All language subtitles for Life.Below.Zero.S03E05.Ice.Highway.720p.NF.WEB-DL.x264-KangMus_track3_eng

NARRATOR: On this episode
of Life Below Zero,

Alaskans prepare
for dark winter.

If you don't like winter,
don't come to Alaska.

NARRATOR:
Glenn braves thin ice
for a new food source.

Whoa.

NARRATOR: Andy races
to break a new trail.

Hey, hey, hey, hey!

Chip must build
an essential tool

in time for dark winter.

CHIP: Basically armouring up
a sled for heavy work.

And Sue tackles Alaska's
deadliest road.

SUE: I've got mountain passes
to go through

that are notorious killers.

ANDY: You guys wanna
haul water today?

Who's gonna get water?
Is Jack gonna get water?

Today's the day of getting
a lot of chores done.

So, first thing's first,
gotta go get some water

out of the river.

We've got a ton of water
flowing by our house,

about a million gallons
an hour flowing (CHUCKLES)
by our house.

I'm just gonna push
this sled down and
let the dogs run around

-and hopefully
I can call them all in,
-(DOGS WHIMPERING)

hook them up,
and bring the water back up.

Let's go.

Everybody come!
Everybody come!

NARRATOR: Andy and Kate must
get water every fifth day

for drinking and cleaning.

With no indoor plumbing,
Andy must use the Yukon River

as his water source.

ANDY: Whoo!

By far this is the most
dangerous time of year

for me to do this chore.

I'm always really nervous

any time I go near
the edge of the river.

The ice is hollow,
it doesn't take much

to collapse ice
when it's hollow.

Yeah, I've gone swimming
in the Yukon

a number of times
in the winter.

It's not fun.

When it's slushy ice
like this,

as soon as you go
in it's like cement.

It just closes up around you

and there's not a damn thing
you can do.

I understand how people drown
on ice really quickly

now because of how cold it is

and how hard it is to
get out once you're in

without some kind
of assistance.

So I've learned
through experience

that when you're on your own
you're really on your own
out on the ice.

And if it happens,
kiss your ass goodbye.

It's a killer.

It's a killer out here.

Everybody come!

Attaboys! All right!

Hey, Coug, I'm gonna...
Whoa, whoa. It's okay.
I'm gonna put you in swing

so you don't have
to get close to that ice.

-I know you don't like that.
-(BARKING)

Everything I do

I try and do
with my dogs around here.

They're my buddies,
they're my tools,
they're my machinery.

They pretty much
do it all for me.

Most of all,
they're my best friends.

I love these dogs.

Okay. Hup, hup, hup.
Let's go!

Attaboys!

Up we go.
Hup, hup, hup, hup, hup.

Yeah! Let's go, boys!

CHIP: It makes
everything sweeter
when you can just go out

and be reliant on yourself.

When you go out there,
and you come back,

time after time
and you make a living

and after a pile of years
goes by, you're still here.

No plane yet.

CHIP: I've got
some wood coming
to make stuff for sleds

because my old one
is beaten to death.

So if I'm gonna get ready
for winter coming up here,

I'm gonna need a sled.

Well, now we're just waiting
for the plane.

When the plane
gets here we'll see
what we got for wood.

NARRATOR:
Chip and Agnes Hailstone
await the arrival

of a daily freight plane.

It carries valuable goods
from Kotzebue to Noorvik.

CHIP: Cargo planes
are never on time.

Another thing, too,
is that the weather

is just turning to garbage,
total garbage.

So we're not quite sure

what we're gonna
be doing here soon.

I didn't order any hickory

so we're not gonna
have no basket sled.

The only wood
that's coming off
of this order that I paid for

is gonna be planks
and more planks.

I didn't think it would come
in this crappy weather.

Hey there,
you got some wood for us?

Hey, Chip. Hey, Agnes.
How are you guys doing?

Good. Well, we're
just happy for the snow.

-Lucky we got in here
when we did.
-CHIP: Yep.

They're probably gonna
shut down the pass today.

-Right on.
-MAN: Here's some wood, guys.

-CHIP: Yep, thanks!
-Take care, guys.

-Yep.
-MAN: See you.

AGNES: (CHUCKLES) Bye.

CHIP: It's just so cold that
I'm gonna call it a night.

I can't win the weather.

The wind's just too cold
to drive a nail

through without
cracking it up.

So there's tomorrow.

I do indeed have tomorrow.

(WHIRRING)

Well, the first thing
I'm doing here is
I am taking a board

and I'm going to
make it into runners
and I'm dividing it up.

You can rely on these
to pull up

to a thousand pounds total.

They take quite a beating.

You're going through trails
and places that have no roads.

They're not smooth.

They're just bump,
after bump, after bump

for hundreds
and hundreds of miles.

I'm working on cross pieces.

So as soon as
I have my cross pieces done

and I've got seven of them,

I'll start to inlet them.

You go around
on snow machines up here.

We go around on boats.

A lot of people seem to think
that snow machining

and boating is recreational,

and for us it's not.

It's a machine
that meets the conditions

that we have here
to be a utility vehicle.

That's a pretty
tight fit there.

So when it comes
to stuff like this,

this here makes my ride

or my wife's ride
or my daughter's ride
into a pickup truck.

And nobody sells these kind.

I've got to build them myself.

And they're just
a good way to go.

I'm getting close
to being done.

The runners are done,
the cross pieces are done.

I'm getting the top end done.

It's all good.

GLENN:
A lot of my time out here
is spent just looking

around the mountains,
just watching

and then going up
on the mountains

looking down at the valley,
just seeing what's going on.

So often when I'm doing
one thing

another opportunity
presents itself.

NARRATOR: Glenn Villeneuve
has lived off moose
for the past month.

Needing to diversify his diet,

he heads out
to the frozen lake

in search of fresh fish.

I can't see the ice
under the snow.

I don't know exactly
what it looks like,

-how thick it is.
-(CREAKING)

Hear that?

Whoa.

It's deeper right there.

That ice is not very thick
right there.

I have to be careful
of thin ice,

and I have to watch out
for overflow.

If I get my feet wet
when it's this cold,
I could freeze my feet.

It's seven below zero.
That snow's insulating the ice

and the warmth of the water
underneath of it

is keeping it from freezing
very thick.

That's good
for putting in holes.

Ice there is about
five inches thick.

That's good.

It's easy to get through
to put in the lines.

I can put in a lot of lines
when the ice is thin,

have a better chance
of catching fish.

This is the only time of year
I fish through the ice,
when the ice is thin.

I'm trying to catch
burbot here.

Burbot are a fish that feeds
on the bottom.

I'm trying
to put the bait down

right next to a bank here
where it drops off,

where the burbot
may be swimming
along the edge.

So that's on the bottom
down there.

This cable is gonna
get frozen right in.

I'll come over
and chip it out tomorrow.

Got my first hole,
I'd like to make a lot more.

The more holes I put in,

the better chance I got
of catching some fish.

There, that's the last one.

That's good,
I got a good chance

of catching something
with all those holes out here.

I'm gonna
leave them overnight,

come back tomorrow
and check them.

Hopefully I'll have some fish.

SUE: A lot of people go remote
and they just go crazy.

For me, that tends
to happen more

if I go to town
and I stay far longer
than I had planned on,

or I can't get out.

I call it getting town flu.

SUE: All right.
Well, thank you.

MAN: Take care,
we'll see you, Susan.

NARRATOR: Sue Aikens
has spent several days

in Fairbanks recovering
from a foot procedure.

Fully healed,
she plans to go home to Kavik

but a massive blizzard
stands in her way.

SUE: Flight's been called.

Which means,
cancelled for the day,

they're not even gonna
keep trying.

My brain is going, "Get home,
get home, get home."

I got the gen running,
I got the fuel tanks.

I don't know if there's
animals running around.

I don't know what's going on.

NARRATOR:
With the possibility of
being stranded in town

for another week,

Sue's arranged
for a bush pilot

to fly her out of
Prudhoe Bay.

All she has to do
is get there.

SUE: I decided
to get a vehicle

and drive the 500 miles
up the haul road.

A lot of people
call it the ice road.

Five hundred mile
stretch of road

that is just nothing
but ice, snow,

and some of the worst
conditions you've got.

"This is the state of Alaska,

"travel advisory's
been updated.

"Blizzard conditions,
high winds, gusts up to 50.

"Blowing snow, drifting snow,

"poor visibility,
less than 200 feet.

"Travel is not recommended."

Well, they don't live where
I live, and I gotta get home.

Two days of dangerous driving,
it's on the list.

I just gotta strap myself
in a seat and get it though.

You know,
that's just part of who I am.

I cannot justify staying
another week or two

and just saying,
"Wow, it's pretty bad.

"I guess I'm just gonna have
to take it in the shorts."

My way of thinking is,
"Wow, it's pretty bad.

"I better go tame that tiger,
get up the road
and get out home."

I am responsible for camp.

Camp repre...
If I have the camp

and I have a business,
then I have a right to stay

and live my life
where I wanna live it.

If I lose that camp,
I can't afford to rebuild.

I will lose that lifestyle
whether I want to or not.

Looking further north,
as we approach,

we go further up the road

and we approach the brooks

and the foothills
of the mountains.

The closer we get,
you've got the fog

and the storm that's blasting
the north slope,

hanging out there.

I mean, you're still hundreds
of miles away

from where the real action is.

But the storm systems

fan out, filter out,
and find their own boundaries.

-I'm going right
into the thick of it.
-(METAL CLANKS)

Are you fucking kidding me?

I was coming up
the pass and...
(IMITATES METAL CLANKING)

I mean, it sounded
definitely metal

and boom,
hit the undercarriage.

And, oh, here's one.

Let's see.

I don't know what it is.

That's got to be
the other half.

Some kind of a...

...joint or a fastener,
I don't know.

Brakes or whatever,
I'm not quite sure.

Came tumbling off and busted.

So hopefully
it ain't important.

We'll see.

So I'm 170 miles
from the next destination

that might be able
to help me out.

And still good to go.
I'm gonna go slowly,

make sure I'm not
gonna break down.

Go forward,
make sure I got brakes.

Yep.

There's two theories,
go fast, get there quick

before you have
another problem.

Or go slow in case
you drop your drive train

and have to make out
with the trees

on the side of the road.

Now, if my wheel passes me
on one of these sections

then I know it probably
was a bad idea to progress.

We are about 50, 60 miles
still from the storm.

I much, much, much
wanted to be there
in the daytime so I could see.

It enhances my comfort level.

You know,
it's already darkening

towards night time.

And we're only 2:00-something
in the afternoon.

So you've only,
you know, tiny little window.

But the further north I go,
the tinier that window gets.

You know, you're heading
into the long night of winter.

Would have increased
my comfort level

just to hit the creepy patch

during the light.

That way if I do miscalculate
and end up in the tundra,

at least in my brain
somebody might pass

and see me sitting there.

GLENN: I live simple
and I live close to nature.

I love nature,
I love the wilderness,

that's why I live in Alaska.

There's no place left
where you can do this.

I got 15 hooks
out on the lake,

good chance
I caught something.

Here's the first hook,
I'm gonna check it.

It's been in there
since yesterday.

Hopefully I've got fish.

The water
has refrozen overnight.

The hook's down there on the
bottom with some bait on it.

I've got to chip it out,
see if I got a fish.

Nothing.

Put it back down there.

It's only been one night.
I'm just getting started.

Can't be discouraged
just 'cause there's not
a fish on it.

I'll put it back down in,
come check it again tomorrow.

Onto the next hole.

Nothing.

That's the way it goes.

Sometimes the fish are here
and sometimes they're not.

It requires patience,
like a lot of things,

the way I live.

You have to be patient.

Nothing.

Nothing on that one.

I might catch fish
and I might not.

But I won't know
if I don't try.

I haven't gotten any fish yet,
but that's not surprising.

It takes a lot of patience
to find food out here,

it's really hungry country.

Nothing.

This is the last hole.

Nope, no fish.

I have caught fish here
at this time of year before
so I'm still optimistic.

I'll put it back in.

I'm gonna leave
all of these in overnight.

Come back
and check again tomorrow.

ANDY: I think everybody
in this world

is just trying to make life
a little better,

or a little easier
for themselves,

a little more comfortable,
and that's our goal too.

We just do it
in a very different place
than most people do.

Haw, haw.

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

Good! All right!
That was good.

KATE: Andy's harnessing up
the dogs right now

and we're gonna take this boat
that we left here this fall,

slap the motor in the boat,
and get the dogs to pull it
back up to high ground.

ANDY: My boat
is in jeopardy right now.

Once the river level
starts to come up,

if it overflows
and locks that boat in

I'm pretty much gonna lose it.

This is a pretty valuable
boat to me.

This is my running
in the ice boat

and my real
shallow water boat.

The idea is to hook
these dogs up to this boat

and have them drag it up.

It's just another one of those
things with the dogs,

the more exposure
you give them

for doing different
types of chores,

the more well-rounded
they are,

the more well-rounded
they are

the more things
you can do with them.

Plus, it's good exercise.

And how many people get
to pull boats out with dogs?
(LAUGHS)

Get up here
and hold the dogs

so that they don't
take off, please.

Stay!

I'm pretty good with snow here

but as soon as
I make the turn,

the wind's blown a lot
of the snow off the trail.

When aluminium hits rocks,
it just stops dead.

And it doesn't take much
of a rock to stop a boat

or anything that's aluminium.

They... It's like glue.

Tighten up! Let's go!

Let's go!
Hup, hup, hup, hup! Hup!

Twenty-eight paw power
pulling the boat.

Hup, hup!

Hup, hup, hup, hup!

Come on! Hup, hup, hup.

Come on! Hup, hup, hup.

-KATE: Come on! Let's go!
-(DOGS WHINING)

(ANDY CHUCKLES)

It's a wide boat,
I had it tipped up.

It probably has ice under it,
which doesn't slide good.

And we've got rock
and sand here.

Not good combinations
for sliding something over.

(BARKING)

Let's go! Good, tighten up.
Hup, hup!

Attaboys! Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Let's go!

Hup, hup, hup.

Hup, hup, hup.

Attaboys! Attaboys! Let's go!
Hup, hup, hup, hup.

Yeah! Good boys!

Whoo-hoo!

Bye!

Whoa! Whoa!

I had the option of using
more dogs to begin with,

but there's no way
once they got it going

I'd be able
to keep up with them.

So it's kind of
a balance between

having enough dog power
and having control.

So, and this job's done
for the day.

This job's done
for the season, actually.

-Yay! Good boy, Cougy.
-Hey, Briggus! Briggus!

Good boy, Cougy,
you like pets, don't you?

SUE: Kavik, to everybody else
maybe it's just a location,

it's a spot on the map,
it's a GPS coordinate.

But I have
an emotional, visceral

relationship with that place.

One of the benefits of driving
this time of the day/night

is most people

would consider this foolhardy

because your vision
is impaired,

but I am battling less
oncoming traffic around me.

For somebody who doesn't drive
but like once a decade,

that's important to me.

I kind of feel like I'm the
only person on the planet.

But, yeah,
I'm still a long ways away
from the brunt of the storm

but visibility is impaired.

NARRATOR:
With a blizzard grounding
all flights out of Fairbanks,

Sue has 48 hours to drive up
the deadly Dalton Highway

to make the only available
flight back to Kavik.

SUE: Kind of shimmying
a bit here.

So we are now
approaching Coldfoot,

which is sort of the
halfway mark up the haul road.

Maybe a little bit more
than half.

I need to get fuel.
It's the one gas station.

You don't really wanna
park the car overnight

if the temps are gonna
get real low

and let that condensation
ice up in your tank.

I made more than 50%
of the journey tonight.

And I think the wise course
of action is fuel up,

kip out for a few hours

and then hit the road
as soon as it's light.

There we go.
The rust princess has food.

I still have no idea

what the part was that
fell off of the vehicle.

But everything seems to be
working all right

so I'm gonna keep risking it.

You know, until it goes
tits up, you're doing good.

So that's where I'm at.

GLENN: In the modern world,
people don't think about

being so patient
to get what they want

because things come
a lot easier.

Out here, things come
with more effort.

(EXHALES)

It's 17 below zero.
Typical for this time
of the year.

I'm gonna go check
my fish lines.

So far I haven't caught
any fish.

I just have to keep looking.

One thing about the way
I live out here is that

it requires a lot of patience.
All of the hunting I do,

the fishing, trapping,

everything, requires
a lot of patience.

It's not uncommon
to expend a lot of effort

and not get
any immediate result.

There have been years
when I've had

lines out in this same area
at this time of year,

same set up and caught fish.
This year I might not.

You never know until you try.

(GLENN SPEAKING)

Yeah. Nothing.

The life out here's spread
really thin over the land.

It's really harsh country
and it can't support
a lot of life.

It doesn't feel like
there's one on there.

When I started
I just had a few inches
of ice,

now it's a foot thick.

That's a huge difference
when I'm chiselling

with a hand chisel
through that ice.

I'm expending
way more calories

than I'm likely to gain
out here.

This is the last hole.

My last chance
to get a fish today.

My last hook.

Doesn't feel like
anything's on it. Nothing.

I didn't catch a single fish.

The ice fishing
is never spectacular out here

but I have caught fish
at this time of year

with the same technique
in the same area.

Right now they're not biting
for whatever reason.

I wouldn't know until I tried.

But now that I've tried
for a couple of days

and checked the lines
and got nothing,

I'm not gonna
keep working at it

because it's just
a waste of energy.

I'm disappointed
I didn't catch any fish

but that just goes
with the territory out here.
It's hungry country.

Things don't always pay off.

You gotta know when it's time
to cut your losses

and move on
to the next project.

CHIP: You're gonna work.

You can do it
smiling or crying
but you're gonna work.

So we put the
fun factor into it all
and I think it really helps.

(WHIRRING)

Well, what I've got here are
a couple sheets of plywood.

The plywood is gonna get
nailed on the outside

of this right here.

NARRATOR:
With winter bearing down,

Chip scrambles
to finish his freight sled.

Basically armouring up a sled
for heavy work.

Giving this thing
some protection because

your sled, especially
if a real heavy weight,

and we don't really have
a road up here that's clear...

You're always hitting ice
and logs,

and snow banks
and all kinds of crazy stuff.

Just plain old, frozen
concrete hard ground.

And this sheet of plywood
gives it some integrity
on the outside.

A lot of times
I get a couple of years
out of a sled.

It will be good for one year
and then I'll have a year
where it's repaired

and then I'll just have a year
where I walk away from it.

There's a division of labour
between men and women.

I'm taking care
of the new freight sled

and my wife is
making a sled bag
out of caribou skins.

It will be windproof,
it will be warm

and it will fit, because
she will make it custom fit.

So right now we're just
threading all the needles

that we're going to be using
since we have two thimbles

and the girls are
looking for theirs.

This is going to be the back.

And it will hang over
like this.

But it will be the other way.
The hair will be towards us.

The more girls that sew
the faster we get done.

It's kind of a large project.

But it's a big skin so
it's not too many stitches.

Carolyn, you know
to tie your knots

every eight to
twelve stitches?

No, but I'm checking it
on Qutan's.

TING: There you go, Mary.

-Oh, you can't thread it?
-MARY: Yeah, yeah. It, um...

AGNES: It's real
important for these girls

to learn how to sew.

It was real important
that I learned to sew

that I can pass this on
to my girls.

And hopefully
they'll be able

to pass it on
to their daughters.

I always sew from
the top to the bottom.

You always sew
from the bottom.

-That's how I always sew.
-Like this, this, yeah?

From the top to the bottom.
From the top to the bottom.

-IDI: You guys
go to your hand?
-I always go like this.

Yeah, I always go to my hand.

It's good to know that
these girls can easily know

what I'm trying to do
and then just jump right in

and help me
work on a project
and just get it done.

SUE: You're getting by in life
or you're living your life.

I mean, what are you going
to be proactive about?

A couch potato doesn't take
a lot of proactive energy

but surviving in
100 degrees below zero does.

Day two on the road.
Kipped out overnight.

You know, I just...
The conditions on the road

were such that going up
the pass and hitting that

bad storm,
no road maintenance.
I wasn't into it.

It was late. I needed to
get fuel, get a little rest.

I've got some mountain passes
to go through

that are just
notorious killers.

NARRATOR: Sue is
halfway to Prudhoe Bay.

Once there, she'll hook up
with a bush pilot
and fly to Kavik.

But first, she must navigate
the deadliest section
of the Dalton Highway.

Looks like he's gonna take
your freakin' head off.

I'm looking at the road
and I'm thinking,

"How the hell am I supposed
to tell what my side is

"without getting sucked off
in the ditch?" Hey, buddy.

The road, it's theoretically
two semi loads wide.

I can't see that.

There's a tendency
just to drive in the centre.

So, like you see
that dude doing.

He's driving down
the centre of the road.

So you end up with like one
semi load and a bit wide.

So when
another truck's coming,

I've got to pull off
into the snowfield.

And I know
there's a ditch there

and I don't want to get
sucked into it.

'Cause that's what happens,
is you go off,

you hit the soft, and
you're just sucked right in.

We are now officially
on the north slope of Alaska.

This road way up ahead,
that's Atigun Pass.

And it is one mean,

dicey little section of road.

It's just a thin road
chopped into the hill.

But on one side or the other,
generally you've got a lot of

thousand-foot drops.

So, you know, they try to
plough it, but for me

it's a little intimidating.
Yeah, it's a little sketchy.

It's a little icy
through this portion.

Is Susie scared
of much in life?
This is a little spooky.

This is a serious stretch
of road, man.

Yeah, you're not making me go
too far over the edge, pal,

-we've got to share the road.
Are you fucking kidding me?
-(TRUCK HORN HONKING)

Okay. What happened,
I tried pulling over

and that soft shoulder
sucked me in.

It's not very far over
on that shoulder and
you get sucked in.

I know they have
the right of way

but do they have to be
so big about it?

You know, the trucks passing
do make me nervous.

At Kavik, there's nothing
out there charging at me

except things
that aren't very good. So...

It's kind of nerve racking
having people come at you.

Okay, if you didn't have
those reflectors there,

you tell me how
you're finding the road.

Fuck. Seriously?

I can't tell where the edge
of the fucking road is.

Talk about your comfort zone
going down to zero.

Would be a hell of a time
for whatever part

it was that fell off
to become necessary.

(SUE SPEAKING)

So I made my destina...
Well, I'm not at my final
destination yet.

But I made it to Prudhoe.

Um...

Plan of action is to...

Ermie hasn't pottied
in the last 150 miles

so she needs
to do her business.

Come on, Erms.

My goal's been achieved
this far.

I'm here. I'm safe.
I'm tired.

Come on, get in.

And it's time to get to bed.

Kavik, next stop.

CHIP: A long time ago,
possessions were
a burden, literally,

because you carried
everything you owned.

And if those folks could live
with everything they owned

able to be on their back,
so can we.

You can do so well
with so little, it's crazy.

Right here I'm putting
on screws to tack this down.

NARRATOR: Chip puts
the finishing touches

on his new freight sled.

Soon, the Hailstones will
use their sled to travel

to distant places to hunt,
fish, and trade.

We waited about three weeks
for the lumber.

We ordered it and then it got
stored while we waited for

availability in a cargo plane
for it to come.

And then it finally did
show up after a couple of days
and we were pretty happy.

Well, my runners
are on straight.

My wife and me have been
working on the sleds,

getting ready for dark winter
to come.

And she's made
a caribou skin bag
that is specifically made

for our basket sled
for the girls to travel in
safely and warmly.

AGNES: Watch out, Qutan,
Irene, while we put this.

QUTAN: That's for loads, that.

AGNES: Ah, it almost
dried too much.

TING: I sewed this side
so I get to sit in it.

Wow, I really like it.
It's just right sled.

It's not too big
and not too small.

It's the exact same type
of sled I've built

-for about 20 years
in a row now.
-(CHUCKLES)

So, yeah. Same measurement,
same look.

Same height. Same parts.
Same pattern. Same design.

CAROL: Dad?
CHIP: I think I've
accomplished it

one more time. If you want it,
you make it yourself

or you wait
a long time to get it,
or you just do without.

AGNES: It feels real good
to have the caribou pad
on the sled

and the kids riding in it.

Now they understand
what it was all about

and what process we take
to make it.

CHIP: Well, this has been
a pretty good fall.
It's a pretty normal fall.

We got the projects
we usually take care of

at this time of year
taken care of.

Now, freeze up is almost over,
the ice is a foot thick

and people can make it
to Kotzebue

and make it to Selawik,
and make it to Kiana.

We can go places.
So it's time to bust loose,

we're not stuck
at home any more.

Freeze up's just about done.

ANDY: Everybody does it
different out here.

Everybody's got to find
their own methodology,

their own equilibrium, and
their own bush economics.

(DOG BARKING)

Hey, hey, hey. Come on.
Hey, hey, hey, hey.

Come on. Come on.
Who's gonna go for a run?

Hey, buddy, do you
wanna go for a run?

Let's go break some trail.

The challenge for me
this time of year

is getting the miles on the
dogs early in the season.

My rule of thumb is dogs
aren't really in shape

until you get to about
1,000 miles on them.

I need to be able to run
15 or 20 miles a day

to really start getting
the dogs in shape.

Okay, let's go!

Given the current condition
of the Yukon River,

it's gonna be even more
important for me to get trails

in new places where I can run.

Nice and easy
down the hill, guys.
Nice and easy.

Nice and easy.
Nice and easy.

Attaboys. Nice and easy.
Good boys.

This is kind
of an exploratory trip.
I have no idea how...

What I'm gonna
run up against here.

Oh, shit.

Ah! Okay.
Straight ahead, boys.

Whoa! All right, time
for some chain sawing.

(CHAINSAW WHIRRING)

The last thing I want
to do is get slapped
in the face or bust my sled.

So I'm gonna do a little bit
of cutting here and clear

some of this brush
out of the trail.

A never-ending job out here.

I like taking the time to cut
trails out and make them good.

Everybody tries
to do their part

locally to maintain trails.

And this is close to home
and I'm gonna use it

so I'm the one
who's got to cut it out.

I think we're good
for a little bit here.

(DOGS WHIMPERING)

(BARKING)

Hey! Hey!
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!

Hey, hey, hey! Hey!

Hey!

All right, enough of that.

I just had a little bit
of a tussle between
Cougaran and Shilling here.

They're both brothers but
sometimes they just kind of

bump into each other,
the other one gets pissed off

and they get into
a little bit of a thing.

Just a little bit of a tussle
between two brothers.

They don't wanna
stand around in harness.
They wanna work.

There's no better match in
this country than getting out

and living out in the bush
and having good dogs with you.

They're great companions.

They just lift my heart
whenever I'm around them.

They're always
wagging their tail

and they're happy to see you.

That just puts a smile
on my face.

Attaboy.
Straight ahead. Good.

Straight ahead.
Straight across.

Haw, haw. Haw, haw.

Haw, haw.

Good.

Whoa. Whoa.

Well, I think I'm at
a dead end here.

I'm really, really nervous
when I get on these rivers

and I see this
open water like this.

That's why I don't
wanna go here.

This is dangerous stuff.
Some of this water is deep,

some of it shallow,
but it's all fast.

I'm out there by myself,
so something happens,

I'm pretty much toast.

There's nobody to come out
and help me out there.

I don't think
I wanna continue on here.

I think this is a...
It's not worth the risk.

I don't wanna go here
with the dogs,

I don't wanna come this way
with the snow machine later.

I'm gonna have to wait for
some 20, 30 below temperatures

to start getting
this all to freeze up

before I think it's safe
to go in this area.

Got a dead end, boys.

You guys are all good dogs,
that was good trail-breaking.

Hit a dead end, but it's
a good day's adventure.

Dogs had a ball
breaking the trail out.

It was good training for them.

Hey! Let's go! Let's go!

Any day you come back from
a good, fun dog mushing trip

and all the dogs
are wagging their tails,
it's been a good day.

SUE: I try to be a good person
every single day,

I try to giggle
more than I cry

and I have the inquisitiveness
of a 5-year-old.

I see no reason
to graduate kindergarten.
I get snacks and naps.

It's the last little leg.
It's the last leg and you get

to go home and see
your little Slinky friend.

The winds have died down
considerably

so we're gonna go ahead
and make a stab at it,

try to get into Kavik,

see what is or isn't
happening out there,

how it rode the storm.
If it's there.

Hopefully I've got
a camp standing

and there's just a few
erroneous things
that happened.

You know, small problems.

But I won't know
until I get there.

NARRATOR: Treacherous
flying conditions in Fairbanks

forced Sue to drive
500 miles to Prudhoe Bay.

From here,
she'll embark on the

last leg of the
journey to Kavik.

Okay.

SUE: A storm like this,
I mean,

I could have all my
buildings gone, they're tents.

The trailers will be there
but my tents, my shop,
my storage closet,

the Twinkie, the dining hall,
that may be compromised.

And landing is kind of
a goofy deal.

I'm not there maintaining
the runway.

When I can't maintain it,
I can't tell you how it is
for landing.

(SUE SPEAKING)

(BOB SPEAKING)

(SUE SPEAKING)

(SUE SPEAKING)

SUE: Here, little Ermie.

I think I lucked the hell out.

I do have some drifting
and a lot of snow piled up,

but my buildings are up and
that is first and foremost.

Come on, Ermie!
Where are you?

It's your home! You are home!

It's good to be home.

Just a lot of hecticness
that I'm not used to,

just trying to get in.
It feels like I've been...

Well, I have been trying
for the last friggin' week
to get in here.

Definitely a stress ball.

Way better here
than I thought.

It must have just been at that
30-mile point right there.

Just like it was driving up.

I mean, it was beautiful
until you hit that
30-mile wall

and then it was all hell.

-Well, I'm going back into it.
-Well, fly safe.

-See you later.
-All right, you big...

Feels good to be home and now
I can get back to the business

of being Kavik.