All language subtitles for Life.Below.Zero.HDTV.720.S02.E12

NARRATOR:
On this episode of
Life Below Zero,

winter ends with a vengeance
as prep for the thaw begins.

ANDY:
It's not done now, it's not
going to get done, period.

NARRATOR: The Hailstones
search for their last big game
of the season.

-Whoa, ho!
-NARRATOR: In Eagle,
Andy goes into overdrive

to harvest essential supplies.

ANDY:
This could be a real problem.

NARRATOR: Sue spots trouble
in her own backyard.

Whoa, whoa, whoa,
I see something.

NARRATOR: And Glenn is
reminded he's not the only
hunter in Chandalar.

GLENN: A wolf was just here.

I don't anticipate any large
predators, but you never do.

So what I'm going to do today,

I don't have pencil and paper,
but I do have my knife
and some snow.

This is Kavik.

Here's the Kavik River.

Arctic Ocean is up here.

Where I'm going to go,
if I go five to six miles
to the northeast,

you've got several lakes.

These lakes have the potential
of having some land-locked
lake trout.

And that's where
I'm going to go.

So, we're gonna go from Kavik
to the lake and boom.

My plan is the fish are
going to be there and
I'm going to get one.

I don't know
the first or last thing
about ice fishing

other than people do it.

But I want to learn,
and it's my nature
that if I don't know,

it doesn't mean I can't do it.
I just gotta teach myself.

Columbus would have never
spotted America if he hadn't
have left the harbour.

NARRATOR: For Sue Aikens,
rising temperatures

signal the start of the busy
season at Kavik River Camp.

With clients on the way,
she has limited time
to gather fresh food.

SUE: It's like being the only
kid in a really cool sandbox.
You know?

I get to build sandcastles
all over the place.
It's my big backyard.

I am thinking

this looks like a fishy spot.

I think

X marks the spot.

Yeah, I mean
I've never used this auger,

so I'm going to
put it together

and try it.

You fucking whore.

You know, it's something
I haven't done yet,

so see if I can't dig
a few holes.

Got it primed.

On.

That's as deep
as this is going to go.

I don't see any water.

So maybe I'll try
a little further out.

Maybe this is just
too close to the shore.

Well, I didn't hit water,
but I did hit dirt.

I don't see any water.

Well, that's it. I still can't
get past the ice.

All these holes I dug.

I mean, you've got
four foot you can go down,

and I'm not hitting water.
I'm staying on ice.

Hit dirt over there,
just not pay dirt.

It ain't over
until the fat lady sings,

and I'm just chunky
and can't carry a tune.

CHIP:
Subsistence to me
is getting nutritious food

and the chase
that it involves to get it.

It's healthy,
it's all healthy.

Then there's
a great reward for it.

I'm covering my lights up
with a piece of cardboard.

I do this so that the animals
don't see us coming.

We're not like
flashing a flashlight at them,
getting their attention.

NARRATOR:
For Chip and Agnes Hailstone,

the end of winter is
the final chance to harvest
big game before the thaw.

They have set up a temporary
camp in Kiwalik,

85 miles south of their home
in Noorvik,

in hopes of intercepting
a herd of caribou.

CHIP: The importance of coming
out here at this time of year
and doing these kind of hunts

is this time of year
is when the females are fat.

But these ones have been
grazing in the dark winter.

That's important on
a high protein diet like
we have.

So, we come up here
and this is kind of our
last chance at fat caribou.

We're not going to see
fat caribou again until
probably August.

Maybe 100 of them
spread over the side
of the hill here.

I just don't see
a way of getting to them,
or sneaking on them.

CHIP: Let's see
how many females there are.

There's caribou
scattered all along that hill.

I thought there was 100.
There's probably 300, 400.

We're going to have to
do some, uh, sneaking.

Where's my white mask?

AGNES:
Nice day for a good hunt.

We just got to keep quiet
and keep calm,

and hopefully they'll get
100, 150 yards away
or something.

(CHIP AND AGNES SPEAKING)

(CHIP AND AGNES SPEAKING)

Yup. Those two.
They busted ass.

It's just too wide open
for us here.

We need to have something
to put between us and them
for a while.

You know what I mean?
These are what we call
educated animals.

They just know
what a snow machine is.

They know what a person is,
and they're pretty leery.

(AGNES SPEAKING)

CHIP: We don't want to
press them too hard.

The sun's going down.

If we piss them off or make
them scared, tomorrow won't
be so productive.

See how they stopped. They go
about 400 yards and they stop,
start grazing again.

No matter what we do
as we approach them,

they're just going to keep
staying out of our reach.
(LAUGHS)

They got us busted
on this open ground.

But it's getting really late
in the day.

And what we wanted to do today
was basically scout and locate
these animals.

Now we've got them located.
We can formulate a plan,
and this has just begun.

GLENN:
I operate on my own out here.

Really that's part of
the appeal of being here,

is the independence
and the freedom

of not to be tethered
to a safety line all the time.

Out here snowshoes
are an essential piece
of equipment

because the snow
gets very deep,

it's unconsolidated.

It stays so cold here
that it seldom gets a crust
down in the forest

although it will get windblown
in places.

And without snowshoes,
I just can't get around.

Getting these snowshoes
fixed up in order to go out
and make some trails.

Because I don't use machinery
to travel,

I only walk to get around
in the winter.

My hunting territory is
very small compared to
people who use machines.

And I like the traditional
wooden snowshoe.

They're quieter.

You just have two pieces
of metal banging together

once when you're
stalking a caribou,
it could be all over.

When you're sneaking up
on game, you just can't have
any sound like that.

Today I'm going to build
a trail up this mountain on
the north side of my valley.

The mountain's about
1,200 feet above the elevation
of the lake.

By travelling on the trails,

I can see what's going on
with the animals I hunt
in order to get my food.

And the trails allow me

to keep track of
the movements of the animals
and to intercept them.

The first time up
is always difficult

and it gets easier
once I have a trail in.

But where it's steep
like this,

it's not easy going.

I see a very faint track here
in the snow,

and even though
it's very faint,

I can tell that that's
a ptarmigan for sure.

The reason I'm building
this trail here

is in order to collect
information about what's going
on all around the valley.

And I'm mostly
looking at tracks.

It's very unlikely I'm going
to run into the animal right
here that I'm looking for.

But I get all kinds of
information from the tracks
I see.

That's the purpose of
this trail more than anything
is to gather information.

It's getting so steep here,
that I'm going to take
my snowshoes off

and just kind of swim through
this snow

because I'm sliding back
as much as I'm moving forward.

It's so steep in here,
and the ground's so rough
in this area,

that it's easier for me to go
without the snowshoes.

I got my trail from camp up
to the ridge here on the north
side of my valley

and tomorrow I'm planning
to head to the top of the
mountain on the south side.

What a beautiful evening.
What a great way to spend it
too up here.

ANDY: There's always two sides
to everything out here.

There's trying to
make life easy for yourself.

And then there's surviving
if something really bad
goes wrong.

And often times,
the same obstacle provides
both to you.

Ooh, boy.

Another calm day on the Yukon.
(LAUGHS)

So I'm going to need
more logs for building
the new generator shack.

-Yeah.
-And my trail's going out.

I mean, look at it. I'm down
to dirt right here. You know
things are melting. So

that's kind of like the most
essential thing for me to do
right now timing-wise.

'Cause once I don't...
Once I can't run
this trail any more,

-I'm screwed for logging
for the rest of the year.
-Well...

I'd say get cracking.

I'm really battling the clock
right now.

Every year is a different year
with the weather.

Climate change is really
affecting our seasons.

I probably only got about
another four or five days to
get these logs in,

or that's it. I won't
be able to do it, so...

I'm really nervous
about the break-up.

Every year break-up happens.
It's a crapshoot for us.

We have no idea
what's going to happen here.

It's adapting. Every year
is adapting, changing.

I'd rather be doing
other things right now.

I'd love to be out
running my dogs, but it's time
to get these logs in, and

if it's not done now,
it's not going to
get done, period.

Burning daylight. (LAUGHING)

Time to go get some logs.

I'm having to log
in a new area
this year

because the river never
froze up in front of
our place here,

and as a result I'm having to
go a little more than twice
as far than I normally do.

My trails are getting
pretty weak now.
They're running out of snow.

I don't have too much
more time.

Got a couple of good trees
right in this area that
I can get.

First step, I like getting
a rope on these trees when
I'm logging by myself.

A lot of these trees are
too small in diameter to use
as a wedge.

And when you're finishing up
your cut,

if the wind blows
the wrong way,

your tree falls back.
So this kind of acts like
a safety for me.

One of the dangers of
falling trees out here
is hang-ups,

when they hang up on
another tree when they
start to fall.

That can be a really
dangerous situation.

When they're hung up in trees,
you really never know exactly
what they're going to do.

Sometimes they break off
the top of the other tree.

They flip around, they twist.

So I have to be
really cautious about
what I'm doing here

'cause one slip-up here,

that could screw up
the rest of my year.

Could end it completely
for me.

Aw, shit.

She's hung up.

This could be a real problem.

When they get hung up like
this, I don't know where this
things going to go right now.

When it goes,
it might kick back.

It's cut completely free.

So, what I need right now
is a big gust of wind

(CHUCKLES)
to help me get this down.

But I could start pulling on
that rope,

and hopefully this baby
will come down where
I want her.

But you never know
where she's going to go
when they're like this.

All right, see if she goes.

There she goes.

Timber!

All right.

Thank you, wind.

Cut some trees.

Well, what I'm doing right now
is cutting small cabin logs,
eight-foot sections.

So this tree basically did
one round.

I figure I need probably
somewhere around
10 to 15 rounds,

so 10 or 15 trees.

All right, looks like
a load to me.

I am very comfortable
operating out here alone,

but there are
certain risks involved.

And the thing foremost
in my mind

is that I need to be able to
get home on my own two legs

because nobody's going to
come looking for me
if I don't.

Okay, I've got a bone here
I'm going to break.

NARRATOR:
Over the course of winter,

Glenn covers hundreds
of miles of extreme terrain
in search of game.

A high fat diet is crucial
for his body to keep up.

GLENN:
This is the lower right leg
from a young bull moose,

15 or 16 months old,
and I'm going to break it
to get the marrow out.

Of course you can use a saw
to get to the marrow.

But I found that by supporting
the bone between two
large rocks

and dropping
a third rock on
the centre of the bone,

that that worked
most efficiently for me.

So that's the technique
I'm using.

I just position these
two rocks here on the ice

so that the bone is supported
between the rocks.

So, what I was looking for
is the marrow.

This right here.
This is the good stuff.

Mmm.

That is right out of
the middle of that tibia,

and it's very tasty.

There's a lot more in there.

Look at this.

Yeah, like all that's
good marrow right in there.

It's very high in fat.

Fat's the main thing
around here.

It's hungry country,
it's the Arctic.

At this time of year now,
you know, a lot of animals
don't have much fat.

I mean, I eat about
a half a pound of fat a day,

and if I didn't eat
that much fat,

I wouldn't be able to
eat enough food because
you can only eat so much meat.

You actually get poisoned
by too much protein,
but you can eat a lot of fat.

You have to get
about 70, 75% of
your calories from fat

if you don't have
carbohydrates.

What a day.

I love it.

This is eating out
in the Brooks Range.

Fast food.

Smash something with a couple
of rocks and it's ready to go.

We're not harvesting anything.

This isn't wheat that waits
for us to chop it down.

We're hunters.

We're chasing these animals
down, and we're catching them,
and taking their lives.

And then we're eating them,
and they're letting us live.

CHIP: I don't think
they're far.

I think our biggest problem
is gonna be wind today.

We're getting about a
10-mile-an-hour wind, and I
can see windy clouds up top.

So, we'll see what we see.
We'll see what the weather
brings us.

NARRATOR:
Chip and Agnes Hailstone

are set to begin
the second day of their final
caribou hunt of the season.

It is their last chance
to provide their family with
caribou meat until summer.

In the system up here we have,
once I've gotten enough meat
for myself,

I take the other meats that
I've got and I trade them.

It's legal here to barter
for caribou.

It's like basically making
your own money.

It's kind of like digging gold
out of the ground.

It's something that you're
the first one to get
a hold of it,

and you just go from there.

Meat is our money.

-Just on top of the hill.
-There's quite a few.

CHIP: Huh?
AGNES: Caribou?

CHIP: Yeah, caribou up there.

We got lots of caribou around
us and we just got here.

So we don't want to
spook them up,

but what we want to do is
creep around the top
of the hill

and have a look over here.
And we know that there's
a lot of caribou

on the other side of the hill
that are coming over.

So we're gonna go get up
on top and wait for them
to come to us.

(CHIP SPEAKING)

Right above your shoulder.

AGNES: Argh, they're still...

CHIP: I didn't see a hit.
AGNES: I didn't see it either.

Shoot when you feel like it.

AGNES: Argh, right between.

CHIP:
Pretty hard with this wind.
AGNES: It's the wind.

Nope.

In front of it.

We'll just get ready
for the next time.

They never stay
in the same place.

They're fucking
caribou, right?

Caribou do what caribou do.

(CHIP SPEAKING)

(AGNES SPEAKING)

Argh...

CHIP: Smack it with your hand.

AGNES: Whoo!
CHIP: Oh, yeah!

Got one down.

I know you nailed it
at least once.

Maybe you hit it twice.
I don't know.

-I hit it once, and it...
-We'll find out when
we get there.

Yeah. I finally got my shot.

It took me like a few shots
to figure out the wind,

-and the distance.
-It's all right.

That's what it takes.
It takes a few shots.

-Yeah. Yeah.
-Hey. Very few people
would shoot in this wind.

-(LAUGHS)
-And just...

-Good shot?
-Yeah.

-Good enough?
-Good enough.

-I'll go down there,
and go cut its throat.
-Okay.

This took quite many miles,

but when we came
across this herd it was
to my advantage.

It was downhill,
and the wind was in my favour,

and we have one down now
to skin and butcher.

CHIP: Oh yeah.
Look how fat she is.

Yee! I was waiting
till you opened it up. Wow!

Good choice one I did.

-Yup.
-Wee!

-Oh, wow.
-Ah... Oh, this is
a real prize.

Well, today has gone
pretty good.

Scoring this first one,
you know, it kind of
takes that

"are we gonna get it" off.

We've already got success,
so no matter how we
return home,

we'll return home successful.

Our plan though is to
return home quite successful

to make all of our endeavour,
and our money, and our
investment

in, uh, into caribou.
(CHUCKLES)

So what we'd like to do is
fill up the sled

and bring home more caribou
than what we've got right now.

If we wanted just one,
we would go home
and go to bed.

We would be done.
But we're not single caribou
kind of people.

SUE: You know, I don't see
myself as a great huntress.

I don't see myself
as a great proprietress.

What I see myself as
is an explorer.

NARRATOR: Sue has spent
half the day drilling through
six feet of ice for fish,

and so far
she's come up empty.

I did find the lake.
I did drill holes.

It was a bust.
That's the way it goes.

Disappointing, maybe,
but I'm not gonna ruin
a brand new piece of equipment

trying to...
I'm not going for rock fish.

I wanted, you know, water.

So fins win today.

But I'll follow the river,
take it home, see what I find.

(SUE SPEAKING)

Wolverine track.

So this might be what
I'm going towards,

and lucky me,
alls I got is the .44,
which is close range.

But these are wolverine
tracks, and it's headed
right where I'm headed.

So, we'll see.

.44 is not
the weapon of choice
with a wolverine.

Not unless he's in a trap.

It's not meant
for long distances.

The wolverine is definitely
one of the predators awake
this time of year.

Saw fresh tracks, so I'll just
keep my eyes peeled.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

I see something.

Okay. I see something
real dark over this way.

Sticks out like a sore thumb.

I got a little bit
of an optical illusion.

The sun hitting the snow
is causing a wave that's
stretching things,

but it's definitely
a real dark colour on
a real white background.

I say we get a little closer.
See what we got.

Okay. Just stop, see
if I can pick it up again.

There it is.

Okay I see something real dark
over this way.

Sticks out like a sore thumb.

Boy, there's no telling
because it's being stretched.

It's still there.

And they are foxes.

And they are running away.
They're saying,

"See you later alligator.
You scared the hell
out of me. Goodbye."

All right. Yo.

Foxes are friends, not fur.

You know, I don't wanna make
a coat out of them.

I don't want to sell them
for money.

I don't wanna know that I can
get 100 or 200 bucks
for a fox.

What I get out of that fox is
worth far more than money.

I have companionship and
I have the experience
of a lifetime.

Shit!

Well, there we go.

A bird in the hand is worth
two in the fucking bush.

Yeah!

Well. I know I got
a couple of birds.

Sue's plan was to
try ice fishing and, uh,

the tundra provided
another meal.

Living out here, you know,
you're like any predator.

You're an opportunist if
you're gonna be successful,

and ended up getting myself
a ptarmigan.

So, uh...

Yay! (LAUGHS)

Fish one,

ptarmigan zero.

Missed the fin.
Got me some feathers.

CHIP: Up here you have to
take care of yourself.
You have to go out prepared.

If you're not prepared,
you just don't go.

If you don't have the right
equipment, you don't go.

If the people you're
travelling with don't have
the right equipment,

don't go.

CHIP: That caribou got
a lot of blood on my tarp.

That's all right.
It's all frozen.
I can knock it off later.

CHIP: You got hot coffee
in a thermos?
AGNES: Yes.

CHIP: Okay.
AGNES: Gotta have the coffee.

AGNES: Such a nice day.
Gonna be fun.

(AGNES SPEAKING)

(CHIP SPEAKING)

(CHIP SPEAKING)

(GUNSHOT FIRED)

AGNES: Argh...

(CHIP SPEAKING)

-AGNES: Yee!
-Whoa!

(CHIP SPEAKING)

-Oh, wicked.
-(AGNES LAUGHS)

(AGNES AND CHIP SPEAKING)

Okay. That's good.

They're down anyway,
let's go finish them off.

-Just relax, relax, relax.
-Okay. Okay, okay, okay.

Most of the hard shit is done.

AGNES: Yee!

CHIP: Whoa.

Oh... Well,
that one just dropped.

I like your shooting.

It's hard to shoot
in a wind like this,

but once you got it
dialled in, that's the
way to go.

These will go quite nice with
the caribou we got yesterday.

This will carry us through
till the spring.

It won't be till August that
we get fat caribou again,

but I think we'll be
plenty happy with these.

Yep. This is a lot of work
all right, but it's work
I enjoy

and this is a job well done
for us today

and just a day closer to home.

GLENN:
People are becoming separated
from nature more and more.

But the way of nature is
for life to consume life.

It's a continuous cycle
that happens every day here.

And I'm part of that cycle.

It's possible to judge the
temperature very accurately

by the sound of the breath
freezing when you exhale.

And at 40 below zero, I can
just barely start to hear it.

I can just barely hear
my breath freezing now.

NARRATOR:
For Glenn Villeneuve,

a hunting trail is imperative
for food and survival.

Yesterday, he broke
the first half of his trail

but today will be
a more difficult climb.

So my plan is to snowshoe
across the valley and then
go up this ridge

to the skyline there and then
back further to the top of
a mountain.

It's probably a total of about
four miles walk from here
to the top.

And about 3,000 feet
in elevation gain.

Hopefully, I'll get up
to the top today and
have my trail finished.

About six miles across
the valley here.

One hazard of the extreme cold
weather when you're working
very hard physically

is getting frostbite.

Any exposed skin,
like on the face or fingers

when I have to use my fingers
for dexterity and take
my mittens off.

I can only do that for so long
and then I will get frostbite.

That's one of my biggest
concerns about the cold.

I've travelled more than
half a mile from camp

and I haven't really
seen any fresh tracks,
which is not unusual.

It's really hungry country
out here.

It's feast or famine.

There's times of abundance,
and there's times of scarcity.

Right now's a time of scarcity
right here in this
particular area.

The snow down in the forest
is pretty deep

and walking on snowshoes,
I got a really good trail
in there.

Now I'm up above the trees
where the snow is wind-blown,

and in places
it will still be deep.

I think I wanna leave
my snowshoes on
a little while longer.

The snow's all windblown.
There's some ptarmigan tracks.

The wind blows a lot more
than it does down
in the forest

and it blows a lot of the snow
right off the ground.

What's left gets windblown
and hard packed.

It's much easier and faster
to walk on.

You can really
make time up here.

Wow. A wolf was just here.

Wolves.

There's been a pack of wolves
walking around here.

I'm not the only one out here
hunting today.

That's a fresh wolf track
right there.

The wolves are hunting
the mountains too.

Wind blows up here and
tracks don't last too long
without changing.

These look really fresh.

I'm gonna follow these tracks
and see where they lead.

You know, the wolves have
a really good nose

and there's times when there
are not many caribou around.

I might not be able to
find one, but the wolves do
sometimes lead me to them.

So if the wolves are finding
something to eat up on
these mountains,

then there's a chance
I will too.

There's a wolf track
right there headed that way.

He's headed right toward
the top of the mountain.

(SIGHS)
That's the way I'm going too.

See, I travel from the valley
up to the ridge top to see

what's going on because that's
where a lot of the action
takes place in the winter.

I've gotten meat from wolves
when they've killed caribou
just in front of me.

Usually the wolves, they don't
want anything to do with me.

-They know I'm dangerous.
-(WOLVES HOWLING)

The wolves always backed down.

Until last year one time
there was this big pack
of 20 wolves,

and I was approaching them.

They had just killed a moose

and those wolves
actually ran after me

and I ended up
shooting three of them.

We are on the top
of the mountain.
This is the end of my route.

There's some tracks down there
but they might have passed
there a few days ago.

If I saw a caribou there,
that would be
a different story.

What interests me is just that
there are wolves out here

and there are caribou around.

Small numbers.

And more very well may be
coming in the coming weeks.

I just have to be patient
and wait for an opportunity.

That ridge top there,
that's where I was yesterday.

It's about a six-mile route
that I've got now

from the top of that ridge to
the top of this one up here.

It's just good
to be back out here.

This is the place that I feel
most comfortable at
and most at home at.

I feel like the lifestyle
out here affords you
much more freedom

than lifestyle in
modern America does.

I don't like other people
deciding what I do.

I'd rather follow
the dictates of nature.

This lake right here

is home.

CHIP: Noorvik is
a large family basically,

and there's a large sense of
community there where people
take care of each other.

It's a really good social
system among hunters.

It's 'cause we like to keep
what we must and share
what we can.

CHIP: Pretty bright, nice day.

-Wow.
-Whew.

We'll just get these caribou
off here and start skinning.

We got five nice caribou.

Five nice females, real fat.

AGNES: Yee!

CHIP:
We saved the skinning for
today for a couple reasons.

Number one, it's because
we were so tired last night.

Number two is because
it holds the heat in the meat

and the meat goes through
rigor mortis and then
it relaxes

and it's a much softer
and a better grade of meat.

These are March females
and they're really fat.

And that's the reason
why we're specifically
after these kind

before the end of March
is over

so this is like our last
chance at getting fat caribou
meat until August.

If we want to have any more
really good, fat caribou for
ourselves and our kids,

this is the time to do it.

AGNES: I enjoy doing
this work out here.

It's kind of nice.
It's a nice day.

I'm pretty satisfied
with our catch.

We're off to a good start.

Spring's coming on
pretty quick here.

This winter isn't gonna
hold on too long.

CHIP: We've had
a pretty good winter.
We've done well with fur.

Next to the other one.

Perfect, babe.

We've done well with fishing.

-One, and it have eggs!
-Full of eggs!

CHIP: We were lucky
to get what we got.

I like the partnership we have
when we do this kind
of hunting.

It's the same thing when
we're hunting for predators.

My wife is the eyeballs,
and I'm a driving.

-That's a taste, huh?
-Yep. Fresh.

CHIP: Now this is a way
to end a nice, fat female
caribou hunt

before we're on
to the next thing.

ANDY: Every day is different.

Every week is different here.

Walk 200 yards
down to the river

and it's a very different
place than it was
the week before.

NARRATOR:
Andy's managed to gather
a sizable load of timber,

but getting it back to
his homestead

will require navigating
a narrow trail through
the dense forest.

These are 18-footers.
This is gonna be a lot
squirrelier going back.

Uh, back end's gonna wanna
slew around and it's gonna
wanna fall off the trail.

It's a lot of weight.
Anytime you have weight,

you got issues.

If it falls off the trail,

yeah, I don't know
what I'll do.

I'm a little concerned
about that.

All right. All loaded up.

Last load of the day.

It's getting late.
I'm getting tired.

I'm thirsty.
My back's getting sore.

Time to get this load home
and into the pile.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Easy, easy, easy.

Slow down, slow down.

Son of a bitch.
That was close.

Don't you dare
fall off of there.

What I've always noticed,
I don't know if it's 'cause
it's the end of the day

or it's just the way
things are around here,

but it's always the last
100 yards to the house
that seems to be the killer.

You know, I have a lot of
problems coming up
my ramp around here

'cause of the dirt,
and the mud, and
the steep hill.

Once that sled falls off
one time,

it creates a rut and
then it always wants to go
into that rut.

It never fails.

Anyway, good day logging.

Uh, didn't get hurt.

I'm making progress
but I got a lot to do.

Yeah, I think we...
I think we should just finish
building our cabin

and then we can be like just

big, fat beer bellies, and

we can sit around and complain
about all of our aches and
pains and...

-I look forward to that day.
-Me too. (CHUCKLES)

You know, everything
that I do out here is

something I get jazzed about,

whether it's hunting meat,
putting fish up, milling wood,
running the dogs.

Every time I do something,
it reaffirms that I'm doing
the right thing

living out here
the way I live. For me.

I'm glad I listened to
my heart when I was
a 20-year-old kid

and decided to come out here

and make a life for myself
out here.

'Cause it's, it's been a,
been a good ride you know?

KATE:
We've learned how to survive
and we've learned very well.

And we're proud of it,

and we want to keep on
doing it until

our bodies say otherwise,

our souls drift off
down the river.

So here's to springtime, babe.

-(GLASSES CLINK)
-(ANDY LAUGHS)

SUE: What is life
without the surprises?

If we knew what to expect
every day, day in, day out,

my personality?

Nah, I like the unknown.

I like the challenge.

All right,
this would make three of them
little beasties.

So I think I'm just gonna
cook them up.

A little garlic,
a little onion,

and go have myself
a little picnic.

It was a big day.

You know,
I was going after the fins

and life had
an alternate meal plan for me
that I wasn't aware of.

I'm grateful for every single
bite this thing's giving me.

And if it's not pretty,
that's okay.

Neither am I. (LAUGHS)

For my fine day's work,

I got a bowl
full of ptarmigan,

a snoot full of single malt,

some stogies for dessert.

So it's time to head outside
and enjoy the day.

If you go back and you look
at the whole year,

I mean, it's been boom bust,
boom bust, just like
the history of Alaska.

Boom, I got the bear that was
roughing up camp.

You know, but that's me,
that's my life.

It's a series of challenges.
Some are natural and
some I create.

And it doesn't get me down.
It just keeps me going,
keeps me learning.

Winter is what it is. It's a
tough son of a bitch up here
on the north slope of Alaska.

And I'm grateful
when summer gets here,

but I'm grateful for every
experience I get. Every day
is new.

Maybe it's a huge problem
that I don't...

I, I didn't really sign up
to get,

but I overcome it and it's one
foot in front of the other.

Not one day of my life
do I wanna stop learning.

I've looked all over my body,
scary as that is,

and I don't see an expiration
date but I know it's coming.

I don't get to pick the day.
It's gonna pick me.

So up until that moment,
full steam ahead.

You know, if it's a horse race

put your bet on this old nag.

'Cause I'm crossing
the finish line.