Original subtitles

You've reached Laura Thomson,

please leave a message and I will get back to you soon.

Hi, Laura. My name is Darren Berrecloth.

I saw your research up by the North Pole,

It was super fascinating

and curious if you would be able to meet up.

I'd love to learn more about the region.

Can't think of a better guy to kick off this competition.

Darren Berrecloth probably has the most experience out here.

Darren Berrecloth scorching through the desert.

He is a guy who has pioneered all these new zones.

Cam Zink, this guy's one of the biggest men in the sport.

A rider known to take gigantic steps to progression.

The biggest 360 drop in the history of mountain biking.

To the top of the course, Carson Storch the 23 year old.

He is here to stay when it comes to Rampage competition.

Carson Storch, time to look at him as a freerider,

not just a slopestyle athlete.

Our youngest competitor, Tom Van Steenbergen.

There it is, no way.

Such a creative run right now.

This could go down in the history books.

This is amazing.

Thomas actually getting to his feet.

As you know, Zink and I have been scouring the planet

looking for the ultimate zone.

Two years ago we stumbled across some photos

that a scientist took of a desert island

where you'd least expect it.

After lots of research we're certain we found the zone.

It's a heck of a long way to go.

This is where the North Pole is,

and we are going to be hanging out on this island right here.

It's crazy, there's terrain up there to ride that's worth while

and not only worth while

but might be some of the best riding I've ever done, ever.

It's just crazy how far it is.

Last summer, me and Zink went up there and scouted it.

How long did it take you to get up here?

Seven flights.

Right!

That amount of travel, you could fly around the world.

Everyday we'd get in the plane

and we'd see something, land.

Unsuccessfully get back in the plane,

and just over and over and over we're just getting skunked.

This place kind of sucks.

It looked rocky from up in the plane but this is ridiculous.

Break out the shovels.

Forty years and this is the first time.

Come on, Bill.

Yeah.

Not like the entire arctic is just this wonderland.

There's this one little zone.

Somewhere around here look for a landing site,

I think this could definitely be a location we come back to.

Me and Zink came around this corner with the plane,

came around the corner to Buchanan lake,

and our eyes were drawn to these big humongous faces

then ended up landing below this picture.

These lines here will definitely be on our biggest hit list.

This is everything I ever dreamed of in a line,

and to finding a zone to where it's actually that big.

If this was the bottom of the hill here at the Rampage,

Rampage would probably be around somewhere like here.

I believe the sickest lines on the planet are here.

That all sounds amazing

but obviously, we're gonna wanna push ourselves,

and what if something does happen, like we get hurt?

We're 10 hours until you get to a decent hospital.

That's if you get lucky

and you get a scheduled flight. Could take two or three days.

You just have to find that balance like,

how far do you really want to push it, is it worth it?

It's going to be heavy, emotionally even for you guys.

I'm sure you can imagine for us being away from wives and kids

it's a whole other level.

Scientist who took the photos of Axel Heiberg Island

is Dr. Laura Thomson.

And she's kind enough to join us

and teach us a little bit about the region.

My work is based on glaciers in the Canadian high arctic.

The glacier below that I'm showing

is called White Glacier and that's where my work is based

and that's one small glacier on an island

with close to 2000 glaciers.

The geology of Axel is really diverse across the whole island.

The region that you'll be in

is going to be a lot of sand stones and shales.

Is there gypsum up there?

That's a random thing we look for in Utah for like zones.

If there's a gypsum mine that makes drywall,

it means there's usually good dirt.

I didn't expect that question but its perfect,

because Axel Heiberg is known for its gypsum dominance

You can predict where good terrain will be,

relative to the glaciers are and what the geology is.

So our work is based in this area here.

This is expedition fjord

and you guys will be cycling in some canyon lands over here.

What's your take on us bringing bikes up to the North?

I think it's a great idea.

I think that if you wanted to set up a long term bike highway,

I might take some issue with that

because the tundra is quite sensitive.

But also, I think especially if you're going down couloirs,

or just in little chutes,

erosion is happening there anyways.

How can we bring back a bigger goal in terms of awareness?

I think it's really great to be able to share

the arctic with more people.

Because it is really remote and it is really isolated.

It is the location of the greatest changes we're seeing

as a response to climate change

and so to open everyone's eyes to this is really important.

Axel Heiberg Island, beautiful, hostile

and devoid of human life.

How does a landscape like this come to be?

What chain of events have led to a desert

this close to the North Pole?

To answer these questions

there's a story I have to tell you.

And like most origin stories, this one starts with an ending.

Four point five billion years ago,

Earth collided with a smaller planet called Thea.

Thea was destroyed

and our moon was formed from the rubble of the collision,

but more importantly to our story,

it knocked Earth 23.5 degrees of its axis.

Way back then our planet was just water.

But as time passed, continents emerged, including our island.

Over billions of years she transformed,

moving through five ice ages, and 11 super continents

including the most recent, Pangaea.

As Pangaea broke apart, our island began her journey North.

Today she finds herself near the North Pole.

With the Earth's tilted axis the land falls

into complete darkness four months per year.

The frigid temperatures cause the ocean around her to freeze,

limiting the amount of precipitation.

The result, a desert island on top of the World.

Four point five billion years in the making.

Just waiting to be explored.

We're about a month away from the arctic

and decided to meet up here on the island,

to just see how the crew jives together.

Same speed, same pop. You're not going to over rotate.

-No -Yeah, Zink.

You got it. Yeah. Oh.

Oh.

Yeah!

You alright?

-Yeah -You got it.

Yeah, Tom.

Ah, dude that was so close.

What happened?

You gave a good snap

but then by snapping you got so open so it stalled.

You get back and push your legs out

but you don't need to do this you know.

You were like this, your body positioning when you landed.

Yeah.

The slopestyle scene right now is infested

with a million kids that can do a million tricks.

But as far as big mountain riding,

there are only a few select riders

that are hungry and willing to go for it.

Yeah, Tom.

Yeah, Tom!

Tom and Carson, my two favorites to bring on this trip.

Just because they really are the future of big mountain riding.

Yeah!

These are going to be the two young guys

that take our place in pushing the limits in the mountains.

Oh, yeah.

Lake up here that we're going to go camping at.

We're staying in tents at this lake. Isn't that cool looking?

Look at how far away it is from home.

Did you been here with your friends?

-Yep, I went there with some. -What kind of friends?

The Claw. He's a mystical creature.

Oh, look at you. Big time for walking.

-How many days of travel? -Two and a half days.

Lovely.

- How long? - I think almost a month.

So, are you nervous?

-A little bit. -About this trip?

Yeah a little bit but also it's the trip of a lifetime,

and we'll never get a chance to go up there again.

Say bye-ye!

How will I get a hold of you if I need to?

I wanna be in reach. We'll be able to talk a lot.

Will you guys be alone up there?

We'll have guides there and be working with the Inuit.

Such an opportunity.

Yeah, going on a trip with Zink and Claw,

it's a once in a lifetime opportunity,

but also a lot of pressure that you're putting on yourself.

We're gonna fly commercial to Yellowknife,

- Okay. - Then charter a plane.

We'll kind of like island hop.

Total weight of the freight is 4025 lbs.

Sweetheart, I'm going to miss you.

Bye, daddy.

Well, that was super easy huh.

Auto pilot, selected. Hydraulics, auto check.

Flaps, fine. Wind 3.6.0. 14.

What happens if you get hurt? Who's there? How far away?

We'll have a doctor with us the whole trip.

He's going to be in charge of safety and we're in good hands.

1082 is down.

Oh, yeah.

-Feels like winter. -It is cold.

Arctic summer.

And I think it's a three to four hour flight

to where we're actually gonna camp.

Bags in front. Seats in the middle.

There's only like, a month of the year

that you can go up there and have no snow and have light.

It's got to be now or never.

The human obsession with exploration is nothing new.

Even in the arctic.

Nine hundred years ago the Thule people

became the first and only human inhabitants

of Axel Heiberg island.

They thrived for 200 years

until the little ice age enveloped the arctic,

leaving it uninhabited to this day.

Uninhabited but not unexplored.

In 1895 Captain Sir John Franklin

led two large ships with 129 men

to find a route through the Northwest passage.

They were never heard from again.

But Franklins courage inspired a new round of explorers.

In 1899, Otto Sverdrup and his crew

set out to map the high arctic.

They spent three dark winters frozen in the ice.

And four summers mapping 160,000 square kilometers by dog sled.

They rediscovered the island, and named it Axel Heiberg

after a brewer who sponsored the expedition.

They left the island with a name but still no human inhabitants.

Whoa! Oh, my God.

So crazy. It's just endless. This is unreal.

Yeah, even like right there.

Looking out the window just looks like Utah in the winter

but literally like five times the size.

Look out to the left, guys.

Down there.

It's like the glaciers almost look alive.

This is insane.

Wow, we're alive.

Wow!

Holy.

Quickly we're gonna go over things for safety.

I have my shotgun, Apak has his rifle.

Apak is from Arctic Bay.

He's going to be responsible for all our safety

and make sure we respect his land too.

Of course we are in polar bear country.

We are going to have a bear fence around the camp.

You have to be careful with the fence to not...

We're just going to have the fence up

while all trying to catch sleep, so everybody can get a rest.

Just be mindful of it if you wake up at night.

If you pee on the fence you'll be the siren.

Your bathroom's going to be here.

We have to really be careful of...

Pack in what you pack out.

Yeah, so all human waste to be packed out.

Let's try and keep a neat and tidy camp

and have a lot of fun while we're here.

First couple of days we just spent scoping around camp.

A crazy feeling to be the only humans on this whole island.

How sick does that look?

It looks awesome.

Ah, that would be epic.

Yeah, those ones are legendary dude.

You cross and then drop back in

and then traverse over to where Claw is.

You could go here or start over there.

Looking up to Darren and Cam for so long

and it doesn't really make sense to me how they chose me and Tom?

Let's draw a little map out.

So basically Buchanan Lakes like this

and that is pretty much due north and basecamp's right here,

and then we have our konger chutes here.

Just the way they pick lines, it's pretty inspiring.

This is definitely doable, it's just heavy.

It doesn't matter how good at tricks you are

or how big you can go.

Out here it's all about experience and they have it.

My goal to take their experience and try and learn from it.

This one kind of the...

I think the end all be all as far as what we came here for.

Claw and Zink scouted these huge lines along the lake.

It's definitely been in their thoughts for the past year.

Dude, this looks way better than over there.

I think we looked at this one on the map and it was 2500 feet,

and it's gonna be so bitch.

What do we want to call this?

Let's call it the drag strip.

Same with Claw, he found a line

that was right across the lake from that.

I love this one that goes into that chute,

on the back side of Buchanan. It's massive.

It's big.

The pinnacle of our imagination as far as what we came to do.

It wasn't very rideable

like for them to just be thinking about a line like that.

Like just massive lines too.

Probably the biggest lines anyone's ever ridden

on a mountain bike.

Yeah. There's a lot more to learn.

Let's just get into it tomorrow,

start riding stuff and build it up,

and then work towards the bigger lines.

Alright, boys. Epic times.

Yeah, boys.

Get after it.

It cannot get any more fun than that.

Yeah, boys.

It's honestly more fun than snowboarding down a fresh face.

Totally.

How sick is that dirt?

I literally feel like I'm skiing.

Oh, yeah! Hoo! Hoo!

Yeah, buddy!

Whoa.

Oh, yeah, Claw.

Oh, yeah.

What?

Whoa, she's a little soft, eh.

Dude, it's like a foam pit.

Wanted to have a talk about safety with you, guys.

It's a small team. We're really remote,

we're going to rely on everyone to pitch in and help out.

Closest hospital would be in Iqaluit

which is about a 12-hour flight under ideal circumstances.

so it's really super remote up here.

This is by far the biggest first aid kit I've ever assembled.

These are needles and syringes. Defibrillator.

We brought oxygen, all the IV supplies.

So it would be good for me to know just what you guys

have dealt with in the past in terms of injuries.

Where do I start you know, ankles, legs, wrists.

I tore my ACL.

Plates in both collar bones.

Did a numo thorax which almost killed me.

-Broke my wrist. -Couple of broken backs.

PCL, meniscus, tibia as well.

-Not bad. -Nope.

Then we have Zink.

I've never been hurt.

-You've never been injured? -No.

It was all new to me.

You know, I've been through the ringer from broken feet,

to broken legs and compartment syndrome in my leg

and faciotomy,

and six knee surgeries and plenty of other random injuries.

But I was always fortunate

with never having shoulder problems my whole life.

But then this past year I dislocated both of them.

So, kind of my Achilles heal lately.

Ayla's keeping me safe. She made this bracelet.

Best friend bracelet, said it's going to keep me safe.

No way.

Feel a lot better getting hurt on a big line here,

rather than a jump that you could have built anywhere.

So we might as well get some real stuff in the bag

of what we came here to do.

Ended up going for this line dubbed Oso Negro,

just because we wanted to kind of get a feel for the dirt.

It's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll

Right in there there's like a light brown hump.

Don't go left there because that like is a cliff.

It sucks you in, one of them is better than the other.

I'll follow you, guys.

Oh! Here comes a rock right behind you.

-What's that? -Oh, shit.

Not the best dirt.

Well, the dirt is nice, it's just the rocks.

I think we should just go down slow to that,

- see what's over that. - We can go hard right.

Pretty sure, like I can't remember.

I think that's the good one right in the middle.

Whoa, what the hell, it's definitely not this one.

Oh, shit, oh, God. See you down there.

You alright?

Fucking stupid.

You okay?

You break anything or are you just choked?

Nah, I'm good.

Did you break your bike or are you choked?

No, my bikes broken. That's why I'm choked.

- What's wrong with it? - Oh, my brake line.

Ah, that's kind of depressing, man.

After riding this line

and realizing the dirt isn't consistent,

I'm not very confident that we're gonna be able to ride

any of the big lines we came here for.

By the time we got back, it was like midnight.

It's definitely weird.

The sun doesn't go anywhere, it just goes in circles.

Funny, it's like a sun dial in the sky.

-I've been struggling with it. -Have you?

I've got my eye mask

and then I have my buff over top of that.

It's tough but also pretty sweet

because you can get a lot done in a day.

Put your head on a swivel, we're playing Horse shoes.

Apak with a point.

Oh!

Dude, get out of your tent for a little bit.

Axel Heiberg is home to one of our planet's

harshest ecosystems.

From October through February,

the island falls into total darkness,

and winter temperatures reach as low

as minus 42 degrees Fahrenheit.

Despite these conditions,

life has evolved and flourished in this no man's land.

Although most of the arctic is flat tundra,

Axel Heiberg is unique for its live mountains,

resulting in the island's almost 2000 glaciers.

This ancient ice drew in a new generation of explorers.

In 1959, glaciologist Fritz Muller

found the island ideal for his studies.

In 1960, Muller and his team built a semi-permanent structure

at the base of White Glacier.

His team returned every year for over two decades.

Before his death he passed his findings

on to another glaciologist.

Who passed them on to another.

Who passed them on to Dr. Laura Thomson,

who has returned to study the glacier

every summer for the past nine years.

Resulting in one of the oldest glacial records

in the high arctic.

- What is up? - Hey, how's it going?

-Cameron. -Darren.

How are you?

-Nice to see you again. -You too.

- This is home. - Yeah.

Have you visibly seen the glaciers receding?

You see all of that debris gravel material?

That's where the glacier was in 1960

and that was actually the largest outlet glacier

since the last ice age.

All of the retreat that has happened in the last 50 years.

All our data goes to the World glacier monitoring service.

Part of United Nation's environment monitoring program.

On White Glacier I have three GPS stations.

What I'm measuring actually is how fast the glacier is moving.

And how fast are we moving right now?

It's about 30 meters a year.

This helps predict future glacier response will be.

What future sea level rise will be.

The Canadian high arctic

is essentially the area of Western Europe.

Simply because it's the largest area of ice

outside of Greenland and Antarctica.

It's actually the largest contributor to sea level rise

from glaciers and ice caps.

This base has been here for 57 years?

Yeah, it's pretty amazing

it's like one of the oldest arctic camps.

The retreat that we're seeing now is due to climate conditions

about 40 years ago for White Glacier.

If we were to stop the warming and melt that's happening now

the glacier would still retreat for at least another 40 years.

Complicated system, it's important...

Understand all.

Yeah, exactly.

If you had a message,

what would it be after these years studying glaciers?

Yeah, I would emphasize the importance of the North,

and the fact that we have the most ice out of any country

except Denmark which is Greenland

and it's so under-studied.

Our responsibility to be stewards of the ice we have.

For us to get a glimpse of the hard work

that these individuals put into doing all this research

for these glaciers and better understanding of climate,

ice levels and what's going on up here is pretty insane.

You can't help but respect this place.

You can eat seed, how do you pick them?

Can you eat the stem too?

Ah, this is delicious. Good snack. Thanks, Apak.

- It is blueberry-ish, huh. - Blueberry for sure.

Yeah.

The arctic is one of the most epic places I've ever been.

It's hard to put in words.

It strikes hard the fact that arctic is so unknown.

Something different about the arctic,

just being above the tree line,

and seeing the raw land in size and into it.

The landscapes that we now see covered with beautiful trees,

that came from glaciers

and you can see that in action now in arctic.

so it's a great classroom for understanding Earth.

The landscape of the arctic,

you've got to see it to believe it.

It's just surreal.

Dream come true to explore a zone like this.

Whoa!

Yeah, dude, get it.

This place definitely makes you feel very small.

Yeah, Tom.

Alright, Carson.

Yeah!

That was super fun.

Yeah, Claw.

Yeah, look at that, awesome.

-Nice. -It worked.

Yeah, dudes.

Boys. It's dinner time.

A little four in the morning dinner time.

Time to eat.

How many days have we been here?

I lost count, it's really not technically a day,

because a day really consists of like morning, nightfall.

There's no nightfall. Just straight.

It's just the endless day.

Nothing like dehydrated meat and potatoes.

Brought back to life by water.

I think it's brought back to life by hot sauce.

When we first laid eyes on this area,

Zink first saw drag strip.

That line's been on my mind since last year

and it was my main goal and focus since we set up camp.

Keep me safe, Ayla.

Back to the good stuff.

There we go.

Oh, my God!

So pumped. Give me that five, Apak.

Oh, my God! That was awesome.

That literally makes the whole trip worthwhile.

That was the one.

Yeah, buddy. That was dope.

Yeah, dog.

Zink, Van Steenbergen. Cleek... Creek crossing.

- Cleek Clossing. - Cleek Crossing.

-Alright, pop a wheelie. -Let's do it.

Whoa!

We're soaked. That was so deep.

- All right. - Let's go.

Zink is obviously a legend and he's sick to work with,

and we found a lot of similar things like the step downs.

I think the hardest thing that we do.

Blind take off and speed judging.

Are you thinking you can roll in from here?

I'm going to brake to that second roll and then let go.

- That felt good. - That was dialed.

You usually go a little bit further on cliffs

because like, you know what I mean,

you're not like going up further

and losing distance like a dirt jump.

You're like pulling up and carrying out.

Carson can train us in too.

No matter how many you do it, it's always still nerve racking.

Like the first monkey shot into space.

- Carson, you ready? - Yep.

Alright, dropping in five.

- See you at the bottom. - Yeah.

Oh, my God!

Whoo!

Oh, fuck.

- My shoulders out. - Shoulder?

- Which one? - Left one.

Going to feel intense for a second once it slides in.

Ow. Ow.

Oh, yes. Oh, man.

Oh, my God, that was disgusting, dude.

That was fucking gnarly.

Oh, God!

This was supposed to be the easy part.

We're supposed to get to the hard stuff tomorrow.

I'm always glad when your head doesn't hurt, you know.

Shoulders can heal but your brain doesn't really.

- Bummer. - Yeah.

Our job is to just get gnarlier and gnarlier,

but I've done bigger flips than that like eight years ago.

Which means that it's been gnarly for a long time.

We have five days left and we've been battling weather.

Stuck in tents for a couple of days.

We had a lot of stuff on our plate that we scoped out,

and for me, being able to get the Dream Chute in the bag

is my biggest goal, and I haven't got that yet.

And the weather forecast is not looking very good.

I'm thinking about starting on the horizon there.

That looks good.

Yeah, and then it's pretty long and then it rolls down again,

that point that's coming out with that rocky cliff line there

and that will kind of feed me in to a little point.

It will be like a drop on to a rock slab.

Yes, watch the wind all morning long.

If it tends to blow one way in the afternoon.

If you hit it in the afternoon, good.

Yeah for sure. Afternoon, as in like 2:00AM for us.

Yeah, Midnight. Midnight time. Get it.

You alright, Tom?

I'm good. I just broke my helmet.

Um, I'm going to try and make my way down.

-That hurt. -You alright?

I think so, yeah. No headache or anything.

Does your back hurt?

Yeah, I just scrapped it.

I actually brought a spare helmet for this reason.

Alright, see you at the bottom again.

Yeah, man, you got it.

I am in position.

Yes, sir, man, you got it.

Oh, yeah.

He's got this, he's got this.

Okay, dropping in three, two, one.

Yeah, Tom.

He's gonna get it.

Come on, Tommy boy.

Come on, buddy.

I'm gonna give you three words to remember.

Green, hope and taxi.

Green hope and taxi. Remember those?

Still sitting here.

Shit!

How's Tom doing, Doctor?

You okay?

Yeah. I just felt out of it and I kind of,

I didn't remember what happened.

So, I didn't really know what to improve.

Yeah, I shouldn't have done that.

We're just gonna move your eyes,

so don't move your head.

Looking at your eye movements to make sure they're smooth.

Two helmets, two runs.

It's weird, I don't remember what I did off the lip

but everything before, I remember.

I felt fine walking down the rest of the way and then...

I think you rode down.

Oh, yeah. I rode down.

Yeah.

What are the three words? Do you remember?

Green, hope, and taxi.

Nice. Was that hard?

-No. -Okay. Good.

Well I had to, I was like, "Oh, what was that?" Yeah.

A couple of times but yeah.

So, yeah, two pretty big head bonks.

We'd call this a concussion just based on your symptoms.

And probably not a great idea to keep riding.

I feel fine. Like, I want to ride more.

But it's obviously, I don't know.

It's a tough call, man.

It's the hardest position to be in,

especially on a trip where you're not gonna come back here

but a long, long life ahead of you.

You know and your brains the one thing that doesn't heal,

like bones heal stronger and ligaments come back you know,

but your brain doesn't come back,

and I've had some of the proudest moments of my life,

let alone career, after a big crash,

but one of the biggest ones in 2010 like...

Looking back on it, shouldn't have rode it.

Didn't you win best trick and Rampage that year?

Yeah, and the World Tour.

No way. Holy shit.

One of the best days of my life. I probably have taken it back,

and not ridden knowing that I had hit my head so hard,

and just the gravity of second impact syndrome.

You have to take a step back from the pressure and sponsors

and pressure from whoever and do what's right for you,

and look at the bigger picture which is always hard

when you're in it.

It might seem like this is the pinnacle of your career,

but I think you're going to have more heights than just this.

You go home and then regroup

and then you're going to keep elevating.

You're still on the climb up.

You'll be back.

We won't be back here, but you'll be back.

Claw from Axel Heiberg.

Go ahead, bud.

Just so you know, the dream chute proper itself

is already in the shadow.

Oh, yeah. I figured as much.

Cool.

Seeing a line that big and that ominous,

it's just left an imprint in my memory

and I just can't shake it.

Yes, I'm going down there.

Looks rideable, probably...

You bet.

Lots of rocks.

Sketchy.

Alright. Here we go.

Yeew!

Woo!

Woo hoo!

It's a pretty surreal feeling.

Getting a line you've been obsessed with for over a year.

Woo.

Made her to the bottom.

I've been chasing these lines for almost two decades,

And that was hands down the biggest line I've ever ridden.

Woo.

What a journey!

Worth coming to the ends of the Earth for it?

For sure.

What food are you going to buy when you get back?

Vegetables.

Burrito.

Definitely one of the best trips I've ever been on.

If not the best trip I've ever been on.

Hell of a lot better than an FMB silver event, huh?

Yeah.

I definitely feel grateful to be on this trip.

Cool to see the way you pick out lines and view terrain,

and I think this trip, I've learned so much.

We're not done by any means, but I'm stoked to have you here,

and essentially carry on the torch.

Hopefully guys like yourselves

take what we've learned through me and Cam's careers,

riding this kind of stuff and hopefully you take that,

and take it to the next level.

Oh, there he is.

- There it is. - Oh, yeah,.

Yeah!

Whoa.

- We're going home, boys. - Woo hoo.

Hurting, but happy. A little broken but not beaten.

Though we have learned much from her past.

The future remains the Arctic's biggest mystery.

Throughout her history, the only constant has been change.

But it's the speed at which change is occurring

that creates these massive unknowns.

Human impact on our planet is causing global temperatures

to rise 10 times faster than any time in recorded history.

In the last 40 years, the Arctic has lost more sea ice

than a land mass the size of Mexico.

As the darker land and ocean surfaces become exposed

more sunlight gets absorbed,

causing the arctic to warm at double the global average.

Making what was once unreachable, reachable.

In 2016, the first cruise ship traversed the Northwest passage.

The same route that took the lives of the Franklin expedition

121 years earlier.

With the passage open,

foreign cargo ships now seek it as a shorter alternative

to the Panama canal.

The eight countries sharing arctic borders

are now torn between conservation and exploitation

of the newly accessible resources.

The disappearing ice also leaves the arctic exposed to gas

and oil exploration.

And animals who have uniquely evolved

over hundreds of thousands of years

to thrive in this environment now race to adapt.

A region that was once one of the Earth's most hostile,

is rapidly transforming into one of its most vulnerable.

A trip like this is encompassing everything

that I've done, as a human, as a rider.

I want to lead by example. I want to show my kids,

don't try to compare yourself to anyone else,

or try to be as good as the next guy,

because then, you're limited by the next guy.

Look for something new. Look beyond the next horizon

and this sport is what I've devoted most of my life to,

and that I care about so much

and doing everything I can to contribute to making it better

and paving the way for people to come up and enjoy it

the way I have.

Hey, Bella.

Some think that achieving the goal

is almost a curse in some ways,

because once the goal is achieved, what comes next?

You just have to keep learning from every adventure,

every success, and more importantly, every failure.

The biggest lesson that I've learned from this trip

was that as we pass the torch to the next generation,

it's up to us to make sure it's still burning.