All language subtitles for Mountain Life at the Extreme 1of3 Rockies 1080p HDTV x264 AAC MVGroup org

High above the clouds...

..there are lost worlds.

Unexplored...

..unforgiving...

..wildly unpredictable.

But on the great mountain ranges of
our planet, life does exist.

Against all odds,

a few extraordinary animals

and remarkable people

make their home in the highest
places on Earth.

WIND WHISTLES

In the Rocky Mountains,

you can sit all day and watch the
world go by...

..without seeing a soul.

Slap bang in the middle
of busy North America...

..for as far as the eye can see,

it's just wilderness.

In the Rockies, the weather can
change on a dime.

It can shift from scorching

to Arctic in a few hours.

To make it here,

it's vital to know

when to act

and when to wait.

In the Rockies, it's all about
picking that perfect...

..moment.

The Rockies are
the spine of North America.

They rise up in the South West,

travel north through Colorado,
Wyoming,

Idaho, Montana, and up into Canada,

to the edge of the frozen Yukon.

The Rockies are 3,000 miles long.

Five times the length of Britain.

There's so many mountains,

many don't even have names.

This is a world of unknown peaks

and hidden valleys.

The last great sanctuary of the
iconic animals of North America.

Buffalo still roam free...

..and grizzlies raise their young.

It's winter.

Minus ten.

The days are short.

But before the animals go into
lockdown,

one event is about to stir
the Rockies.

It's all down to Bighorn sheep.

Normally docile, but today,

a scent is in the air.

And it's turning the males into
warriors.

It's the most important moment in
their year.

All the males are picking up
the scent...

..drawing it up
into the roof of their mouths.

Analysing the smell.

The females produce this particular
perfume only when they're in heat.

Each female is fertile
for just two days.

Not a chance a red-blooded ram
wants to miss.

But to get to mate, they first have
to fight the other males.

It begins

with pushing and shoving...

..but quickly goes below the belt.

Goading each other,
seeing who's strongest...

..who's up for it.

And then the fight is on.

This is their one chance.

They've got to take it.

The horns can weigh 30 pounds.

As much as the rest of their bones.

It's the biggest rumble
in the Rockies.

It echoes for miles around the
mountains.

Clashing horns with eight times the

force that would fracture
a human skull.

Other creatures would get
brain damage.

But Bighorns have double-thickness
skulls to soak up the shock.

The losers
are left with a sore head.

They'll have to wait a whole year
for another shot at mating.

The victors get the females.

They've seized their chance,
and won.

And choosing that perfect moment

is the secret to success
throughout the Rockies.

And that's for one simple reason -

the weather here
is more changeable than

any of the other great mountain
ranges.

The greatest daily temperature
swing in the world

was recorded in the Rockies,

dropping 56 degrees Centigrade
from one day to the next.

But the seasonal swing
is even bigger.

The summers are scorching and dry.

Every year,
700,000 acres go up in smoke.

Temperatures soar to 40 degrees.

But in the winter, avalanches rip
down at 80mph.

There's 100,000 every year.

Temperatures plummet to minus 40 -

cold enough to freeze the mercury
in a thermometer.

By midwinter,
the world is frozen solid.

WIND WHISTLES

BIRD CALLS

Diamond dust.

Ice crystallised by the frozen air.

Winter can be beautiful.

But brutal.

Winds reach 200mph.

ANIMALS GRUNT

It can snow six feet in a day.

For most, winter is a time
of hardship and suffering.

But here in the far north
of the Rockies,

it's the perfect moment
for one creature.

The Wolverine.

Most people spend a lifetime here
and never even glimpse one.

He feeds on the frozen bodies of
animals killed by winter...

..and preserved in nature's freezer.

His nose can detect food
buried 20 feet deep.

Other animals follow him around
hoping to steal a meal.

But carcasses
are few and far between.

Each day, he must scour
the mountains for scraps.

Determination pays off.

The frozen remains
are as hard as iron,

but specially adapted teeth
tear them open.

Ravens sound the dinner bell.

And it brings the mountains' top
predator.

HOWLING

The Wolverine has to act fast.

A hungry wolf pack could kill him.

It doesn't take long
for wolves to devour a carcass.

He melts back into the wilderness,

always searching for another chance.

Seizing the moment is crucial for

all creatures that live in the
Rockies.

And that's especially true
of one unique animal.

The mountains call us,

but we're not built to live above
the clouds.

We, most of all, must gauge
the conditions perfectly.

For those with the courage
and the judgment,

the prize is the freedom
of these mountains.

For some, the draw of the Rockies
is so strong

they need to go further and higher.

I mean, ALL mountains have
a moodiness to them,

have a personality.

But the Rockies, the Rockies might
take the cake.

Hillary O'Neil is a professional
mountaineer and skier.

She's climbed Everest
and led expeditions

to mountains around the world
for 15 years.

But her home is Colorado,

in the southern Rockies.

It's not for the beginner, they're
steep mountains, they're rugged.

It keeps you on your toes.

I think I could spend
ten lifetimes here

There's one mountain in particular
she wants to climb.

And now, in late winter,
it's the perfect moment.

Mount Sneffels.

The highest peak for miles.

At 4,300 metres high,

the air's 40% thinner
than at sea level.

And the winds can blow
over 100mph.

She's set herself a task
to climb it,

and then, for the very first time,

she will ski down the treacherous
north side,

down a steep gully called The Snake.

I mean, there's, you know,
lots of catchphrases

about the Rocky Mountains.

And the one that always kind of
sticks in my head is, you know,

"If you don't like the weather, wait
five minutes and it'll change."

For me, it makes me want to go out
in the mountains every day,

because I think it's going to be
different every day. And sometimes,

sometimes I think the mountains
around here

are warm and welcoming,
and other times you're like,

"God, I just hope they let me go
and let me out of their grasp,

"and I can go home!"

It's a long slog to the summit.

With the air getting thinner.

And the snow getting deeper.

I often feel threatened
when I'm up here.

I think it's a good thing to feel
fear cos that means you're pushing

yourself a little bit.
And that makes you feel alive

and, yeah,
I would take that any day.

There's no time to stop
at the summit.

She quickly abseils down
to the start of the gully.

Every minute,
the wind is picking up.

There's no time to waste.

SHE PANTS

These mountain gullies act
as funnels for avalanches.

As she approaches the bottleneck...

..the snow is getting more and more
unstable.

Oh...

Woo!

The hard work done,

now she can claim her prize.

When I go and do something new
in these mountains,

it feels pioneering,

in a modern way.

And I think that is
a lot of the spirit of the people

that still live
around these mountains.

The Rockies have always attracted
pioneers.

Thousands flocked here in the 1800s.

Some made fortunes.

For others, the timing was wrong.

Mining towns,

abandoned after the gold and silver
ran out.

Farmers were also lured west
with the promise of cheap land.

Early March,

and the last snow of winter falls
on an abandoned ranch in Montana.

The home, reclaimed by nature.

Mule deer.

They have been forced down from the
mountains in search of grass to eat.

But they're nervous.

And rightly so.

Something here is very wrong.

Each barn is littered with corpses
of other deer.

A predator is close by.

Magpies feed on the latest victim.

But the mule deer have
a terrible choice.

If they go back to the mountains,
they'll starve.

If they stay here,

the predator may get them.

During the daylight, they're safe.

But as night falls...

..the ranch becomes the realm
of the phantom killer.

Under the cloak of darkness,

catching sight of this silent killer
is almost impossible.

In some Native American myths, this
is a creature of the underworld.

A harbinger of death.

The mountain lion.

Secretive, silent, and smart.

She uses these buildings
to hide her kills

from the prying eyes
of other animals,

so she can feed unnoticed,
undisturbed.

The mountain lion is the top
ambush predator in the Rockies.

Powerful back legs for
lightning-fast leaps,

huge front feet for catching prey

and a long, heavy tail for balance.

With a full stomach,
she slips into the dark.

And the herd is safe.

Until tomorrow night.

It's the end of March.

Across the Rockies,
billions of tonnes of water

have been locked up all winter
as snow and ice.

But today,
for the first time this year,

the sun is in the sky
for more than 12 hours.

And, at last, spring has arrived.

The mountains are waking up,

the tap is being turned on.

3,000 waterfalls appear
across the Rockies.

Hundreds of billions of gallons are
released from the mountains.

A thousand frozen lakes
are unlocked...

..and filled with meltwater.

The Rockies nourish
900 million acres across America.

The good times are coming.

Spring grass is rich and wholesome.

Everyone is hungry...

..including the predators.

BIRDS CHIRP

In the mountain meadows of Wyoming,

an elk calf has just been born.

The timing of her birth
was impeccable.

Any earlier, and frosts would have
killed her.

Any later, she would miss
the spring grass.

But it's also
the most dangerous time.

Hungry predators are all around.

When she's just born, her legs are
too weak to hold her weight.

The calf can't run to save herself.

Instead, she has to hide.

Her mother has a strong scent.

A beacon to predators.

The only way to protect her baby
is to leave her.

The first night of her life will be
the longest.

HOWLING

Wolves.

HOWLING AND BARKING

Coyote.

Even cougar.

On that first night, the sounds of
hunting are all around her.

Instinctively,
she knows to stay still.

Dawn is a long time coming.

The calf has survived the night.

But the chatter of magpies signals
not all newborns were so lucky.

Scavengers bicker over the remains
of a calf killed overnight.

And now there's a new threat.

During the spring,
one third of all newborn calves

are killed by
one highly specialised deer-hunter.

This grizzly bear has just come out
of a five-month hibernation,

and she's famished.

The grizzly's sense of smell
is 2,000 times better than a human.

But this calf has a trick
to avoid being sniffed out.

She has been born
almost without scent herself.

The bear's nose is no use.

But grizzlies are smart,
and have other tactics.

She methodically combs
through the meadow.

The calf must stay absolutely still.

The worst thing to do now is run.

The bear ambles away, unaware
of the meal that was under her nose.

The mother returns to her calf.

Her legs are growing stronger.

Her mother can now lead her back

towards the mountains
and the safety of the herd.

In the Rockies,

sometimes the bravest animals
come in the smallest sizes.

It's late spring.

And the sun heats the mountain
rocks...

..which warms the surrounding air,
making winds,

which are forced
up the valley sides.

Winds made by the mountains.

It's the perfect place to be a bird.

I dreamed about flying
when I was a kid.

I've always had a fascination
and a curiosity

with the freedom that birds have.

Just not being attached to earth.

Jeff Shapiro lives in the heart
of the Montana Rockies.

Every other day
in the spring and summer,

he climbs into these mountains.

I've always wanted to be in places
that were bigger than me,

to show me how insignificant I am.

You could spend a lifetime in the
Rockies and not see another person.

They just go on for miles and miles
and miles.

And that gives me a feeling
like there's still adventure.

The conditions must be perfect
before he flies.

As I'm approaching the jump,

I try and pay attention
to what the birds are doing.

I try and pay attention to how
the leaves on the trees are moving.

It all gives me information
that will help me stay safe.

One of the most important factors
is timing.

The moment I choose
to jump off the cliff

is the most important moment
in my life.

Because I've committed.

The valley floor
is 3,000 feet below.

HE EXHALES SHARPLY

Three, two, one.

See ya!

The first time I stepped off the
ground and escaped from gravity...

..that sense of speed and
you're connected to the mountain,

you're connected to the terrain...

I guess it could be described as,
like, pure joy.

To have that sense
that anything's possible...

..that, to me, feels like freedom.

Summer has arrived.

The mountain peaks are now bare.

The melting snow has made temporary
ponds in the mountain meadows.

They're full of life.

But in the heat of the summer sun,
they won't last long.

In ponds like this...

..young salamanders are growing.

Just three inches long.

But the biggest beasts
in this tiny kingdom.

The manes around their heads
are gills.

The feathery fronds soaking up
the oxygen from the water.

Their small mouths are just
big enough to swallow their lunch.

But with microscopic teeth,

eating is a slow process.

At first, all is well.

But in the summer heat,
the pond starts to shrink.

The salamanders

become a little too close
for comfort.

Soon, the cupboard starts
to run dry.

And the salamanders are hungry.

And it's now
that the mood starts to darken.

The biggest salamander in the pond
starts transforming...

..into something more sinister.

His mouth has grown wider.

He's developed
hundreds of needle-sharp teeth.

They'll stop his new victims
from wriggling away.

The other salamanders may well be
his brothers and sisters,

but they're starting to look
quite tasty.

He has transformed into a cannibal.

The mountain sun keeps shrinking
the pond.

So there's no escape
from Big Brother.

But then the victims start
to fight back.

The other salamanders also start
to turn into cannibals.

Everyone wants to eat everyone else.

Soon, in this pond, there's just
a single, very plump salamander.

Everyone else has
mysteriously disappeared.

But it's an empty victory.

The mountain sun has turned the pond
into a puddle.

Eventually it will dry out
completely

and he too would die...

..except he has performed
another even-greater trick.

His gills have disappeared,

reabsorbed into his body.

Inside him,
he has grown a pair of lungs.

Then, as the mountain sun dries up
the last of the puddle,

this Houdini steps out

and fills his lungs
with the cool mountain air.

The ultimate transformer.

Midsummer.

But even now,
autumn is around the corner.

Everyone's in a hurry to make
the most of nature's gold rush.

And no-one is busier
than this creature.

A Rufous hummingbird.

The tiny master of the Rockies
weighing less than a penny,

and with a pulse rate of 1,000,
no heart beats faster.

In summer, they live
at the very north of the Rockies,

using the long days
to raise their family.

These tiny newborns are the size
of a sugar cube,

in a nest so light
it's held together with spider silk.

Their busy mother feeds them
60 times a day

on a mix of regurgitated nectar
and insects.

Hummingbird rocket fuel.

She can raise a whole family
in just 18 days.

Soon, there's only one chick left.

But she's reluctant to fly the nest.

She's still getting used
to the big, wide world.

But the biggest moment of her life
is about to begin.

The flowers here are dying.

She must fly south
in search of food.

She's the smallest creature on the
greatest journey in the Rockies.

3,000 miles from the very north
to the very south.

Less than a month old,
totally on her own,

she must race down the Rockies
to catch the blossoming flowers.

She crosses the border,
from Canada to the USA.

And then flies south...

..over mountain lakes...

..over five states...

..over great peaks...

..and down
through huge mountain passes.

At the very south of the Rockies,

the mountain meadows have just
a moment

when every flower is full of nectar.

It's hummingbird heaven.

And she's arrived
at the perfect time.

Here, she has a pit stop to refuel.

But not a moment to relax.

She's off again,

further south,

chasing the sun.

The tiny hero of the Rockies

with the most epic journey of all.

Summer is all too brief
in the Rockies.

As soon as it arrives, it's gone.

The hot summer nights
begin to lengthen,

and the stars put on
a spectacular show.

High above, the Milky Way drifts by.

PEOPLE SQUEAL

Down below,
the people of the Rockies

celebrate the end of summer
in county fairs.

The first frosts will soon be here.

For most, this is a time to relax.

But not for everybody.

Oliver Pakotas is about to face
the toughest race in the Rockies.

Months of practice have led
to this one moment.

CHEERING

The Indian Relay -

a Rocky Mountains speciality
of bravery and split-second timing.

Each rider must complete three laps
of the track.

At the end of each lap, they must
jump from one horse to another.

And it's all done bareback.

It's a speciality
of Native American Indians,

different tribes
competing for the honours.

The winner
is the first past the post.

Keep him going, keep him going.
Push it on and make him work.

Give him the work.

Holy cow!

That's pretty good.

Judging the perfect moment to jump
bareback onto the horse

takes Oliver months of training.

There's a team of four involved.

All family.

Brother Winfred holds the horses
in the race.

So does his father, John.

Father-in-law Carey is the trainer.

And Oliver is the jockey.

You always represent
where you come from.

And that's where Grizzly Mountain
comes from -

it's the biggest mountain
on our reservation.

So I represent my home people,

so when I go on the road,

I let people know that this is where
I come from.

This is my mountain, and this is
our mountain, my family's mountain.

In all the years since I've ever
been a kid, we've always had horses.

And they're like brothers and
sisters to us.

These horses need
specialist training.

And that means getting deep
into the mountains.

I like to take them in the mountains
and it's just you and the horse,

you know, and you almost become one.

And that's how it feels, too,
it's like their legs become my legs.

You know, a bird could fly up or
a coyote could run by or something.

Once they get used to that,
then I know they're ready

to go do some relay racing.

We develop a trust with each other
out there with them

that you can't get on a racetrack.

Indian Relay is the oldest sport
in the Rockies.

It grew from the life of the
Native American tribes.

The horse was so important to us

when they were out hunting
and gathering,

and even when you went out
to chase your buffalo,

you had to have a second horse
or a third horse.

The family has special ways to
prepare their horses.

Their local mountains have
a salt lake

that cools the horses' aching
muscles, and heals any cuts.

Oliver burns mountain sage
in a ceremony

to protect horse and rider
from injury.

You're putting a shield
over your horses.

I don't know how many people
really believe in it,

but I believe in it.

That's how come we're here,

is because our ancestors did
the same thing.

# ..the land of the free

# And the home of the brave. #

It's the day of Oliver's big race.

The evening starts
with a Rocky Mountain rodeo.

When I walk out onto the track,
you almost...

I guess I'd call it getting
into a warrior mode.

Nothing else matters in the world.

HEARTBEATS

When you're bareback,
horses can feel your heartbeat.

So if I'm staying calm, you know,

they know
there ain't nothing to worry about.

Oliver's primed.

The other horses, ready.

The moment has come.

CHEERING

You almost get
this sense of invincibility.

All that matters
is that next three minutes.

Almost like you're going to go
into battle.

CHEERING

Oliver's won. Timed to perfection,

all that Rocky Mountain training
has paid off.

Oliver is back in the land
belonging to his tribe.

It takes a certain spirit
to make it in the Rockies...

..of determination...

..of patience...

but above all,

knowing when to seize the moment.

Take a chance and win

in these ever-changing mountains.

For the bold and the brave,

their reward -

the freedom of the Rocky Mountains.

To film the most mysterious animal
in the Rocky Mountains,

the team relied on the expertise of
cameramen Casey Henderson.

Casey is mountain-lion mad
and spends his life

tracking them around the mountains.

Of all the animals out there,

the one that I'm the most obsessed
with is the mountain lion.

And if you can get, like, just
one moment of watching this animal,

who's almost impossible to watch,

yeah, it's really the biggest path,

for me, the greatest gift ever.

Casey's tracking skills led him
to an abandoned ranch,

which he suspected may be visited
by a female mountain lion.

I was walking here and it was just

ten times more
than I could ever believe.

I mean, every one of these buildings
has a dead deer in it.

So she's been using these buildings,

killing outside of them,
caching these deer in here,

calling this place home.

And really kind
of a dream come true,

even though
it's kind of nightmarish.

Casey wants to catch her red-handed

as she drags her kills
into these barns.

But first he will need to learn her
movements in this vast wilderness.

Casey and fellow cameraman
Brad Orsted

go into the mountains every day.

They search for prints
she may have left behind.

I can see her tracks right here.

Watch your head.

They put cameras
where she may be sleeping.

Look at that angle.

Having the opportunity to follow
this cat around for such a long time

and really start to develop her
patterns and movement...

If I know she's been in here,
I know where she's going next.

And if she goes here, she's going
to go down to the drainage,

she's going to go hunting
down towards the ghost ranch.

Even at night, they're
on the mountain lion's trail.

After months of patience,
the evidence trickles in.

CAMERA CLICKS

True detectives, Brad and Casey log
every sighting, movement, and track.

It's starting to pay off.

We're really connecting the dots
and being rewarded

for all that knowledge that
she's given us into her life.

Her pattern is to go that direction,
so the ranch could be next.

But their good luck
is about to change.

In the Rockies,
hunting is a way of life.

And a mountain lion is a top prize.

to force mountain lions
out into the open.

From his house, Casey hears
the sound that he fears the most.

HOWLING AND BARKING
Hunting dogs.

The mountain lion could be
in danger.

Yeah, in America, you're allowed
to hunt mountain lions.

Predator control.

And they're always worried about
their livestock,

and their livelihood and

they think that the predators are
going to make their lives worse.

It's the mountain lion
Casey has been tracking.

Hang tight. Real quick.

He sets off to talk to the hunters,

leaving the camera behind,
so as not to antagonise them.

The mountain lion is cornered
on the cliff face,

with dogs blocking her every move.

The only chance
the mountain lion has

is if Casey can persuade the hunters
not to shoot.

The cat's life hangs in the balance.

She's in danger of becoming one of

the 400 mountain lions shot
in Montana each year.

Casey eventually wins
the hunters over.

And they call off their dogs.

DISTANT SHOUTING AND WHISTLING

I laid it all on them
as chummy as I could.

Now they heard me out.
And they basically

made up their mind that they're
not going to kill a cat today.

If we didn't come up here,
they easily could have shot her.

Yeah, I feel like, I feel pretty...

..I don't even know the right word.

Emotional about it, for sure.

Because it is life and death.

You know, in the wild,
there's so much to worry about.

And she's out here dodging wolves
and...

You know, living a crazy life.

And then these guys come up here
and that could have just...

One little moment could have been
over.

And to be involved in that, somehow
getting embedded in that today,

to make that not happen...

..so thankful that that happened,

that it worked out this way.

Yeah, pretty heavy stuff.

You know, like all things, you know,

I wish I had a long lens
and a tripod.

But the good news is that, at last,
Casey has concrete evidence that the

mountain lion is close by.

Guess who's back!

It's her.

You know, getting this footage back
and having, you know,

all that hard work and all that
speculation that was happening,

and then having it pay off right
here to prove that it is our girl,

it is our mountain lion,

and she's doing this very cool thing
in a very cool place,

utilising this old ghost town
to thrive.

This is amazing.
This is exactly what

we've been busting our butt for,
to see this stuff.

See here, she's walking over
and giving the camera a sniff.

Yeah, it's me!

Yeah, this is the first time that
anybody's ever documented

a mountain lion in a ghost town.

But I think, most importantly,
she's back.

And that proves that she's OK.

And that's the biggest reward
of this, by far.

The highest mountain range
on the planet.

A magical world,
where the strangest animals,

ancient cultures, and extraordinary
people all make a home.

It can only be the Himalaya.