Original subtitles

(guitar music)

The famous naturalist John Muir once wrote

you should never come to Alaska as a young man

because you'll never be satisfied with any other places

as long as you live.

But despite the state's natural beauty Alaska's weather

can be a sinister beast.

I mean the weather is so incredibly dynamic up here.

I mean this is where storms are born and it's amazing

how fast it changes out here.

Just incredibly fast.

Hey did you check the weather cameras before we head out?

I did check the weather, it is deteriorating.

It is getting windier.

(guitar music)

I don't trust the weather.

It's gonna turn on me.

(dramatic music)

Changing conditions can turn a routine flight

into a nightmare.

Takes some nerves of steel sometimes.

I've been in some nasty weather where it closed in on us.

(dramatic music)

And harsh storms can turn an afternoon hike

into a life or death search and rescue mission.

My hope today is that we can get up there

and at least circle around the area that I believe he's in.

I'm hoping that we can find him today.

There's some urgency because the weather's changing fast.

It's still windy but it looks like a little break.

With the sun heating the snow during the day

and it freezing at night and then heating it

the snow can become unstable and...

He could've gotten into an avalanche.

Oh my gosh.

Big avalanche.

Oh my god.

This area's scary.

I'm not gonna lie.

I just hope we can find him.

Before it's too late.

(dramatic music)

(wind blowing)

(dramatic music)

It has been said

that there are only four seasons in Alaska.

June, July, August and Winter.

The record low temperature in Alaska

is an unimaginable minus 62 Celsius.

Alaska holds the U.S. record for record low temperatures

for every month except for July and August.

While the last frontier is notorious for its long winters

and extreme cold.

The weather in Alaska is treacherous year round.

With major storms constantly moving in from the Arctic Ocean

and the Bering Strait.

(dramatic music)

If you come to Alaska you should be prepared for sun, rain,

snow and wild temperature fluctuations.

(dramatic music)

(dramatic music)

These low pressure areas build in that environment

and they just come barreling down, you know,

along the Alaska Peninsula.

You know, it's bad is when they stop

and decide to park here for a little while.

(dramatic music)

(dramatic music)

(plane engine running)

(dramatic music)

Pilot Josiah Freeman

and rescue expert Cory Williams

are scouring the Alaskan landscape for a missing hiker.

There's some urgency because the weather's changing fast,

it's still windy but it looks like a little break.

But it's probably not gonna hold

so we're gonna head out right away.

Let's see if we can find him.

The original search took place starting here.

Anchorage National Guardsman Nefi Sofir

left on a hike two days ago and never returned.

(dramatic music)

Where do you want to start?

You wanna see if we can climb up the ridge

where you think he went first?

Yeah.

Nefi Sofir was hiking through

the Chugach State Park when he disappeared.

Rescue personnel have been searching night and day

and have not found a sign of the missing hiker.

I'm a big hiker myself.

I understand the area, I understand the risks,

the dangers and so, you know, I feel like I can relate

to him in the way that he did things.

Okay so this is the trail that he was on here.

Alright.

We're on the right track here for sure.

My hope today today is that we can get up there

and at least circle around the area that I believe he's in.

I'm hoping that we can find him today.

Every hour that goes by diminishes our chance

of getting him back successfully.

We've got to get back there.

We've got to find him as soon as possible.

(dramatic music)

Big updraft there.

Ohlaha, these drops are major.

We're at 2,000 feet right now.

The higher we climb up here into the mountains

the more the wind is affected by the terrain

as it comes over these peaks.

Then you get more downdrafts and more turbulence.

Pretty gnarly terrain.

This is Alaska and no matter how much heart,

how much knowledge, how much skill you have

this can still take you.

(helicopter blades chopping)

Josiah is smart enough to fly and poke his nose into it.

If it gets too rough he'll get out of there.

He will try to find Nefi if he can.

Weather is something you deal with in Alaska,

so sure enough, true to form, we had winds,

squalls going through so weather's always something

that you're dealing with and this time was no different.

Okay so here we go, these off the left side here,

this is our peak.

Okay.

I think we can pretty much rule out

that he's still stuck up here.

Cause I'm not seeing anything.

No signs.

However I can see where he'd go down on this other side.

Right.

So right below us here we have Eklutna Lakes.

One of my fears is that he might have been hiking up in

the Eklutna Valley and may have somehow fell into

some sort of crevice which dropped him down into the lake.

(dramatic music)

The biggest problem after Nefi went missing

was that it was really windy.

Flurries would come in and just snow the place out.

Yeah, there was no visibility.

Know what's really hard is, even if he did

find a place to, you know, hunker down,

he had to keep moving.

(dramatic music)

Without shelter hypothermia

can set-in in a matter of hours.

Oh my gosh.

Big avalanche.

Oh my god.

This area is scary.

I'm not gonna lie.

In the past decade 38 people have died

in avalanches in Alaska.

The most dangerous time of year

for avalanche conditions is spring.

As everything starts to melt it's just becoming more

and more of a hazard.

Oh my god, dude.

The avalanche is an issue.

With the sun heating the snow during the day

and it freezing at night and then heating it

the snow can become unstable

and he could've gotten into an avalanche.

It's springtime here so the avalanche conditions

are pretty, pretty big right now.

If somebody gets buried in an avalanche

which is high potential right now you only have about

four and a half minutes before somebody

has possibly permanent brain damage.

People die in avalanches all the time up here,

every winter.

(dramatic music)

You know even though there is a chance that he's stuck

in an avalanche they are survivable.

I mean if you get stuck at the top of it, if you're able

to at least pull yourself out of it.

I mean, there is a chance that you could climb

your way to safety.

Oh yeah, it's the real deal.

Boy, the wind is so weird here.

I've never seen anything like this.

Josiah and Cory are battered by erratic winds.

It seems like it's spinning all around.

Swirling.

It was bad turbulence and the blades on a rotor craft

don't handle turbulence all that well.

I think I see a good spot.

I'm seeing it.

So we're coming down and it's windy, it is really hard

and honestly I'm kinda shaken.

Cory will you pop your door open

and look at my tail rotor and see if it's clear as I land?

You're good so far.

Okay.

I get out of the helicopter and right in front of

the helicopter there was a big pile of bear poop.

That was, I mean, it was super fresh.

So the bears are out.

Then I made my way over to the bush

and it was absolutely what I thought.

It was the perfect shelter.

There was this little spot just underneath

that somebody could've easily slept in.

Unfortunately we didn't find him or any signs of anyone,

but, you know, that's, we tried.

Let's look again tomorrow.

Good idea.

I just hope we can find him.

Before it's too late.

(helicopter blades chopping)

(dramatic music)

It's been seven weeks since Nefi went missing

and it's hard now to believe of any positive outcome.

When it's one, two, three, four, five, six,

10 days maybe there's a chance but now there's...

It's just been too long and the state finally

called it off and said we're in a recovery mode now.

Yeah.

It's unforgiving out there, especially, he went at night

and then that storm rolled in and, man...

If and when the family comes up

I'd like to give them a flight up there.

Show them where he was.

Yeah.

What he was doing.

Yeah, I would want to know.

Yeah.

I try to put myself in their shoes.

I'm not sure how you deal with it.

It's just tough.

(dramatic music)

(airplane motor roaring)

Maneuvering in Alaska's unpredictable weather

can be extremely dangerous.

A lesson pilot Mark Barker learned the hard way.

(dramatic music)

Hey did you check the weather cameras before we head out?

Alaska's extreme weather

is a formidable challenge for bush pilots.

I checked the weather, it is deteriorating.

It is getting windier.

And the aviators rely on

precise weather forecasts.

So, this evening's storm should be pretty interesting.

Here's the main front from this giant low

out in the Bering Sea.

Precipitation is all on, right over Kodiak.

This looks like 35 maybe 40 knots.

This is a rock right out in the middle of

the Gulf of Alaska and we get hammered

by every storm there is.

Once we realize that Mother Nature is in control

of Mother Nature maybe we'll all be a little bit better off.

Mark Barker battled the elements

and a heavy cargo load during a flight he will never forget.

(dramatic music)

When I first started flying I was up at about 6,000 feet

and the two passengers I had were big guys.

I'm not mister miniature myself.

Of course when you have big working guys

they have big giant tool boxes.

It was one of those typical things, the weather

starts moving in, I tell the guys come on, hurry up,

we gotta get going we got...

Oh, almost done.

Almost done.

Finally they get done.

We load the helicopter up.

So we're at high altitude, three big guys on board

and a toolbox.

So I'm power limited up there.

Picked up to a hover and I started moving forward.

It was winter time, I'm on top of a mountain.

So we're at high altitude, three big guys on board

and a toolbox and I didn't have enough power.

I just picked the best place to kinda plant it on the ground

and I slid along a little bit at a angle

and it's like a 4,000 foot drop off on the side.

Almost to a stop and buried under the snow

was a big old rock.

Big old rock.

I slammed into that, it kinda cocked me sideways

and I'm sitting right there on the mountain.

Kinda going oh baby, oh baby, oh baby.

Now it's starting to get dark.

We're kinda getting to a survival situation.

You gotta keep moving fast.

I shut it down, looked the whole machine over.

The machine looks to be okay.

(helicopter blades chopping)

Then I told one of the guys,

okay I'm gonna take one guy at a time down.

That time I'm lighter.

Hop off the mountian, go down and land.

Go back up to the top of the mountian,

picked up the other guy.

Left the tools up on the mountain then I came home here.

I said, "I'm never doing that again."

(dramatic music)

(helicopter blades chopping)

(light music)

Under rough conditions

the skies of Alaska can be deadly.

But on clear days Alaska offers stunning views

and breathtaking vistas.

At night the Alaskan skies put on a spectacular light show

known as the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights.

This phenomenon is best seen at latitudes

between 66 and 69 degrees North.

A sliver of the planet that includes Canada,

Greenland, Scandinavia, Russia and Alaska.

(dramatic music)

With Alaska's location in the far north

extreme weather is to be expected.

But because Alaska is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean,

Arctic Ocean and the Bering Strait, weather patterns

can change at a pace that can catch

even seasoned outdoorsmen off guard.

I mean the weather is so incredibly dynamic up here.

I mean, this is where storms are born.

Right here.

This is where weather begins in North America.

It's amazing how fast it changes out here.

Just incredibly fast.

You know this Alaskan weather kinda reminds me

that when I grew up in Wisconsin there was a great t-shirt,

showing a map of the state of Wisconsin.

It said partly crappy, getting ready to be crappy,

mostly crappy.

Pretty much the same in Alaska actually.

And that's all within the hour.

We've had sunshine, we've had everything but snow basically.

Just about every day.

Bring your rain gear.

But it's still worth it, it's still Alaska.

No place like it.

If you get depressed because of weather and darkness

you probably oughta move to Arizona.

(dramatic music)

Alaska offers many pursuits

for outdoor enthusiasts.

As long as you keep in mind that the weather

can change in a minute.

And Mother Nature does not always follow your schedule.

(dramatic music)

Surfers are pretty stoked at a time like this

when we have the weather coming in.

It means bigger waves for them

but on the other end we're a little stressed.

I don't trust the weather.

It's gonna turn on me in a minute

and then what am I gonna do?

Sherri Ewing and her family

run an outdoor catering business in Kodiak, Alaska.

They're prepping for a gourmet meal on this rocky shoreline

for their clients who are here for a surfer's beach party.

Yeah, this wind's not stay like this.

It's gonna get worse.

Winds are going to be up to 30 miles per hour.

We've already got three inches of rain.

The world is our dining room.

This is either going to be really awesome

or it's gonna be a complete disaster.

Three, that's good..

Yep.

(laughter)

Woo.

(together) Whoa, whoa.

(laughter)

Yeah, walk with your back to the tables.

Oh, sweet you just feel that wind coming?

Ooh, wind break.

And about the time we sit them down I look up

and I can see the rain coming.

Oh, here we go.

You guys look right out there, we got a bunch of rain.

A wall coming.

It's pretty much like an emergency

but I wanna keep on partying guys.

So I got a tent, it's a crazy big tent

and it's gonna take all of us to get it up.

Just everybody into the middle.

Watch out!

Oh, seriously.

We have the blue tarp.

C'mon get that over here.

(dramatic music)

The conditions quickly turned a relaxing day

at the beach into a scramble for cover.

(dramatic music)

A couple people at every post.

Let's get this going guys and keep this party rolling.

There are a lot of things that become difficult

when we're setting up our kitchens

out in the middle of nowhere.

Well we gotta put the top on.

Alright, fine.

But I'd say the weather is probably one of the worst

because it changes on a dime.

C'mon get that over here!

(grunting)

(rain splattering)

Pick it up.

Punch in your ends.

You're, the corner posts punch the button.

Ready?

Yeah.

Alright let's put it over the dinner table.

(dramatic music)

Oh my god.

(dramatic music)

Just everybody in to the middle.

(dramatic music)

You know, you really have to have some grit to be able to

be out here and have that rain pour on your head

and not to pack it in.

(light rock music)

That was a little intense, man.

But you know what, you know that's what we do in Alaska

is we always just helping each other out

and just coming together and making it happen.

Now the party is still on, we're setting up

for the next course.

Ready to rock and roll.

We want a little heat up in that bad boy.

All righty.

Now I'm going to garnish

and we are done.

(rock music)

It is a red pepper corn grit.

Mm mm.

(laughter)

It's delicious.

It's really good.

(laughter)

To watch everything come together

and the energy be so high,

that's what it's all about for me.

I'm so happy this dinner went off.

To pull it through with this really bad weather.

I mean, it was a really big success.

(dramatic music)

Alaskans know to watch the skies

for signs of changing weather.

Especially the pilots.

One of the types of clouds the pilots

do not like to see forming are known as cumulus clouds.

Cumulus clouds as they get bigger and bigger,

it comes to the point where there's too much activity.

Wind shear, turbulence, they can hold hail.

All kinds of terrible things.

Big cumulus clouds that form over the mountains

is basically a sign of a lot of lift

and they can actually suck you up into the cloud

which is really dangerous.

(helicopter blades chopping)

It's weird, the wind is just whipping around

all different directions down there.

It's probably from that big cumulus right there.

Cumulonimbus is like a vacuum cleaner.

On this side of it it's pulling the wind this way.

On that side of it it's pulling the wind this way.

So there's these localized winds

that can really be swirling.

Are you more concerned with downdrafts

than updrafts?

Both.

Yeah.

But mostly updrafts.

Okay.

You just don't want to get sucked up into a big cloud.

Yeah.

We're seeing some cumulus clouds

that are starting to build over the Talkeetnas.

Yeah.

They're looking big already.

Uh-huh.

We'll just have to keep an eye out

for overdevelopment.

(helicopter blades chopping)

(rock music)

Flying in Alaska means you need to be

comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Pilots have to pay attention to the weather patterns

that they can see and anticipate the weather patterns

that are coming in.

(airplane engine roaring)

(dramatic music)

To be a pilot on Kodiak

takes nerves of steel sometimes.

I've been in some nasty weather where it closed in on us

and you're half way through the flight and you can see

the pilot scrambling.

Because of the extreme winters

many of the businesses in Alaska are seasonal

and shut down during the snowy months.

Larry Carroll finished shutting down his lodge

for the season and was waiting to be picked up

by pilot Bob Stanford on a float plane

when the Alaskan weather changed their plans.

(light rock music)

We were trying to make it out

and we were looking at the weather.

It was a little dicey but you know Bob said,

"You know if we can get you out here

"in the next two-three hours it's still pretty good."

They're calling for winds to pick up later in the afternoon.

(dramatic music)

Bob came in.

Decided to come in on a Beaver

because he thought it was a little risky to take the 206.

(dramatic music)

He got here.

The weather's the biggest obstacle.

We have to deal with a lot of weather.

The winds had picked up.

It was one of those situations

where it was getting worse rapidly.

(dramatic music)

So we loaded the plane, we got in, we got out around the bay

and we hit 60-65 mile an hour head winds.

(dramatic music)

We hit those winds head on and the plane almost seemed

like it just stopped in mid air.

(dramatic music)

One minute you're okay and the next minute

the plane is free falling.

It just dropped.

(dramatic music)

That plane fell

400-500 feet.

You see that ground coming up really fast

and Bob is doing everything he can

to get control of the plane.

You're at God's mercy at that point.

Oh man, it was just like a roller coaster.

Your stomach goes back down.

The nose comes up on that plane and we start climbing again.

He pulled it back up, got us back up where

we're supposed to be.

And Bob had this look on his face

like he had just cheated death.

We hit that dock, Bob tied that plane up permanently

for the night.

Looked at us and said,

"Phew, man if we'd have been in a 206."

He said, "We'd have been in the drink."

We wouldn't have survived that.

That was just like an epiphany, like,

thank God I got a great pilot.

And a great plane.

(light piano music)

(airplane engine roaring)

The De Havilland Beaver is a durable airframe

built in the 1950's that continues to be the aircraft

of choice for Alaskan bush pilots.

All Alaskan aircraft take a beating from

the weather conditions and need to come into the hangar

for regular maintenance checkups.

So every 100 hours when you're working an airplane

for hire you gotta pull it out to do a 100 hour inspection.

With a severe storm approaching the island

they need to get this Beaver out of the water immediately.

Commercial ramp to crash boat harbor.

(dramatic music)

It just gets more difficult to pull it

when the weather comes up.

When sitting untethered on the water

float planes are extremely vulnerable to high winds.

This extraction will not be easy.

(mumbles) Gonna want to keep spinning.

I might back in further and then out.

(water splashing)

Just start it.

(plane engine roaring)

(dramatic music)

(plane engine roaring)

(dramatic music)

(plane engine roaring)

Starting a Beaver's engine

might give them enough momentum to get out.

Bob's pickup truck does not have enough traction

to pull the plane.

One wrong move could damage the airplane

or submerge his truck.

$400,000 airplane, $15,000 truck.

There was no doubt in my mind, I'm backing that truck in

as far as I have to.

Go, go, go!

(dramatic music)

Peter decides to turn off the engine

and try a more hands on approach.

(dramatic music)

Start it up, Pete.

(howling wind)

Go, go, go!

(howling wind)

The winds were the worst they could be.

They were exactly opposite of what we needed.

The mission is accomplished

and Peter paid a small price for his efforts.

You saved me.

Yeah.

Course he's bleeding all over everywhere but...

Part of the job.

(dramatic music)

The weather of Alaska creates chaos

and destruction

and beauty.

(dramatic music)

I would encourage all viewers to come to Alaska.

It is truly the great wild land and it's big wild country.

It's unlike anything else we have.

And we oughta come up and enjoy our lands and waters.

They are truly, truly unique.

(dramatic music)