Original subtitles

A thousand peaks crowning a continent.

The Alps.

Between sea and summits.

A trove of natural treasures.

Alpine grasslands, arctic tundra,

Mediterranean gardens.

Gigantic glaciers.

Gaping canyons echoing the sound of thundering waters.

Dark woodlands full of mystery,

barren crags,

and slopes of vivid green.

A raw expanse to overwhelm the eye of all but one,

the one who soars above it all.

(Eagle whistles)

It takes an eagle's eye to appreciate the Alps.

Their majesty and their dimensions.

From its rise over their eastern foothills,

until it lights up their western valleys,

the sun takes nearly an hour.

Grim north faces forever steeped in frosty shadows,

back to back with sunny southern slopes and valleys.

This ice clad barrier splits Europe into north and south.

While its valleys have always been

a bridge between east and west

Arching across 1,000 kilometers, and rising steadily

from eastern lowlands westward to the highest peak,

this crumple zone between converging plates sends major rivers to three

different seas.

Surrounded by crowded land,

the Alps are shared by eight nations.

Towards sunset, they do not end,

but dip down steeply into the depth of the Mediterranean Sea,

where they are merged.

From the coast below, a whiff of spring arrives.

While 2,000 meters higher up, the crests are Arctic, and so is the wildlife.

(Wind whistles)

An eagle's flight between these contrasts is just a matter of minutes.

Erosion of the rising Alps, turns coastal canyons into plains,

attractive human habitat.

Steep slopes rising from these plains, are terraced by thousands of stone walls.

Ancient olive gardens are the haunt of Europe's biggest lizard.

The Oscillated lizard ranges from the western Mediterranean,

to the foothills of the French and Italian Alps.

(Birds chirping)

Spring is the time, for a male to visit a female's territory.

This is where she lives.

A self dug hole, or one taken over from a rodent.

For a while, they move in together.

The sunny southwestern fringes of the Alps, are now resplendent with bright colors,

alive with the rhythmic song of cicadas,

fragrant with wild and cultivated herbs.

(Buzzing)

Lavender fields are vibrating with the hum of a zillion bees.

A griffin vulture, plunging from a thousand meters to nearly sea level.

Deep canyons like Verdon and Remusa, offer ideal nesting places for griffins.

Cut out by cold mountain streams,

while inhaling warm ocean winds,

these canyons invite Mediterranean vegetation and wildlife, deep into the Alps.

It's a short cycle of rain clouds flowing inland from the nearby se

and these southern rivers rushing back towards the coast.

When the morning sun heats up the canyon walls,

hundreds of master gliders launch into the thermals.

But in this season every other adult stays grounded.

For vultures of course, the ground is vertical.

(Squawking)

Males and females take turns feeding their offspring in a lofty crib.

The nestlings need lots of moisture gathered from carrion.

Along these cliffs, the southern sun and hot upwinds,

make for a climate like in the Sahara.

(Buzzing)

From this vertical desert,

the birds soar into freezing spheres, covering hundreds of kilometers each day.

But for Griffins, the peaks and glaciers

are just flyover country.

Also, just passing...a young golden eagle,

a nomad searching for a space unoccupied by breeding pairs,

he's made it through a long winter.

Now morning temperatures are finally above freezing.

Remaining snow is wet and heavy now.

Up here, the sounds of spring,

are rather different from the birdsong and cicadas buzzing in the foothills below.

(Rumbling)

Each sunny afternoon, the rumble and roar of wet snow avalanches,

echoes from all sides like muffled thunder.

An avalanche's megaton momentum, will thrust huge boulders across a valley floor

and heap up mountains of compacted snow, as hard as concrete.

Finding a safe and soft spot between ravines, is crucial.

After six months of hibernation deep in the ground,

marmots need exercise.

Neighborhood scuffles, offer a perfect opportunity.

Breaking the fast is also welcome.

But the leftovers of last year's grazing

are still a far cry from the fresh herbs that will soon sprout.

Some, like it wet.

An amphibian, way above two and a half thousand meters, sounds like a record.

Brown frogs have spent the winter in underground bodies of water.

On the very day the ice on high alpine lakes begins to break, brown frogs appear

as if summoned by a magic revet.

Marmots are impatient to feed,

but not the frogs.

In their hundreds, they race towards the water.

None wants to miss the annual orgy.

In order not to freeze to death,

the frogs must move in the daylight.

Their skins have a built in sunscreen.

Ultraviolet radiation at this altitude is powerful.

Just above freezing in here.

Quite agreeable.

But in the shallows, over dark peat, the water is lukewarm,

the perfect spot to spawn.

(Croaking)

The males ride piggyback on the larger females,

eager to fertilize the spawn as it's released into the water.

(Bubbling)

The orgy lasts three or four days.

Some males embrace their partners in autum,

and cling to them all winter, until this super productive spring event.

High mountain populations lay bigger eggs than those in the valleys,

giving their offspring a boost for the short alpine summer.

(Birds chirping)

Voraciously a warm,

dry wind licks the last snow from the slopes.

Millions of crocuses, have only been waiting for this moment.

(Birds chirping)

Alpine flowers now turn the meadows into an inverted star spangled sky.

Neon colors and fluffy leaves shield many

of these plants against aggressive radiation.

Some visitors are not coming for the stunning scenery.

(Birds chirping)

After a long winter of deprivation,

roe deer are arriving from the mountain forest.

The females especially need fresh vitamins.

They'll soon give birth.

The thawing ground is soaked now.

Deep down below the surface, cracks and cavities in the bedrock are filling up with water.

Springs are gushing,

streams are in spate.

The mountain's green lungs are breathing again, exhaling the rich fragrance of life.

From bursting buds and the bubbling of a thousand brooks,

a strange percussion takes its cue.

(Clicking sound)

To capercaillie hens, this sound is music.

(Croaking and squwaking)

The artist is eager to impress the female audience.

Flashy iridescence, high jumps

and wildly flapping wings, on a carefully chosen stage, are sending a message.

'Look at me.'

Enchanted, a female fan has dived down from the gallery, right onto the stage floor.

She too has something to offer.

(Croaking)

He's got what he wanted.

But it's not the end of the show, which has turned on the neighbors.

They want more than just to watch.

Lines are crossed.

This is his hen, on his very own claim.

(Clattering)

To be enamoured, embattled and embroiled, means to be blind to one's surroundings.

This hunter, however, is anything but blind.

Careful calculation is critical.

With an eagle's wingspan, a rapid attack between the trees is risky.

When a life is taken, it nurtures others.

This eagle was not hunting for himself.

These nestlings are a few days old,

two or three days apart from the moment of birth.

they are competitors.

(Chirping)

For about six weeks now, the female stays put while the male provides.

Later on, both parents will hunt

(Chirping)

for a nestling,

it takes about twelve weeks.

In a brief mountain summer, a lot of growing has to be done.

While some lives start high up in dazzling sunlight,

others begin way down in the dark.

Within just a few weeks,

a new generation is born, in thousands of dens and nests across the Alps.

With a litter of five, suckling and warming the cubs, cleaning the den and hunting,

will push parents to their limits

(Squeaking)

Vast tracts of the Alpine landscape are woodland.

The mix of broadleaf and conifers, varies with altitude, orientation and topography

and harbors a wide variety of habitats.

A young boreal Tengmalm's owl,

one of ten different owl species

in the Alps and a typical inhabitant of conifer forests.

Even fox parents will hunt in daylight now.

For these youngsters, everything is new, exciting.

They are still too young to hunt,

but they'll soon go for the sort of prey the fox has just missed.

Fortunately, there's no shortage of rodents in Alpine woods.

Nor a shortage of enemies.

(Birds chirping)

A lynx will not tolerate foxes in its domain.

The fox is lucky.

The lynx has something else in mind.

European lynx, missing from the Alpine forests for a century,

were reintroduced to various regions in the 1970s.

Their preferred prey are roe deer, chamois and young red deer.

But also smaller game.

Lynx have a habit of hiding it from ravens, foxes and other scavengers.

Another home comer from the woods of south-eastern Europe.

(Birds chirping; insects buzzing)

This brown bear cub was born in the Alps.

Its mother would be an immigrant.

The two are poking around for insects, roots and rodents.

A bear mother will shift aside a 200 kilo rock with ease.

(Buzzing)

Now and then, bears sniff out a real treasure.

Wild honeybees tend to hide their sweet gold in hollow trees.

(Growling)

This is a moutwatering treat.

(Growls)

No matter how viciously the angry bees attack,

a bear won't be deterred from the taste of honey.

A few decades ago, there were only a handful of bears in the Alps.

Now there are well over a hundred individuals.

Some have wandered all across the Alps.

1,000 meters higher, the snow is gone.

Another thousand meters, and snow still lingers in the shadows.

And up here, not just the snow is going.

Animal Alpinists, are shedding their winter wool.

Not really a pretty sight.

Just weeks ago, this cocky ptarmigan was still completely white.

For IBEX bucks, getting rid of a mangy coat is an itchy affair.

(Vocalising)

The ptarmigan is also itching, but in a different sense.

With some urgency, he's making himself heard,

hoping to impress a hen.

This may not be the only use of horns,

but it might explain their extraordinary length, and their elegant curve.

Horns, of course, are not just for scratching.

Bucks are busy all year round testing their powers and prowess.

The swelling of the male's red eye bulges clearly signals his desire.

Already one step ahead, a marmot is busy with parental tasks.

The little ones are just over two weeks old.

Changing the hay is the marmot way of changing nappies.

A newly born weighs as much as two tablespoons of salt.

To survive their first winter, they must increase their birth weight

fortyfold within three months.

Mountain hares have already replaced

their snow white winter coat with the camouflage of summer.

Right from birth, they are out in the open.

Unlike marmots, they're born with fluffy fur.

In cold weather, the mother keeps them warm.

With the snow melt nearing its end, the roar and rage of spring's 10,000

torrents has faded, but glacial rivers are now running high.

Swelling to a maximum under the midday sun, and waning in the cool of night.

Glacial runoff carries megatons of finely ground rock out into the lowlands.

Europe's highest waterfalls and longest cataracts are the glaciers' spectacular gift.

When glaciers vanish, rivers run dry and valleys are filled with silence.

As long as mighty rivers in the sky bring

masses of moisture from the Atlantic and the Mediterranean,

lush green mountain meadows above the treeline,

invite summer guests, as they have since the end of the last Ice Age.

After half a year down in the woods, red deer seem impatient to enjoy

the sprawling pastures, with their luxury of fresh herbs.

Stags shed their antlers after the rut.

To grow new ones, just takes three and a half months from March to mid July.

During the summer, the stags flock together in all male groups.

Calves and their mothers form their own herds.

Among red deer, twins are a rare sight.

Some ranges are not green at all.

Limestone cast formations are usually dry and rugged,

uninviting, except for avid alpinists.

The grip and traction of these hooves, are almost magical.

Total control of balance,

sureness of foot and no fear of heights, are among the outstanding features,

alpine IBEX have developed, in their giddying habitat.

It's lonely at the top, and that's exactly why IBEX came to live up here.

Once humans had conquered the high Alps, IBEX were nearly wiped out.

Today they are back, but face new challenges.

(Bleating)

IBEX are best adapted to the cold, and suffer in hot weather.

At this time of year,

mothers and kids like to play and rest on the last snowfields.

But now, instead of old snow,

they often rest on dry screed.

500 kilometers west, and some 2,000 meters up on granite, a similar scene.

Grazing is sparse up here, but the world of the IBEX is changing.

The high Alps are getting greener, just like the Arctic.

Glaciers are losing ground, which is soon colonized by hardy green pioneers.

Carrying those heavy horns is tiring.

But after grazing, ruminants must rest in any case.

Lately, however, even up here, the peace has been disturbed.

Ever warmer summers bring horseflies

and other parasites to an altitude where they had not ventured before.

The animals are stressed.

(Buzzing)

Many lose weight and get sick.

Worst of all, the new pests are affecting their reproduction rate.

A warming climate, means more than just stifling heat.

While baking and drying out the slopes, the summer sun forces a glacial runoff.

The net loss of ice each year is stunning.

As hanging glaciers disintegrate, huge volumes of ice and rock thunder down into the deep.

Once this ancient ice is gone, it's gone.

Debris covered glaciers may last a little longer,

but also waste away from inside.

On the last snowfields, mothers and aunts run an Alpine kindergarten.

(Bleating)

Some of these aunts are gifted dance instructors.

Delighted, the kids join in.

And now, refreshments.

But all of a sudden, the party is over.

A few weeks chamois kids are just the perfect size for a hunting eagle.

A welcome change from the eagle's staple food, and easier to get.

However, eight out of ten eagle kills are marmots, most of them youngsters.

Even these heavyweights once had a risky childhood.

When rough play gets too rough, mother has to interfere.

The eagle is always on her mind.

The old eagle's trick, pretending to leave, letting the target relax.

(Squeaking)

Then, a surprise return...under the radar.

Decelerating from 200 km an hour.

Not even a cheetah would outrun an eagle.

They must have heard the mother panting,

and also that deadly swoosh of wings.

How good to be alive.

For the eagle mother too, someone is waiting.

Of the two hatchlings of three months ago, one has survived.

It's time for take-off.

The mother goads him on.

Knowing that he's hungry, she's placed a carcass.

And yet, the most glorious moment in an eagle's life,

and so satisfying to a mother.

Leaving behind the limits of a single viewpoint.

It's an explosion of perspectives.

That ravenous hunger is forgotten.

Together they soar.

During the year ahead,

both parents will teach the young bird, how to make it in this mountain wilderness.

In this harsh environment,

the bud of a glacier crowfoot takes two years to blossom.

Now the flowers are gone, within minutes.

Both the snow vole and this hardy plant, are Ice Age relics and champions of altitude.

No other Alpine mammal, covers a range from 300 up to 4,700 meters.

Down under the scree, snow voles may seem like miniature marmots.

But in spite of living under even harsher conditions up here,

they do not hibernate,

but spend the best part of the year in a labyrinth of tunnels under snow and ice.

(Squeaking)

Everything flows...the light, the ice, even the rocks.

Glaciers are gigantic conveyor belts moving enormous volumes of rock.

This is the longest valley glacier in the Alps.

The famous Aletsch.

In 2020, it's still more than 20 km long, and nearly 1 km thick.

Due to a warming climate, nearly all the glaciers of the Alps are shrinking.

By the end of this century, not much will be left, of the Aletsch glacier.

Melt water from the surface seeps deep into the ice,

transporting heat into the glacier's core.

When a glacier shrinks sooner or later, accumulations of boulders,

scree and sand dropped by the ice flow,

are conquered by the hardiest of trees.

Prominent among these pioneers, the stone pine.

How does it get up here?

The rasping calls of a special bird echo along the timberline, where stone pines define the scenery.

The spotted nutcracker and the stone pine, have a win win deal.

Stone pine seeds are too heavy to be spread by the wind.

This is where the nutcracker comes in.

Harvesting stone pine seeds, is less a matter of strength than skill.

Begging from a parent is easier.

(Squawking)

An adult flying off, his crop bursting with pine nuts.

Making sure that no one's watching, he buries his load.

Dozens of seeds in a single cache.

Adding up to 16,000 per season,

these larders will get the bird through the winter.

Next spring, leftover seeds will sprout.

In the high Alps, there are really just two seasons...

...one short and warm, the other long and cold.

When cold air from the Arctic flows south, the sky changes.

And not just the sky.

Frosty nights paint the green slopes red, brown and yellow.

The colder the air, the warmer the hues,

and the hotter the rut of the red deer.

(Growling)

Commotion, aggression, jealousy,

unbridled lust, rough roars and pungent perfumes, make up a rutting ground.

(Growling)

Each mature, strong stag has staked a claim for his harem.

Once females have made their choice,

they group around their stag.

(Growling)

while rivals close in from every side.

Their females are synchronized, ready to conceive for just a few hours at a time.

(Growling)

Experienced stags will recognize this time window.

Pushy young rivals don't.

(Growling)

Relentlessly, they try to steal hinds from stags of high status.

The females run from these invaders,

while a boss struggles to stave them off, and round up his harem.

(Growling)

These constant scuffles are gruelling.

(Horns clatter)

A neighbor attempts a hasty copulation.

(Growling)

He fiddles and fails, and enrages the boss.

(Horns clatter)

(Growling)

The challenger has lost the fight,

but he can force a straying female back into his fold.

The calving season in spring, will show whether their all out efforts have been fruitful.

The warm half of the year is over.

Up on the highest peaks,

winter has never really ended.

For the eagle and all the wildlife, harsh days lie ahead,

but also the stunning glory of winter in the Alps.

It takes an eagle's eye and wings to pan out across the full range and richness,

the gamut of life and landscapes encompassed by the Alps.