All language subtitles for Life.Below.Zero.S02E16.The.Thaw.Harvest.720p.NF.WEB-DL

NARRATOR: On this episode of
Life Below Zero...

ANDY: It's a whole different
ball game in the summertime.

NARRATOR:
Unpredictable weather is
shaking up life in Alaska.

CHIP: The time to make these
things is right now.

NARRATOR: A lesson
in survival cuts deep.

CHIP: Ow.

ANDY: Let's go!

NARRATOR:
Andy and Kate put their
youngest dogs to the test.

ANDY: No.

-Hey, look.
-NARRATOR: Glenn encounters
unexpected visitors.

GLENN: (GASPS) Oh, my God!

NARRATOR: And Sue's quest
to find food brings her
to unfamiliar waters.

(SUE SCREAMS)

NARRATOR:
For Sue Aikens,

summer is the time
to gather food

to survive the winter months.

But the absence
of caribou in Kavik,

has forced her to seek out
other options.

SUE: The fishing trip
is looking, uh, more like
a hunting trip right now.

I don't know, I've seen,
maybe, 10 caribou.

You got a little mum
and baby sleeping
right underneath the ball

that I'm gonna sleep in.

There are rules that govern.

Flying and hunting
on the same day is a no-no.
That's an unfair advantage.

So I have to wait until,
you know, tomorrow morning
in the wee hours

before I can
actually pull the trigger.

I've heard about this
fishing hole for a long time,
I wanna try it out,

and it just worked out there's
some caribou here, too.

My little cubby
for the next couple days.

The DEW Line days,
the early warning detection
system during the Cold War.

Big radar golf balls.

The last of
the remaining sites

on the north shore of Alaska
are disappearing.

They've all been
decommissioned,
no longer military property.

They're tearing everything
out and getting rid of it.

This is pretty cool.

There is supposedly, like,

the north slope's coolest
Arctic char fishing hole.

And I want, you know,
I keep hearing everybody talk
about it over the years,

but I haven't been
able to get here.

Well, now I did.

So that's the main focus,
but coming in,

the caribou are just
kinda running around.

You know, I have
to wait until 3:00 a.m.
to pull the trigger.

So as far as I'm concerned,
it gives me
a little bit of time,

I can make
my little cubby nice.

I can get a little cup of tea
or something going.

I'll go ahead and, uh,
work on my fishing

while I'm waiting
on my hunting.

Working on my hunting
while I'm waiting
on my fishing.

Kinda spoiled for choice
right now.

CHIP: If you want something,
especially up here,

you either make it yourself,
or you just do without.

We're going downriver.

We're going towards the ocean,

to a place where
there's lots of islands

where the seagulls
like to lay their eggs.

We're trying to see
if there are seagulls
sitting on their nests.

And now is the time
to keep a close watch.

So that's what we're doing
and today's our first check.

We can pick the eggs
from them for, like,
three days in a row

and stop,
and they'll still have babies.

NARRATOR: For the Hailstones,
breakup of the river
leads to a spring harvest

and a search
for a summer delicacy,
seagull eggs.

Oh, look, swans.

(CHIP SPEAKING)

(SEAGULLS SQUAWKING)

CHIP: I wanna show my kids
where to go get these eggs.

I want them to have
the knowledge
of where and when.

This is the time to do it.

This is the place to do it.

We're in a place where
there's lots of mud, it's easy
to lose your boots here.

This is deep mud.

This island is full of
all kinds of crazy little ways
to get stuck.

It's got long deals to it,
I want you guys to pair up.

-Who's gonna stay together?
-Me and Carol.

CHIP: Okay, that sounds good,
as long as you guys
got a partner.

If we don't pair 'em up,
you know, they can
lose their boots,

they can fall in
the water and get icy.

And plus, too, it's real easy
when you have a system of
two people trying to get eggs.

My younger kids haven't done
this very much.

My older kids know this place
very well.

CAROL: Oh, look!

Nope, that's not a nest.

These are tidal flats,
and after the flood
has passed,

as you can see from this mud,
the water's been
over top of it.

Then they come and lay
their eggs as soon
as the flood goes down.

Flood's gone down, hopefully
the smelts are coming in,

cause they gorge themselves
on the small fish,
and right after that,

they'll go and they'll nest.

They'll be munching down
and making eggs.

It's like a little maze,
you have to go and search, um,
for little islands and stuff.

It's always fun for the kids,
it's like Easter.

(AGNES SIGHS)

(QUTAN AND AGNES SPEAKING)

(AGNES SPEAKING)

QUTAN: Oh, it's empty.

AGNES: Another nest?

They look similar like that.

That looks like one
that's gonna be made soon,
but not quite yet.

CHIP:
This one's been worked on.

See how wet it is
from their feet?

Where they're sitting,
see how they carve this out?

They got rid of the debris.

As soon as they're ready
to lay eggs,
we'll start to see feathers.

A few feathers
smashed in there
and then they'll lay the eggs.

So from indications,
is that they're getting ready,
but they're not here yet.

They're getting ready to lay.
Could be tomorrow.

Only fresh nests.
I see they're working
on their nests.

AGNES: Yeah, we've seen
a few nests, too.

There's quite a few
nests that aren't worked on

and there's about maybe,
I've seen five or six
that were worked on.

No feathers in them yet,
though?

No feathers in them, nope.
So I would say maybe a day.

As long as we're here early,
we're happy.

When we get back down here,
they'll be fresh.

This will be awesome.

ANDY:
Even the most confident person
and knowledgeable person

is gonna get their butt
kicked from time to time,

but as long
as it doesn't kill you,

it's a good
learning experience.

I think I'm gonna take
some dogs out and run them,

get a few of these guys
used to boats.

I try and use my dogs
all year long.

They're not just sled dogs.

They have to know
how to get into boats.

When they're in boats,
they have to behave.

Because if I get
15 or 20 dogs in a boat

and they're not behaving,
it's pretty chaotic and pretty
dangerous for everybody.

KATE: During the flood of 09',

having all these
little extra skills

really made a big difference.

They had to get
tied into boats

after they'd all been
scared out of their wits
floating around in water.

Getting into boats,
getting into canoes,
getting into a helicopter,

arriving in Eagle,
having a stranger
take them in a truck.

They handled it beautifully,
and that is good training.

ANDY: You're gonna dump me.

Oh, man, you're strong.

Oh, crap!

Our summers
are four months long,

four months to do
all the work we need to do.

Before you know it,
winter's here.

(DOGS WHIMPERING)

Everybody in the boat!
In the boat! Good boy!

These dogs were rescued
from our property in 2009,
by canoe.

So that really
brought home to me

the importance of not
only teaching a dog
to be a sled dog,

but to be a really
well-rounded dog,

to be exposed to a lot
of different things

and have a lot
of different capabilities.

It's my job in the summertime
now to get out there,

expose the dog to what
I expect them to do,
give them that experience,

give them that confidence
so that when I decide
to go out and do something,

it goes like clockwork.

Let's go for a run!

Let's go for a run!

You guys ready to go?

This will be a test.

GLENN: It's very exciting
living out here.

I mean,
it's so much more complex

and more intellectually
challenging and
physically challenging

than if I were just to go
buy my food.

That heat feels nice.
A lot of times
when I stoke the fire,

I like to just stand
by the stove
and just enjoy the warmth.

I would like to take a sauna,
that would feel great.

When it's cold,
the end of the day,

your muscles are sore
just to get in there.

Maybe I can build
a little sweat lodge.

Maybe I can make something
like the shape of a tepee.

Or maybe a little dome.

Just cover it with a tarp,
put a wood stove in it.

But I've never
built a dome before.

I'm not sure
how that would work out.

It would be an experiment.
I would have to try.

The goal is
to contain the heat.

If I make it small enough
and it's tightly enough built,

then that it will get it
really hot in there
so I work up a good sweat.

This looks like
a pretty good spot.
It's level.

It's pretty close to the lake.

I just have to be able
to sit in it

and have a wood stove
in there with me.

If I was sitting right here
and I had a stove here...

A little place like this...

That would be nice.

I'm gonna go look
for some poles to start
building it right here.

NARRATOR: Living hundreds
of miles away from
the nearest hardware store,

Glenn must build
everything by hand.

See, a tree about this
big around, I can bend it,

then if I bent another one
down and tied them together,
I'd have an arch.

That might work.

This is the thing about
a sweat lodge, it's more
than just physical.

It's gonna be good
for the consciousness, too.

It's a whole different
atmosphere in there.

I am gonna have to clean
these up really well

because any little thing
like this, that's gonna stick
right through my tarp.

I gotta take off
all the little sharp nubs.

All these jobs,
they're real enjoyable.

It's just such a beautiful
atmosphere to work in here.

It's just gorgeous.

There's two caribou
right there. It looks like
a cow and a calf.

I haven't seen any caribou
in about 10 days.

That's nature.
It's alive out here.

There's a lot going on.

There's a wolf right now
walking along
the edge of the shore,

right behind the caribou.

(SOFTLY) Wow.

And now he's considering
his options.

(GASPS)
The wolf needs to chase.

(GLENN SPEAKING)

Where'd the calf go?

The wolf is right
at the corner.

He's turning around,
he's going back
into the woods,

but the caribou got separated.

Is the other caribou
still in the woods?

You don't usually see
caribou down here
this late in spring.

I don't need caribou now,

but it's pretty interesting
to see them.

If that calf made it,
it's gonna go back
to its mother, eventually.

Caribou can generally
outrun a wolf

as long as they get
a little head start.

I can't imagine anything
more interesting to do

than watch life like this
taking place.

You never know
what's gonna happen.

That's what's so exciting
about living this way,
it's that...

I'll be doing one thing,
like building
a little sweat lodge,

and the next thing you know,

there's caribou
getting chased by wolves
right here in my front yard.

ANDY:
It's constant planning here
and it's not for next week,

it's for next year.

That's really important
when you live this way.

We got a boat full of dogs
and we're here,

getting ready to take
the dogs for a run

on the islands across
from my place.

It's really important
to keep these dogs

in shape all summer long

so that they're ready
to go in the fall time.

The more they know,
the better.

I want them to be
as experienced in as many
different things as I can.

'Cause you just never know
what's gonna happen.

Okay, out of the boat. Go on.

Good boy. Go, Tope, go, Tope.

Getting in and out of boats
is really a skill
they have to know.

It has to be
not unquestionable.

When the flood hit us,

the only way we were able
to evacuate our dogs
was to put them into a canoe.

Had my dogs not been
able to ride in a canoe,

that wouldn't have
even been an option.

Straight ahead, let's go.
Come, come, come.

These dogs work really hard
all winter long,

and this is, kind of,
playtime for them,

but it's also educational
for them.

It's just about exposure.

Lots of experiences.
Experience is knowledge,

whether you're human
or animal.

Everything we do
with the dogs is giving them

as many experiences as we can.

The other thing I like to do
is I like to watch the dogs,

and see which ones
are running up front.

Those are potential leaders.

Right now I've got Topaz
running up front with Jack.

Jack and Topaz, so far,
are doing really good.

You know, I really spend
a lot of time doing discipline
training with the dogs.

I want them to be as
experienced in as many
different things as I can.

Not just sled dogs,

they're guard dogs,
they're work dogs,

they're pack dogs,
they do everything.

Come, come. Everybody come.
Everybody come.

Two reasons
why I'm doing this.

One is just to get
the dogs out,
muscle them up a little bit.

But probably more importantly,

it's being confident
in whenever I tell them to do
something, they do it.

Let's go home.

Atta boy. Good boy, Jack.

Everybody in. Come on, Coug.

Jack, you did a good job.
You're a boat dog now, Jack.

SUE:
Just 'cause I haven't done,
it doesn't mean squat.

It's something
I'm going to do.

It's not things
I haven't done.

It's things
I haven't done yet.

NARRATOR: An unseasonably late
caribou migration in Kavik

has forced Sue 34 miles
to the coast
in search of food.

SUE: Yesterday,
Jake brought me in,

there were a few caribou
running around,
but I can't pull the trigger.

You can't fly and hunt
on the same day.

And I'm just getting ready.
I'm making some coffee.

And I'm gonna go out and see

if I can spook
one of them up.

I mean, I've never had a year
where I only see
six to 12 caribou

from May until now.

I mean, we're right before
the migration.

The worry is still there
that if they don't migrate
through my area,

within five, ten
miles of my area,

that's, kind of,
a game changer for me
for the winter.

Time to go and see
who's out there.

So I brought my stick,
the gun, got my net.

And I'm just gonna kinda
go prepared for anything
that might happen.

I need to get something
so I survive the winter.

(SOFTLY) There it is.

I can try to put the sneak
on these up here.

I'm gonna leave my pack
and my pole here.

There is one, there is two.
Where's the baby?

I have to verify
that there's no calves.

It's an opportunity, but you
don't shoot mums and babies.

You know, there's definitely
three cows,

one's fairly juvenile
without calves,

two cows with calves,
but they're now...
They're all together.

That leaves me one cow
that I got to try
and pick out of all of them.

The amount of effort
it's gonna take to try and
maybe pick out that one cow

is not worth it.

I do not, will not
shoot a cow with a calf,

and it's just too difficult
for me to separate them out,

so on to the next thing.

Well, this is the pond
everybody, 'Yay,'
screams about.

I haven't had the opportunity
to add much fish to my diet,
but I want to.

So this is a good
learning experience.

Take that! I mean it, take it.

Oh, shit.

No, no, no, no, no.

(SCREAMS)

The fish was just a couple
of feet from being dinner
when the line broke.

I have undersized equipment,
and a formidable fault.

I do need to work
the bank as little bit of it
as I've got.

I got to, kind of, try
and wear 'em out.

There he is.
Oh, it's a little bitty guy.

But I got him!
Oh, shit, don't let him go!

You're not the size I wanted,
but he is a fishy.

Yay, I got a fishy!

Come on, come on,
come to mama.

Yeah!

Now that's
a freaking char, man.

I think that you probably
can count on two hands,
maybe three,

the amount of people
that have been to this
location to fish.

Whoa, whoa.

This is a bigger one.

I had heard it was this good.
I had hoped it was this good.

So yeah,
I'm pleasantly surprised.

Oh, no!

Phew. (CHUCKLES)
Almost... Almost got away.

Number 10,
final one for the day.

You know, I had
a pretty good day, uh...

Eventful.

Went, saw some caribou,
tried to get on them,

got on them,
got within shooting range,
turns out to be, uh,

cows and calves
so can't get them.

Found this one.
Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam.

Got a little technique down
to get them away
from the current,

lessening the power
of the strike and the fight,

and was able to get them up
here, give them headaches,
and get my limit.

What a beautiful fish.
Thank you, fishy.

What was that?
(IN HIGH-PITCHED VOICE)
"You're welcome." Okay.

GLENN: It's not just this
place, or this way of life,

that's all interchangeable.

It's what's in your head
that matters.

Consciousness, you know?

NARRATOR: To combat
long days of physical work

and bitter winter temperatures
in the bush,

Glenn Villeneuve
is building a sweat lodge.

I've got the first two here,

and I wanna put two
in the other direction.

I'm just gonna lean
those together.

You use natural materials
out here.
They don't grow straight.

Trees aren't straight,
so why try to make
everything straight.

You don't need it straight.

I can picture sitting in here,
getting a good sweat.

If I wanted to, I could build
a much more elaborate sauna,

but this is, kind of,
a nice way to do it.
Just keep things simple.

If I can spend one day
building a sauna,

why make it more
complicated than that?

I've got several steel barrels
that I store things in,

just to protect my things
from the bears
and from the weather.

This is an extra one.
I'm gonna make it
into a wood stove.

(HAMMERING)

There.

That's where
the wood's gonna go in.

Smoke comes out here,
needs a place for air to go in
on the bottom.

This is a tarp
I'm gonna cover
the sweat lodge with.

Well, so far so good.
Frame hasn't fallen down yet.

Awesome. This looks great.
This looks like
it's going to work.

It's just the right size.
I'm real happy with the way
the frame turned out.

I just have to
secure the canvas,

cover the floor
in spruce bows,

get the wood stove going
in here,

and I'm gonna have
a good sweat in here.

Best thing about the sauna
is the atmosphere.

You could actually live
in something like this.

What it's about for me,
is it's just about meditative,
calm, peaceful living.

Awesome. Got the stove in,
got the spruce bows down.

Can't wait to try it out.

CHIP: Knowing
the proper preparations
makes for a smart person.

And you live long, live good,

and you don't rely on anybody
but yourself.

This is a place
where I do a lot of hunting,
this area.

The birds fly by,
the caribou will come
here to cross.

This is like a natural trap.

And one of the best things
here are the fish
that come through.

Right now, I'm waiting to see
if I can see the little smelts
that are coming along.

Smelts are fish,
real small ones that are thin.

As they mate
and they spawn upriver,

they turn around and go back
immediately after doing it.

But they don't all do it
at the same time.

So they may come in here
packed in a bunch,
real easy to scoop out.

But if we caught them
coming down,

we'd only be getting
two or three at a time.

So we really want to get them
full of eggs as they're
heading up.

(SEAGULLS SQUAWKING)

What I'm counting on today

is for the seagulls
to let me know
where the smelts are.

Because as soon as
the seagulls

have fed themselves
very well on smelts,

they're gonna head back,

and they're gonna go nest up
and they're gonna lay eggs.

So we want the smelts, too,
and then we'll go get eggs
from the seagulls.

So, in a round-robin way,

I'm, kind of, trying
to predict when the seagulls
are gonna lay their eggs,

and at the same time,
I don't wanna miss the smelts.

I'm gonna go to these alders.

I'm gonna find a couple
that have some
really nice forks in them,

and I'm gonna make
two dippers.

I'm gonna show the kids
how to make those,

and they can learn
the dip netting.

What you need to do
is you need to bend them
like this,

so that you know
that they're flexible.

Doesn't even have to be
a hoop. It can be like
a more of a square.

It can even be like
shovel-shaped.
It doesn't matter.

We still want to be able
to make something
that we can dip down

and pick up the fish with.

When you get a lot of fish
in there, it weighs a lot.

And you're gonna need
the strength of the hoop
to pull them up.

That's looking good,
and if you add one more,
you can make a good hoop.

We're using natural materials
and we're using them basically
in their natural form.

It's using the stuff
around you to accomplish
comfortable living.

(INHALES SHARPLY)

Ah.

I passed the knife tip across
my finger and sliced it.

It doesn't even hurt,
the knife is so sharp.

I had to double check
to see if I was even cut.

Just don't touch where
the bandage goes on here.

There you go.

Just swiped it
with the tip of my knife.

Okay, we're good.

NARRATOR: Spending the summer
on the Kiwalik River,

hundreds of miles
from any medical services,

the Hailstones must rely
only on themselves.

CHIP: Look at all those birds
coming over that hillside.

You girls wanna
go over to the river
and go have a look

and see if you see
any little flashes going by,

or you see what look like
raindrops hitting the water,
with no rain.

Just get to a high bank.
Don't go to the sandbar.
Go to the high bank.

GIRLS: Okay.

CHIP: Only indicator we really
have right now are birds.
The seagulls will let us know.

They eat those fish,
and they gorge on them
before they lay eggs.

CAROL: Do you see anything?

What do you think?

And then it'll dip
into the smelts

and pull them up,
and hopefully dump them.

Back in the water
and do it again.

And when the smelts
have passed by,

we'll zip upriver
with the boat,

get ahead of them,
and do it again.

That sound good to you?

(IRIQTAQ SPEAKING)

CHIP:
We're going downriver here,

and we're gonna have a look
and see if there's smelts
coming up the river.

They take quite a while,

but what we really wanna
do at this evening time
is make sure

that we're not gonna have
the smelts pass us by
in our sleep.

We had a really late freeze up

and we're having
a really early break up,

so we've got, like,
an extra month-and-a-half
of summer added.

Hopefully, the fish
have caught up.

It's time for smelting.
We just don't know
where they are at the moment.

I don't see any smelts!

I think we're gonna
go back home

'cause we're down here
by the mouth,

and the sun's gonna
go down soon.

It's better as it is,
for them not to have shown up
than to have missed them.

ANDY: It's the same old story.

Experience is knowledge.
Knowledge is confidence.
Confidence is a job well done.

Our life along
this, uh, Yukon River
in the wintertime

revolves mainly around dogs
and snow machines.

And in the summer time,
it's all about dogs and boats.

Each dog has a talent.

Often times, some dogs
have multiple talents.

But they all have
a weakness somewhere.

And so it's my job,
as their owner,

to figure out
what their weaknesses are,

and realising that,
when I go to do a job,

I don't ask them
to do something
that they're not good for.

So what I plan on doing, Kate,
I want to take Topaz
and Jack and Cougaran.

We'll put Topaz in lead,
and then Jack and Cougaran
next to each other.

And then we'll let them go,
and just see. I have no idea.

I'm hoping they don't run
all the way back to the lake
with this.

I'm hoping they'll just go
a little ways and stop.

But I have no idea
what they're gonna do.

It's really important
to identify,
at a very young age,

dogs that have potential
leadership quality.

Topaz is probably gonna be
one of my better leaders
in the future,

so now I'm trying to expand
that into summertime.

The other dog that's showing
a lot of potential is Jack.

He's a big dog.

Having a large lead dog
that can break trail

would be a real asset to me
when I'm out trapping.

Okay, tighten up, let's go.
Hip-hip. On by. Whoo-hoo!

The trail that I'm using today
is mainly a winter trail.

In the wintertime,
the water freezes,
smoothes it out a little bit.

We get snow blowing in there,
drifts in it,

and then I can
put in a pretty nice trail.

Uh, it's a whole different
ball game in the summer time,
it's full of ruts, pits.

It's gonna be interesting
to see how they handle it.

Straight ahead.

Whoa!

That was really good,
you guys. Good dogs.

First things first,
the canoe goes in the water.

Topaz gets in the boat,
and we go out for a paddle,
and we see how she does.

No, you've got
to learn how to do this.
Come on. Good.

Right there. Good girl.
Sit. Sit.

Good, sit. Stay, stay.

That's what you want to do.

Good girl.

Looks like Topaz
is doing really well.

She's sitting there.
She's watching the paddle.

You'd think she'd been
in a boat all her life.

You're doing
a good job, Topaz.

Good girl!

I'm pretty impressed.
She was the one
I was worried about the most.

I thought she was so hyper.
I thought for sure that dog
was just gonna go,

"Uh-uh. Not going, got to move
around, got to jump."

Uh-oh. We got a leak.
We've got a pretty good leak.

I've got a geyser coming in.
Why don't you look around
in those packs?

I might have some duct tape
or something, Kate.

We're gonna
have to tape it up.

Kind of looks like
it was a bear tooth,
or bear claw hole.

It's one I missed
when I was patching it.

KATE: Oh, no.

ANDY: I think you did good.

Okay, out.

-KATE: Come on, Topey.
-Good girl. Good girl.

This is what I call
a Navy patch.

One of the things you learn
if you're a seaman in the Navy

is how to fix a hole in a boat
by driving wedges into it.

That was, kind of,
unexpected, but that's
the way it is out here.

You know, you just
got to deal with things
as they come

and figure out what you got to
work with and make it work.

All right, let's try Jacker.
Hey, Jack-Jack.

I think Jack's at,
kind of, a critical time
in his development.

He's going from puppyhood
into adulthood.

Or at least becoming
an older teenager.

We're gonna make Jack
graduate from high school
and move on to college today.

Atta boy. In, in.

Sit. Sit.

(ANDY CHUCKLES)

Nope.

Let's get him back in.
You stand on the dock
so he can't do that, okay?

In the boat, come on, boy.
Atta boy.

-KATE: Down you go.
-Now I got you.

Good boy.

KATE: He looks so pathetic
out there.

He's just holding onto Andy
for dear life.

You sure make it
hard to paddle, though,

with you right in my face
like this.

Jack was pretty tentative
getting in the canoe.

Uh, he's still a young dog,
he hasn't had a lot
of experience.

I don't expect him to do
perfect on any of this stuff.

You know,
it's all repetition with dogs.

You got to do it
over and over.

KATE: This is the whole point
of it, is to have them

experience different
situations, you know?

They've got to learn
that where they're put,

and they're told
to sit and stay,
that that's where they stay.

ANDY: Out, out.

(KATE CHUCKLES)

ANDY: All right, Jack,
out, out. Good boy.

-Yay.
-KATE: Yeah!

Mainly, the experience
was just to get the dogs
settled down in the canoe,

get them used
to riding in the canoe
without jumping around.

For me, Topaz is, kind of,
the star of the day
as far as performance goes.

She did a great job leading,
great job riding in the canoe.

Time to be a lead dog.

Actually,
let's put Jack in front.
See if he can go home.

Jack. No, you've been demoted,
Jack's gonna be lead dog!

Yay, Jack, the lead dog.

It was a big surprise
that Topaz was the easy
one and Jack wasn't.

Because we'd have lost money
if we had bet the other way.

ANDY: Let's go. Hup-hup.

Whoo-hoo! Let's go!

What I'm trying to do
is build confidence with Jack,

and the only way
I'm gonna build confidence

is to give him
a lot of experience.

I think this was really good
for me to have a chance
during the summer months

to put them to the test
and to do some
different things with them.

Things that most people
don't do with sled dogs.

They really excel
at what they're doing
once they have confidence.

And that's the key.
You got to get the confidence

or you don't get
the performance,

so I'm really excited.

GLENN: Every day
out here is uncertain, and
that makes it interesting.

I never know
what's gonna happen.

That's part of the reason
I'm here.

Oh, that's hot!

I got my sweat lodge built.
It's a beautiful curved shape.

I went with a dome.

Never built a dome before,
turned out pretty good.

(SIZZLING)

Nice.

It's as much
a psychological benefit
as physical for me.

Just to sit here.
It's just so calm.

And it purifies
and it puts your consciousness
in a different place.

It's just very relaxing.
It's very meditative.

GLENN: Phew.

Oh. It's hot.

Oh.

The contrast between
the heat and the cold,
it really is invigorating.

It just gets the heart going.

It gets the blood
in circulation.

Keeps you feeling vital.
That's what it's all about
out here.

Being alive.

SUE: The arctic is full
of opportunists.

Human beings
as well as the animals.

It's hard to eke a life
out here.

It challenges me.

So, last night and yesterday,
it was a big day,
a lot of hiking.

And went after
some caribou that I saw,

and it turned out
to be cows and calves.

You know, the numbers say
there's one lone cow,

but I couldn't separate
who was who,
so I had to let him go.

I continued on
to the fishing hole.

Caught the limit
for the day and...

But it took... It was another
six, eight miles hiking
getting back here.

So I've got my fishies here.
I did not, uh, finish cleaning
them out yesterday.

I just had to get warm.

As you can see,
I'm sleeping on a metal floor.

You know, I'm over 50,
I'm overweight,
I smoke cigarettes,

hiking my brains out
at 30 degrees.

So I'm a little slow-going
this morning.

But I want to get out there
and get these guys
taken care of.

At these temperatures,
they're perfectly fine
to leave overnight,

but I don't wanna
leave them any longer
than that.

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

Fuck, fuck. My scope,
it's all fogged on the inside.

(SEAGULL SQUEALS)

You got hit,
you son of a bitch.

There he is.

A little heart rock.

Thank you very much,
from my heart to yours, buddy.

You'll be some
tasty little meat,
keep me going this winter.

Get this guy cut up,
get those fish cut up,

have some surf and turf
for dinner.

I mean, I thought
I was tired before,

and now I just made
a lot more work for myself,

but that's the work
that keeps you alive
in the winter.

Couldn't ask
for a more successful
two-day venture.

You know?

Got my limit on fish,
got a little bit of meat
for the freezie.

It's a good trip.

It's a time of harvesting.

Get your whatever
you're gonna use to eat
for the winter,

better get it in.

Any little bit I get done
before the snow flies,

adds in to being able to make
it until the snow melts.

That's the goal.

I got to come out here
and it's great peace of mind

for me to be able to just take
a couple of days away

from the hectic-ness,
and relax out here.

But getting the fish,
finding the fishing hole,
getting a caribou,

it's productive.

It went from being
just a couple days

and a nice thing
a buddy did for me,

to putting meat in the freezer
and being able to sustain
myself this winter.

So it's, uh, all around,
what a really great trip.

CHIP: I can just go get it
myself and make a living
from the land around me.

And that's subsistence,
that's real freedom.

This is, uh, not too big
of an island,
but it's not too small.

Try not to fall in the water.

Most of the water isn't
any deeper than the boots.

Stay in pairs.
If somebody gets stuck in mud,
you help them out.

You girls know to keep
your eyes on these seagulls
'cause they'll dive.

You will know you're close
to a nest

when they are trying
to hit you in the head.

The goal for the summer
is to get eggs

and save them up.
We like to eat the fresh eggs.

'Cause even though
there weren't any yesterday,
today might be the day.

AGNES: This is a real nice
area. We call it the flats.

We're able to see
long distances

and keep an eye on each other.

I'm always glad
that you can see for,
like, a mile away.

CHIP: We just got to these
mud flats, and my kids
are all dispersing.

We get to go out here
and go egg hunting.

I really hope I run into
something good.

Uh, there's no nest here.

Probably one was making one,

but I don't think
they finished.

Here's a nest,
still being worked on,
but there's no eggs yet.

Sometimes we always walk
for miles and miles

just to find one nest.

There's geese, swans, cranes,
there's seagulls,

and they live
on these islands.

They like to be
on these little patches
in between here.

All this water,
these mud flats,

and they make their nests
and they lay their eggs,
and we gather them.

We're actually trying
to get a renewable resource,
and not impact the population.

(TINMIAQ SPEAKING)

Nope, I think we're too early.

I don't think we're too early.

I think we need
to keep walking.

I think we're still...

-So, which way you wanna go?
-Go through.

AGNES: Right in there.

Nothing? Seriously?

(QUTAN SPEAKING)

AGNES: We walked, like, a mile
and there's still no eggs,

so we're just going
to keep looking.

-Right, Qutan?
-Yeah.

Okay, let's go walk
over this way.

Hopefully, there will be some
over here.

CHIP: I got all my daughters
out here, and I got
my wife out here,

and they're scattered all over
this island. (CHUCKLES)

Hopefully, the kiddos
are doing good.

Oh! I can see eggs, Ting!

Six of them. Six eggs.

Okay, starting to get
a little scared.

CHIP: This is, kind of,
a crazy spring for us.

The break up came probably

three to four
weeks early this year.

It makes it difficult
when the weather patterns
have changed so severely.

AGNES: (CHUCKLING) Oh!
Finally.

This is the first time
Qutan's ever looked for eggs,

so, um, this is, kind of,
a fun time for her.

I'm glad she found a few.
(CHUCKLES)

(QUTAN SPEAKING)

(CHIP SPEAKING)

(QUTAN SPEAKING)

This is a good first day,
I'd say.

-Yeah.
-I wonder
what the other kids have.

QUTAN: How much did you get?

(IDI SPEAKING)

CHIP: Come on over and count.

AGNES: It's not really
a competition,
but it is really exciting

when everybody gets together
and we get to count
everybody's eggs

and see how much
we come up with.

Now, you can't count the one
that broke as half-eight.

CHIP: Yeah, I counted mine.

AGNES: Okay, then. (CHUCKLING)

How much did you guys get?

QUTAN: We got 13.
CHIP: Two dozen.

We have, um, 24 all total
and then you have 17?

We got 17.

-AGNES: 17?
-(ALL CHUCKLING)

What you guys got?

-Me and Mary got 17.
-MARY: 17, but one broke.

-We got 13.
-CHIP: And I had 12,
but one broke.

-We got 20!
-Whoo!

When we wake up
in the morning,

we'll be having
some real good breakfast.

Fresh eggs.

TINMIAQ: 51.
AGNES: 51 eggs.

(ALL CHEERING)

-Awesome.
-Yeah!

CAROL: How much is that? 51?
AGNES: Good job.

TINMIAQ: Yeah!

AGNES: Ooh, fun, good day.