All language subtitles for Arctic.Ascent.with.Alex.Honnold.S01E01.71.Degrees.North.WEBRip.HOTSTAR.en[cc]

♪ ♪

[heavy breathing]

[Alex] God!

[metal rattling]

[metal rattling]

Ultimately what's at stake with
climbing is always your life.

♪ ♪

You could die in a lot
of different ways on a wall.

♪ ♪

You know, it's like, you can
only roll the dice like that

so many times.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

The first picture
I saw of Ingmikortilaq,

it looked like death.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[whirring]

[unintelligible radio chatter]

Look at the walls over there.

This is, this is crazy.

Now I'm starting
to get very excited.

[Adam] Yeah.

[Alex] This is, uh,

definitely feels
like the trip is starting.

Like, look at all this rock.

[whirring]

Greenland's an island
in the North Atlantic

that's almost entirely covered
by a vast sheet of ice...

...in some places
up to two miles thick.

It's almost like
a fantasy landscape.

It's like so big
and so remote and so wild.

I may as well be reading
The Hobbit or something.

It's like this is
a totally fantastic setting.

♪ ♪

If we manage to climb
Ingmikortilaq,

it'll be the biggest
first ascent I've ever done.

♪ ♪

Very exciting!

The first picture
I saw of Ingmikortilaq

was low resolution
and kind of far away.

It looked like the scariest
wall I've ever seen.

It was like swirling black rock.

It was kind of like,
how about this,

you know, can we climb this?

I was like, I don't know.

But in some ways,
that's the best type

of climbing objective,
when you're not totally sure.

It's hard to imagine
that we're gonna have to cross

miles and miles of these
piles of rock and boulders

to get onto what we think of
as the real glacier

where, where it's exposed ice.

I mean, this looks like very
difficult terrain to hike in.

♪ ♪

I've spent most of my life
rock climbing.

♪ ♪

And I'm best known for my
free-solo climb of El Capitan,

a 3,000-foot wall
in Yosemite National Park.

[Jimmy Kimmel] That's
Alex Honnold, everybody!

[applause and cheering]

[Man] No ropes, no safety net.

[Woman 1] One of the most famous
climbers in the world.

[Woman 2] ...achieving something
no human had ever done before.

[Woman 3] Beyond belief.

[Man] The greatest climber
in the world has achieved

the greatest feat
in climbing history.

[Alex] There's been a lot

of real life that's happened,

outside of my climbing,
since Free Solo.

Yummy.

[baby babbling]

It's like that.

[Sanni laughs] Are you smiling?

[baby sneezes]

[Alex] Oh!

[sneezes]

[Sanni] Bless you!

Accomplishing
your biggest life dream

has sort of two sides.

[baby babbling]

There was a long time
after Alex free soloed El Cap

that he seemed to me
a little bit lost.

In that journey, I saw him be
really depressed and frustrated

and also pick himself back up
and figure it out.

[Alex] Ooh.

[Sanni] Now he's found
other ways to give back

and keep contributing
to the world.

I think doing things around
climate change is part of that,

and what a great direction
to turn to.

This is your training.

[Alex] Yeah.

[Sanni] The Greenland
expedition is unique

because it is so remote.

A wall that has
never been climbed,

a place where climate research
has barely been done,

that lights Alex up in a way
that nothing else does.

♪ ♪

[Alex] There's six of us
on the expedition...

two other climbers,

a glaciologist,
a local guide,

and a safety guy.

Oh, this is getting
scenic, huh?

♪ ♪

This is a pretty hard-core
landscape in a way.

It's like a full-on river
coming out the glacier.

♪ ♪

When it comes to climate change,

Greenland's one of the most
important places on the planet.

It's gotten about five
and a half degrees warmer

over the last 40 years.

More and more of its ice
is melting,

raising the sea level
around the world.

Ingmikortilaq
is extremely remote.

And scientists rarely
have an opportunity

to study the area around it,

so we're gonna take the long way
to the bottom of the sea cliff.

It will be an expedition
of about 100 miles,

gathering critical
scientific data

in places that no one has
been able to get to before.

♪ ♪

You know, I've definitely always
cared about the world around me.

I would say that I haven't
always had the opportunity

to actually do something useful.

What's wonderful about a trip
like this is that, you know,

we have the right team in place

to actually do meaningful work
as we go climbing.

Okay, team,
we're sticking together.

It's pretty obvious that in
July, Greenland is in full melt.

We got to cross the river
somewhere in here.

It's pretty deep.

[Heïdi] It's very
slippery rocks, okay?

[Alex] Here, Hazel.
Let me take your bag.

[Heïdi] Woo! Good!

[Hazel] It's easy without a bag!

[Heïdi] Yeah, exactly.

[Hazel] Do you want poles?

[Alex] No, it's okay.

[Hazel] Nice.

[Alex] Great success,
we all survived.

[Heïdi] Do you hear
the water running?

It's amazing to hear
how much water

is going through the system.

[Alex] From the scientific
perspective,

the most important member
of the team is Heïdi Sevestre.

Heïdi works for
the Arctic Monitoring

and Assessment Programme.

She even won a Shackleton Medal

for her work protecting
the polar regions.

[Heïdi] My biggest
passion is ice,

to study how glaciers and ice
sheets react to climate change.

I have with me a lot
of tools to collect data

for all the scientists
around the world.

[Alex] You're gonna make
glaciologists out of all of us.

[Heïdi laughs] I hope so.

[Alex] Hiking up this massive
25-mile-long glacier,

we're looking, and listening,

for our first
scientific objective.

♪ ♪

[Heïdi] Oh, wait, wait, wait.

[Alex] It's a really big hole.

[Heïdi] Yeah, let's go
and take a look.

This is pretty loud.

[water rushing]

[Alex] Oh, wow!

[Heïdi] Woo! No way!

Ah, this is giant!

[Man] Whoa!

[Alex] Yeah, look at this.
Look how deep it goes.

[Heïdi] Woo!

This is a big one, yeah.

[Hazel] Yeah.

[Alex] If you step on here,

you can see, like,
all the way into the hole.

[Heïdi] Woo!

[Aldo] How deep is it?

[Heïdi] Oh, yeah, I see it, yeah.

[Alex] It's deep enough
that it just turns black,

so it's pretty far.

[Heïdi] This huge hole
is called a moulin.

It acts like a drain
funneling meltwater

into the base of the glacier.

[water rushing]

We were really lucky
to be able to hear the roar

and be thinking, "Ah, okay,
there might be something here."

I'm super excited
but also slightly terrified.

[Alex] This is the abyss.

It's all pretty big and pretty,
pretty intimidating.

This moulin should
allow us to figure out

what's happening
beneath the glacier.

So, as crazy as it might sound,

we're going to rappel
down into it.

♪ ♪

[Heïdi] Glaciers
are rivers of ice.

Normally they flow slowly,

pulled by gravity
down towards the ocean.

But the more water
beneath a glacier,

the faster it can move.

It's pretty much like
when you take an ice cube

and you make it slide
over a thin layer of water,

it will slide so much faster.

I want to find out
if there's enough water

underneath the glacier
to make it speed up.

[Alex] I'm definitely
more used to climbing up rock

than down into ice,

but this is a rare
opportunity to help Heïdi

get the data that she needs.

[Heïdi] Very few people have
dared to enter into these holes.

It's really one of the most
dangerous environments on Earth.

♪ ♪

[Alex] Aldo Kane is here
for safety and logistics,

here to help the team make sure
that we don't kill ourselves.

[Aldo] Yeah,
and bring it back out.

We're trying to mesh
frontline hard-core adventure

with frontline
hard-core science.

You know, they go hand in hand.

[Alex] Honestly, he's just
so striking and handsome,

I just feel like
he must be very capable.

My wife looked him up
on Instagram before the trip

and was like, "Wow!"

You know, like, "Tell me about
what it's like to be with Aldo."

I was like, "Okay."

[Aldo] Clean this section here

and then run the ropes
straight over the edge.

[Alex] Ah, that's not bad.
That's a good toss.

[Aldo] When you're standing
on top of the moulin,

you can hear, crack! crack!

It's like gunshots going off,
and that's the ice moving.

[Alex] Watch out, watch out.

♪ ♪

It just goes straight down
for, like, so far.

Heïdi has these little cylinders
called piezometers.

If we can drop them down
to the bottom of the moulin,

they'll tell us how much
water is down there.

I'm gonna go down
a little bit.

I think the intensity
of the moulin

really started to make itself
felt as I got deeper.

[water rushing]

[rumbling]

Down in it,
it felt very powerful.

Okay, so is that the whole...

[Heïdi] That was
the whole thing, yeah.

[Alex] Yeah. Perfect.

It's very intimidating
down there and so wet!

Meltwater should carry
the piezometers through the ice,

all the way down
to the base of the glacier,

where we'll leave them
for 24 hours.

♪ ♪

[Aldo] This is all
super unstable now.

The change in weather,
it's warmer, it's been raining.

You see that rock
on the edge there?

[Adam] Yeah.

[Aldo] So, all of the moulin

is just eating up
everything on the edge.

The sooner we get them
out of here, the better.

[Heïdi] It seems that
the piezometers are stuck.

[Alex] Aldo! It's stuck!

[Heïdi] It's almost impossible
to pull them back up.

[Aldo] It's not ideal.

It's not somewhere
you want to be hanging around.

[Heïdi] Let's see what we can do!

[Alex] It's like,
if we actually get this out,

it'll be a miracle.

[Heïdi] Uh!

[Alex] It moved a little bit.

Oh, no, it's coming.

[Heïdi] Oh, is it?

Oh, yeah, yeah. Sweet.

[Alex] Aldo, you can
pull up the cable!

[Aldo] Okay!

[Alex] Okay, so, should
we get out of here?

[Heïdi] Yeah.

[Alex] Okay.

Nice work!

[Heïdi] Yeah! Thank you.

[Alex] Bam!

[water rushing]

So, let's see what we got, huh?

[Heïdi] Mm-hmm.

Okay, we have 10,000
data points, which is very good.

And it has measured
about 100 kilopascals,

which actually means
that there was

about ten meters
of water above it.

[Alex] 30 feet of water
is a big pool at the bottom

of a, of a hole
like that, isn't it?

[Heïdi] Yeah, yeah.

This much water
under the glacier

can make it slide
down the valley

and melt faster
at lower altitudes.

Our results mean
that this huge river of ice

is now one more
we need to keep tabs on.

And when you know that
around the world on coastlines,

there are about
700 million people,

you understand that actually
what is happening to Greenland

matters to the rest
of the world.

♪ ♪

[muffled voices]

♪ ♪

[Alex] Camping out here
is no joke.

That's why we've asked local
guide Adam Kjeldsen to join us.

He's spent his life dealing with
Greenland's unique challenges.

[Adam] We're in polar bear
territory now, yeah?

So, there's some things
we have to be aware of,

things we have to practice.

[Alex] It's to deter the bear,
not shoot the bear.

[Adam] All we do is
about scaring the bear.

All the way back, yeah.

[click]

That's it.

Aim for something
like the grass.

[gunshot]

[Alex] Whoa.

[Adam] Feel the kick, huh?

[Alex] Yeah, definitely
feel the kick.

[Adam] Hopefully this is
the last time you'll shoot.

[Alex] Imagine getting eaten
by a bear. Like, that's crazy.

But I don't, I'm like,

has anyone looked
behind us recently?

It's like, are there
any bears around?

It's nice to have one perfect
climbing wall right at camp.

[Mikey] Yeah.

[Alex] We need to keep in shape

so that we're ready
for the big climb.

♪ ♪

Ingmikortilaq is
about 4,000 feet tall,

which is about 1,000 feet
higher than El Cap.

I have no idea
what the rock will be like...

[laughter]

...which is why I've asked

two of the best climbers
in the world to join me.

What? Are you doing two?

Whoa!

Mikey Schaefer,
he has done first ascents

on all the major peaks
in Patagonia.

He may be the most experienced
first ascensionist on the team.

[Mikey] I did my first big wall
before I could legally drive.

I've always been drawn
to doing first ascents.

It's not like
a conquering thing.

It is far from that.

I could care less
about conquering mountains.

It's an interesting blend
of artistic creation

yet extremely
technical exploration.

[Alex] Strong, Hazel.

Yeah, really good.

Pop to the jug.

[Mikey] Nice.

[Alex] Really good. Come on.

[Adam] Hazel's bad-ass. [laughs]

[Alex] Hazel Findlay
is a professional climber

from the UK.

Hazel is really experienced
with this sort of first ascent,

exploratory adventure
rock climbing.

[Hazel] I started climbing
when I was about six years old.

My dad taught me how to climb.

And I think I just sort of
found my love for adventure,

and that's what I've
been doing ever since.

I do have a lot of experience
climbing sea cliffs,

so I've got to kind of
combine the experience

of big walling
and sea cliff climbing.

[Alex] All the way left,
way left.

[Hazel] Woo!

[Alex] Oh, God.

[Adam] We don't see
much climbing in Greenland,

so watching them climb is,

yeah, I've seen it on TV,

but seeing it in real life,
it's pretty cool.

[Alex] That was really good!
That was a really good warm-up.

[Adam] Yeah, you call it
a warm-up? [laughs]

♪ ♪

[Hazel] Alex is
so experienced a climber.

Nice.

He's probably spent
more time on rock

than almost anyone
in the world, I think.

[Adam] Hazel's out.

-[Hazel] I'm out.
-[Adam] She just tapped out.

[Alex] Just walked away?

[Adam] Yeah.

[Hazel] Nice.

♪ ♪

Nice, Alex.

And then the other reason
he's so good is obviously

because he can
keep calm, stay cool,

and not freak out
when he's 1,000 meters

off the deck with no rope.

♪ ♪

[Alex] That's exciting.

[wind howling]

♪ ♪

You gotta hug that ridge, Hazel,

like close enough that if you
slip, you'll go into the...

-[Hazel] Yeah.
-[Alex] ...abyss.

[Hazel] Then I'll die.

[Alex] Yeah, yeah.
You probably wouldn't die.

It'd be terrible, though.

We're still more than 70 miles
from Ingmikortilaq.

Our route will take us
across the Renland Ice Cap,

which is a huge expanse of ice

that's more than
6,000 feet above sea level.

We want to see if climate change
is having an effect on it.

But to get up there, we'll
have to make a first ascent

of a huge rock face that
we're calling the Pool Wall.

♪ ♪

What do we think?

[Aldo] This is a lot bigger
than I expected.

♪ ♪

[Hazel] I'm favoring
this left buttress.

[Mikey] Those cracks
keep going all the way

almost down to the ledge.

[Alex] It's just really big.

It's one thing to be
inspired by a wall.

It's another thing
to actually climb it.

That looks very dangerous.

It's hard to know
how far up we can get.

[Mikey] I mean, the Pool Wall

could be one of those
lifetime achievement routes.

That's a 1,500-foot Arctic
big wall that's unclimbed.

That's like pretty serious.

[Alex] What's gonna
be even harder

is that we have to get
the whole team up the wall,

including Adam and Heïdi,

who have basically
never climbed before.

[Heïdi] Seeing it with my own
eyes is actually pretty scary.

[Adam] Intimidating
looking up and there's like,

what's that, 400 or 500
meters of mountain

kind of on top of you.

But I think I've found the best
camping spot here, though.

Alex!

[Alex] Yeah.

[Adam] You like this?

[Alex] Yeah, yeah.
That's your spot.

[Adam] Yeah, it's my spot.

[wind blowing]

[Hazel] Ah, it's so windy.

[Alex] This is getting
better and better.

Can you see
inside the tent? It's...

It's gonna be luxurious.

[Mikey] Pro tip, though.

Put stuff in your tent
before you set it up.

[Hazel] I'm okay with it.

[Mikey] Doesn't fly away.

[Hazel] Yeah. Here.

Oh, no! No, no!

[Adam] Oh, God.

So long!

[Mikey] Oh, it could be gone.

What did you say up there,
Mikey, about pro tip?

-[Alex] Oh, you found it?
-[Hazel] Yeah.

[Alex] Oh, great success.

[Hazel] It was in a lake.

But it's already dry.

♪ ♪

[Heïdi] Pool Wall is
an important rock face

from a geological perspective.

During the last ice age, it was
buried under the ice sheet.

Then, 11,500 years ago,

temperatures rose,
the ice melted,

and the rock face
we see today emerged.

If we can discover
how fast that ice receded

from Pool Wall in the past,

we can improve our projections
of how quickly Greenland's ice

is likely to melt
in the future.

Knowing this could help
hundreds of millions of people

prepare for sea level rise.

But to make these projections,

we need to get rock samples
from all the way up Pool Wall.

♪ ♪

So, the cosmogenic
nuclide dating,

it's all about
creating a timeline

of what has happened
here in the past.

You know when you're
exposed to the sun

and you get a stronger
and stronger tan,

the same thing happens
to these rocks.

[Alex] Measuring
how tan the rock is?

[Heïdi] How tan the rock is.

[Alex] Perfect.

[Heïdi] This is actually
super important because today,

when we try for example to
predict future sea level rise,

this is all based on things

we understand from
past behavior of the ice.

Let me tell you, the scientists
are so excited to get samples

from Pool Wall because
they simply cannot do this.

[drilling]

[Heïdi] In?
[Hazel] Yeah.

[Alex] You know, it's not just

my climbing experience
that matters,

it's like us doing
something that's meaningful.

[drilling]

[Aldo] Ah, there we go.

Killed a battery, so that's two
batteries in over half an hour.

This could add a few days
onto the climb.

[drilling]

♪ ♪

[Hazel] Gosh, it looks
so different now.

[Alex] Okay, here's
Mr. Rack for you.

So I was like, this is
a really big rack.

Every wall has its own
unique flavor or dangers.

It's hard to know
until you're actually on it.

Okay, I'm climbing.

[Hazel] Make good decisions.

[Alex] Yep.

[Hazel] You're a father now.

[Alex] Oh, it's true.

[Hazel] You have dependents.

♪ ♪

Nice, Alex.

♪ ♪

He keeps dropping
a lot of rocks,

so my guess is that
it's a bit chossy.

[rocks crashing]

[Alex] Arctic rock
can be a real challenge.

Water gets into the cracks
and then freezes and expands,

forcing the rock apart.

Hey, rock!

It's just a dangerous
place to climb,

especially with the rest
of the team below you

because it means things are
constantly falling on people.

[Hazel] Big rock!

[crash]

[Alex] From here, it looks
like this 1,500-foot climb

has three main sections,
each with their own challenges.

This bottom section
is full of loose rock.

The middle section
looks pretty blank,

without many hand or footholds.

And above that, we'll only
have some thin, vertical cracks

to follow up to the summit.

♪ ♪

Hazel, Mikey, and I
will take turns leading...

Yeah, she's doing it.

...finding the safest route
up the wall for the team.

[Hazel] Well, I'm not
a fan of this way.

[Alex] There are a couple good
feet to make that thing okay.

We've got 24 hours of daylight,

so we're going to push hard
whenever the weather's good.

Getting a little tiring, huh?

[Mikey] Yeah.

Uh!

[Alex] Aldo is following,

making sure that our anchors
and ropes are secure.

[Aldo] Alex, Mikey,
and Hazel are up there,

and they are pushing the route

probably to at least
the halfway point,

and I've just started
following the climbers up.

[Alex] Once we've gotten ropes to
the top of the second section,

Heïdi and Adam
will use them to join us.

I'm off belay, Mikey!

After a night
camping on the wall,

we'll all make the final push
to the summit together.

Okay, you're on.

You take turns, one person
and then the other,

but sometimes
you take your turn

and then you look up
and you're like,

"Thank goodness
I don't have to climb that."

♪ ♪

[Hazel] This is not great.

[Alex] Hazel's encountered
a section of very poor rock.

She's up there
trying to find a way

to tiptoe around
some very loose blocks.

From here, it looks like
once you transfer to the right,

you're kind of in there.

[Hazel] Yeah, but I don't think
I can transfer to the right

without standing on any of this.

[Alex] I believe in you.

[Hazel] I could see the rock
was only attached to the wall

by this very small piece.

If this small piece
of rock broke,

then this huge flake
would come out of the rock.

I don't actually think
I can get round this.

You have to be really careful.

It's not just about,
oh, can I get past it?

It's just there's
gonna be huge consequences

if I knock it off.

You would fall yourself.

You would most likely
cut the rope.

And you'd probably
also kill your belayer.

Oh, this is scary.

♪ ♪

[Alex] Up here, you have
to trust your partner

and trust that they're
making the right decisions.

Obviously Hazel's
a good judge of bad rock.

I mean, are you sure
you can't stand on that gently?

[Hazel] It's,
it's really not good.

[Alex] Well, what about
using face holds past it,

like little edges for the feet,
but just kind of tiptoe around?

[Hazel] Yeah, that's what
I'm gonna try and do.

[Alex] I've got you good.

I think it's really
stressful for her,

and it seems a little scary.

She's fully standing
on the scary block.

♪ ♪

Yeah, Hazel.

♪ ♪

[Hazel] I think as climbers,
you kind of learn to take

life-and-death decision-making
and make it normal.

Oh, yeah.

[Alex] Nice, Hazel.

[Hazel] Often it's my mind
that gets me up routes

rather than my strength.

That was cool.

[Alex] 500 feet up,

and we're through
the loose rock.

Mikey will take the lead
on the blank middle section.

It's raining.
There's rain on my screen.

There's rain
on my jacket.

There's rain on the wall.

[Mikey] It's dried up
a little bit now.

[Alex] You can kind of see
our camp between us.

It's really far away.
Yeah, isn't that cool?

[Mikey] Right there.

[Alex] Yay! And then somewhere
down here you should be able

to see Aldo working away
at the route.

[Mikey] Cool. Okay,
I'm gonna get to it.

[Alex] Okay, all right,
get 'em, Mikey.

♪ ♪

[Mikey] This part's
particularly bad.

[Alex] As opposed to the rest
that was only pretty bad?

♪ ♪

Mikey's up there dealing
with some sort of terrible,

terrible climbing, but at least
we're making upward progress,

just carrying along.

[Mikey] Ah! I've got some
really cold hands right now.

Uh! Uh!

Uh!

[Alex] Better rock to the right,

and there's
another crack over there.

[Mikey] Yeah.

[snap]

-Ooh!
-[Alex] Oh!

You all right?

[Mikey] Yeah.

It's definitely not the sort of
fall I would want to take

in the mountains normally,
that's for sure.

A place like this, like,
a rescue's pretty far away,

so a broken leg
on the Pool Wall, like,

that becomes life-threatening.

I'm halfway down the pitch
anyways, right?

[Alex] Yeah, yeah.
No, no, I agree.

[Mikey] So, I think
you're gonna be fine.

You can't say
I didn't go for it.

[Alex] Yeah. No, no.
I'm giving you full credit.

[Mikey] You're gonna
give me full, like,

he wasn't a weenie up there.

[Alex] No, no, you're
not a weenie up there.

You really got after it.

Basically Mikey took
some very dramatic falls

and had to call in
reinforcements

for the final 30 feet
of the route, or the pitch.

But we're up here.
We're getting it done.

There's definitely some pressure
to figure this section out,

or else we'll have to
give up on the route

and our chance to get up
onto the ice cap.

Oh, sweet mercy.

[Hazel] Is it hard or loose?

[Alex] Both.

I'm gonna, like,
need a minute to process

to try to, like,
see where things go.

[Hazel] I'm watching.

♪ ♪

[Adam] How high
do you think they are?

[Heïdi] Mmm, like 500, 600 feet.

[Adam] It's a bit scary
to think of going up.

[Heïdi] Looks like it's
about to fall on my face.

What's happening there?
Do you see?

[Adam] Yeah, it looks a bit...
Can I have a look?

What is he holding on to?

[Heïdi] Wow, yeah, scary stuff.

[Adam] That's scary, huh?
Want another look?

[Heïdi] Yeah. Wow.

[Adam] It's like
watching a movie, huh?

[Heïdi] Yeah, pretty much.

♪ ♪

[Hazel] I'm watching Alex
follow this crack.

And he's just hanging there,
hundreds of feet up this wall.

And then he does this huge
move left into space.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[Alex] That was
a risky move for sure,

but it's got us to a crack
that goes a long ways up.

Okay, I'm out of here.

Tomorrow's gonna be a big day.

Heïdi and Adam are gonna
start up the wall.

But first we have
some celebrating to do.

[Team] ♪ ...to you ♪

♪ Happy birthday, dear Adam ♪

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

Woo! Woo!

[applause]

[Alex] Yeah, we have
a gift for you.

Happy 40th! Pretty exciting,
it's your birthday.

Sorry that you don't get
to be with your family,

but at least you have us.

[laughter]

[Aldo] Smells like a malt.

[Hazel] Ooh,
I smell it from here.

[Adam] It's whiskey.

[Aldo] Water of life.

[Alex] No, no. Did you get any?

[Hazel] Yeah.

[Alex] I, uh...

oh, it's so gross.

[laughter]

Adam's like, "What?"

[Mikey] It's good.

[Alex] But you have to sing
for yourself in Greenlandic.

[Adam] ♪ Inuuissiortoq
pilluarit ♪

♪ qanortoq inuummersorit ♪

♪ Inuuissiorninni taakkuulluta ♪

♪ tamatta nuannaarpugut ♪

♪ ullorsiortoq una ♪

♪ ♪

Today's the day.

Today is the day I'm going
big-wall climbing... [laughs]

...with a bunch of pros.

[Heïdi] Anxiety's
definitely here.

I must say
I didn't sleep very well.

And I can feel a, a sense of
nervousness in the team as well.

[Mikey] So, getting started
is always a bit weird

because there's, like,
some bounce in the rope.

[Heïdi] Yeah, exactly.

[Hazel] I can't think of anyone
who starts their climbing life

climbing a wall like Pool Wall.

It's just insane.

[Alex] These guys
are complete novices,

and typically you don't
learn how to climb a big wall

in a snowstorm in Greenland,

so today has to be about
keeping everyone safe.

♪ ♪

[Aldo] We're adding
two more people into the mix.

There's two more people
exposed to rockfall.

There's two more people exposed
to making a mistake on the rope.

[Alex] We got some bags.
The journey is beginning.

[Aldo] You're pulling hundreds
of kilos up the rock face.

The consequences of a mistake
are ultimately fatality.

[rocks falling]

[Heïdi] Mikey,
I'm gonna start going up.

[cawing]

[Adam speaking Greenlandic]

We've been here for a week,
we haven't seen any wildlife,

and just minutes
before we start going up,

we see two ravens
playing in the wind.

It's really, really beautiful.

I'm hoping this is a good omen,

but I have to admit
I'm pretty nervous.

[Alex] So, are you just going
with one foot like that?

[Adam] Yeah.

[Aldo] Clear, Mikey!

[Mikey] Thank you!

[Aldo] Is anyone below?

[Mikey] Oh, yeah, now
the whole party's below now.

[Aldo] How you getting on, Heïdi?

[Heïdi] Whoa! [laughs]

They make it look so easy
when they go up these walls.

It feels like the wall
is falling on us pretty much

because it's so steep.

[heavy breathing]

I think I have another
maybe 10, 15 meters to go.

Alex is waiting above patiently.

[Alex] Oh, yeah.

Getting there.

[Heïdi] I'm getting
there, eventually.

[Alex] This is how you learn.

[Heïdi] Woo!

[Alex] Nice! Bam!

[Heïdi] That took a while, yeah.

[Alex] That's okay, you made it.

[Heïdi] It was pretty hard,
and I was really exhausted.

[Alex] Should we choose a spot
up here for core sampling?

[Heïdi] This could be
a good one, yeah.

[Alex] Let's do some drilling.

[Heïdi] Perfect.

[drilling]

This is really
groundbreaking data.

These rock samples
will inform us,

how quickly is Greenland
gonna lose its ice?

How quickly is
the water going to rise?

[drilling]

When places like New York,
Miami will be underwater.

[drilling]

[Alex] That's a big
sample, actually.

[Heïdi] That is a great sample.

[Alex] It's really good.

[hammering]

The first time
I've used a chisel on rock.

-[Mikey] Wow! There it is.
-[Heïdi] Hey!

Yay! We have a core.

It is good to see that,
you know,

the cores are starting
to come out of the rock,

and hopefully I'll be
a bit faster on the ropes

as well by that time.

[Alex] It's a long ways
to go to the top.

♪ ♪

[Heïdi] Oh, it looks
super hard up there.

I mean, from now on,
it's just totally vertical.

[Aldo] Uh!

It's quite warm, isn't it?

♪ ♪

[crashing]

Whoa! Listen to that.

[Hazel] Do you see these
death dagger icicles?

[Aldo] The sun has come out.

It means that all of
the icicles that have formed

over the last few days
have started to fall off.

[crash]

[Mikey] Lots of "deathcicles"
coming off the top.

[Adam] Ice! Ice!

[crash]

[Heïdi] Oh!

[Adam] Oh, it's coming here.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Captioned by
Side Door Media Services