold

that you can get with a six there, I don't know.

But 14 is a known quantity, which is important.

So this is another known quantity.

Down the coast 80 miles to the infamous bluff.

Ice mining has taken place successfully here.

It's a proven area for gold.

It's a long trek from nome.

Problem with the bluff is, like anywhere else,

is, like, in order to figure out whether it's even viable,

we have to drive down there.

Drive down there with our auger, dig holes, put a camera down.

Right.

With the ice so unpredictable this year,

if we make the wrong move,

we're inevitably losing many, many thousands of dollars.

You know, 14, it's old faithful for me.

I've been mining out there for eight years.

I have got a ton of

I have literally hundreds of coordinates we can go to.

Tried and true, close to town.

Let's go to 14.

Money. Awesome.

The window for ice is so small and so limited.

You just have to go to what you know.

I know lease 14 the best.

-Alright. -Let's go.

Go, team. Time for lunch.

-high five.

Coming up...

We joke around a lot out here,

but it's still a very dangerous job.

You lose air and you don't get up in time, you're done.

10 miles west of nome.

Alright, you guys know what to do.

Let's get her set up, and I'm gonna go get my suit on,

get ready to go here.

The time has come for mr. Gold

to go back under the ice.

Time to get in the water.

I think shawn will do alright.

Been a while, though, so we'll see.

See how long he can last down there.

We joke around a lot out here,

but it's still a very dangerous job.

You lose air and you don't get up in time, you're done.

We're diving at 30 feet.

Pretty deep for my first dive, especially...

I haven't knocked the rust off my out of my suit.

But...

it's surreal.

Once you go under that sheet of ice,

there's no margin for error.

You know, that water's under 28 degrees.

One small mistake could cost you your life.

You're truly on your own.

Your life's in your own hands.

The doubt creeps in.

Do I have what it takes? Should I be doing this?

Come on, mr. Gold.

But of course I'm gonna do it.

I'm mr. Gold.

I'm gonna show everybody why they call me that.

Tear it up.

Oh, yeah.

Yahoo!

oh, this is awesome.

Feels good to be back under.

Looking good down here.

I'm on the bottom.

Alright, I'm heading for the nozzle.

Are you seeing that cobble

on those big rocks we saw on the underwater camera?

Yeah, looking like good cobble.

Looks like really good cobble.

Yeah, it's looking good.

Start punching a hole here.

See what it looks like.

Real loose material.

Real loose.

Coming down getting down to some gravel.

Oh, seeing pieces of iron here.

Are you seeing any gold?

That's negative on the gold.

Now visibility's not the greatest, but...

We might have to get you lasik.

I know there's gold down here.

But it could be five feet that way.

10 feet that way.

We just got to keep moving around until we find it.

I'm gonna go ahead and punch another hole.

oh, whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Oh, here we go.

There's the first piece of gold.

It's gold all over now.

Oh! Yeah!

good.

Awesome, man.

The gold dance, the gold dance.

The gold dance.

Make a big old cut, send it up this way.

Yeah!

Whoo-hoo-hoo!

Oh, boy.

Burning gas, hauling ass.

Whoo!

10 miles east...

Okay, try that.

I love it when it works.

...The kellys load up their cutting-edge dive shed.

Yeah, I built this myself, all custom-made.

In case you can't tell, it is a little

if you look at it from the side.

Look at that, huh? Door handle.

Pennies on the dollar, literally.

Usually I paint everything and make it look beautiful.

But this year, I'm not putting one extra dime

into this operation that I don't have to.

Yeah, baby.

Get this thing set up on the ice, get making some money.

I can stick you in my jacket.

come on, let's go.

We're going back to fort davis.

That spot did okay for me this summer.

We just couldn't see.

Now with ice mining, we'll be able to see every day,

and we're gonna kill it there.

The last thing you want to do is prospect on thin ice.

The window is super short.

We have all this to move,

and we don't have a lot of time to do it.

Yeah, baby!

Thank god for gps.

First step off-load the winter setup

with trademark kelly finesse.

Oh

good job, buddy. That's why I have you.

-We're good. -Success!

Now find a spot to mine

without falling through the ice.

Look, the plan is super simple.

You already see the open water right there, though.

That's really why we have to go and punch these holes.

We have to see if the ice is even thick enough.

We should not be seeing water like that.

It might be done before it starts,

'cause we don't know how deep it is yet.

You know, so everybody be careful.

It's always got to be one thing or another, huh?

I've got a hundred things to worry about.

And then I see this.

We already got problems with ice season, man.

Yep. This is gonna be some sketchy

so we have our coordinates from summer.

So right now we're looking for a place

where the ice isn't too thin or too thick.

We're looking for a place that's less than five feet thick

so it's not hard to cut a hole

and a place that the ice is smooth.

We're looking for that sweet spot right now.

So here we are at the beginning of ice mining.

After we drill this hole, we'll be able to base that

how deep the ice actually is, how thick the ice is.

So...

He doesn't need me to coach him everything he does.

So right now we're gonna do this.

And if it's over 3 1/2 feet,

we can bring everything down here right now.

See, the snow's already turning dirty.

Ice is going bad already.

See the ice is already turning dirty?

Yeah, it is.

So discolored ice means the ice is rotting already.

Okay, look. What do you think?

3 1/2 feet? Over 3 1/2 feet thick.

Oh, yeah, man, I'm almost at the head.

Okay, 3 1/2 feet thick.

Well, it's gonna be thick, but it's gonna be, like, weak.

You know, we're gonna have to make the best of this season.

Gonna start moving down our operation.

-Are you happy? -I'm ready.

Here we go.

Drive!

The ice is starting to rot, so it's not as strong as I'd like,

but it's gonna do.

The ice is thick enough in this area.

We have our coordinates, and we're ready to rock 'n' roll.

Hey, get off, get off.

Okay, we made it.

Let's get this going.

And let's try to get in the water today.

Be nice to get gold today.

Right, andy?

I got to take a piss.

After that.

Coming up... It's cold as hell.

It's already starting to freeze up.

Kris, you be careful going in right where you're at.

Don't worry about it. I'll be okay.

This is what I do.

Three, two, one.

Well, you been back in the water a couple hours now.

How you feeling?

No, you know, I feel

I feel good, man.

I mean, hard to imagine that you got a few feet of ice above you.

Nearing the end of his first dive

under the ice in years...

I got a nice cut going now.

You seeing the color?

Looking good.

It's looking good up here, man.

...Mr. Gold has shaken off the cobwebs

and finds himself in a familiar spot...

Sending it topside.

...Right on the money.

I like the way this paystreak's looking.

But I'm working my ass off.

Running good. Lots of rock and gravel coming.

Once you find the gold, you start following it.

You just make big horseshoe cuts.

It's pretty similar to the christine rose

sitting on the spots digging back and forth.

Pretty much the same concept as what we do in the summer.

Just a lot smaller scale.

well, that was a cut four hours.

I'm gonna come up.

Well, roger. Awesome.

Coming up.

Yeah, roger. Shut it down.

how was it? You like it?

First hole, first dive, we're seeing a little bit of gold.

That's a good sign.

We haven't hit the mother lode,

but definitely seeing good color.

The old man's back.

Just like riding a bike.

Got ice in my hair.

Maybe more like swimming in a big frozen pool.

Man, this feels good.

I love it.

Beautiful sunny day.

What else would you rather be doing?

Sitting in a damn office behind a desk, pushing papers

or 30 feet under the ice, sucking up gold?

Definitely a good feeling being back on the bottom.

okay, the time has come.

Everything's ready to rock 'n' roll.

We have everything ready to go to a good enough degree.

I just want to get down there, get gold,

and I don't really care.

At fort davis, the kellys are on the precipice

of their first winter dive.

It's been a long day. We're almost ready.

We're all tired now, hungry.

But after a marathon day setting up camp,

their first venture under the ice will be at night.

We're about ready to start the engines up,

send a diver down finally.

It's almost 9:00 at night.

And on the frozen ice shelf,

that is far from ideal.

It's cold as hell.

It's already starting to freeze up.

Look, it's already cold as balls during the day here in nome.

At night, temperatures plummet.

The hole freezes over quickly.

There's more of a risk the equipment will freeze up.

It's pitch dark down there. You can barely see anything.

It's been a long day, but it's gonna pay off right now.

First time going underneath the ice this year.

I'm thankful we made it.

I'm thankful to everybody who put in a hard workday.

I'm just thankful I'm here.

Just thankful right now.

I'm glad we're gonna go get some gold.

Just need 50 ounces to get that boat.

Night diving is definitely not the way

I wanted to start this, but we're diving tonight.

We're gonna make some gold, no matter what.

Is that good?

Little tighter?

Okay, how's the top?

Tight. Little tighter.

Okay.

-Put it on there. -Good?

-Okay? -We're good.

Good?

Kris, you be careful going in right where you're at.

Don't worry about it. I'll be okay.

This is what I do.

Three, two, one.

man, there's a lot of fish down here.

Really?

Like, a lot.

Too bad we didn't like to eat them.

it is tight down here.

It's only four feet tall, the ceiling.

Kind of dangerous.

Don't go too far under, then.

We might be on a low tide right now.

Be careful.

I am being careful.

Moving away from the hole.

Just be careful, okay? It's dangerous. It's dark.

Everything's good so far.

We have really good visibility.

And it's all cobble.

It doesn't look like it's been touched yet.

Okay, good job, kris. Good job.

If I bring in the hose,

we're gonna get this right now.

This is the start of our goal of 50 ounces.

I hope to god we get it, but we'll see what happens.

And everything's good.

Everything is good.

Okay, buddy, get to work, then.

I'm going to work.

I don't feel anything.

There's no suction.

Okay, what's going on down there?

We don't have suction!

You serious?

Everything is good but suction.

Okay, I'll tell you what.

Swim up by the foot valve and see if it's frozen.

the foot valve's got a huge chunk of ice in it.

We're in trouble.

This is

hi. I'm kris kelly.

And this is "kris kelly's secret guide to ice mining."

don't tell anyone.

Even though it's on the show.

Today I'll be talking about summer versus winter mining.

In my opinion, there's not even a comparison.

You know...

Summer nice, warm.

Winter cold, hell-like, and very miserable.

Don't waste your time.

Don't mortgage the house.

There are no winners.

The foot valve's got a huge chunk of ice in it.

We're in trouble.

On the first dive of winter,

the kellys are already hitting a cold streak.

The frozen!

What did you think's gonna happen?

Sat in the water for a few hours.

No, it's when it sits on the surface

the elements humble you real quick.

You'll be humbled real fast

as soon as you think you can overtake the winter.

A frozen foot valve means no suction on the hose,

and no suction means no chance for any gold.

You know what? You better call this tonight's dive.

We'll come tomorrow, fine-tune it.

I don't want to go home yet.

I've worked so hard to get here.

That's all we can do.

What the

it sat here all day.

Okay, come on. Pack it up.

Okay, fine.

This sucks! We were so close.

aah!

Aah-ha-ha!

Yeah, we got in the water, but we didn't get gold.

I'm not here to get in the ice-cold-ass water.

I'm here to get gold.

Three miles west...

oh

there's your crack.

This is crazy.

This will be the next big piece.

Yeah.

That's gonna break off any second.

That's all the way through that pressure ridge, too.

Yeah, it goes all the way up through, like,

how many feet of hard-packed ice?

Well, it just seems like right now

we're just south of this huge crack that's opening up.

And one good north wind,

even this flat section of ice is gonna

you know, it's gonna be gone.

It's gonna turn into another lead.

All of this flat area, all of this potential 14, it's gone.

There's cracks here. It's about to break off.

It's gonna go at any second.

It's unwise to have gear out here.

The amount of time it's gonna take us

to try and get the gear here,

auger holes, prospect, and then move equipment.

By the time we do find something, this ice is gonna

this won't be here next week.

Well, this is the situation as I see it.

This 14 is currently open water.

So this section of the bering sea

that we're in right now we can't mine.

I mean, 14 done. No mining here.

Got to find somewhere else.

All of my best-laid plans for ice

has just been completely demolished

because we can't mine out here on 14.

We're gonna need to find a new place to mine fast.

That's it for 14, gentlemen.

No place to mine.

Back in nome...

...Shawn pomrenke...

I was a little sore.

I have to admit, I was a little sore.

...Mr. Gold, is ready to weigh the fruits of his labor

from his first ice dive in years.

Gonna see how well we did here.

There's definitely some gold in the pans.

But till you get it all cleaned up and on the scale,

you don't know.

Alright, I'm gonna fire up this wheel.

Huge haul would be a huge confidence builder.

Big numbers on the scale to be a reminder

of why they call me mr. Gold

and have the proof that we're going to make that $400,000.

One step closer to owning tomcod.

Big chunky gold out there.

Looks amazing.

Not much fine.

There's 20.

25.20.

25.2 ounces is worth over $40,000.

This is a great start to the season.

Feels good to see some gold.

And the tomcod might well be within his grasp.

This is awesome. I went back down there,

kicked ass right out of the gate.

Hell of a way to start the season.

Now we just have to keep it going.

It's like a big old gold burrito.

Fits in there just perfect.

Time to go get some more.

Shawn's first dive