All language subtitles for Life.Below.Zero.S04E12.No.Shortcuts.720p.NF.WEB-DL.x264-KangMus_track3_eng

(SUE SPEAKING)

(ENGINE STOPS)

NARRATOR: Sue Aikens recently
purchased a loader,

a vital piece of equipment
to maintain her camp.

SUE: Well, Little Betsy,
it's you and me now.

But during her 86-mile journey
from Deadhorse to Kavik...

The vehicle got stuck
in deep snow and ice,

and she was forced
to call for rescue

and ship the loader
across the tundra.

SUE: All right,
see you in Kavik.

NARRATOR: With the convoy
13 miles out from Kavik
and conditions worsening,

Sue must head out and steer
them away from overflow

to make sure the crew
and loader reach camp safely.

SUE: It's a safety issue.

You're not gonna find overflow
on any map, on any GPS.

But I know it's there,

so they're close enough,
I'm just gonna go
help 'em out.

Let's keep going.

Argh!

(THEME SONG PLAYING)

My helmet is fogging
and icing up.

With it not working,
it's really hard
for me to see.

Hard for me to distinguish
the white from the fog,

from the snow that's blowing,

from what's happening
in my helmet.

Right now, I could go probably
200 yards away from 'em,

and not see it.

We could be two ships
passing in the night.

If I lose my way,

and I can't see,

I could get myself
into trouble.

That's not gonna help
the situation.

Important for me to get
that loader here safely,
the guys here safely.

But I can't jeopardize
my life to get out there.

Once I have to lift that visor
up like that,

it's, you know, 20,
25 below zero.

When the wind is beating you,
I can lose my eyesight,
my fingers.

It's not worth it.

GLENN:
It takes knowledge to live
out here in this environment,

and it takes different kinds
of knowledge.

Right up here,
caribou like to travel
along that ridge.

And a lot of times,
I'll spot them from
down here on the lake.

By the time I get up there,
they're already gone.

I want to go up there
and see if I can find a place
where there's enough snow

to build some type
of snow shelter.

Caribou are very important
animal to me.

They make up about half of the
meat that I eat every year.

With a snow cave, I'll be able
to spend the night up there,

and wait for the caribou
to come to me.

All right, I'm off.

Being able to stand
on your own,

being independent,
being able to take care
of yourself

is a very important
part of this lifestyle.

It's not for everybody.

Some people rather
wouldn't have to.

Some people would rather be
able to turn to somebody else
for help when they need it.

I'd rather have the
challenge of having
to take care of myself.

You can deal with
a lot on your own,

and you'll feel better
when you do.

Here it starts to
get really steep.

I'm gonna take
my snowshoes off here.

I'll leave my snowshoes
right here.

It's gonna be too steep
up higher to use 'em.

Just got to plough through it.

I'm getting up
a little higher.

Snow is getting really
deep here though.

It's hard to get through.

Just one step at a time.

Fresh wolf track right here.

They come up here 'cause it's
good caribou hunting up here.

That's why I came up here too.

Hey, here's a little drift.

Could be big enough.
It's hard to tell.

It looks about six feet deep.

I'm standing on some rock.

I don't know if the rock
goes up there or not.

I want to dig into it a little
ways to see how it goes.

I've never built
a snow cave before,
so I'm gonna try it.

This would be
an ideal location.

I'll be able to spend a lot
more time up on this ridge
watching for caribou.

It's just a question of,
is there enough snow here

that I can excavate a cavity
big enough to fit in
without it all collapsing.

CHIP: Sometimes, taking
the long way is the best way,
'cause it's the smooth way.

NARRATOR:
After harvesting enough
muskox to feed their family,

Chip and Agnes Hailstone

are preparing
to tow the meat supply
home to Noorvik.

CHIP: One more.
One, two, three, up.

Today, we're gonna
be heading home
towards Noorvik

and leave
our Kiwalik camp
just the way it is.

We plan on coming back here.

We want to make sure
we get the meat
all the way to Noorvik,

that's our main goal
is the meat

because, if we leave
the meat out here,

and we don't get right back
to it, there's other animals
and predators out there

that'll just go take
all that free meal.

My snow machine's
broken down for now

and it's not gonna be
any use out here,

so we're gonna just end up
towing it home,

along with a sled-load
of meat.

NARRATOR:
With one snow machine down,

the Hailstones will be forced
to tow their broken vehicle
along with the sled.

Dragging such a heavy load
across the tundra

with one snow machine
will be dangerous.

CHIP: We need to
take your belt off
because we don't...

We need to be able
to, uh, drag this thing in
without moving the motor.

So when you take the belt off,
just the track moves.

CHIP: No resistance that way.

Well, that's the reason
why I always make sure
there's two machines.

What if we'd only come out
on this one?

We wouldn't have
a sled-load of meat.
You know what I mean?

This one just wants to
overheat, and overheat,
and overheat, didn't use it.

And now it's time
to take it home.

We're not skunked
by any means.
It's just this dang engine.

Basically what I'm doing is
towing home my wife's machine
'cause it got a bum engine.

I had a load of meat
on the sled,

so I tied a really strong rope

to the last two
of my crosspieces,

and I've got it over here
on the right side of my sled.

I tied the rope to the left
side of the snow machine.

I can't control the momentum
of the snow machine behind me,

but I can brake slowly
and come to a halt slowly.

If I had this sled behind
the snow machine,

it would be a lot more
uncontrolled weight

that I'd really have to be
leery of coming in behind and
smashing into me and Agnes.

Snow machine
will do its thing.

You're gonna have to keep
an eye on it for me, though,

-keep looking back, okay?
-Yep.

AGNES: Everything
points toward home.

Broken down snow machines,
we got a load of meat.

Kids are home.

Our goal is to get
the meat home.

We can shed the snow machine,

we can shed
all the other stuff,

but, uh, me, Chip and the meat
must get home.

It's a long ways
and it's, uh, adventure,

and we love to do this
every single year.

And every time we do it,
it's always different.

ANDY: I believe
that experience is knowledge,

and if you don't get out
and do things,

if you don't make mistakes,

you don't get that knowledge.

This winter, I had kind of
a major malfunction
with my, uh, wind turbine.

I lost one of my blades
off of it,

so my wind turbine's
been pretty much
down most of the winter.

The big challenge for me
right now is gonna be
getting my bulldozer started,

so that I have something
heavy enough

that I can lower this tower
down with it.

You know, if I can get
this working again,

it's gonna ease my mind
and make life more efficient

and, uh,

you know, I'm gonna be back,
back off-grid,

and that's what I want.

NARRATOR: In winter,
Andy Bassich relies
on his wind turbine

to power his camp
along the Yukon River.

Fixing the device is crucial,

but doing so will require him
to get another key piece
of equipment up and running.

Well, the main thing
I got to do,

is get these batteries
charged up.

Try and get some heat
to these batteries too,

'cause batteries
don't like cold weather.

The warmer I can get these,

the better I'm gonna get
performance and that's
gonna be the main thing.

Can I get this engine to
turn over quick enough to
get it going and everything?

Pump as much heat underneath
this thing as I can,

warm up the engine,
warm up the fuel system.

The hotter I can get it,
the better chance I have
for getting this thing going.

(ENGINE STARTS)

Yeah, buddy,
that's started good.

Better go get my canopy.

I'll stretch this thing out.

It's really big.
It should cover the
bulldozer pretty good,

and hold that heat in.

All right, I'm making heat.

It's all puffy.

That's good.

Think I'll go and get started
shovelling out now.

Got a lot of cables and pipe
and everything to dig out,

so I think that's next
on the agenda here.

We'll let this thing heat up,

and, uh,

check it out later.

It's really kind of critical
to me to get this going again.

I don't like the idea
of having to burn generators
all the time.

I like to be self-sufficient,

I like to use
what the land has to offer,

and I like to be creative in
how I live my life out here.

That's what makes
it all worthwhile.
That's my payoff.

So I guess we'll just see if
it's gonna kick over or not.

That's gonna depend
on the battery,
more than likely.

If I can't get
that bulldozer going,

this is gonna turn
into a completely
different project for me,

because I'm gonna have
to be very, very creative

in how I get this thing down
and back up safely.

So it all kind of hinges on
the bulldozer right now.

(IGNITION CLICKING)

That's not good.

(IGNITION FIRING)

(ENGINE STARTING)

Yeah, buddy!

I got lucky
that thing started up.

I wasn't expecting
that at all.

I figured it was
gonna be a real battle
to get that thing going.

The hard part's done
right now, I think.

We got my bulldozer going.

So the next thing
I gotta do is start lowering
the tower some.

This is the line
that's gonna end up, uh,
lowering down the tower.

It's gonna wanna flip down
pretty quick here.

There it goes right there.

All the weight's on the dozer,
so I should have pretty good
control with the dozer I hope.

Slow control is what you want
when you're doing
something like this.

No speed, no momentum.

Just the opposite
of what you do with dogs.

If this thing starts
coming down and hits,

then, game over.

The whole mechanism
failed here.

The metal broke,
the part that's supporting it.

That's a major failure.

It's wearing
on the metal here.

Probably when
that blade came off,
it tweaked everything.

I managed to get the pole,
the whole tower to come down.

Um, it came down pretty good,

and, uh,

right now, it's resting
on a couple of barrels.

It looks like the unit,

where it connects up
a bunch of metal,
fatigued and broke,

so, pretty major repair,
it looks like.

Hoping I have everything
I need so that I can get it
repaired fairly quickly

and get it back up
and operating.

SUE: The weather
is king out here.

You can lay all your plans in

and Mother Nature
will take you right down to
your knees in a heartbeat.

The visibility is so poor,
they could be 200 yards away,

I would not be able
to see them.

NARRATOR: With her loader
on its way to Kavik,

Sue attempted to meet
the convoy

to guide them to camp safely.

But dangerous conditions
forced her to return home,

and checking on the
status and safety of the
delivery crew is a priority.

SUE: Hecka cold.
I mean, coming in,

we dropped in
temperature severely.

In the end, I mean, I feel bad
that I didn't get out there,

but, uh, I'm not gonna be much
help to anybody

if I can't keep myself safe.

Holy crap.

You don't really want to rub
your hands together,
but I'm cold.

I personally haven't frozen
my fingers that hard,
I don't think, ever.

I better go call Jim.

(SIGHS)

(LINE RINGING)

Hey, buddy, how you doing?

JIM: I'm good, yourself?

Oh, man, you know,
I went out there and tried
to meet up with the convoy

and it's so damn foggy,
I don't even have 200 yards
of visibility.

-And...
-That sucks.

Yeah, so I went four
or five miles,

and I'm like, "Fuck this shit,
man, I'm gonna, I'm gonna
get, uh, frostbite.

"And that won't help
anybody out."

-Well, I just talked to him.
-Okay.

And I figure they're
between three and five miles
away from you.

All right, buddy, well,
I'll keep an eye out for 'em

and I'll just send you
an e-mail then

when they get in,
just so you know.

-All right, thank you, Suzy.
-All righty.
Talk to you later.

Well, shoot.

SUE: The Cat train
and myself were probably
right next to each other.

And he says they're three
to five miles out.

That's exactly where I was.

Visibility's so poor,
we couldn't see
each other, so...

But even at that
distance away,

they may shut her down
and get some rest.

Safety, safety, safety.

They've got their little
travel trailer.

They can handle that.

I'll be here whenever.

It's just hurry up and wait.

CHIP: Anything in life
that you rely on

you have to take
really good care of

or you ain't gonna
have it long.

AGNES: We made it.

CHIP: Yep, we're halfway home.

AGNES: Not bad of a ride.

CHIP: No,
just incredibly slow.

We've been burning
a lot of gas

'cause we're going so slow
and the engine's working
really hard.

But it's staying cool
and it's doing the job,

and what really needs
to happen the most

is that me and Agnes get home.

We need to take our meat home,

and we need to get
her machine home

so that we can fix it
and repair it
and she can rely on it.

We'll get the whole
thing repaired,

and we'll be back on the road.

Well, we're at Gallahan here,
which is a shelter cabin.

And we're halfway
between the Kiwalik
and Noorvik on the Kobuk.

There are places where
you get out of the weather.

The weather here is terrible.
It's the Arctic.

It gets really cold,
so usually you can find

a place to get out of the wind
and get heated up.

If you've got trouble out here

and you can make it
to a shelter cabin,

you pretty much figure
it out after that.

CHIP: At least
we're halfway home.

We just got to cross the inlet
and then get into the river.

Once we're in the river,
we'll be all right.

At least we got rid
of the gas.

Moved the weight.
That's why it's so bad.

Well, I think if we just
carry on and get to
the mouth of the river,

and from the mouth of the
river get up the river and
get home, we'll be done.

We're pretty much past
the rough ice, yeah?

-I don't know, we'll see.
-Hopefully.

-Just get ready and go now?
-Yep.

I'd say we got about
three hours of light left.

So if we start leaving now,
we'll probably get home
just about sundown.

It's nice to step out of
the wind for a little bit.

-AGNES: Yep.
-But we need to carry on.

(CHIP SPEAKING)

AGNES: Chip! Chip! Stop!

My snow machine crashed!

CHIP: Well, it tipped over
on its side as we were
going along.

My wife gave me a couple
good stabs to the kidneys
and I came to a halt.

Looked behind me
and it was laying on its side.

Well, the windshield's cracked
a little bit.

That can be repaired.

It's function not form
that we're after.

Looks like a crack here.

It just tipped.
There was no rider,
you know, stabilising it.

Also, another reason
why we don't leave
another rider on there.

Just got to keep watching.
It's likely to happen again.

This is gonna be a pretty
rough trail until we get out

into the middle of the
Spafarief Bay out here.

Really, that's how it was
when we came in.

-AGNES: Yep.
-So just do me a favour,

-no real good kidney punches.
-I'm sorry about that.

Just a couple love taps

-and we'll be fine.
-Okay.

AGNES: You had to stop.

CHIP: Yes, I had to,
but I felt it too in a way.

I felt it do the jerking.

-AGNES: I know, I...
-It was all wrong.

AGNES: I won't do that.

-CHIP: Ready?
-Yeah.

ANDY:
The more knowledge you have,
the more you can do

and the more you can do,
the better your life is.

Hey, Topey, want to help me
build a shelter?

I had a great day when
I lowered the thing down,

and then the weather
kind of came in

and kicked my butt
a little bit here.

NARRATOR: For Andy,
repairing his wind turbine

is critical to having
power in camp.

But protecting the equipment
from the elements is crucial,

and an onslaught of snow

will force him
to build a shelter
for the labour.

So once again,
adapt to wherever,
whatever's happening.

Hopefully, that'll do it.

They call this "the can."

This is the part that broke.

I think the biggest thing
when you're doing projects
like this

is you just got to really,
really pay attention
when you take it apart,

so that when you put it
back together,

it goes back together
the way you took it apart.

The big thing about
the wind turbine
is just the fact

that my whole premise
of living out here

is I want to be
self-sustaining,

and the wind turbine
allows me to be that way.

If I could spin this
fast enough, I'd be
making power.

Really,
the final step for this

is putting the...
Mounting the blades on.

It feels really solid now.

This is all back together.

It's ready to go up
in the air.

Luckily, I got all the parts
that I needed

and, uh, I feel like
it went pretty good
for the most part.

So pretty much, I'm back to
like-new condition right now,

and I'm hoping I can get
another six or seven years
out of this

before I have to
deal with this again.

I got a few more hours left in
the night before it gets dark.

I think I'm ready to try
and raise the power up.

GLENN:
In order to survive out here
you got to have knowledge.

You got to be able
to take care of yourself,

and if you don't know what
you're doing,

you don't belong out here.

I'm just not sure
there's enough snow here.

The drift might
not be deep enough.

But if I can fit inside of it,
I'll be safe.

If I can get in here,
I can get out of the cold,

get out of the wind,
get out of the elements,

I can survive the night
up on this mountain.

NARRATOR:
To increase his chances
of intercepting caribou

as they migrate through
the Brooks Range,

Glenn is building a snow cave
that will provide shelter
on the ridge for later hunts.

If I get a good cave
built here that I can
get shelter in,

this'll last the rest
of the winter.

I'll be able to come up here
hunting anytime I want.

I'll be able to spend a lot
more time up on this ridge
watching for caribou.

It's gonna get really cold
when the sun goes down.

It can get 40 below
zero out here,

but if I'm under the snow,
this is good insulation.

I just wonder if it could
collapse on me.

That's the only thing
I worry about.

I do not want to end up
in a snow coffin.

It's a little cramped in here.

I do not want
to end up buried.

The ceiling, the walls,
if you touch them, snow falls,

so it's important to be
real careful with movements.

I'm gonna start putting my
stuff in my snow cave now.
I got it all dug out.

It's getting late.

I'm getting extremely tired.

I just want to get in
my sleeping bag now
and try to get some rest.

Wow, got a match lit.
That's the first step.

There's my moose fat lamp.

I think I'm gonna have
a hard time getting it going.

It's so cold, all the moose
fat's frozen really hard.

And all I have
are a few matches here.

See, my matches all,
almost burned out.

I'm gonna have to let go of it
and I didn't get it lit.

Well...

I can try another one.

Come on.

Come on.

Oh, look, it's starting.

There's a little bit of heat.

It's not enough
that it's melting,

it's just enough
to take the chill off.

Feels really good.

I think I could stay here
for a while.

This is really gonna
expand my horizons.

I got a snow cave
on top of a mountain.

I can live anywhere now.

Get up tomorrow, look around,
see what's up here.

CHIP: This is what we call
the first step

of a journey of 1,000 miles.

NARRATOR: After being
stopped in their tracks

while towing their meat
and broken snow machine,

the Hailstones
have secured their cargo

and are back
on the 40-mile trail
to Noorvik.

They must make it home
before darkness falls

and conditions become
too dangerous for travel.

What we're trying to
do today is get home
the sled-load of meat,

my wife's bum ride
and ourselves as well,
all in one go.

You never know really
what it is you're gonna
be seeing out there.

We might have to go along
detours and distances around,

we might have to leave
some things behind.

A breaking down snow machine
isn't nearly as upsetting
as going home

if we didn't have
a sled-load of meat.

A sled-load of meat's
really the prize.

The rest of this
just gets us there.

(AGNES SPEAKING)

-Hey, we made it.
-Hi, girls.

Phew! We started
out early today.

Hi, loves.

AGNES: We made it!

AGNES: You girls look like
girls who are having fun.

Hi, puppy! We brought meat!

CHIP: Yep, we got
a sled-load of meat.
AGNES: Yeah.

This machine's running good.

Your mom's machine
is being junky.

We towed your mom's rig home.

But we got a heart and tongue
from the muskox
for dinner tonight.

Gonna go inside,
warm up and make soup.

-AGNES: Yeah.
-You up for that?

CHIP: Yeah.
AGNES: Yeah.

SUE: I'm just a
mid-50s-year-old fat chick
trying to eke out a living.

Ooh, look at that.

Looks like they are...

Looks like they're
just another mile,

two miles or so,
right up there.

It's been a long time coming
for it to get here.

NARRATOR:
After travelling 86 miles
across the frozen tundra,

Sue's loader has finally
arrived in Kavik.

But getting the heavy machine
off-loaded in unpacked snow
will be challenging.

SUE: So what they're doing now

is he's gonna build
a little snow ramp

so that they can bring
the sleds next to it.

And the plan is
to drive it straight off.

But as it's newly-moved snow,

it's not exactly packed down
super tight.

It's not solid enough,
I don't think, for my loader
to make it off.

I don't want to watch.

Oh, see, he's stuck.

It's too soft.

You get 53,000 pounds
of loader on,

you're gonna bury it.

They have tracks.

That's solid tyres.

In the world of machinery,
it's a world of difference.

What up, home skillet?

Stuck?

Uh, it's pretty heavy.

-SUE: A little bit.
-Yeah.

SUE: Kind of like me.
A 1960's model
with a lot of ass.

(MAN CHUCKLES)

So, now, he's gonna use
a 90,000-pound winch

to yank the equipment off
and put it in place.

Come on.

Come on, little...
Come on, little kitty cat.

Damn it!

You busted your chain.

Well, see, you know.

They're right around
50,000 pounds, 53,000 pounds.

That winch'll do 90,000,
but you're asking it
on a thin chain.

That's where your...
All of it hits.

So he's gonna use
a beefier chain.

I am grateful that
the loader is here.

But, you know,
it just showed up,

so I need to put it through
some of its paces.

This is not new,
but it's new to me.

I'm excited it's here.

It's going to be,
I think, a great addition.

But there's a huge
learning curve.

This is one of the largest
gambles I've ever done.

And it's either
gonna pay off big,

or cost me a fortune.

This is the next step up.

It's like going
from the trailer park
to the split-level.

It ain't no penthouse, but
it's not the basement either.
(CHUCKLES)

The fact that it's here,

takes me from being
a little boy camp
to a big boy camp.

And now I can get
some things done that
the big companies can do.

You know,
I might have been a gnat
on their backside before,

now I'm a fly in the ointment.

CHIP: Glad to be back home
to girls.

They're what
it's all about for me.
All this is for them.

Oh, that's a pick too.

CHIP: These are the
kind of meals that
you get off an animal,

you know,
when you first catch him

and they're
kind of a delicacy.

There's only one tongue,

there's only one heart
on an animal.

I got a muskox tongue here
and a muskox heart

that I saved up
from a hunt that I just did

and this is the first meal
we're gonna have home
with our kids

and I'm kind of
looking forward to it.

My kids like tongues.

They love muskox.

For us, it's like the
progression of seasons,
you know?

Pretty soon, this
is all gonna change.

It'll all melt down,
the rivers will flow,

we'll be hunting
different animals.

We'll be in different
methods of transportation,
be wearing different shoes.

It's all coming up.

Dinner is ready, gals.

Did someone say dinner?

Yeah, I got an unusual amount
of carrots on my top,

but that's okay.

I think I'm having
an extra big bowl today.

CHIP: Here you go.

You girls got to count
yourselves lucky to have
this heart and tongue

because, man,
I coulda ate it
at any moment.

This is delicious.

This heart is just perfect.

GIRL: The best, been waiting.

AGNES: So after we caught
our sled-load of meat,

then my snow machine
wasn't running good,

we decided to just pack up and
come home and go have muskox
dinner with you girls.

We knew you girls
would be waiting.

GIRL: So glad
you guys came home.

CHIP:
We're gonna fix our rides,
we're gonna gas back up.

We already brought
one load of meat home,

so we'll be pretty confident

leaving you girls
behind this time.

We'll go back for caribou,

see if we see any seals
because it's warming up.
Might come across a bear.

You never know,
the seasons are changing.

Birds'll be back soon,
then we'll be in boats.

That was some
really good ox, right?

It's like the flavour
of the season,

like turkey at Thanksgiving.

-Did you girls like that?
-GIRLS: Yeah.

AGNES: The girls love muskox

and it's a delicacy
for the whole area

'cause we don't usually get
to hunt very many muskox.

It's a permit-hunt only.

So, um, Chip and I
and our girls are lucky
to be able to do this hunt.

So, it's been
a pretty good season.

We accomplished pretty much
everything we wanted to

and thought about this year,
and I'm real thankful that,

you know, we've been
able to travel a lot,

either by foot
and by snow machine,

and checking out
the whole area.

It has lots to offer.

We actually went downriver
towards Emonakrov

and we went and put
a structure down there
for a base camp,

our new properties
we acquired
during the last year,

so we've been improving
and building on that place
down there.

We snared some rabbits.

We went out sheefishing,
so we have holes,

so anytime we feel like
sheefishing,

we go back down there
and go hooking.

And we just had a real
awesome time this year.

I always say,
"Lucky me, my work is play."

ANDY: Every week I screw up
and make mistakes,

but every week
I learn something.

Right now I want to see if
I can't take this anemometer
down from here

and rig up something
on my wind turbine.

This gives me wind speed,

temperature, barometer.

The whole nine yards.

And it transmit wirelessly

down to a receiver
at my house,

so be a pretty cool little
invention to have this on
the wind turbine.

I'm mounting this anemometer
on here is gonna allow me

to gauge the performance
of the wind turbine

and let me know
when it begins to fail,

so I don't have a bad
catastrophic failure again.

In theory.

Everything's always in theory.

All right,

think I'm ready
to go up with it.

Bulldozer time.

It's always challenging when
you do a big project like this
when you're by yourself.

Over the years I've invested
a lot of money in tools
and equipment

so that I can be productive.

And I can be productive
working alone.

Once you get going, I like to
just keep the tension on it,

keep it coming up
nice and steady.

I don't like it jerky.

I can tell it's upright
by the line of slack,

so there's no more
tension with it wanting
to go back over.

So I feel okay right now.

I'm gonna just go up
and start pulling cables off

and start attaching cables
to secure it for the night.

It's always nerve-wracking
when you start

taking the cables off
and transferring 'em.

If a gust of wind comes
when that happens,

there's no support
for your pipe.

Once that tower
gets up in the air
with these blades on it,

it's got a lot of force
and you're really
not guide off very well

until you get everything
tied down.

Holy shit!

Way out of alignment.

This is the part
that is really difficult
to do by yourself.

You've got to pull
the wires tight

and try and get the pole
nice and straight

and it's nice to have
a person here

that you can just say,
"A little tighter,
a little looser."

Just want 'em tight enough
'cause the tower has to be
able to flex too.

The tower can flex
when you're putting
a lot of stress on it.

There's a lot of force
on this tower
when you're running

a 40-knot wind.

Cables almost act
like a spring.

Like anything, if it can flex,
then you have a chance.

But if it can't flex,

it's gonna break somewhere.

Oh, that's actually
looking pretty good.

I got one blade turning
one way

and one turning the other.

Yee-haw.

I'm feeling pretty good
right now.

I'm feeling like I'm up
and running again.

Between the wind
and the solar,

I'm free. I'm living off-grid.

That's what gets me jazzed up.

That's what makes it
all worthwhile.

That's my payoff out here.

Life is, in the bush,
is all about transitions,

from one season to the other,

from one resource
to the other,

from one activity
to the other.

That's what life is out here.

It's this constant circle.

It goes around
from year to year.

I'll remember
this trapping season.

There we go.

I'm liking this day.

Feast to famine.

Oh, yeah! Yeah,
that's a nice-sized
marten too.

It's the same way
with every log

and every board that
I cut around here.

I can still remember the day
that I go and harvested
that tree

and cut that log
and that's why
I live out here.

I love doing that.

I feel really lucky

that I've been able to develop
a homestead here,

create a life
that I have out here

and, um,
live very comfortably.

It's hard work,

but it's only work
if you think it's work.

If a man loves his work,
he never works
a day in his life.

There aren't too many
places in the world

you can brew your own beer,

cut your own logs,
build your own house.

You can here.

Cheers to a good winter,

and looking forward
to a good summer.

GLENN: Being able to stand on
your own, being independent,

being able to take care
of yourself

is a very important part
of this lifestyle.

It's not for everybody.

I'm amazed at how well
this shelter's working out.

I've been keeping
the lamp going a lot.

Course, the big thing
is just to keep hydrated.

I've been drinking
as much as I can drink.

I'd say the temperature's
got to be

right around freezing in here.

This lamp,
it makes all the difference.

I got to get dressed,
go outside, look around,

see what's going on.
In here, I've got no idea.

I'm gonna go up to the top now
and have a look around.

See what's on the other side
of the mountain.

It's a little breezy up here.

A lot different from being
in that snow hole,

all protected from the wind.

From up here, I can see
not only what's going on
at the mountain,

I can see what's going on
down in the valley better
than when I'm at my camp.

Doesn't look like there
are any caribou
on this mountain today,

but oftentimes caribou
do cross this ridge.

And now that I've got a trail
all packed up here,

and I've got a snow cave
right up high,

I can stay in that snow cave
and intercept caribou
on this ridge

more easily than
if I have to travel all
the way from my camp.

It's just been a great fall
and winter

out here in the Brooks Range.

I've had so much going on,
so many experiences.

Just watching the changes,
watching winter set in,

the ice forming
across the lake.

The Northern Lights
coming back again.

Hunting in the fall,

getting my moose
to get through the winter.

Got him.

Building a new camp.

So, I've explored
a lot of different places
on this Earth,

but there's no place for me
that's as intense, as alive,

as beautiful
and as interesting

as this spot right here.

And that's why I'm here.

There's nothing like it.

I love it.

Life just keeps
getting better.

SUE: It's a learning curve.
That's what I like
about it here.

It's always a challenge, it's
always a big learning curve.

I feel every ounce
of my age today,

I tell you that much for free.

You know, I guess
that's part of what I love
about remote Alaska,

is there's a tenacity
and a will to thrive
and survive.

You can get by in life,
or you can live life.

One is just sitting
on your ass

and the other denotes
getting off it.

A few of the highlights for me
of this past winter,

ponying up to the challenge
of the snow machine.

Not letting it getting
the better of me.

(EXHALES) Big day.

This makes it almost one year

since I've gotten on
any kind of snow machine.

It's a learning curve.
That's what I like
about it here.

It's always a challenge,
it's always a big
learning curve.

To me, it's been...

Kind of a unique gig
getting the hunting this year.

Went after the caribou
and got the ptarmigans.

I went after a wolverine,
got the caribou.

(PANTING)

The bigger things that
I've had to invest in
over the winter, the loader.

There's projects
that have to be done

and I have the equipment
to do it now.

So that's what I feel I did
this winter

is got off my booty and got
a bunch of things done.

Successful in the end,

but a hell of a journey
getting there.

(CHUCKLES)