All language subtitles for Life.Below.Zero.S05E08.Emergency.Cache.720p.WEB-HD.x264-KangMus_track3_eng

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

Alaskans blaze a trail
into the wild.

CHIP: It has to be ourselves
saving ourselves

or all they're gonna do
is find a corpse.

NARRATOR: Chip travels
the tundra to protect
his family.

CHIP: Any way along this trail
we're within a day's walk

of food and shelter.

NARRATOR: Sue's contact with
the outside world
is threatened.

SUE: Those wires come down,

I can't communicate
to get help.

NARRATOR: Andy struggles to
trap food on frozen ground.

ANDY: I hate working
and not producing.

NARRATOR: And Erik
loses control in
the Arctic wilderness.

SUE: Awesome!

Beautiful sunny day.

The winter up here
on the north slope

and in Kavik in particular,

it is just one blizzard
after the other.

It is absolutely relentless
and just beats you down.

This is the break in the storm
I've been looking for.

Uh, you know, it's a lull.

This is the opportunity
I've got to clear out

in between my rows
of trailers and in front.

I'm making a nice, flat,
smooth, even patch of ground

that I can move around on.

Ermie can move around on
and safely get

from place to place
without, you know,

going up
and over the, uh, drifting.

You can't see
what's behind them.

You know, it gives, uh,
gives predators a place

to hide and jump out
at you from.

I'm just going into the, uh,
time of year
where the predators

are much more active here.

So clearing some of this snow
is my top priority.

NARRATOR: Below freezing
conditions have forced Sue

to heat her machinery
before use.

Her primary snow clearing
vehicle, the Bobcat,

is no exception.

It is warmer in here
with the generator running.

But what I'm gonna do,
I'm gonna open the back door

for a little bit more light
in here.

I'm gonna get the heater,
the, uh, extension cord,

plug it all in.

Extension cord's glowing red,

that means the power's
being delivered.

I'll go get that tarp.

This is by no means perfect.

You know, what I'm trying
to do is...

I want the battery warm,
I want the oil warm.

It's cold, so I'm just trying
to create a little bubble

of happiness for this heat
to collect and warm
everything up.

But it's gonna take a while,

that thing's been sitting
for months.

While that's happening,
I can, uh,

grab my shovel,

start working on a couple
of the staircases.

Something this deep,
this tall,

this hard packed,
I'm probably...

I'll get to where
I can free up the doorway,

but then when I bring
the Bobcat through,

I'll use the bucket
as much as I can.

When you're living all
on your own in a remote,

cold, mostly dark place
for a lot of the year,

your body kicks into a whole
different gear of time.

Everybody else seems to have
this 24-hour time clock.

I don't pay attention
to the clock,

I pay attention to my body.

When I wake, when I eat,
when I sleep,

it's got nothing to do with
is it light or is it dark.

It's when it's,

my body says it's right
to do it.

I've done quite a bit
but the position

of the sun's telling me
I need to get out there

and check on the Bobcat,
see if I can crank that thing
over yet.

We got a lot more chores to
do, so I better get to it.

ANDY: Every day, you're
thinking about what
am I gonna do today

and what can I do to prepare
to make that go easier?

It's hard enough
to live out here,

without making it harder
on yourself.

Eight.

I've got a lot
of muskrat activity out

on the lake behind our place.

I figured it would probably
be worthwhile

to spend some time, go out,

and see if I can't trap
some of the muskrats
that are out there,

because, I really kind of
enjoy eating muskrats.

It's kind of like
the veal of beaver

and beaver's really good too.

And I really like diversity
in my diet, so I set a trap,

I set it down in the muskrat,
uh, push-up,

which is basically
like a little house

where they feed. (SNIFFS)

Cut off part of the top
of the house

so I can see down in
and attach

it to this stick right here

and then this stick
will make it

so if the muskrat does go down
into the hole,

he doesn't take my whole trap.

Okay, out into
the Arctic wasteland.

(DOGS BARKING)

Let's go!

Atta boys!

Okay, let's go. Hup, hup.

Living out here, we really

don't live by the calendar
that much,

we live by the seasons.

You kind of
have to second guess

what mother nature's
gonna throw at you every year.

When the cold hits,
when the temperatures

are well below zero,
it's pretty damn dangerous,

because, once you get cold,
your body shuts down.

If you're by yourself,
there's no 911 out here,

there's nobody
to come save your ass.

It's all over.

Atta boys! Straight ahead.

Atta boy. Good.

Go over to this house,
this is a nice big one.

Let's see what we've got.

There's a lot of houses
out here this year.

Way more than I've ever seen.

Right now there's probably
well over 100 push ups

out on the lake.

The biggest thing
I'm up against right now

is this transitioning
into the cold time

of the year for me.

Once they freeze up, that's it
for muskrat trapping,

because the muskrats
can't come up into them.

The important thing right now
is to get as many out

as I can
before the cold weather

closes these in
and the game's over
until springtime.

So you can see,
there's all kinds
of vegetation here.

Their breathing has created
a bunch of ice right here

and that's also helping
to seal it

so air can't come in

and as it starts to freeze,
they bring more and more

of this material up
and they keep packing

it in there to create more
and more insulation.

It's like putting
more insulation in your attic.

So, can I get some
of these traps going

and catch a few muskrats
before the really cold weather

hits and they can no longer
keep up with the amount

of insulation
that's needed there?

So I'm hoping this will work.

I'm just gonna as carefully
as I can,

put this back over the hole

and cover it back up
and hopefully insulate it

as good as I can,

so it doesn't
freeze up on them.

Another big one over here.

This looks like a pretty good
little spot.

I think I'll get a set in here
and then hopefully

I'll be lucky enough
to catch something.

Fingers are getting cold.

Put this pack overtop.

Okay, you guys.
Come and get it.

I've got a good system

and I think
I'm gonna just go ahead

and start popping in traps
in as many of these houses
as I can.

Right there, good
job, Iceberg.

I think there's almost
20 traps out,

so I think my odds are
fairly good.

Trapping's nothing but
a wait-and-see game.

Set my last trap,
let them set overnight,

come back tomorrow
and see if the muskrats

have outsmarted me or
I've out smarted them.

Let's go home.
Atta boys. Hup, hup.

CHIP: Our way
of living requires money.

And our way of making money
is to sell the stuff

that we make from the things
we gather.

You've got these divvied up?

Just the, um, flap
of the cardboard,

not the whole cardboard box.

CHIP: Part of what we do here
is get ready for the winter.

Part of getting ready for that
is we put caches in place.

We put gasoline, we put food,
and a way to rest so that

on any way along this trail,

we're within a day's walk
of food,

rest, and maybe
a little bit of shelter

if we use a tarp
and make a tent.

NARRATOR: The Hailstone family
spends the winter hunting,

fishing, and trapping
across the Arctic.

Planting emergency supplies
along their travel routes

is crucial to their survival.

Well, the main elements
of a cache are to have,

number one,
the ability to eat something,

fuel, fuel for the body.

Then you need to have a form
of heat or a fire

so we've got matches and a lot
of burnable stuff here.

We are going to make a way
to melt water and basically

have all the comforts
of camping.

We don't really consider it
a survival situation,

we consider it a "Well, I've
got to get home" situation.

And what we do every time
is when we leave,
we're ready to stay the night.

This is one of our backups,
people are other backups,

but number one, it
has to be ourselves,
saving ourselves,

or all they're gonna do
is find a corpse.

AGNES: Right now I'm heading
to go get some, uh, gas.

That's the only thing left
that I have to get

for our caches that me
and Chip are going to go set.

Good afternoon Native Store,
this is Agnes Hailstone.

I'm here to pick up
my 9.97 gallons gas.

(WOMAN SPEAKING VIA SPEAKER)

"Go ahead, it's ready"
she said.

So this is where we come
to purchase our gas.

When we gonna buy it
for cash money.

It's kind of weird
getting gas here.

Press the button,
and call the Native Store,

and tell them how much gas
or stove oil you want.

And then they'll either
tell you to go up to the store

and go pay for it.

Or if you're a local,
they'll let you, um,
just go up

and pay for it
after you fill up.

That's it. Now that I'm done
with getting all my gas
and spending all my money,

I'm gonna go
back home to Chip.

ERIK: If I come out my door
and I go east,

I can go all the way
to the Atlantic Ocean.

I come out my door
and I go west,

I go all the way
to the Pacific Ocean.

I have the biggest backyard
on earth.

All right.

I'm about ready
if you're about ready, Martha.

We've got everything we need.

Yeah, we'll be good
with one tank of gas
for a sled load.

NARRATOR: Erik and Martha
Salitan rely on the land

to provide them
with their means of survival.

With temperatures dropping,
today they will head

into the woods to gather one
of their most vital resources.

ERIK: I went into winter
with very little firewood.

I spent my whole fall
guiding hunters

and I didn't have
very much firewood
coming into the winter.

Then we didn't get any snow,
so it has been hard

to get out and get any wood.
And it's been warm.

The river hasn't been
very safe.

It finally is enough snow
to get out here

and get a little bit wood.

MARTHA: That looks dead.

What do you think?
It's a nice size.

ERIK: Does it have any green
on it at all?

That one's not green,
but it's little.

This is a six-inch wood.
We'll get a few days wood
out of this.

(ENGINE ROARING)

MARTHA: A lot of people,
they'd rather have
things handed to them.

Us, we'd rather go out
and do it ourselves.

It's just the way that we are.
It's just our nature.

ERIK: I don't think
I'm gonna be able

to get all the wood
that I have out here
in this load.

Try to load
a little bit more on,

then head back to the house
with this load.

MARTHA: Didn't lose a log.
It was awesome.

ERIK: (CHUCKLES) How about
the chainsaw?

MARTHA: No, didn't lose
the chainsaw either.

-ERIK: Good.
-MARTHA: I think you
rode pretty well.

ERIK: This load alone
was pretty good.

I'm not gonna waste any time.

You want to start
making some food

and I'll run back by myself
and get the other load?

-MARTHA: Sounds good.
-ERIK: All right.

It's been a good day.
We're just gonna get in safe
with this last load.

Got the heavy ones
out of the way.

This light load
should be pretty easy going

if we can just get up
this bank.

So rock and roll.

Last load of the night,
always when you get hurt.

Get this

flipped over before it stalls
out on me.

-(BATTERY BEEPING)
-(ENGINE DYING)

(ERIK SPEAKING)

Pay the price...

When you're out here in

poor snow conditions
trying to,

trying to haul wood
when there's not a good trail.

The problem is if I don't
get flipped over quick,
it will be all flooded.

My wife is a mile away
at the house.

If I didn't show up
in 30 minutes,

she'd come out
and look for me.

Before I had my wife
and I lived out here alone

and you come out
and get hurt like that,

let's just say
I'm not that well-loved.

The track's not connected.

When I flipped the machine,
I kicked the track.

So rather than
smoke the machine... (SNIFFS)

I'm just gonna walk home

and I'll deal
with this tomorrow.

I guess the,
the old adage goes,

never ride a snow machine
further than you're willing
to walk home.

I'm walking home.

SUE: You can't live in this
kind of an environment

and expect everything
to be perfect.

That's not why I'm here.
I don't want it perfect.

(ENGINE RUNNING)

I'm gonna go make myself
a path to the Twinkie

and jam out some snow.

It's time
to rock it hard, man.

NARRATOR: After heating
the Bobcat overnight,

Sue must clear the snow
throughout camp,

which will provide safe trails
and protect her

from any unforeseen predators.

SUE: You know, I've got hours
and hours of work to do.

It's a pretty big chore.

It's 10 acres that I'm trying
to keep fairly groomed
in and out.

All right.

I got a bunch
of snow macked out.

Got a little trail here.
That was my goal.

But I'm getting cold.
I'm getting really cold.

So, uh, I need to go inside,

put on a little bit
heavier gear.

You know, the staying warm is,

it's not just having layers,

it's having
appropriate layers.

You're not going
to be a beauty queen,

you're being a snow queen.

I'd love to relate this chore
to what a normal person

would be doing in the city,
but I'm not that gal.

You know, there's no service
I can call. It's me.

The goal today was
to get the Bobcat running,

shovel off a few
of the stairs,

and start the process
of clearing camp.

Big drifts

near where I need to go. Um,

knock those down
and get them out.

I've still got
a lot more to do,

so I've got to get
the upper paw on the job.

ANDY: You gotta
take care of yourself.

You gotta be smart
about what you do.

And you gotta try and keep
from getting hurt.

'Cause there's nobody to come
rescue you when you screw up
out here.

Hup, hup. Hup, hup.

Good. Kip, kip.

NARRATOR: Yesterday,
Andy set traps on the
frozen lake near camp

in hopes of harvesting
muskrats for food

before temperatures fall

and the animals
are no longer accessible.

This one's
a little bigger house,

so I'm kind of hoping that
I have a little better chance
on this one.

No, looks like
the same thing, man.

They really packed
this one in.

See, this was all open
when I set the trap.

Whoa. There's a lot
of activity on this one.

Pretty frustrating to open up
the houses and see them
all full of that material.

I hate working
and not producing.

That just really bugs me.
If I'm gonna do something,

I really want a payoff
from it.

My leg hold traps
aren't working too good,

so I'm gonna try using some
of these conibear traps.

A conibear trap
is a body gripper.

I'm hoping that
that's gonna work

and alleviate the problem
of them stuffing

this vegetation into my trap.

See if this thing will
go down in there.

Get this in.

I can try and get it right
below the level of the ice.

That looks pretty good to me.

It's all about adapting
to whatever the situation
throws at you.

And right now,
the situation is push-ups

are getting smaller,
harder to trap

in the actual push up.

So going under the ice seems
like the way to go to me.

(SIGHS) I think I'll go to
the next one and try again.

Looks like more
of the same here,

pushing stuff up
into the hole.

Looks like it was almost
a waste of time yesterday.

They're just blocking
my traps in.

When you're trapping rats,
you've got to be innovative.

If you're not innovative,
you don't keep adjusting

to what they're doing,

then you're not
gonna catch them.

I got a bunch more.
We'll just keep trying.

So far they're skunking me,

so I've gotta do
something different,

because obviously
what I've been doing
isn't working.

Hopefully I can outsmart
these little suckers.

Close this baby up and head on
back to dodge.

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

CHIP: A lot of people
don't get the idea
of being out here.

They just don't realise that
we get to shape ourselves here

and we get to flow
with nature,

rather than having people
influence us.

I'm bringing out the things
I'm gonna put in my cache.

Sleeping bags, a box of food,
and a little bit of equipment.

I'm gonna make my sled ready,

tie this stuff down,
and get on the road.

NARRATOR: Today, Chip
and Agnes will plant supplies

along their winter
travel routes,

which will help them survive
in case of an emergency.

CHIP: Well,
this is like a gun.

It's insurance and you hope
you don't have to use it.

So basically, um, we don't
want to have to go eat up
the food that we're trying

to put in place
to save ourselves.

AGNES: We're just
going a little ways

and we'll all come back
tonight and...

Lay it down, lay it down.

Before the weather
gets bad and then

let's go again tomorrow?

If the weather's good.
Depends on the weather.

AGNES: Looks like
there's storm coming.

It's only a couple hours out
and a couple hours back.

CHIP: It's a pretty
important thing.

I'm gonna have
to have a cache.

It might even be a place
we can use in an emergency.

So that's kind of
the whole idea of the cache.

That looks good right there.

CHIP: Awesome.

Yeah, this is nice and deep.

This would be
a good place to put one.

It'll get covered over,
but, uh,

we'd be able to dig this out
and have a windbreak

without having
to put the tarp up.

Why don't you take the axe
and go knock off, uh,
three poles?

-Okay.
-CHIP: Sound good?

Yup.

(GRUNTING)

AGNES: This is
an all right tree.

It got some dry branches...
(PANTING) And it's, um...

(CHUCKLES) Small enough
for me to chop down.

I'm putting the things
in the tarp

that I want to be in the tarp,
and now I'm folding it up

and weatherproofing it.

Now I'll basically
leave it right here.

My wife will come over here
with three poles

and make a tripod,
and we'll mark it,

and we'll move on
to the next place.

Just go around the tree
and push it down.

Just the pole.

Watch out.

This cache is gonna be good
till it starts to thaw, huh?

(GRUNTS) Whoa.

-Wind's getting you?
-The wind.

It's getting strong.

CHIP: It's just the way
it's going right now.

The wind's picking up
so, I'm...

I wanna beat the weather.
So, what I'm trying
to do is get this done

as fast as possible
and I see my wife

is hustling over here
with some tripod material.

AGNES: I'm gonna tie them up

and then put it right in front
of where this cache is

in this tree right here.
This is a good thing to have.

It's got a shelter,
it's got food, it's got

something to make a fire
and melt water with.

Pretty much all we need
to get by.

This is security for us.
Just like money in the bank.

-I think this will be good.
-Yeah.

Can't miss that tripod.

Well, there's no call boxes,
no highway patrol,

there's no one's
gonna help you.

No AAA. It ain't coming along.

-You ready to go home?
Because we have...
-Yeah.

Uh, nothing but a wall
of white coming to us.

CHIP: Let's get her done!

SUE: I'm human, even if
I don't always seem like it.

Things bum me out,
occasionally it reinforces

that I've chosen
a very solitary existence.

But, it's my life
and I like living it.

SUE: So last night, you know
something over here

is, uh, making a lot of noise.

Right there
is the problem area.

My water pipe
has been blown up,

blown off to the side.
What you can barely see

is my communication wiring

is wrapped around that trestle
to take it

from the satellites over.

It's gonna yank down my wires.

Those wires come down,
I can't even communicate
to get help.

NARRATOR: Tundra winds have
put Sue's communication lines
in jeopardy.

And she must secure them
or risk being cut off
from the outside world.

SUE: I've got to try
and move the snow.

Get close enough to that
trestle that I'll hopefully

be on top of the snow,

to get up on top
of the Bobcat,

stand there, and tie it down.

I specifically don't use
the Bobcat back this way.

I've got too many wires
on the ground.

Fuel lines,

it's just not an area I ever
dick with in the winter.

I need to get that tall.
This isn't tall enough.

Done, I can't go any more
this way.

You can see
I'm gonna knock it down.

Come on. For fuck's sake!

The Bobcat from the ground
is not tall enough

for me to stand on
and do the fix.

You know, it's just
so freakin' close.

Yeah, that's not gonna hold
home fry's weight.

I could stack barrels,

but that's how I busted my leg
in three places
a few years ago.

So that's probably
not my best idea.

I break myself one more
good time and I'm done.

I think what I'll do is
I'll get my handy dandy
little ladder, test fate.

Might bust my ass,
but I might find a fix.

I can't think about
the falling.

I have to think
about the fixing.

(SUE PANTING)

(CHUCKLES) It's so unstable.
This is stupid.

Oh, man!

Just do some half hitches.

Back them against each other.

(SIGHS)

This is one of the most
stupid things I've
done in a long time.

I put three turns around.

Not freaking' tight,

but

whether it's absolutely piss
tight or not,

uh,

I got three and then
I loop these two together.

This one here will give it
some downward force,

because I tied it to this one.

Something that silly,
saves my communications.

Who knew?
Bubble-gum and twine.

Probably not the safest fix
I've ever done,

but hey,
credit where credit's due.

I didn't stand on top
of barrels this time.

Frustrating day on one hand,

but I overcame it and I still
came up with a fix.

Yay me!

Life's a river,
sometimes it's full of shit
sometimes it's clear water.

Figure out how to swim, man.

ANDY: I'm always
experimenting.

It seems like a lot
of my experiments

are failed experiments.

But if you're afraid to fail,
you don't learn anything.

Failure is teaching
your best lessons.

ANDY: I'm gonna check my
muskrat sets out on the lake.

The wind came up overnight,
so not nearly

as much fun today,
as it was yesterday

out on the lake here.

First time out
I was just trying to assess

what was going on
out on the lake.

If the push-ups
were even trappable.

And they were.

I set some sets on top
of the ice

on their feeding platforms

and my traps were rendered
inoperable.

So I've modified that now
and I've tried it

under the ice,
in the water.

And I'll find out today
if the conibears work better

than the leg holds.

We'll just see what happens.

Everything's freezing up
pretty bad.

Right now,
the weather's changing,

temperatures are starting
to drop down into zero

and well below zero now.

It's gonna be pretty
challenging

trapping the muskrats.

I'm gonna try and get this
done as quick as I can

and get the heck off the lake.

And hopefully
we got some muskrats.

I don't know if I set that off
or something else did,

but that one was set off.

They chewed off the stick
where I had my trap on it.

So I may have lost everything
on this one.

That sucks. Dammit.

Came in and piled all
of this stuff up
on top of my stick here.

I'm hoping I got one here.
It's all froze in right now.

I think this whole endeavour
would be a whole lot easier
early in the fall.

Out here on the lake
it's probably 15 below

or so wind chill.

Everything's icing up,
which is making it
a lot harder.

Come on, muskrat.

Nothing.

Set the trap off,
but it didn't get caught.

Uh-oh.

It looks like they chewed
this one off too.

Let's hope they're still
in here somehow.

And I don't know
where this trap is.
This froze up too last night.

Unless that's it right there,
that might be it right there.

Nope. Nothing.

I think my muskrat trapping
days are coming to an end
pretty quick here.

Come on, rat.

I don't know, wait a minute,
this one got sprung.

And we got a muskrat! Yeah!

It looks like
the conibear got him.

Finally, a little bit
of success here.

Yee-haw.

That's exactly the way
I wanted to catch him.

Right by the head.
It's a quick kill
and very humane.

They're not gonna
get away like that.

So that looks like
a pretty good technique to me.

And it's a good sign.
So I think the modification,

putting the traps down
in the water was a
real good way to do it.

I'll go over and check out
these other houses.

I got a couple right over here
I'll go check out.

Yeah, looks like another one.

Oh, yeah! We got a rat!

Yeah, buddy. Woo-hoo!

That's the perfect catch.
Right around the neck.

That's what we want.

It's always a good feeling
when you try something
new and it works.

This was a good experiment.

Yeah, looks like another one.

This one by the hind leg.

So the leg hold trap worked on
that one.

This is the last hole.
I'm ready to call it a day.

All right.

Let's see
if we got anything here.

Nope. Nothing. (SIGHS)

Everything's pretty much
closing in now

so quickly that I don't think
I'm gonna be able to

do too much more.

I'm glad I had a chance
to do this.

I learned quite a bit,

developed some new techniques.

All in all,
I think it's a success.

We got some fur,
we got some meat

and, that's what
I'm out here for.

Sun's getting low,
it's time to go home.

It's a good day trapping.

Time to go home and do some
skinning and cooking.

Tighten up! Hup, hup.
Let's go! Hup, hup.

ERIK: The Brooks Range
of Alaska is one of the
last wild places on earth.

Living and working up here,
you never know what your day's
going to, uh, produce.

(SNOW MACHINE ENGINE RUNNING)

MARTHA: Your
chariot has arrived.

-ERIK: Are you driving
or am I?
-You can drive.

All right... (ERIK SPEAKING)

NARRATOR: While harvesting
wood one mile from camp,

Erik wrecked his snow
machine, trying to navigate
an embankment.

Flip it over before
it stalls out on me.

NARRATOR: Today, he and Martha
must head to the crash site

in order to inspect the damage

and haul the machine home
for repairs.

ERIK: I need to go and recover
the snow machine
that I wrecked last night.

We'll get the snow machine
back to the hangar,

and get it all fixed up,

and we'll just wasted
about half a day.

That's not too bad.

I went off this bank here

and it just,
it rolled violently enough

that it kicked the track.

ERIK: It actually...

MARTHA: Dented up the...

Yeah, the trailer hitch
is all,

so I gotta find,
I gotta somehow

get this freed up

so we can load
the sled in the sled.

When the sled rolled down
the bank,

this rolled too and it twisted
all up in there.

So I'm having problems
getting it off.

Hey, do you want to lift up
on this?

It's pretty close.

ERIK: There we go.

I'll start unloading this wood

and then we'll cache
this wood,

come back for it.

Push it up.

(WHISPERING) Okay.

Now can you hold it there
and I'll run around the back?

Oh, you're gonna beast it
yourself, woman?

You're a beast? Beast mama?

We got the sled loaded on.

Hopefully, uh,

hopefully this will work out

and we'll be able to

get off this bank safely
towing the snow machine.

Well, we're through
the hard part!

We're just gonna putt home
nice and slow and

get this machine back
in the hangar
and get it fixed.

We got plenty of firewood.

We, we're gonna be able
to heat the house now

for quite some time
with that wood we got.

Although, I kind of busted
my sled up,

in the end, it's still a win.

I just really wouldn't call
it a big victory.

MARTHA: So, what do you think
is wrong with it?

When I rolled the machine
down the hill,

the track came off the rails.

And so what we need to do is,

get it lined up right

and then tighten
it back down. So...

It's just convenient
that we were

-a couple of miles away
from the house.
-ERIK: Yeah.

We'll fix it up no problem.

-Now, we've got tools,
and light, and heat.
-Yeah.

And we got a bunch
of firewood, so let's go
take care of that.

ERIK: I hate to think
of getting firewood and
different chores you do

to live here
as being really hard.

But today it was kind of
a little bit hard.

Sometimes life is pretty
cherry here,

but, uh, cherry is not exactly
what I would describe

as, uh, what
transponded today.

Get an armload and go inside?

Sounds good.

ERIK: I'm happy to have some
of this new, uh, birch wood.

We have, you know,
put a piece of birch in there

at the end of the day and

-it will burn all night.
-MARTHA: Yeah.

-It won't burn out.
-It's good overnight wood.

That is good overnight wood.

All in all, I'd say
it was a pretty good day.

We cut a bunch of wood.
I rolled the sled but...

I'll be able to fix that
no problem.

We're sitting here warm,
aren't we?

Wood in the wood stove.

MARTHA: Then,
I think we're doing okay.

CHIP: If I had a million
bucks, I'd still
be out here camping.

You cannot buy

this kind of adventure,
this kind of peacefulness.

You can't buy this kind
of time with your children.

For today I'm gonna go put out
a couple caches.

My last cache,
my farthest cache.

We've already
set caches at Kookoochiaq

and now we're going
to Independence,

which is the very end of
our trapping-hunting line.

We're taking basically
a gas stash and

a cache of food and
some other safety equipment.

Gas is really important.

There's no gas stations
out at that end.

We have to have a way
to fill up again and

I have to have a way
to tell myself,

or a safety anchor place

that I can go to
where there is more gas.

And I'm taking Tinmiaq
with me today

because my wife's been there
a thousand times,

Ting's been there
maybe 100 times.

But she's our safety.

I want her to see exactly
where these places are.

I'm gonna point them
out to her.

If anyone is gonna get me
parts, or bring me gas

or find me with a broken leg,

it's gonna be
one of my daughters here or

my son in Dearing.

Quite a long ride,
maybe 200 miles from here.

But I can be there in probably
about maybe 5 hours.

It's gonna be
a long trip for sure.

You know, there might be
some danger to it.

Isn't there danger
crossing the street?

It's no different for us,
except we're crossing
the Arctic Circle.

Me and my wife
are really into education.

But a kid in school
can't learn to be warm
out in the minus 40.

A kid can't learn
terrain features,

they can't learn
where the ice is, or hunt,

or gut an animal
without actually doing it.

Whoa, you remember this place?

Yeah.

There the mountain.

Right over there, the creek.

Here's my firewood.

How about I get
the axe off and
we can start a small fire.

I love it when they do that.

One thing we always do,

we always get
the fire started.

So we just got here
to Independence.

It's the end of my dad's
and mom's, uh, trap

lines that they set back here.

I made me a hole
to make a fire.

It's better to make a fire
on top of ice than to make
a fire on top of snow.

A lot of this wood
is, uh, old and dead.

But, um, it's not always dry.

A lot of times this stuff
will get, um, rained on

and stuff like that and
it doesn't have time to dry.

Gonna put a light to that.

-The matches.
-CHIP: Yeah.

-She's on fire.
-Yeah.

TINMIAQ: There you go.

Whoa. It didn't hurt bad.

(CHUCKLING)

So I got some snow melting so
I can make some coffee.

(CHIP MUTTERING INDISTINCTLY)

TINMIAQ: Nice and hot.

Coffee.

TINMIAQ: Coffee's done, Dad.
CHIP: Oh, good.

-How far are you?
Almost done?
-I'm almost...

I'm almost done here.
I was getting my ropes
down and I'll join you.

And whatever we don't drink
we'll throw in the thermos

and we'll call it good.

Today, me and Ting drove out
to the furthest point of
our trap line.

And we put in our
anchor. We put in our
turn around point.

This is our cache.

This is the place that
is the biggest,

is the furthest part
of the loop of the trapping

that we do and then
we go back to Noorvik.

We're just about set up. We
have to come back here one
more time. We'll bring a tent.

I'll bring my wife.

She can bring her guns.
I'll bring my traps.

And we'll get
our light winter on.

-Well bud, it's been good.
Look, we got a good cache.
-Yeah.

We got a good trail to follow.
I'm gonna haul ass!

I got an empty sled,
I got a full tank of gas

and a date with your mom.

I'm right behind you.

I bet you are.

ANDY: If you think you're old,
then you will be old.

I think a lot of it
is mental attitude.

So, I try and go
into everything

with the attitude of, "Hell
yeah, let's get it done."

Muskrats.

And I'll take my time
with the first one.

It's been a while
since I skinned one so,

get my technique down
a little bit again.

It's been a unique
fall experience here.

The rats are populating,
so that's good.
It's another food source.

I learnt a good lesson,
start muskrat trapping

a little bit earlier
in the year

before it gets so cold.
I think I'd save myself
a lot of work

and maybe a little frustration
on how to trap them.

But I think I got a good
method now that I know
works when it's cold,

so, it should work really well
when it's not so cold.

A little bit of carrot.
A little bit of potato.
A little bit of cabbage,

tomato and green chilli in it.

And a little bit of rat.

All that took was, uh,
two days of rat trapping

and some cold fingers.

Oh, yeah. She's a bubbling.

Let's see, let's dig out
a nice old chunk

of hindquarters and back.
Look at that.

Mm, mm, mm.

So I got a hindquarter,
a little bit of tail,

a little bit of front
shoulder. Mm, mm, mm.

I'll serve a little bit
of this up,

let it cool a few minutes.

Slurp that stuff on down.