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00:00On a dangerous expedition to the treacherous Northwest Passage,
00:04the icebreaker Amundsen must push herself to the brink.
00:08Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, look at this.
00:13But deadly weather, rogue icebergs...
00:16It's a disaster!
00:19..and battered equipment...
00:21Whoa, whoa, stop, stop! There's a hook, there's a hook, there's a hook!
00:25..threaten her mission to take 20, 30, 40 minutes.
00:28It's her mission to take 24 scientists to the roof of the world
00:33and bring them back alive.
00:50Inside the Arctic Circle,
00:52the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Amundsen
00:55does what she was built to do.
00:58Longer than a football field
01:00and powerful enough to plough through three metres of ice,
01:04the Amundsen is a rare breed,
01:06one of the few research icebreakers in the world.
01:12This workhorse has already spent 84 days in the high Arctic,
01:16part of a four-month scientific expedition.
01:20Now she's about to begin the most difficult leg,
01:23a journey into the notorious Northwest Passage.
01:29For five centuries,
01:31mariners have sought this fabled route to the Orient.
01:35With Arctic ice retreating for the first time since the last Ice Age,
01:39an onslaught of shipping is inevitable.
01:42The Amundsen's job?
01:44Help scientists study the Northwest Passage
01:47before it becomes a shipping highway.
01:55High in Canada's Northwest Territories,
01:58a few kilometres offshore the Inuit village of Saks Harbour,
02:02the Amundsen has dropped anchor.
02:04It's crew change day, the second of the expedition.
02:08Amundsen's here to pick up 60 scientists,
02:11sailors and vital supplies arriving from Inuvik.
02:21There's no pier in Saks Harbour,
02:23so everything has to be shuttled out of the Amundsen by helicopter.
02:27Navigation officer Mark Wallet
02:29is in charge of keeping everyone moving.
02:32It's a non-stop for the day.
02:34We usually start at about six in the morning
02:37and we end at about ten at night.
02:39It's a race against time.
02:41These scientists have travelled thousands of kilometres to get here.
02:45Now they have just 14 days to sail into the Beaufort Sea
02:49and up to the western entrance of the Northwest Passage.
02:53Along the way, they'll collect priceless data
02:56to help understand the impact of climate change
02:59on sea ice and sea life.
03:04But the deadline is brutal and everyone is under the gun.
03:11Daniel Daubé is the Amundsen's helicopter pilot,
03:14responsible for flying crew and supplies to the ship.
03:21He'll have to make more than 20 return trips
03:24and has got just eight hours to get the job done.
03:27Even with the sun shining, cold temperatures and unpredictable winds
03:31make it treacherous work.
03:35Flying in the Arctic is a challenge by itself
03:38because it's a harsh environment
03:41and sometimes it's heavenly one second and hellish the next.
03:50This morning, one of Daniel's most important passengers
03:53is Stéphane Julien, the Amundsen's captain.
03:56He's excited to be back after a few weeks of shore leave.
04:01We love what we do and it shows, it pays off in the end.
04:13Julien is a legend,
04:15a man who's spent more time in Arctic ice
04:18than any other captain in the world.
04:21He's spent 30 years at sea, seven of them on the Amundsen.
04:28It's his job to get the scientists where they need to go.
04:32And back again.
04:34But even he's daunted by this mission.
04:37The next couple of weeks will be challenging.
04:40The schedule is really tight.
04:42Scientists have a lot of work planned.
04:45This is the beat we have, it's a fast beat.
04:48Home sweet home.
04:50I'll be back.
04:52So I get three hours of mapping done before...
04:56Working hand in hand with the captain
04:59is Chief Scientist Keith Levesque.
05:05Levesque and his scientists are part of a global effort
05:09to study how climate change is transforming the Arctic.
05:13It's his responsibility to balance the needs of the scientists
05:17with the safety of the ship.
05:21And this at times can be very demanding
05:25because scientists can be very demanding
05:28and the captain can also be very demanding.
05:31So I'm the juggler.
05:36And dropping balls is not an option.
05:39Not having one piece of equipment
05:41can literally ruin your whole field season.
05:50Kerry Warner is from the University of Manitoba.
05:53She's here to study ice.
05:56Specifically, the melting polar ice cap.
05:59But right now she's got to find a missing piece of equipment.
06:03I have one other spot to go look.
06:05If it's not there, then we start to panic slightly.
06:09Like most scientists on board,
06:11Kerry's waited years for this opportunity.
06:14This 14-day expedition is her one chance to gather data
06:18that could make or break her research.
06:21And hope that our gear is here.
06:23Which it is.
06:25This is excellent.
06:30Steve Gagné and Pascal Massot are also here to gather critical data
06:35on how the shrinking polar ice cap is changing Arctic waters.
06:41Yes, I feel pretty lucky to be on the ship,
06:44to be part of an international project like that.
06:48It's very exciting.
06:50The opportunity to come on board the Amundsen
06:53is a chance of a lifetime.
06:55Everybody on board is feeling the heat,
06:58but also feeling the excitement of going out at sea again,
07:02being on the Amundsen to do some science.
07:06Yet despite the pressure,
07:08these scientists have access to something truly unique.
07:12Seven years ago,
07:14a $30 million refit transformed the Amundsen
07:17into a state-of-the-art research icebreaker
07:20with 12 world-class labs,
07:23a cold room,
07:25a multi-beam echo sounder to map the ocean floor,
07:29and a moon pool to launch an ROV under the Arctic ice.
07:35What emerged was a tough, high-tech floating lab
07:39capable of carrying scientists to the edge of the Earth.
07:44To boldly go where no one has gone before.
07:50The Amundsen's chief officer is René Hardy.
07:54He's Captain Julian's eyes and ears on deck.
07:57Those are one scientist,
07:59and the three others are my crew,
08:02that are helping everybody.
08:10But just hours into the mission, René's got a problem.
08:14The plane carrying critical food supplies from Inevik is delayed,
08:18and the crew change is behind schedule.
08:21The captain is not pleased.
08:30Those crew changes get more complicated every time.
08:34There's always something.
08:36But Captain Julian and Chief Scientist Keith Levesque
08:40are already dealing with another challenge â
08:43an advancing Arctic storm.
08:45Exactly, exactly.
08:47So there's a very big low pressure with 40 knots winds
08:50that we see here that's kind of moving in.
08:55Down on the flight deck, René's worried too.
08:58Darkness will soon ground the helicopter,
09:01but vital supplies still aren't on board.
09:06We still have two flights with people to get on board.
09:10After that we have all the cargo that we have to bring on board.
09:15Captain Julian is forced to make a tough call.
09:18He orders pilot Daniel Daubé to stand down
09:21after he gets the last of the personnel onto the ship.
09:28And he cancels the Amundsen's departure.
09:31Yeah, that's it.
09:33We cannot get everything on board tonight,
09:36so I guess we'll have to stay here tonight,
09:40Less than 24 hours into her mission,
09:43with the clock already ticking down on the scientists and their research,
09:47the Amundsen is behind schedule.
09:50And an Arctic storm is heading her way.
09:5724 hours into her mission,
09:59the research icebreaker Amundsen is still at anchor,
10:036 km off Saxe harbour,
10:05and already behind schedule.
10:10With the cargo plane finally in from Inuvik,
10:13Daniel Daubé is now ferrying the last supplies to the ship.
10:19Now we are completing the cargo, only one trip left.
10:24And then we'll be ready to go to start this leg.
10:29Four storeys above the flight deck,
10:32Captain Julian gives the order to prepare to depart.
10:40On deck, René has the final supplies.
10:58Captain Julian is heading Amundsen 275 km out into the Beaufort Sea.
11:05His first mission, to find 12 buoys deployed 6 weeks earlier,
11:09to record the sounds of migrating whales
11:12and calculate their numbers and routes.
11:18It's now time to find the buoys and recover their data.
11:25We are on site LF5.
11:28Fred Chenelle is a bioacoustic scientist,
11:31and a man in the hot seat.
11:33These are his instruments.
11:35For Fred, the stakes are extremely high.
11:38Fail to recover the buoys, and he'll lose priceless data.
11:42The Arctic is an extreme environment.
11:45You never know for sure,
11:47when you put something into the Arctic Ocean,
11:50if it's going to come back again.
11:52It was the Amundsen that anchored Fred Chenelle.
11:56It was the Amundsen that anchored Fred's buoys to the seabed.
12:00Now Fred will send a radio signal to a small receiver on the buoy,
12:04telling it to release the anchor and float to the surface.
12:11From the deck, Fred sends the signal.
12:16But as the deck team waits, there's no sign of the buoy.
12:20Now I'm getting anxious.
12:22It's been 25 minutes.
12:32And then it happens.
12:35Hey, there!
12:36Hey, right there!
12:42Let's rock and roll!
12:52But the hard part has only just begun.
12:55Captain Julian must manoeuvre his 100-metre vessel
12:58right up beside a buoy no bigger than a portable TV.
13:02Right there.
13:04Right beside the boat.
13:10Textbook, just the way it's supposed to happen.
13:14Here it comes.
13:16These guys are broke.
13:24For the rest of the day,
13:26Captain Julian sails from one buoy to the next,
13:29the deck team hauling them from the water.
13:33The operation goes off without a hitch.
13:36But as the sun sets, the Amundsen is still behind schedule.
13:44The next morning, trying to make up for the delay in Saks Harbour,
13:48Captain Julian steers the Amundsen further into the Beaufort Sea.
13:53His next target is 55 kilometres west of Saks Harbour.
13:58Three moorings anchored to the seabed by the Amundsen a year ago.
14:03Each is a cable, over three football fields long,
14:07strung with scientific instruments.
14:09For 12 months, they've measured everything
14:12from water temperature to light intensity.
14:15It's data critical to Pascal Massot and Steve Gagné.
14:19The moorings that they need to recover will tell them
14:22how the shrinking ice cap is changing the biological
14:25and chemical make-up of Arctic waters.
14:36As the deck team prepares for the recovery,
14:39René Hardy gives Pascal the safety once over.
14:51Despite the jokes, it's a dangerous job.
14:55Steve and Pascal will retrieve the mooring
14:57by transmitting a radio signal to release it from the anchor.
15:01The boys will then haul the monster to the surface.
15:05From there, it's up to Pascal and Steve to hook the mooring
15:09and the ship's 500-horsepower winch to haul it in.
15:15There's no room for error.
15:17One slip and the two-ton mooring
15:19could drag Steve and Pascal into two-degree water.
15:24Without survival suits, they'd last just four minutes.
15:28If everything falls down,
15:30somebody can cut feet in the rope and down he goes.
15:39The winds are a little stronger than expected.
15:42Using GPS to guide him,
15:44Captain Julien carefully directs the Amundsen into position.
15:48OK, we spot the mooring.
15:50We spot the mooring just in front of the ship.
15:53Oh, there it is.
15:58One-zero for the Amundsen.
16:00But the game isn't over.
16:05Captain Julien carefully steers the massive icebreaker
16:08closer to the mooring.
16:10Close enough to pick it up,
16:12but not harm the delicate scientific equipment.
16:15And if it bangs against the hull of the ship,
16:18then you risk damaging the instruments.
16:21And if they're significantly damaged,
16:23you risk losing the data
16:25that you've been recovering for the last year.
16:29But as the mooring is hauled in...
16:32OK, whoa, whoa, stop, stop.
16:34The hook, the hook, the hook is not OK there.
16:37It's open.
16:39Look at the hook.
16:42Rated at 2,000 kilograms,
16:45the massive mooring has ripped the hook apart.
16:51To save the scientific instruments,
16:53René's crew must recover the hook without losing the line.
16:57If they drop it,
16:59a half a million dollars' worth of equipment could be damaged.
17:03It's a struggle,
17:05but the deck team finally retrieves the gear.
17:08That was a close call
17:10because the shackle was holding only by a little piece here, so...
17:17It's a delay Captain Julien did not need.
17:20To recover the time lost in Saks Harbour,
17:23the Amundsen must retrieve two more moorings before dark.
17:30On the deck, the crew move fast,
17:32and before the day is out,
17:34all three moorings are on board.
17:37OK, well done.
17:43We've done very good today.
17:45We were expecting to do only two moorings, we did three.
17:49Although we lost that evening, last night,
17:52because the plane came in late.
17:54So we're doing well.
17:56Phase two is complete.
17:58The Amundsen is back on schedule.
18:01Now the real test begins.
18:03Captain Julien turns due north
18:06and heads for the Northwest Passage.
18:13After a night of sailing north,
18:15Captain Julien now has just one goal.
18:18Find ice.
18:20And not just any ice.
18:22Kerry Warner is researching multi-year flows,
18:25ice that has survived more than two summers.
18:29And the deadline is tight.
18:31Keith Levasque has scheduled just 36 hours
18:34for this part of the expedition.
18:40But Captain Julien faces a major problem.
18:43He can barely see.
18:45The ship is about 100 metres long,
18:46so we have maybe one or two ships' length of visibility.
18:50So we're, yeah, we're blind.
18:53After sailing 460 kilometres,
18:56the Amundsen is at the western end of the Northwest Passage,
19:00at the edge of the polar ice cap.
19:03Now Captain Julien must find a way into the pack
19:06so Kerry and her team can get to work.
19:09To complete her research,
19:11Kerry Warner needs to extract cores of ice from a flow.
19:15To do that, the flow must be old and solid.
19:19So hopefully I can get some solid cores
19:22that I can't actually get my data and can't actually work with.
19:27It's up to Captain Julien to find the right piece.
19:31And there's only one way for him to do that.
19:34Use his eyes and years of Arctic experience.
19:39I need to be able to break in the piece too,
19:42so if it's too thick,
19:45it's no good.
19:47If it's not thick enough, it's no good.
19:50But the fog is getting in his way.
19:53It's also putting the Amundsen in danger.
19:56She may be an icebreaker, but she's not ice-proof.
20:02On the surface, multi-year flows look harmless.
20:06But below the water lies a hidden keel of ice up to 30 metres deep.
20:12It could puncture Amundsen's 5-centimetre steel hull in seconds.
20:18This is, yeah, this is big stuff.
20:21This is exactly the type of stuff we need to be careful of.
20:25For us, we're at the edge of the capability of the icebreaker,
20:29so we have to be very careful.
20:32It takes two to control the Amundsen.
20:35Captain Julien on the throttle.
20:38And Officer René Hardy at the wheel.
20:41Together, the two men carefully guide the Amundsen through the ice pack.
20:54In this weather, radar is critical.
20:57But still, the captain is worried.
21:03And for good reason.
21:09Look at the size and the height of this one.
21:12This is the real stuff, I can tell you that.
21:15This is a multi-year flow.
21:17This thing is sticking out maybe three metres out of the water.
21:21So that means it has probably a draft of...
21:24I don't know.
21:26It's probably a thickness over ten metres.
21:29And it's solid ice.
21:31While Captain Julien can steer past this killer iceberg,
21:35the chances of hitting another one are high.
21:38Pieces have moved.
21:40We don't see squads, so we'll be a little bit like going blind
21:44just as we see one,
21:46because we've got not even half a mile of visibility.
21:49I'll just give it a small...
21:51So Captain Julien decides to get out of the pack.
21:54Carefully, he reverses the ship and backs up into open water.
22:06The plan now is to head further north along the edge of the ice,
22:10wait for the fog to dissipate
22:12and search for a new way back into the pack.
22:15Meanwhile, Kerry is losing precious research time.
22:19Conditions have stopped me from doing what I wanted to do today,
22:23so everything is pretty much on a standstill right now.
22:30Finally, just after lunch, the fog begins to clear.
22:36You see exactly the same thing that the radar set image is showing?
22:40Yeah.
22:42On the radar, Captain Julien spots what he's been looking for.
22:46Multi-year ice that he can break through.
22:49Probably those are small flows, but this is open water.
22:52You can see there's probably a strip of ice
22:55that we're going to get behind this.
22:58But before he launches his ship back into the ice pack,
23:02the captain calls the engine room
23:04and asks chief engineer Vincent Grundin for everything the Amundsen's got.
23:12Just put the 110% of power.
23:18The Amundsen's six diesel engines are turbocharged.
23:22Together, they pump out 15,000 horsepower.
23:26At 110%, engineering assistant Jean Bernier
23:30keeps a constant watch for problems.
23:34Normally, the Amundsen runs on just two engines.
23:38Now Grundin and his team give Captain Julien all six.
23:43It's multi-year ice, so we have to get in a lot of power.
23:50On the bridge, Captain Julien drives the ship into the pack.
23:56When it comes to ice breaking, it's all about might.
24:00And on the Amundsen, might comes from the ship's unique design.
24:05A rounded hull helps the Amundsen ride up onto the pack.
24:10A sharp ridge near the bow, called an ice knife, cracks the flow.
24:15The reinforced steel weight of the ship then lands on the ice.
24:20The captain has spotted a flow.
24:23But he has no idea if he's made the right choice.
24:27Whether this is the right piece of ice for Kerry and her team.
24:31Using thrusters on the bow that allow the Amundsen to move sideways,
24:35he carefully checks the ice.
24:39The Amundsen's ice is very thin,
24:42so it's hard to tell whether it's the right piece of ice.
24:47Using thrusters on the bow that allow the Amundsen to move sideways,
24:52he carefully parks his ship next to the ice.
24:56This is pretty straight, so for me it's easy to get in
24:59and I can give you this piece.
25:01I don't know if it has any interest for you.
25:04You can scan this thing too.
25:06Whatever you need.
25:08Let's go right here.
25:10This is my office out here, and I love it.
25:17Wait, don't put it there.
25:19Step back.
25:21I'm going to sample it right here.
25:23Kerry is under pressure.
25:25The delay in finding this flow has already cut her time on the ice
25:29from 36 hours to less than 30.
25:34Did you get any in there?
25:36I think I got it.
25:38Yeah, go.
25:40OK, let's go.
25:42Like counting rings on a tree to determine its age,
25:45Kerry is drilling ice cores to learn what impact
25:48temperatures in the past had on the ice.
25:52But the ice is proving to be a problem.
25:55Even this far north, warmer temperatures have melted holes in the flow.
26:00It makes walking treacherous.
26:02The whole team is under strict orders to stay on the same path
26:06like soldiers walking through a minefield.
26:09It just keeps going up over there.
26:11Oh, there it is.
26:13Temperatures are also having a disastrous impact on Kerry's research.
26:17Her ice core samples are crumbling in her hands.
26:26Some measurements will be impossible to make.
26:29Well, as far as coring goes, the ice is all broken up,
26:32so it's going to be virtually impossible for me to try and get
26:35microstructure and density out of this, but I'm going to try my best.
26:39All right, folks, we're done.
26:41The ice is really rotten and I think it is related to the fact that
26:44the sea surface temperatures are much warmer in the Arctic Ocean
26:48and thus the ice is significantly affected.
26:52I am actually studying a dying breed.
26:55It's like trying to find a snow leopard or something in the wild.
26:5912 hours into her 36 hours on the ice,
27:02Kerry does not have what she needs.
27:12To find bigger, older and more solid ice for Kerry,
27:16Captain Julian must head further north.
27:22But this close to the ice pack, it's dangerous to travel at night.
27:29After a few hours of searching, Captain Julian has no choice.
27:33He has to anchor and wait for the morning light.
27:42As dawn breaks, the hunt is on again.
27:47But Captain Julian has to move fast.
27:50In just 12 hours, the expedition will turn south again.
27:53Scientists have other work to do.
27:56If Captain Julian hopes to find Kerry's perfect ice,
28:00this is his last chance.
28:04It doesn't take long for the captain to find exactly what he's looking for.
28:19Carefully, he begins steering his ship towards the flow.
28:28To get next to the ice, Captain Julian must move fast.
28:33He must back the Amundsen up,
28:35putting the vulnerable rudder and propeller in danger.
28:38They're oversized and stronger than a regular ship,
28:41but they're still the weak part of the ship.
28:44And if you damage your rudder and your prop, that's it.
28:47This mission is over. You go back home.
28:50It's an extremely delicate operation.
28:53The Amundsen is longer than a football field
28:56and weighs more than 7,000 tonnes.
28:59Nudging her gently up against the ice flow
29:02is Captain Julian's 30 years of experience.
29:05We're here at carry-on and I think this is the best we can do.
29:09You're good with this?
29:11Yeah, this is going to work for me.
29:13Yeah? OK.
29:15Be careful. Watch where you're walking.
29:18Make sure the blades don't touch the bottom or cut you.
29:21This time, it's make or break for Kerry.
29:24Fail and she'll leave this trip empty-handed.
29:29To protect the team, a polar bear watch is mounted.
29:33Jonathan Gagnon is armed and ready.
29:36Everybody knows that polar bears are white
29:39and they're the master of camouflage out here.
29:42And it's pretty difficult to see them,
29:44so basically I'm just the last defence, in the worst case.
29:48Alex, do you want to bring it back to this spot? I like this spot.
29:52Yeah, but just throw it aside for now.
29:54Undaunted, Kerry hits the ice running.
29:57Voila.
29:59We got a core, but it's halfway out.
30:02Once again, Kerry is taking ice cores, as many as she can get.
30:09And this time, her samples are perfect.
30:12That is a beautiful core.
30:14You're performing like a trophy again.
30:16It is a trophy.
30:18This hole is too slow, though.
30:21But time is running out.
30:23From the ship, they've spotted a polar bear on another ice float
30:27heading towards the Amundsen.
30:29Taking no chances, everyone packs up.
30:32Oh, that sucks.
30:34Perfection.
30:36Despite the quick exit, Kerry has what she needs.
30:40This one went fantastic. Perfect in every way.
30:43And just in time.
30:45Only three days remain before this leg of the expedition is over.
30:51But as the Amundsen turns south, Captain Julian gets bad news.
30:56A crew member is dangerously ill and needs to get to hospital, fast.
31:01I got noticed by the nurse that one of the persons on board
31:05needed to be evacuated.
31:07So all the resources on the ship, they converge
31:10to make sure that that person gets home safely.
31:13But Amundsen is over 800 kilometres away.
31:18But Amundsen is over 800 kilometres north of the nearest hospital,
31:22far beyond the range of the ship's helicopter.
31:25Captain Julian veers off course
31:28and shuts down all scientific research.
31:31As the ship rushes towards the coast of the Northwest Territories,
31:35it's now a race to get close enough to make the emergency flight.
31:39And the Arctic storm that's been holding off
31:42is now heading straight for the Amundsen.
31:48Deep in the Canadian high Arctic,
31:51the Amundsen has left the ice behind and is rushing south.
31:55A crew member is dangerously ill
31:58and all research is on hold until he can be flown to safety.
32:02But the ship is still more than 370 kilometres from the coast
32:07and 160 kilometres from the nearest hospital at Injevik.
32:11Still too far for the helicopter to make the emergency flight.
32:17And Captain Julian faces another deadly problem.
32:21The Arctic storm is closing in.
32:23It could stop him from getting close enough to shore
32:26to launch the helicopter.
32:36It's not the only danger.
32:38There's also freezing rain.
32:47So maybe in two or three hours the temperature will rise
32:51and probably will turn into rain.
32:54And later on in the afternoon it will be snow.
32:57So it won't be a problem for me.
32:59But right now I can't do anything because it's a freezing status.
33:07For the scientists, their chance of a lifetime is in jeopardy.
33:11The emergency has forced the Amundsen off course
33:14and with just three days left and dozens of experiments to complete,
33:18the weather is so rough even lab work is impossible.
33:24As the Amundsen nears the coast, Daniel Daubet has good news.
33:39Finally, Daniel is able to fly the sick crewman to hospital.
33:44But the danger is far from over.
33:47Visibility is poor.
33:49And there's not a town or person in this barren part of the world
33:53should anything go wrong with Daniel's helicopter.
34:07There's another worry.
34:09It's mid-afternoon.
34:11Darkness may stop Daniel from getting back to the ship,
34:14making it impossible to finish the mission.
34:21Just before dusk, the deck crew finally spots it.
34:25Daniel's light on the horizon.
34:31With his safety pilot back on board,
34:33Captain Julian can move to his next location in the Beaufort Sea.
34:37The mission is on again.
34:39But making the deadline won't be easy.
34:46On deck, the scientists get to work taking water samples.
34:51Down below, mapping of the seabed begins again.
34:55Researchers are rushing to finish their experiments and collect their data.
34:59But there's tension.
35:01The Arctic storm that's been tracking the Amundsen is closing in fast.
35:10And the next morning, it hits.
35:15Undaunted, Captain Julian continues to steer north.
35:19He's heading for a location 90 kilometres from Saks Harbour,
35:23the location of the last task of the mission.
35:31And it's a huge one,
35:33deploying two mooring wires hundreds of metres long,
35:36strung with scientific instruments.
35:39If Captain Julian fails to deliver,
35:41the science team will lose a year of data.
35:46Despite the storm, he decides to push on.
35:53But the ship is taking a beating.
35:58Windblown spray is turning to ice on the weather tower,
36:01loaded with expensive scientific instruments,
36:04threatening to take it out.
36:06To save the tower, they've got to get the ice off.
36:09Now.
36:11OK, attention, take care.
36:13There's a big one coming.
36:17In rough seas, it's dangerous work.
36:20It's minus 10 degrees and fingers are frozen to the bone.
36:25A rogue wave could easily tear a crewman off the tower.
36:31The woodhouse, the bridge have to tell me
36:34when there is a big wave coming in.
36:40Down below, Steve and Pascal complete their preparations.
36:43For them, the weather is a disaster.
36:45The seas are too rough to deploy the moorings.
36:48If the conditions don't change by tomorrow,
36:50the last day of the expedition,
36:52they could lose a year's worth of data.
37:05Wednesday, east early 25, diminishing to light.
37:09But the latest weather report does not look good.
37:12The winds refuse to fall.
37:14East early 20, increasing 30.
37:17Late in the night, we already have 30.
37:21It's too strong to deploy the moorings.
37:24And the forecast for the final day of the mission is not much better.
37:28It doesn't look good for the mooring, I'll tell you that.
37:31Unless the wave system is not as big as expected,
37:34I can hardly see how we could pull this one off.
37:38Captain Julien knows he has no choice.
37:41No option except to try to find a way to get the job done.
37:49It's the last day of the mission
37:51and the Amundsen is now in position to deploy the final two moorings.
38:01Despite the continuing high winds and rough seas,
38:04Captain Julien decides to roll the dice.
38:07We're playing bluff or poker with the weather.
38:11So we're going to go there and we're not going to hold our cards.
38:15It's lucky for us that the captain is a gambler.
38:21Seven stories below the bridge, Pascal Mossot and his team get ready.
38:27I'm happy to be able to do this before the end of the trip.
38:30It's a good sign for this trip.
38:33This is the mooring hauled out of the Beaufort Sea earlier in the mission.
38:37Data was removed from the instruments
38:40and now they're ready to go back in the water.
38:42But it won't be easy.
38:44The instruments are separated only by 5 or 10 meters,
38:47so it's going to be pretty tricky to deploy.
38:50The Zodiac will haul the massive 325-meter mooring
38:54away from the side of the Amundsen.
38:57Then the deck crew will let the mooring go
39:00and a 635-kilogram anchor will drag it to the bottom.
39:04We're ready, we're in position.
39:06The mooring is all set up.
39:09People are well secure.
39:11The Zodiac is in the water.
39:16It's a go.
39:19Navigation officer Lisa Earle is at the helm of the Zodiac.
39:23She has to get close enough to the Amundsen
39:26so that deckhand Yannick Gagnon can hook the mooring.
39:30It's definitely not ideal conditions.
39:35The water is 2 degrees and hits Yannick like a sledgehammer.
39:40The swell is making every move dangerous.
39:49OK, stop.
39:55The Zodiac is rising and falling over 2 meters.
40:01Threatening to throw Yannick into the freezing water
40:04and crush the Zodiac against the steel hull of the ship.
40:10Get in a better position for the approach.
40:13Carefully, Lisa Earle and Yannick Gagnon
40:17Carefully, Lisa manoeuvres the Zodiac towards the yellow buoy.
40:31On the second try, Yannick hooks the buoy.
40:35But the swell is too much.
40:38Drenched to the skin, Yannick battles the buoy
40:41while Lisa fights to keep the Zodiac upright.
40:47OK.
40:59As the Zodiac pulls away from the ship...
41:06On deck, Steve and Pascal carefully lower each instrument.
41:12It takes nearly an hour to string out the mooring.
41:24Everyone moves quickly.
41:26No one knows if the weather will deteriorate again.
41:30Finally, the anchors are attached.
41:33Two train wheels.
41:35635 kilograms worth.
41:41Stop the sensor.
41:49In a matter of seconds, the buoy is gone.
41:55The entire mooring is dragged to the seabed.
41:59Yeah, it feels good.
42:01Good one.
42:03Went pretty good, despite the timeline that we had.
42:09The deck team immediately starts preparing the second mooring,
42:14the last task of the mission.
42:17It takes another 12 hours,
42:19but by the end of day 14, the job is finally done.
42:33We made it.
42:35We completed 100% of what we came here to do,
42:38and it feels really good.
42:41This is the beach we're used to.
42:43Once we have the window, we do it well.
42:46So I'm happy, 100%.
42:49The Amundsen began this expedition with one goal.
42:53Take 24 scientists into the Northwest Passage
42:57and bring them back with new data never retrieved before.
43:01That is a beautiful car.
43:04Despite deadly ice, an arctic storm and constant danger,
43:08she succeeded.
43:10Captain Julian and his crew wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
43:15Great opportunities, great people, great challenges.
43:18This is the Amundsen, I guess.
43:21But the ship's journey isn't over yet.
43:24For the Amundsen, there are more expeditions to come.
43:28More science to explore at the top of the world.
43:33NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology