All language subtitles for S01.E01-YellowStone-Winter

In the winter of 1807

a lone fur-trapper journeyed deep into
the heart of the Rocky Mountains.

Somewhere near the headwaters
of the Yellowstone River

he found a lost world.

A wonderland

ruled by ice fire and brimstone.

A world of extremes that challenges
all that strive to live here.

A place that has become perhaps the
most treasured wilderness on Earth.

"YELLOWSTONE"

"WINTER"

Winter in Yellowstone.

Minus 40 degrees.

Fahrenheit or centigrade
it doesn't really matter

at minus 40 the two scales read the same.

For half the year Yellowstone
is frozen solid.

Yet in the middle of this ice
world there is scalding heat.

This is no ordinary place and
this is no ordinary winter.

The fate of everything here
lies in the hands of forces

of almost unimaginable power.

Yellowstone is deep in the heart of
the Rocky Mountains of North America.

An isolated high plateau
defended by rugged peaks.

And its location is what
makes it so different.

Right beneath Yellowstone a unique quirk
of geology means that molten rock

from deep in the earth comes unusually
close to the frozen surface.

No one knows why it happens right here

but its impact is what has
made Yellowstone world famous.

Yellowstone is the most extensive
geothermal area on Earth.

It has over 10000 thermal wonders

and more geysers than the rest
of the world put together.

Old Faithful is Yellowstone's
most well-known geyser.

It shoots 5000 gallons of water

150 feet into the air almost every hour.

But the forces that fuel
this spectacular display

have an influence far greater
than we can see on the surface.

Paradoxically it's all
this underground heat

that helps make the Yellowstone winter

one of the coldest and toughest in America.

It's November and winter
is beginning to take hold.

(HOWLING)

As it gets colder one
animal here gets stronger.

Wolves. The winter is their time.

Gradually it weakens their prey.

This is the Druid wolf pack

one of the largest and most
powerful in Yellowstone.

The pack have this bull elk surrounded.

But there's a problem.

The pack won't follow the
bull into the river.

They won't risk freezing to
death in the ice cold water.

What's more now the elk's antlers
are at just the right height

to keep the wolves at bay.

It's stalemate.

But it's now the elk that
has a problem of his own.

Although it's only knee deep he can't
stay in this freezing water forever.

A young female is not
prepared to let him go.

But the elk is strong.

One-on-one he has the advantage.

Her only support is another youngster.

They are neither strong
or experienced enough

to bring this elk down.

But it's enough to make him turn and run

back to the river where he
knows they won't follow.

But the longer he stays
in the freezing water

the weaker he will get.

Others before him have waited here too long

and wolves are patient.

Right now his strength
is his only advantage.

He has to try again.

This time even the young wolves stay put.

Without the support of the pack
they never really stood a chance.

And the pack have already decided
that this early in the winter

a bull elk in his prime is just too strong.

But as the winter gets colder

and the snow gets deeper
the tables will turn.

By the end of November

the arc of the sun barely
breaks above the trees.

As its angle decreases so does its power.

And as the sun loses its hold over the land

other forces begin to take over.

Yellowstone has a dark secret

that affects everything that lives here

especially in the winter.

It's only from high above ground

that we start to get a glimpse of
the true nature of this place.

Yellowstone is a giant bowl 50 miles wide

right in the middle of the Rocky Mountains.

There's nowhere else like it.

And there's only one thing
that could have created it.

Three miles beneath this frozen surface

is a colossal chamber of molten rock.

Today it powers Yellowstone's geysers.

But every million years or so

the pressure in this magma gets
critical and the chamber explodes.

The last eruption 640000 years ago

was more than 1000 times
larger than Mount St Helens.

It blasted away mountains and ejected
hundreds of cubic miles of debris

into the atmosphere burying
half the USA with ash.

The heart of Yellowstone is one
of the world's biggest volcanoes.

One day it will erupt again.

It could be today or in
another million years.

But even as the volcano is sleeping

breathing quietly through its geysers

it has a profound effect
on Yellowstone's winter.

The volcano made Yellowstone's giant
bowl but it didn't stop there.

Ever since the huge
pressure below the surface

has been pushing it higher into the air

and as it gets higher it gets colder.

And now at its present
altitude of 8000 feet

this giant bowl simply
accumulates freezing air

from the surrounding mountains.

In the winter the sleeping volcano
becomes a giant deep freeze.

On the open plateau right in the
middle of this frozen volcano

is an animal that has lived
here since the last ice age.

Bison are exposed to the worst
of the Yellowstone winter

but they are built for it.

Their thick coat is such good insulation

that they only need a tiny
amount of energy to keep warm.

So they slow their metabolism right
down and concentrate on feeding.

With massive neck muscles they sweep
their heads down through the snow

to get to the grass beneath.

But the grass has long ago put its
summer goodness down into its roots

and now has about the same
nutritional value as cardboard.

They will need to do all
they can to save energy

if they are to ward off
starvation until spring returns.

As the winter strengthens its grip

elk move into more sheltered valleys
at the edge of Yellowstone.

They don't have the bison's
ability to move deep snow.

But this brings them into the
territory of the Druid pack.

As the grazers are beginning to weaken

life for the wolves is getting easier.

They are now successfully
hunting about twice a week.

(GROWLING)

They even have the energy to play.

But their play has a purpose.

It fine-tunes their hunting skills

and helps bond the
all-important pack structure.

Though there are 16 of them

they can only hunt an animal as large
as an elk if they hunt as one.

The strength of the pack is what
will get them through the winter.

Bald eagles spot carcasses from miles away.

But there is strong competition
for a kill like this.

A coyote.

He has been shadowing the wolves
and moves in now they have gone.

(GROWLING)

It's December and even the
great Yellowstone River

is succumbing to the cold.

It's only where the water runs
fast that it still runs free.

It looks uncomfortably cold

but then the water at around freezing point

can be 50 degrees warmer than the air.

Under the ice there's a rich
supply of stone fly larvae

waiting to hatch in the spring.

Dippers make the most of these few
small windows to a liquid world

before they shut completely.

Where the water stands still
it is now frozen solid.

Yellowstone Lake is 136 square miles

and now completely covered
in three feet of ice.

A coyote travels across this frozen
desert looking for something to eat.

It's a wonder that anything
can survive here at all.

Hundreds of feet beneath
him on the lake bed

geysers erupt just like they do on land

and they melt holes in the ice

the only sign that there
is a lake here at all.

As the year comes to an end

it seems hard to imagine this
winter getting any tougher.

But there's another twist
to the volcano's story

that is about to make things even worse.

Over time the continent of
North America has moved

inch by inch over many millions of years.

But deep down below the
Earth's moving crust

the source of magma that
fuels Yellowstone's volcano

has stayed put.

As the crust has moved
over this volcanic hotspot

eruption after eruption has blasted
a massive 500-mile-long scar

right through the Rockies.

In the winter this giant scar
called the Snake River Plain

funnels moist air from the Pacific Ocean

right through the wall
of the Rocky Mountains

and up into Yellowstone's deep freeze.

Here it finally freezes and falls as snow

huge quantities of it.

Whilst everywhere around
gets 10 feet of snow a year

thanks to the legacy of its volcano
Yellowstone can get as much as 50.

Otters seem to thrive in
the Yellowstone winter.

But now that the rivers are not only
frozen but covered in deep snow

they are struggling to find
open water to fish in.

They can't fish here the fast
flowing water is too dangerous.

Somehow they need to find
a way past the falls.

With the falls safely behind them the
otters are forced to keep moving on.

Open water has become a
rare thing in Yellowstone.

(BISON GRUNTING)

Out on the frozen grasslands
the bison are struggling too.

This year is already the
snowiest for the last decade

snowier than many of this herd
have experienced in their lives.

Now as the snow gets deeper
than a critical four feet

the effort of swinging this massive head
back and forth for so little reward

is becoming too much.

Though the snow front is passing through

it's followed by the wind

which now starts to scour
the heart of Yellowstone.

A bison's coat can keep it warm down
to minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit.

The wind chill is now pushing
these bison to that limit.

But these are the last wild
bison herds in America

which have survived here for
tens of thousands of years.

They know what to do.

To move is risky it will tap into
their now dwindling energy reserves.

But this year it's a gamble worth taking.

Their way out is a river
whose water is not frozen.

A thermal river fed by warm water
from Yellowstone's geysers

an ancient route which leads to
a place where if they're lucky

they will be able to survive.

It's January and night
is twice as long as day

in Yellowstone's deep freeze.

The wind and the storms have gone

but now the clear skies suck any
last trace of heat into space.

As morning comes something
extraordinary has happened.

All moisture in the air has turned to ice

diamond dust.

But this is a cruel beauty.

Minus 66 Fahrenheit was
recorded here in Yellowstone.

Off the record it gets colder still.

This bison is still out
on the open plateau.

The deep snow with its windblown crust
has made it almost impossible to feed.

The extreme cold will now tip
the balance of survival further

most likely too far even for a bison.

A red fox can stay in the cold
heart of Yellowstone all winter

so long as it can find food.

It's looking for mice

that survive the winter insulated
beneath the blanket of snow.

The fox is light enough to move
about on the delicate crust

but the mice are six feet beneath it.

It listens for the tiny sounds
of its prey moving about below

but must take great care
not to scare them away.

The otter family has arrived
at Yellowstone Lake.

Here they can fish in the holes kept
open by the underwater geysers.

But every time they catch something

this coyote has been watching and waiting.

The otter dives under the ice to
hide its fish from the coyote.

The coyote can't see the otter
because of the thick cover of snow.

But he can hear him.

The otter emerges without the fish.

He's stashed it somewhere under the snow.
But where?

A huge Yellowstone cutthroat trout.

With the help of the otters a
wily coyote can catch fish too.

The thermal river has led the bison
to one of the main geyser fields.

Here the heat from below comes close
enough to the surface to melt the snow.

And a bison can graze as if it were spring.

The same volcanic forces so massive
that they created the weather

that drove the bison
here now offer comfort.

The only problem is the grass
that the bison now relish

has such a high concentration of
silica that it wears down their teeth.

And it's laced with enough
arsenic to slowly poison them.

For these bison it's not an
easy choice to come here.

But as long as they don't
have to stay here too long

it's a lot better than facing
the Yellowstone winter head on.

Incredibly there is life that thrives here.

In Yellowstone's thermal springs

the temperature is a constant near-boiling.

Yet here are huge colonies
of heat-tolerant microbes.

As the boiling water flows out
from the centre of springs

it cools forming bands of
different temperatures

each with a different
collection of microbes

with a totally different colour.

Grand Prismatic Spring is one of
the wonders of the natural world.

It's thought that it was
in conditions like this

that life on Earth first started.

It's now February

and when almost everything else in
Yellowstone is on its last legs

the Druid pack is reaching peak condition.

And it's now that the young
females come into season.

Hanging back from the
pack is a lone male wolf.

He has no territory of his
own but follows the pack

scavenging from their successes.

But right now food is not his priority.

The young females won't mate
with the pack's alpha male

as he is their father.

So the intruder could
well be in with a chance

as long as the alpha doesn't see him.

(WOLVES WhlNING)

Whilst the pack are distracted
one female sneaks away.

She won't give up the
security of the pack for him

so they meet close by in secret.

But the pack are now coming their way.

The alpha male is on to him.

He won't tolerate any other
male in his territory

let alone with one of his females.

When wolves mate they become locked
together for up to half an hour.

The intruder can't break free.

For now the alpha male has done enough.

He's seen the intruder off
and he needs to return

to reassert his position in the pack.

The intruder retreats to a
precarious life in the shadows.

But whatever happens to him so long
as he was coupled for long enough

he will have young brought up

in the security of one of the
strongest packs in Yellowstone.

(WOLVES HOWLING)

(WhlMPERING)

Since the beginning of winter

Yellowstone's herds have been
getting steadily weaker.

Now at the end of February

the tables have completely
turned to favour the Druid pack.

(WOLVES HOWLING)

As February turns to March it seems
like the winter will never end.

But now the clear cold days have gone.

The snow still comes but it's a wet snow

that strips the warmth from you faster

now when you are right at
the end of your strength.

But there is hope.

Now is the turning point of the winter.

At the spring equinox there
are 12 hours of night

and 12 hours of day.

From now on light starts to win over dark.

March is also the turning point
in the history of Yellowstone.

On 1st March 1872

American President Ulysses S Grant

recognised the extraordinary
wonders of Yellowstone

by making it the world's
first national park.

The park's creation marked
the beginning of a new era

where the world's wild
places would be valued

simply for being wild.

(BIRDS CAWING)

Now as the days lengthen

the winter starts to loosen
its grip on Yellowstone.

But with the end of winter also
comes the end of the wolves' reign.

On a mountain peak right
on the edge of Yellowstone

footprints in the snow are the sign
that a challenger has appeared

to reclaim this land.

A grizzly bear mother with her
new cubs emerges from her den.

For six months snow and ice
have ravaged Yellowstone

but she has slept underground waking
only to give birth to her cubs.

And then from time to time to feed them.

As winter gives way to spring

she leads them out into the
wilderness for the first time.

In Yellowstone's great volcano

in spite of everything the
winter has thrown at them

most have made it through.

The forces that have
helped keep Yellowstone

in the grip of such a deep
winter have finally let go.

It is the sun that will
now dominate once more.

Its power will now take over

bringing new life to this place.

But also it will bring new challenges

that all will have to face

in the heat of Yellowstone's summer.