All language subtitles for Life.Below.Zero.S09E04.720p.WEB-DL.x264-KangMus_track3_[eng]

ANDY: So I'm going through
my woodpiles here.

I'm trying to find
some nice lumber.

I've decided I'm gonna build
myself an iceboat,

so I can go sailing
out on the frozen lake.

We haven't gotten much snow.

What you see right here,

that's the extent of all
of our snow so far this fall.

It's been a crazy year.

I'm having a really hard time
trying to get some exercise,

get some miles on my dogs.

It's not easy maintaining
a kennel of dogs,

but it's also your lifeline,

and it's the thing that provides
me with transportation and food

and access to hundreds of miles
of country

that I can collect wood in,
I can go trapping in.

And so I'm gonna build
an iceboat.

I always wanted to have
a little iceboat

so I could go sailing
out on this lake.

I'm pretty landlocked in.

The Yukon River's flowing ice
goes all the way around me.

So I've basically got
four miles of trail I can run.

Unfortunately, the four miles
of trail, there's no snow on it.

Getting out with dogs,
mushing nearly impossible.

Very dangerous to do.

Nothing to cushion your fall

if you take a bad spill
on the sled.

Something happens to me
out here, I'm on my own.

Nobody's gonna come looking
for me for a month or two.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Never built an iceboat before.

I've built a kayak,
I've built a wooden boat.

Lots of houses
and things like that,

but I've never built an iceboat.

♪ ♪

I'm just gonna get
a whole bunch of lumber

that looks fairly good,
get it into my shop,

and then I'm gonna
just start trying

to do some assembly here.

♪ ♪

The most important board

is gonna be this crosspiece
right here.

It's eight foot long
from there to there.

With all my weight right back
in here in the center,

so I have to make sure I have
a really high quality board

for that one board.

If that fails, then the whole
project just goes to crap.

So I'm gonna go ahead
and cut that one first.

[saw whirring]

Hey, there's my eight-footer.

♪ ♪

I'm making the runners right now
for the three skis.

They're made out of
stainless steel angle iron.

[grinder whirring]

♪ ♪

Ford Lake is about a mile long,
about a half-mile wide.

It's a fairly good-sized lake.

It blows really hard there
all the time.

That's what kind of got me the
idea of building this iceboat.

What research I've learned
about these iceboats

is they can go five to seven
times the speed of the wind,

so if I get
a 10-mile-an-hour wind,

I could potentially go
60, 70 miles an hour.

♪ ♪

I'm making pretty good progress.

I need to get this runner
in place.

I mean, if this thing's going
40 or 50 miles an hour,

there's a lot of stress
on these skis.

So that's feeling
pretty tight that way.

Snug this up nice and tight.

You got skis on.

Okay.

I think that'll be a good start
for tonight.

♪ ♪

SUE: These kinds of temperatures
are nothing to fool with.

It bites, it hurts,
it snaps like a frickin' wolf.

Ay, ay, ay!
The weather's coming at me.

♪ ♪

Alright.

I've still got some daylight,
although it's getting less,

so it is time to get out
into the shop, get the Bobcat,

if it will start
in these temperatures,

crank it over, grab the drag,

and see what's
the longest stretch

with the least amount of issues
for a plane to land in the dark,

with the flare pots in an urgent
and non-urgent situation.

Kavik is now
a designated airport.

What does that mean?

Nighttime landings year round.

If search and rescue
says we're coming in,

I have to be ready for it.

I am just on the cusp
of being 24-hour darkness.

That means planes are gonna take
off and land in the darkness.

For people to land here
safely in the dark,

I need to be able to light
a section of the runway up.

I have things called flare pots.

It's sort of like
a teapot with a lid.

Once I light it,

you've got 8 to 10 hours
of this orange flame.

You can see a yellow flickering
light from 50 miles away.

As a designated runway,

I have to get this system
up and running

so that when you have
an emergency

and your plane's
dropping out on you,

a pilot can pick this out
and go, boom, safety.

Alright.

Got this little dude here.

This is my flat drag.

This is an old tongue
of the trailer,

modified it a little bit.

Took a little bit of the nubs
off, and it's a flat drag.

You've got to come up

with tundra engineering
out here, man.

This is a Sue fix.

Here we go.

Alright, now for me, what I'm
gonna do is just simply pull out

and go up and down the runway,

knocking anything that
might be in the way down.

The whole purpose of Kavik
is safety and protection.

I've got to have it flat,
and I've got to be able

to put my little pots,
my little flames, on the sides.

I do see myself
as a warden of the area.

I take other people's safety
into consideration

with far greater care
than my own.

It makes me recognize I'm on the
right path for who I want to be,

to make sure that I help people.

To make sure that the job I do

is the best that
I could do every day.

And sometimes your best is just
being able to put on pants

and brush your hair.

You're not always
a rock star every day,

sometimes you get
to be the groupie.

The runway is looking
pretty good.

But the vegetation is growing
taller than it ever has.

That means I'm getting drifts
where they never have been.

A plane lands
and runs into this,

it's gonna do that and
kill everybody on board.

I need to get my axes,
quack, quack,

get the ones out
that I need out,

go back in, start gathering
my flare pots.

If I want to keep people safe,

I just got to get my booty
out there to do it.

JESSIE: Dog team is not
like a snow machine.

Snow machine,
you never take it further

than you can walk back out,

because it's probably gonna
break down on you.

♪ ♪

Another beautiful morning
here in paradise.

I'm packing up my sled.

I'm getting ready to head out
for three days

to a lake in the Alaska Range.

Temperatures are dropping.
It's getting cold.

This is a good time
to get out there.

I'm gonna try to do
some ptarmigan hunting

and some camping with
my five best dogs here.

NARRATOR: Jessie Holmes
and his sled dogs

have carved out their existence
along the Nenana River

with the area's resources.

To survive dark winter,

Jessie and the dogs must
constantly scout new territory

and hone their skills
in the wild.

JESSIE: It's gonna be cold, so
I got to, like, have everything

that I'm gonna need in my sled
to survive for a few days.

I won't have the security
of a cabin,

so all the things
that I take in my sled

are super critical to me
being able to care for myself

and my dogs out there.

I don't plan on bringing
a lot of food.

I plan on getting my food
off the land while I'm there,

and that'll give me something
or a good reason

to be out there testing
my survival skills

in the cold temperatures.

I feel that surviving
in the cold is like a knife.

It gets dull sometimes,

you got to take it out
and you got to keep it sharp.

You got to keep
your skills polished here.

So when I go out there
for three nights,

and I just got me and my dogs
and what I got in this sled,

I have to survive out of that.

Checking everything over
in my mind right now,

making sure that
I got everything

I'm gonna need out there.

I want my gun easily accessible
in case I see something.

I'm always a little nervous
going into situations like this

because I know what can happen.

You don't think about the best,
you think about the worst,

and you prepare for it.

Who's ready to go? Huh?
Who's ready to go camping?

Alright.

I'm leaving the comfort
of my warm, cozy cabin behind,

heading out into
the remote wilderness

to test my survival skills.

This isn't your average
camping trip.

Most people don't go out camping
when it's 30, 40 below.

When I'm in dog races, I could
be out there for up to 10 days,

in extreme temperatures
of 50 below zero.

So it's essential that
I am able to survive

in those kind of conditions
and keep that skill set up.

This just adds to my confidence

that I can always go and
push through the storm.

I need to make sure
I got a good place to camp,

because it's getting dark.

It's cold out.

I want to be nice and settled in

and know where I'm gonna be
sleeping tonight.

Straight, straight.

Straight ahead.

Alright, Flash, straight ahead,
straight ahead.

Straight on up in there.
Straight on up in there. Good!

Alright, whoa, stay.

Right here under
this big spruce tree

looks like a good spot to camp.

My next priority is to get
my dogs set up comfortably.

Being a dog man, my number one
priority is my dogs.

They're my transportation.

They're how I got in here,
they're how I'm gonna get out.

You guys like camping,
don't you?

Yeah.

Isn't that nice?

It's gonna be cold tonight, want
you guys to be nice and warm.

Well, I already feel warm.

When I got here, I was cold,

but this beautiful scenery
and my dogs warms my heart.

I don't feel alone
when I'm out here.

Feel like I got my best friends
with me,

and tomorrow we can put
our focus on doing some hunting.

We don't know what we're
gonna see tomorrow,

and we're excited for it.

GLENN: You got to make sure
that you choose the right path,

because if you take the wrong
path, you can get stuck.

You can get stuck
where you can't get out.

♪ ♪

This time of year,

there could be caribou
in this area around my camp.

So today, I'm gonna shoot my gun

before I go out
and look for some.

It's been a few months
since I pulled the trigger.

The last time I shot
my .30-ought-6

was the day I killed
my moose this fall.

Today I'm gonna set up a target
out on the lake,

shoot the gun a few times,

then I'll go out
and look for caribou.

I got to make sure this thing's
still shooting straight.

In summertime, the sun goes
around a big circle up here.

But in the wintertime,
it dips below the horizon,

and it doesn't come up
over that mountain

for 105 days every year.

It's a long, cold winter.

You need plenty of meat to eat
if you want to stay warm.

I'll make a pile of snow.

I'm setting up my target
right here.

That's a good spot for it,
200 yards.

This time of year,

there can be caribou
in the area around my camp.

I want to go out
looking for some.

But first I want to make sure

this gun's still shooting
where I aim it.

♪ ♪

[gunshot]

[gunshot]

Okay, I got to go
check my target.

Oh, wow. What happened here?

It hit the plywood, but
it didn't even hit the paper.

When it's that far off,
that's no good.

I can't hunt with a gun
like that.

I'd end up missing caribou
or wounding them.

That's why I'm testing it out.
Things can happen.

It's been a few months
since I shot this thing,

could have got bumped.

It's 38 below right now,

just those extreme temperature
changes that gun goes through

can have an effect.

It might be as simple
as adjusting the scope.

Okay, I adjusted it,
four minutes of angle.

♪ ♪

Here it goes.

[gunshot]

I'm an opportunist.

When I'm out in the woods,
I'm always hunting,

I'm always looking at tracks,

looking at sign,
looking for animals.

Caribou are a very important
animal to me.

In a typical year, about half
the meat I eat is caribou.

And to get one caribou,
I get enough food for a month.

♪ ♪

Oh, nice!

When I started out,
my first shot hit way down here.

Didn't even hit paper.

But with some adjustments,

I've got it centered
on the target now.

This is good.

I can use this gun
to go hunt caribou now.

It's a good day
to go out for a walk,

see if I can find some caribou.

Caribou are my favorite animal
to eat.

If I could live off
just one animal,

there's no doubt
it would be caribou.

But even better is when
you've got variety,

when you've got caribou
and moose meat.

And right now,
all I've got's moose.

I don't have any caribou.

I haven't shot a caribou
since last winter.

If I get any more meat
at this time of year,

it will last longer.

In the spring and even in the
summer, I'll still have meat.

♪ ♪

It's always nice to get up high,
gain some elevation.

Because once I get
up above tree line,

I get a great view
of the valley, too.

I can look down
and see everything

that I can't see
when I'm down here.

It's getting steep.

Even though I'm not
out of the woods,

this is a pretty steep
mountainside.

♪ ♪

Whoa!

Ah, oh, it's slippery up here.

[grunting]

[grunting]

GLENN: Damn.

Oh, that's slippery.

Good thing it wasn't
any steeper.

Last thing I need is
to bust my leg out here.

NARRATOR: Glenn is searching
for caribou,

an animal that provides half his
meat and protein for the year.

But the animals are
migrating quickly,

and locating the herd before
it leaves the region

is of the utmost importance.

GLENN: It's very exposed up here
out of the forest.

The wind's really picking up.

I got to get this face mask
on fast.

I'll get frostbite
in no time up here.

Oh, that'll protect me.

That'll protect my face.

Without this mask,

I'd get frostbite pretty quickly
up here today.

The wind's really blowing.

But caribou love this habitat.

Sometimes hundreds of them cross
right across the ridge up here.

There could be some right on the
other side, just out of view.

Won't know if I don't go see.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

There.

Yeah.

Get out my binoculars
and have a look around.

♪ ♪

This is a great vantage point,

because I can see
all kinds of territory

that I can't see
from down on the lake.

I can see on the backside
of ridges up here.

I can see other lakes
down the valley.

It's really important to me
to get out,

have a look around, because
if I don't go out of camp

and walk around in this country,
I have no idea what's going on.

Don't see any caribou
around today.

It's getting dark.

I got to get down the mountain.

Time to head back to camp.

Some steep sections
on this ridge.

But it's the shortest way
back to camp.

♪ ♪

[sniffling]

♪ ♪

Whoa.

Oh.

Just got to get down
this one last steep place.

I got to be careful, some
of this rock's pretty loose.

Can't quite feel my next step.

There.

Just got this one last steep
section, then I'm home free.

[exhales]

Just got to take my time,
I don't want to rush.

Almost down.

Almost down.

There! I made it.

Whew.

Okay, now I'm home free.

♪ ♪

ANDY: Experience is knowledge,
knowledge is confidence,

confidence is success,
and they all go together.

Well, I feel like I'm getting
pretty close to completion here.

I'm working on standing up
the sail and the boom.

NARRATOR: In dark winter,

Andy uses his sled dogs to
access resources for survival.

Training the dogs this
time of year is critical.

But with a lack of snowfall,
Andy must complete his iceboat

to break in the dogs
on the frozen lake.

ANDY: I've always wanted
to try the ice sailing

ever since I moved out here.

[drill ratcheting]

It's always been something that
I kind of dreamed of doing,

because I've got a big lake
that's glare ice

for a good part of the
early winter and late winter.

Still got a few
minor things to do,

but I want to see how this
boom's gonna sit on here,

how these bars will
sit on there.

In through here.

That's gonna control
where my sail goes out at.

I let my sail out that far, and
then it's gonna hit the shrouds.

And when I want to tighten up on
it, sail in tight to the wind,

I can just pull around in tight.

I've never iceboated before.

I've, all I've ever done
is sail on water,

so I have no idea

what an iceboat's
supposed to track like.

As far as I'm concerned
for what I'm trying to do,

if the wind will push it down
the lake and I can come back,

then it's a success.

I think that looks pretty good.

Time to get it out on the lake.

♪ ♪

Yay, Natty.

[dog whimpering]

Yeah!

Oh, boy!

Yay! You gonna help me?

You gonna help me put
this boat together?

[whimpering]
You want to?

Okay, we can do it together.

♪ ♪

I got the boat done.

I'm just gonna get it all set up
to where all I got to do is,

on a windy day, is come out here
and hook it up and go.

Pretty much everything
you do out here

is dependent on what the weather

and what Mother Nature's
throwing at you,

and so this is, this boat's
dependent on wind to go.

I think I can have it
pretty much ready

to where whenever I'm ready
and the dogs are ready,

we can just put it up and go.

So I'm just gonna
put my mast in.

Alright. Getting that stay
nice and tight.

We're gonna bring
the big dogs out here,

and you're gonna teach them
how to run around on ice.

[laughs]

♪ ♪

Alright, Natty,
what do you think?

Ready to go home?

The whole purpose of this

is that I can turn all my dogs
loose at one time, get out,

have some fun, do some training,
and build confidence.

That's all I need.

Come on, Natty!

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

JESSIE: I got my dogs, they'll
pull me through any storm.

They rely on me
and I rely on them.

♪ ♪

Yeah, hi.

I'm gonna go out on the tundra
and look for some ptarmigan.

Alright, guys.

Straight ahead.

And the sun's going down
over that mountain soon,

so I got a limited
amount of time

to go catch something
for dinner.

I've got my eyes peeled
wide open for some ptarmigan.

I didn't bring
a lot of food out here

in hopes of keeping myself
hungry and motivated

to get some fresh food.

Hup, hup. Good, straight up.

Hup, hup, whoa.

That's ptarmigan tracks
right there.

This is a good sign.

♪ ♪

Head on down the trail

and see if I can't
flush some up somewhere.

We only got a little while
before it gets dark, so.

There's ptarmigan tracks
all over out here,

so far, I haven't seen any.

They're out here, though.

This place is covered
in ptarmigan tracks,

so I just got to make sure
I keep going

and act as quick as I possibly
can when I run into them.

Alright, boys.

Alright.

Hup, hup.

Haw.

Haw, straight ahead.

Whoa.

Easy.

Whoa.

Oh, man, I got to check this out
before I go across that.

I don't want to get soaking wet
in these temperatures.

Gonna make sure this stuff's
solid before I go across it.

Whoa.

Too deep, I'm gonna reroute
a trail around this.

What I got to do is make sure
that the dogs go through here,

and not through here.

That'd be some wet dogs.

But I'm determined
to get some ptarmigan,

and I'm not gonna let
a little water deter me.

Gee, gee.

Hey, gee, straight ahead.

Straight ahead, good.

Straight ahead.

Alright, alright.

Easy, easy.

Easy.

Come on, now, straight up.

There we go.

We're across,
we're keeping on moving,

looking for some ptarmigan.

Ain't gonna teach
these dogs nothing

by turning around on
a little something like that.

Let's go get that dinner.

Let's check this trail out,
boys, see what's up here.

There you go, up that,
up that, up that.

Pretty steep stuff.

Whoa, boys, stay.

Looks like we're running out
of good trail here, guys.

Wow, it's beautiful up here.

Hi, Flash.

Yeah, we run right out of trail,
didn't we, buddy?

Boy, we got to figure out how

we're gonna get turned around
out here.

I don't want to keep
going up that.

It's gonna be a little bit
of a tricky turnaround.

You guys just listen to me,
okay?

Come on.

Let's go back. Easy, easy.

Oh, easy.

Easy now.

Easy, easy.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

Easy!

Whoa!

Whoa, whoa.

Whoa!

JESSIE: Easy! Whoa!

Whoa, whoa.

Whoa!

[sigh]

Whoa, whoa.

Well, got the dogs
turned around.

That was a little bit more
excitement than I was expecting,

but didn't lose the team.

Number one thing we learned
when we start mushing

is never let go of the sled,
because there goes your team.

Still a little steep
negotiating out of here.

Whoa, easy, easy, whoa.

Easy.

Whoa!

Easy, whoa!

Haw, haw, haw.

Easy, whoa.

Alright.

The real thing that
I'm doing out here

is putting myself to the test,

and I'm putting my skills
to the test.

This is the kind of thing
that me and the dogs live for,

getting out,
exploring new country,

and spending time together
on the trail.

Alright.

Whoa.

Good dogs. Stay.

Gonna head out.

We'll walk about and see if
I can't drum something up here.

In one last effort,
try to get some ptarmigan.

Doing everything that I can.

Oh.

I got some fresh fox tracks
heading up this creek.

This fox is in the business
of getting ptarmigan,

and that's how he gets by,

so think I'm gonna head up
this creek and check it out.

Oh, [bleep]!

[bleep]

Just broke
through the ice there.

I was standing
off to the side here

and just kind of
giving it a check,

and it was so thin that
my boot went right through it,

almost up to my knee.

I was trying to follow
these fox tracks.

They're a better hunter than me,

but they're also 10 pounds
and I'm 160.

Whoa.

There's the bottom.

Looks like I could've
went deeper.

I pulled myself out
just in time.

If I got waist-deep wet,
all I'd be able to do

is go and look for some dry wood
and build a fire

as quick as possible with
these subzero temperatures.

These are the kind of things
that can happen out here,

when you're out here
by yourself,

you have to be careful.

♪ ♪

The sun's going down right now.

It's getting cold out again.

Certain point,
you got to call it quits.

I've covered a lot of ground.

I haven't found anything.

Would've liked to got some
ptarmigan, but being 30 below,

things don't always
go the way you want it to.

You boys ready?

Alright, come alive, Flash.

I need to get back to camp
and wrap things up.

It's gonna be
a long run tomorrow

to make it all the way
back to Nenana.

So tomorrow is gonna be a day

that we're all gonna
need our rest for.

SUE: We need to care about
each other as a society.

Live your life,
not somebody else's,

but take care of your neighbor.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: Kavik is a designated
airport and fueling station

for the Arctic's planes.

Having an unsafe runway could
risk the lives of pilots

attempting an emergency landing.

To prevent disaster,

Sue must clear the runway
of all potential hazards.

SUE: I got the runway
flattened and widened.

What I want to do today
is get the axe,

cut down some of that brush
that's in my way,

just so I don't have
a lot of drifting

on that section I've set aside.

Every time you have brush

that sticks up higher than
the snow in the ground,

you're gonna have a drift.

So, if there's a big clump
of large willow,

those have to be knocked down.

Willow is a lot like vine maple.

Even in the winter,

it wants to split and
wrap around everything.

Chopping down the willows

is a lot like mowing the lawn
in the Arctic;

it's regular routine
maintenance.

When I'm picking which ones
are gonna give me an issue,

which willow, right here
it doesn't seem like

these are gonna be a problem,

but look, I've got
bigger drifts here.

Why is that an issue?

A plane tries to land,
if he tries to land,

here's your runway,
here's a big old bush,

and here's a drift
that it created.

Dude tries to land--poof--

he's gonna, you're gonna
kill some people.

I have no desire
to ruin the ecosystem,

I just need to not have it
encroach the runway.

We have more bush pilots than
we have, you know, anything else

for forms of transportation.

The life of a bush pilot is
perhaps thrilling but short.

Alaska loses a lot
of pilots every year.

It's just a tricky
damn place to fly.

It really ratchets up my desire
to make it a little safer.

Safety is always first.

The state of Alaska,

you can do anything you have
to do to keep yourself safe,

and certainly they want
to keep the pilots safe.

I just finished doing
the maintenance on the runway

as far as the willow brush goes.

Now I'll get in Little Red,

start collecting
my little flare pots,

and making sure
that those are good.

ANDY: I'm kind of hard
on everything I use out here,

and I test its limits
all the time.

♪ ♪

We got some wind out here,
you guys.

Let's try this boat out.

Let's get this thing uncovered

and see what we can do
in the wind.

I built this iceboat,
and today, I got some wind.

So, I want to see what it does
out on the lake.

I've got some pretty
gusty winds here,

and so I'm hoping that
there'll be enough wind force

to even push it
through the snow.

I'm really excited to see
what this thing will do.

Never done this before.

So it's all, it's all new to me.

This is just a trial and error,
see what happens.

I think I better turn this
into the wind

before I raise this up, though.

I can get into
real trouble here. Yeah.

As soon as I raise that sail,
it's gonna want to go.

Oh, yeah.

We'll have some fun out here.

The most important thing
for these dogs is training,

and getting the dogs trained
in all conditions is important.

And ice is probably
the most difficult condition

to train dogs for.

Every year, you have to

kind of reintroduce everything
to the dogs.

There's some insecurity that
builds up around ice conditions.

And one of the things about
running on ice with the dogs

is they can fall down

and they can get injured
really easily on the ice.

They'll hurt a shoulder,
they'll hurt their wrists,

they can throw out their hips.

It's important for the dogs
to be comfortable

running on the ice, feel secure,

and so hopefully we'll be able
to get some confidence built up.

Woo!

Quite a few days of time and
effort went into building this.

I'm hoping like hell it's gonna
pay off for me right now.

Alright.

Let's go. Come, come, come!

Yeah, buddy, woo-hoo!

Come on, boys!

Yee-haw!

Come on, boys, let's go!

Yeah, buddy.

Woo-hoo!

Come on, boys!

Whoa, the winds are changing.

Oh, [bleep].

ANDY: Woo-hoo!

Whoa.

The winds are changing.

Oh, [bleep].

I think I just bent my mast.

Son of a bitch.

I don't know if it's because
there's so much resistance

to the snow, but it was
going really good.

And soon as I caught
a good gust of wind,

it just bent this mast right,
right here at this point.

That's kind of a thin, cheap,
aluminum pole,

so I'm gonna have to make
a better mast for this.

I just got to run home
and do a quick fix, come back,

and I can be back in business

and have some more fun
with the dogs.

That's really disappointing,
though,

because it was working
really good.

Oh, this was a blast, man.

This thing was smoking
across the lake, I loved it.

Alright, you guys.

Let's take this home
and we'll do round two.

Come on, boys.

Let's go back and we'll get
a better mast going here.

♪ ♪

So if that was bigger,

I'd consider putting
a wooden pole in there,

but I could probably snap
that off in a heavy wind,

so I'm just gonna go
with a piece of steel,

and hope like heck it's enough.

♪ ♪

I've got a steel pole now
instead of aluminum.

It's quite a bit heavier.

I think what I need to do
is just until I get a sense

of how strong this thing is,

I need to take it easy
in the wind

and don't sail it too tight
to the wind.

If this bends, then
I got some serious wind

and some serious problems.

Let's go see if it can
take the winds again.

♪ ♪

Here we go.

Come on, pups.

Let's go see if
this thing works.

We need some wind, boys.

Come on, wind.

♪ ♪

There we go.

Woo-hoo!

Come on, boys!

Woo-hoo! Let's go, boys.

Woo!

Come on, boys!

This is working really good.

I think the dogs are gonna
benefit from this.

I'm gonna benefit from it.

There's more playtime, and
it was something new for them,

and they all were just having
a ball chasing me around.

So, I think
it's time well spent,

getting out on Ford Lake
with the dogs out on the ice.

Getting them comfortable,
getting them confident,

and then getting them
to follow me on the iceboat

was a pretty big accomplishment,

and it's set me up for some
really good dog training

early in the season.

Way to run.

You guys ran all the way down
the lake.

It's just fun.

It's fun to use what
Mother Nature puts out there

for me to use, so it's good.

The Blade Runners is running.

Yay, everybody's having
a good time on the lake.

Woo-hoo!

[laughs]

GLENN: When you travel
through these mountains

up in the Arctic,
you make your own route,

you find your own way,

and there are obstacles
every step of the way.

[crackling, popping]

Nice to warm the hands up after
a long day on the mountain.

[crackling, popping]

Oh, yeah, that's gonna cook up
some backstrap there.

Moose backstrap. Look at that.

This is some of the best meat
on an entire moose right here.

I killed this moose that
I'm eating right now tonight,

and that's a good feeling.

I know where my food came from.

I'd just rather run around
on these mountains

looking for something to eat

than just buying it all the time
in a grocery store.

If you're a hunter, you're very
tuned into the environment.

And the way you stay tuned into
it is by being out in it.

Caribou come and go.

Sometimes they're in the area,
sometimes they're not around.

But you won't know
if you don't go and look.

That's what hunting's all about.

Right now, there are
no caribou around.

Tomorrow there might be.

[sizzling]

Dinner is served.

♪ ♪

Mmm. That's a good-eating moose
right there.

There were times when
I first came out here,

the first couple years,
when I wasn't as experienced,

and I did things a little
differently than I do them now.

I didn't have enough meat
put away,

I didn't have enough meat
put up on the cache.

One year I ran out,
and I was living hand-to-mouth.

If I didn't get an animal
when I went out hunting,

I didn't eat that night.

But now I plan things out
a little bit better than that.

Make sure that if those caribou
don't show up,

I'm still not gonna go hungry.

Because the caribou
are unreliable.

But now I know better,

I know you can't always
count on the caribou,

that's something I learned
a long time ago.

So you want to make sure you
get plenty of meat in the fall.

See you through just in case
the caribou don't show up.

JESSIE: If something
goes wrong out here,

I'm on my own, and
there's nobody to save me.

♪ ♪

Fire out here is your lifeline.

Without fire,
you ain't got much out here.

This is cold country.

[crackling, popping]

To me, it's just nice
to get away from home,

and get out here, somewhere new,
and learn some new things.

I was kind of hoping to catch
something to cook tonight,

but it got kind of late on me,
didn't see anything.

It's disappointing to come out
of somewhere empty-handed,

but at home,
there's nothing but security.

Out here, there's adventure
and adversity and challenge,

and those are the kind of things
that make us a team.

[dog howls]

I think that it's a good
confidence builder for them

to be out here
in these temperatures

and know that I'm gonna
take care of them

and provide for all their needs,

and that just builds
a trust and a bond,

and that's what we thrive off of

is our trust and bond
in each other.

That's what this trip's
all about is coming out here

and enjoying a nice couple
nights camping and hunting

in some great country with
some great company for my dogs.

Yeah, good boys.

This is as good as it gets
out here.

It's still cold
and tough out here,

but this is as comfortable
as we can be.

Getting out of
this comfort zone,

testing my survival skills,
is keeping my knife sharp,

so when things do go wrong,
I'm ready.

It's good knowing that
I put a good effort in

at the end of the day.

This is what I love doing,
and I'm happy to be out here.

I wouldn't want to be
anywhere else right now

than under this tree.

♪ ♪

SUE: People weren't meant to be
out here, but you know what?

[bleep] that, I can do it.

50 and fat is not
a stopping point for me,

it just makes the challenge
that much sweeter when I win.

♪ ♪

A little bit more.

Planes have been calling,

wanted to know if I'm ready
for the dark time.

So the goal tonight is
to get these checked out,

make sure I have enough of them
that are in good shape,

get them filled up,
get the wicks in.

I have to have
my flare pot system ready

so that people can land.

You want a nice, fresh,
clean wick.

A clean surface is gonna light
fire easier and burn brighter.

There we go. He's awful cute.

So I'm gonna stuff
this little dude in there,

screw this down,
another one good to go.

So this whole process is
kind of slow and repetitive,

but the payoff is the potential
for safe nighttime landings.

♪ ♪

I filled up all these
little flare pots.

Let's get rock and rolling.

Now I'm going to the runway,
and what I'm gonna do,

I'm gonna light a T,
to show from the air,

the pilot will see,
this is the area I land,

this is the area that takes me
into safety and Sue.

Alright.

♪ ♪

I cannot put out so many

that the pilot is going to have
a difficult time distinguishing,

what's the runway,
what's the turn-in?

Can only do a couple
at a time here.

Okay.

I'm looking across the way,

trying to make it equidistant
on both sides.

♪ ♪

Got to have one here.

Propane gels
at 30, 40 below zero.

So I got to keep
everything warm.

♪ ♪

When I was very, very tiny,

and they ask you what do you
want to be when you grow up?

I always said lighthouse keeper.

And in my own way, I am.

What does a lighthouse do?

It is a shining beacon to remind
people where safe channels are.

I want to be the beacon
that leads people to safety.

I'm gonna go down here,
I'm gonna turn off my lights,

and I'm just gonna see,
can I, can I see

that this is a straight,
unbroken line of lights?

And just see what it looks like.

Because I want to live alone

doesn't mean I don't care
about the rest of the planet.

If I think you're my family,
you're under my protection.

Gonna shut off my main lights,

and determine visually,
did I do a good job?

Can an airplane see this?
Can they recognize it?

Will they go, this is
a straight line, it's a runway?

And they absolutely can.

We got her lit up.

For somebody 50 miles away

that's starting to have
engine trouble, guess what.

They're gonna see this and go,
'Oh, my God, someplace to land.'

That's what I need to be.

I need to be the safe zone

in the middle of a turbulent
set of circumstances.