Frozen Planet.S1.E6 ∙ The Last Frontier
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TVTranscript
00:30The polar regions are more hostile to life than any other part of the Earth.
00:47Human beings have little natural protection against the cold.
00:53So why, for thousands of years, have we endured the hardships that come from living here?
01:01And what keeps us coming back today to the farthest extremes of our planet?
01:24Winter in the most northerly town on Earth, Longyearbyen.
01:30Here, for three months of the year, the sun never rises.
01:36Only the full moon, which never sets as far north as this, sheds any light into the darkness.
01:43This town was built here in Svalbard, only 700 miles from the North Pole, to support a mine.
02:05The Arctic is rich in coal, oil and minerals.
02:14In Siberia, the Russian Arctic, the mineral wealth has given rise to large cities.
02:26This is Norilsk, the coldest city on Earth.
02:33Temperatures regularly drop to below minus 50 degrees centigrade.
02:39Fuel freezes in the tanks of the trucks and has to be melted in a rather alarming way.
02:51Ships are frozen into the rivers for nine months of the year.
02:56The ice must be cut away from their hulls because steel becomes brittle and vulnerable to the thickening ice.
03:04Like all Arctic cities, Norilsk depends on a power plant, which heats everybody's home.
03:12Waste heat from the plant even keeps a lake ice-free all winter.
03:17Even at air temperatures of minus 50, the Norilsk Walrus Club come here every day.
03:34There is evidence that a dip in cold water is good for the immune system,
03:40but when the water is a degree above freezing, it's hard to imagine that the benefits could outweigh the pain.
03:48Today's Arctic city-dwellers can lead an almost normal existence, thanks to technology.
03:56But towns and cities are very recent arrivals.
04:01The Arctic is the world's largest city.
04:05The Arctic is the world's largest city.
04:09The Arctic is the world's largest city.
04:13But towns and cities are very recent arrivals in the polar landscape.
04:20The polar regions are the least populated part of our planet.
04:25Most of the Arctic remains empty of human beings.
04:33In the north, the pole itself is covered by a freezing ocean.
04:37Around it lie vast lands, of which Siberia is the largest and coldest.
04:58Human beings first ventured onto the great plains of Siberia, the tundra, thousands of years ago.
05:04Human beings first ventured onto the great plains of Siberia, the tundra, thousands of years ago.
05:07And some live here still.
05:18The Dolgan are one of the few tribes who still live in much the same way as those first Arctic pioneers.
05:34They are reindeer people.
05:37Reindeer are one of the few animals that can endure these bitterly cold conditions,
05:42scraping a living by nibbling tiny plants that survive beneath the snow.
05:51Nobody has ever totally tamed reindeer,
05:54but today's animals are docile enough to allow the Dolgan to drive them across the tundra
05:59in an everlasting search for their food.
06:04This is a typical Dolgan village, home to just two extended families.
06:35Here, in the coldest part of the Arctic,
06:38the only way to get water for nine months of the year
06:42is to melt ice from the frozen rivers.
06:50At least there's no problem preventing food from decay.
06:54Outside is one big, deep freeze.
06:59Survival is only possible because of reindeer fur.
07:03It makes wonderfully warm clothing,
07:06though small children still have to be sewn into their clothes to prevent instant frostbite.
07:13The Dolgan even use reindeer fur to insulate their huts.
07:20This is living at its most communal.
07:23Good relations with the in-laws are essential.
07:29Reindeer are so valuable that the people only eat them if they have no other choice.
07:34Their favorite food is raw fish from the frozen rivers.
07:41Every week or so, these families have to travel to find new feeding grounds for their herds.
07:47First, they round up their strongest animals with lassoons,
07:51a skill that their ancestors brought with them when they came north from Central Asia.
08:03And then, literally, they move house.
08:17Move it!
08:29A whole Dolgan village can move on in just a few hours.
08:33Over the year, they travel hundreds of miles like this across the vast tundra.
08:47It was the herds of reindeer wandering over the lands of the Arctic
08:51that brought the first Dolgan here.
08:55Other people, however, took on an even greater challenge.
08:58They left the land and looked for their food out on the frozen sea.
09:06The first Dolgan were brought here by a group of reindeer.
09:10They left the land and looked for their food out on the frozen sea.
09:21Here, in the shifting world of the sea ice, they found sea mammals.
09:41Pasha
10:01Pasha leads a group of Inuit men in Chukotka, the northeastern corner of Russia.
10:08The men have traveled many hours from home in the bitter cold,
10:12fighting their way through a dangerous maze.
10:19These hundred-ton ice floes could crush their small boats like eggshells.
10:38Pasha
10:41The men have big families, and this is the only way they have of feeding them.
10:49Pasha is looking for the puffs of steamy air produced by their quarry.
10:55An animal that is bigger than many Arctic whales.
10:59Pasha
11:04A two-ton seal with formidable tusks.
11:14A walrus.
11:16It's heading for open water. They must reach it before it dives.
11:21Pasha
11:26An angry walrus could easily overturn the boats.
11:37The harpoon sticks firmly in the walrus's thick layer of blubber,
11:41and floats attached to it to prevent the animal from diving.
11:52Pasha
12:01Pasha wants to kill quickly with a single clean shot.
12:07Pasha
12:19The hunters are exhausted after a long day, but they still have a lot more work to do.
12:27This enormous prize will feed everyone's family for weeks.
12:37It will take many hours to butcher. Nothing will go to waste.
12:50The meat is parceled up in bags made of the animal's skin.
13:00It's midnight, but the sun is still up.
13:04Summer is almost here.
13:12This far north, the seasons change fast.
13:16The sun is rising higher and growing warmer with each passing day.
13:34Winter
13:39The transformation from winter to summer is so dramatic
13:43that it dominates the lives of all who live here.
13:49The ice around the coast has almost disappeared,
13:52and gone are the seals and walrus that Pasha and his men relied on.
13:59They set off on another search for food.
14:03Pasha
14:08Their destination is an island in the bay.
14:18Their walrus skin boat is an ancient design,
14:21light enough to carry high up the beach so it doesn't drift away.
14:34Kolya
14:37Once again, the men will have to work as a team,
14:41but one of them will be taking very serious risks.
14:49The lightest man in the group, Kolya, is also the oldest.
14:54He will trust his life to a length of old nylon rope and the strength of his friends.
15:04Kolya
15:16These hundred-meter-high cliffs are home to thousands of guillemots,
15:21and Kolya is after their eggs.
15:28He relies on the men above to lower him to the right place.
15:34Kolya is tough, but his stress is obvious.
15:46The men lower Kolya down to the bottom of the cliff,
15:49and from there he works his way back up the crumbling rock face.
16:03Kolya
16:09Stop!
16:23This mission will produce no more than about 50 eggs,
16:28but at least there's no need to carry a packed lunch.
16:34Kolya
16:45Over the years, many men have fallen to their deaths collecting seabird eggs.
16:51This is truly dangerous work.
17:04These Arctic peoples can't grow crops.
17:08The frozen ground never thaws to allow them to do so.
17:12They rely on animals for their food,
17:15so the chance to collect a few dozen eggs has to be taken,
17:19even if it means risking your life.
17:34July
17:38The change of season has transformed the Arctic's coastline,
17:42and inland, the difference is just as extreme.
17:50July temperatures on the tundra can be surprisingly high,
17:53over 30 degrees centigrade.
17:56Rain deer now move not just to find fresh pasture,
18:00but also to avoid these summer swarms of blood-sucking flies.
18:06To keep their animals healthy, the local herders are driving them to the sea.
18:13The cooler conditions on the coast bring relief to the herds,
18:17and the chance every year for different tribes to meet.
18:22Pasha and his hunters live close by.
18:25They've had word of the herders' arrival.
18:34The hunters' cargo is highly prized for the winter ahead.
18:38Fat-rich walrus meat that's been fermenting in the skin bags for two months.
18:45Today, we'll see an egg hatch.
18:47Today, we'll see an exchange that has taken place every summer for centuries.
18:53The herders barter reindeer skins for walrus meat.
18:58Pooling their resources has helped these communities to survive for so long.
19:07A fry-up of guillemot eggs is all the better when shared with old friends.
19:18Summer brings a brief chance for isolated peoples to meet.
19:23This is an opportunity to exchange news, arrange weddings, and tell the latest jokes.
19:39By August, the summer is over.
19:42Winter arrives only too swiftly,
19:44but the peoples of the Arctic who came here originally to hunt
19:48have devised ways to deal with the hostile and changing conditions
19:52that have stood the test of time.
19:56Today, there's a new draw to the Arctic.
20:07This is Greenland, a territory of Denmark now known to be rich in oil and precious metals.
20:15DENMARK
20:25This sled team is part of the Danish Special Forces.
20:30They're on one of the world's toughest journeys, a 2,000-mile patrol,
20:34to maintain Denmark's claim to this valuable wilderness.
20:38DENMARK
20:42But the patrol's mission is only possible with the help of man's oldest Arctic companion.
20:55Rasmus and Roland have spent the summer months training
20:59and getting to know their team of Greenland huskies.
21:02They need to have a very close bond with every single dog.
21:08And Armstrong, actually the oldest dog in the whole patrol,
21:14but he's still going strong.
21:18The men are totally dependent on the stamina of their dogs,
21:22which will keep on running all through the bitter cold of the winter.
21:32This is the last time the team will see the sun for two months.
21:39DENMARK
21:41The most intelligent dogs always lead, choosing the safest route,
21:46feeling for hidden crevasses and thin ice.
21:59This is one of six teams that patrol the whole of northeast Greenland,
22:04the only people in an empty wilderness that is larger than France and Great Britain combined.
22:13Conditions here are too extreme for current mining technology,
22:18but someday ways will be found of digging out the huge mineral treasures
22:22that lie hidden within these mountains.
22:27The patrol secures Denmark's claim to do so simply by being here.
22:35DENMARK
22:44But it's not the prospect of getting rich that makes men sign up for this patrol.
22:49It's a chance for the journey of a lifetime.
22:53The team travel over the ice for six months, covering up to 40 miles in a day.
22:59FRIENDSHIP AND TEAMWORK
23:01Friendship and teamwork are essential if they're to succeed.
23:07The dogs can sleep outside no matter how cold it gets.
23:11Rasmus and Roland have a nice, cozy tent.
23:19They have a few modern conveniences,
23:22including a radio with which they report their position back to headquarters in Denmark
23:27and catch up on the latest news.
23:33Right now it's the section of money.
23:35What's new in the economy in Denmark?
23:37The financial crisis and all the other things that we actually don't care about out here.
23:45If you can cope with the conditions, then winter in the Arctic can be magical,
23:50especially when the greatest light show on earth is overhead.
23:58BOREALIS
24:04The first humans in the Arctic believed the northern lights, or aurora borealis,
24:09were dancing spirits.
24:11Now we know the lights are caused by electrically charged particles streaming from the sun,
24:17attracted by the magnetic pull of the earth's poles.
24:28ALASKA
24:33A big aurora storm contains enough energy to knock out satellite communications
24:39and power supplies across the northern hemisphere,
24:42so understanding the aurora is vital.
24:51In Alaska, rockets are used to study the lights.
24:57A hundred miles up at the edge of outer space,
25:00the rockets release a cloud of glowing smoke that's visible from earth.
25:09The smoke is blown by fierce winds, which are generated by the aurora.
25:18Mapping the movement of the smoke helps scientists to understand
25:22how this unearthly spectacle affects our atmosphere.
25:28ALASKA
25:46They constantly monitor the aurora to help protect us from its effects,
25:51so the rest of us can simply enjoy the magic,
25:54just as the Arctic's first people must have done thousands of years ago.
26:14For all the many peoples of the Arctic,
26:17the aurora is a reminder of the sun's presence throughout the dark days of winter.
26:25But when the sun is below the horizon in the north,
26:29it's above it at the southern end of our planet.
26:35Here, humanity's history has been very different.
26:44Antarctica is far colder than the Arctic,
26:47and 99% of its land is permanently blanketed by ice.
26:54Antarctica is so utterly remote and inhospitable
26:58that no people ever settled here.
27:04It was only 200 years ago
27:06that the first human beings even glimpsed the vast continent.
27:18The first people who crossed the southern ocean
27:21did so for the same reason that the first people went to the Arctic Ocean,
27:26to hunt sea mammals.
27:40The populations of whales and seals
27:43are only now beginning to recover from 150 years of intensive hunting.
27:52But none of those hunters ever tried to venture
27:56into the frigid interior of the Antarctic continent.
28:02The first successful attempt to do that was made only 100 years ago.
28:10This hut was the base for one of the most famous hunters in the world.
28:15It was from here, in 1911,
28:18that Captain Scott and his team launched their attempt
28:22to be the first people to reach the South Pole.
28:28The cold, dry conditions have brought the Arctic to a standstill,
28:33and it's only now that people are starting to understand
28:36what it was like to live in the Arctic.
28:39The Arctic is the home of the coal.
28:45The cold, dry conditions have preserved the interior of the hut
28:49almost exactly as the expedition members left it.
28:58Expedition photographer Herbert Ponting
29:01captured the spirit of the age of exploration.
29:09The expedition members borrowed the techniques of the Arctic peoples.
29:14They wore fur gloves and boots and burned seal blubber to keep warm.
29:22They built sleds based on a traditional Inuit design.
29:32They even made their sleeping bags from reindeer hide.
29:40Scott and his men sought the glory of discovery
29:44in an untouched wilderness and died in the attempt.
29:49But he and those who followed him
29:51were the first to reveal the splendour of Antarctica to the rest of the world.
30:04The lure of adventure still draws intrepid travellers today.
30:09Like the first explorers, most modern visitors come during the brief summer
30:14when the cold relents enough for the toughest icebreakers
30:18to reach the edge of the continent.
30:20But most still need a helicopter to go further.
30:33The scenery in Antarctica is magnificent and dramatic,
30:37but what really attracts people here is the wildlife.
30:43An emperor penguin colony is a particular highlight.
30:50Because human beings didn't arrive in the Antarctic until the past few centuries,
30:55the animals have never developed a fear of man.
30:59But very strict regulations govern how close people can approach any wildlife.
31:07And when visitors leave, they must take every trace of their visit away with them.
31:29ANTARCTICA
31:40Since 1959, the whole of Antarctica has been protected by international treaty.
31:48The nations of the world have agreed that no country can claim Antarctica
31:52or prospect for its oil or minerals.
31:56The only significant human activities allowed here
32:00are those that extend our scientific knowledge.
32:06But unlocking Antarctica's secrets requires some unusual tools.
32:26SUBMARINE
32:30This brand-new robot submarine
32:33has been designed to go far beyond the limits of any human.
32:48Today, this diver is putting the sub through its paces
32:52on one of its very first dives.
32:56It's designed to be small and nimble enough
32:59to explore the Antarctic seabed without damaging it.
33:18The submarine's mission, as it journeys into the unknown,
33:22is to map the seafloor and look for species new to science.
33:41The seawater here is a degree below zero,
33:44so even the toughest human diver can't stay down for long.
33:49The submarine will explore deeper under the ice
33:53than anyone has gone before.
34:01From the depths of the ocean to the highest peaks of the land,
34:05new discoveries are being made,
34:07even in places which were first visited over a century ago.
34:19MOUNTAIN
34:24Mount Erebus was an irresistible draw
34:27to the legendary explorer Ernest Shackleton.
34:30In 1908, his men became the first to climb this active volcano.
34:35They soon discovered that this is the coldest place on the Antarctic coast.
34:41Today's explorers still have to guard against frostbite
34:44in the height of summer,
34:46when temperatures rarely creep above minus 30 degrees centigrade.
34:56Shackleton's men had no idea of the extraordinary spectacle
35:00that lay beneath their feet.
35:11Under the ice and snow is a network of caves
35:15that only a handful of expert cavers have ever dared to enter.
35:26This is the first scientific expedition to explore them in detail.
35:35Here, there are ice formations that occur nowhere else on Earth.
35:40Each cave contains its own unique collection of structures.
36:11MOUNTAIN
36:15The team is mapping the caves
36:17to see how their shape changes over the years.
36:21Okay, black sites are here.
36:32That's 126.8 degrees on the angle.
36:36126.8, correct.
36:38Steam leaking from vents in the side of the volcano
36:42is constantly sculpting this labyrinth that extends deep under the ice.
36:48When the hot breath of the volcano hits the icy walls,
36:53the moisture in the air freezes into beautiful shapes.
37:10Some of the crystals are so unusual
37:12that the cavers are investigating a remote
37:15but tantalizing possibility about their formation.
37:21Could it be that some of these extraordinary crystal shapes
37:24are formed by highly specialized bacteria living in the ice?
37:30NOBODY YET KNOWS THE ANSWER
37:44Nobody yet knows the answer.
37:47This is just one of the many strange mysteries
37:50that draw people to work in a place that is so hostile to human life.
38:00While some scientists come to Erebus to explore its bizarre ice caves,
38:06others visit the volcano to study the innermost workings of our planet.
38:16Erebus is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth,
38:20but even so, volcanologists work on the very rim of its crater.
38:26They stand in the bitter cold,
38:28while 100 meters below them is a lava lake
38:31where temperatures are over 1,000 degrees centigrade.
38:38This is a rare glimpse of the molten rock that lies beneath the Earth's crust.
38:56NOBODY YET KNOWS THE ANSWER
39:00But research here is looking up as well as down,
39:04measuring how the gases that bubble out of the volcano
39:07influence the makeup of the air we breathe.
39:14Antarctica is the best place to measure any changes in our atmosphere
39:18because it has the least polluted air on Earth.
39:23It's also the perfect place to launch more outward-looking missions.
39:35This balloon, made of material no thicker than cling film,
39:39will eventually grow to be 300 meters tall.
39:45It will carry a device for detecting cosmic rays,
39:49tiny particles from the beginning of time that are only now reaching Earth.
40:06The balloon will travel to the very edge of outer space
40:10to gather clues about the formation of the universe.
40:20NOBODY YET KNOWS THE ANSWER
40:22Even today, very few ever make the journey inland from the coast.
40:28We still know remarkably little about the interior of the continent.
40:35The people on this plane are trying to answer one of the fundamental questions.
40:39How much ice is there in Antarctica?
40:49They measure the depth of the ice sheet,
40:52which is over 4,000 meters in places, using radar.
40:58Their work will enable us to see
41:00how the volume of Antarctica's ice changes in the future.
41:05It also makes it possible to map a hidden landscape.
41:20THIS PLANE IS FOLLOWING THE SAME ROUTE
41:24THROUGH THE TRANSANTARCTIC MOUNTAINS
41:27THAT CAPTAIN SCOTT TOOK A HUNDRED YEARS AGO.
41:30HIS TEAM HAULED THEIR SLEDS OVER A HUNDRED MILES
41:34UP THIS GLACIER, THE BEARD MOOR.
41:43SKIRTING SEEMINGLY ENDLESS CREVASSES WITH NO MAP TO GUIDE THEM
41:47AND NO IDEA OF WHAT LAY AHEAD,
41:49IT WAS A JOURNEY OF EXTRAORDINARY SUFFERING.
42:03THEIR TARGET LAY BEYOND THE MOUNTAINS,
42:06OVER 3,000 METERS ABOVE SEA LEVEL,
42:09ON THE ANTARCTIC PLATEAU.
42:17AN UNBROKEN SHEET OF ICE LARGER THAN WESTERN EUROPE,
42:21THIS IS THE COLDEST, THE WINDIEST,
42:24THE MOST LIFELESS PLACE ON EARTH.
42:31ROWALD AMUNSON'S TEAM NARROWLY DEFEATED SCOTT'S
42:34TO BECOME THE FIRST PEOPLE TO REACH THE SOUTH POLE
42:38ON THE 14TH OF DECEMBER, 1911.
42:42NOBODY ELSE SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED THE JOURNEY
42:45FOR NEARLY 50 YEARS AFTER THAT.
42:52BUT SINCE 1957, THERE'S BEEN A PERMANENT BASE AT THE SOUTH POLE.
42:57YOU COULD EVEN LAND A PLANE ON THE ICE RUNWAY.
43:02THE EARLY EXPLORERS WOULD BE ASTOUNDED
43:05BY THE FACILITIES AT THE SOUTH POLE TODAY.
43:12CONSTRUCTION WORK ISN'T EASY
43:14WHEN THE AVERAGE SUMMER TEMPERATURE IS MINUS 25°C.
43:18BUT DESPITE THE DIFFICULTIES,
43:20THE MOST HIGH-TECH SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH STATION EVER BUILT
43:24WAS UNVEILED HERE IN 2006.
43:32THE BRAND-NEW AMUNSON-SCOTT SOUTH POLE STATION
43:36IS DESIGNED TO COPE WITH THE WORLD'S MOST EXTREME CONDITIONS.
43:41THE BUILDING'S SLOPING EDGE DEFLECTS THE PREVAILING WIND.
43:45BENEATH, THERE ARE STILTS
43:47THAT CAN RAISE THE WHOLE BUILDING A FURTHER EIGHT METRES
43:50TO KEEP IT ABOVE THE ACCUMULATING SNOW.
44:02LIVING INSIDE IS AS CLOSE TO BEING ON A SPACE STATION
44:05AS YOU CAN FIND ON EARTH.
44:07THIS BASE IS TOTALLY SELF-SUFFICIENT.
44:11THE PEOPLE ARE COMPLETELY CUT OFF FROM THE OUTSIDE WORLD
44:14FOR MORE THAN HALF THE YEAR OVER WINTER.
44:24THE TOTAL DARKNESS MAKES THIS THE PERFECT PLACE
44:27TO STUDY THE NIGHT SKY.
44:36THE GROUP OF STARGAZERS
44:38WILL BE THE MOST ISOLATED COMMUNITY ON OUR PLANET,
44:41BUT THEY WILL HAVE ALL THEIR NEEDS CATERED FOR.
44:49THERE IS EVEN A GREENHOUSE
44:51WHERE FRESH VEGETABLES GROW UNDER ARTIFICIAL LIGHT
44:54ALL THROUGH THE DARKEST, COLDEST WINTER ANYWHERE.
45:09THE SUN SETS IN MARCH AT THE SOUTH POLE
45:13AND WON'T RISE AGAIN FOR SIX MONTHS.
45:21FOR A FEW DAYS OF THIS TIME OF YEAR,
45:24HIGH-ALTITUDE CLOUDS OF ICE CRYSTALS
45:27CONTINUE TO CATCH THE SUNLIGHT
45:29EVEN WHEN THE SUN ITSELF IS FAR BELOW THE HORIZON.
45:39BUT SOON, ALL TRACE OF THE SUN DISAPPEARS
45:43AND TODAY'S OVERWINTERING SCIENTISTS
45:46REMEMBER THE FIRST EXPLORERS.
45:53THESE MEN, WHO ENDURED THE WINTER
45:56AND THE COLD,
45:58WERE THE FIRST EXPLORERS.
46:01THESE MEN, WHO ENDURED THE WINTER
46:03IN FLIMSY WOODEN HUTS,
46:05BORROWED KNOWLEDGE
46:06FROM THE ARCTIC PIONEERS BEFORE THEM.
46:09BUT THEY CAME HERE TO STUDY AND EXPLORE
46:12RATHER THAN TO HUNT OR EXPLOIT.
46:15THEY EMBODIED THE HUMAN SPIRIT
46:17THAT HAS ENABLED US TO SURVIVE AT THE POLES.
46:25HERE, WE'RE PUSHED TO OUR DEATH.
46:29HERE, WE'RE PUSHED TO OUR LIMITS.
46:32BUT IN BEING PUSHED,
46:34HUMANITY HAS ACHIEVED THE EXTRAORDINARY
46:37AND OPENED UP THE LAST FRONTIER.
46:41THE ARCTIC PIONEERS
46:57To tell the story of how we survive at the poles,
47:00Frozen Planet travelled to Siberia,
47:02the far north of Russia,
47:04where most of the Arctic's people live.
47:10The team got to know many extraordinary people.
47:16But one group of men above all really opened their eyes
47:19to what it means to live off the land
47:21in the most unforgiving environment on Earth.
47:26Men who take their life in their hands every day
47:29just to find their food.
47:41Producer Dan Rees led the Frozen Planet team
47:45on their longest journey in the Arctic.
47:49Their mission was to film walrus hunters
47:52in Russia's most remote region, Chukotka,
47:55the closest point to their old enemy, the United States,
47:584,000 miles and nine time zones east of Moscow.
48:03It's still a sensitive region,
48:05and the team soon learned that the border guards
48:08remain twitchy about foreigners with cameras.
48:17To get permission to film,
48:19the crew relied on anthropologist Niobe Thompson,
48:22one of the few Westerners to have worked with the people here.
48:28But even Niobe finds a lot of doors closed to him.
48:33I have experienced a level of red tape
48:37I never could have anticipated.
48:39We've got our Russian visas in our passports.
48:42That's fine, but that's just the beginning.
48:44Here is the special permission given by the security services
48:48to be in the region of Chukotka.
48:51A special permission to be in every one of the population centres
48:55we will visit on our trip.
48:57Permission to shoot with a telephoto lens.
49:01Permission to shoot from a helicopter.
49:06Permission to shoot in a natural reserve.
49:10But we still don't have our migration cards.
49:12I'm trying to get them,
49:14and if we don't get them by the end of the day,
49:16we're going to be deported back to Alaska.
49:18It'll take three months to get new ones.
49:20Niobe's paper chase takes two days,
49:23but finally the team is allowed to begin their journey
49:25to the hunters' camp.
49:27With no roads, sometimes the only passable route
49:30is over the fast-melting surfaces of the lakes.
49:36OK.
49:50They need to be prepared for a quick exit.
50:01The next day, the crew finally reach the coast.
50:04The hunting camp is now just 30 miles away across a bay,
50:08but the crossing could be risky.
50:10The frozen sea is melting fast in the spring sunshine.
50:20Confident it's safe? It's not going to break underneath us?
50:2350-50.
50:2550-50.
50:27The locals employ several generations of Arctic transport
50:31from the ancient to the merely antique.
50:38With the sea ice cracking up beneath them,
50:40Dan has to trust the crew and a tonne of filming gear
50:44to the experience of the locals.
50:47Even by their standards, this was fast becoming a risky journey.
50:52Where the first sleds crossed just minutes before is now impossible.
51:02It's broken right up. We can't cross the leads in the ice here,
51:05so we need to get on some boats,
51:07and the ice is just breaking up too fast for us at the moment.
51:11Fortunately, the hunters from the camp turn up in the nick of time
51:15to rescue the crew for the final leg of the journey.
51:22Six days and 5,000 miles from home,
51:25the crew finally arrive at the place
51:27that will be their home for the next month.
51:37This is an active hunting camp,
51:39and that evening, the team are introduced to the reality
51:42of what it's like to be in the Arctic.
51:44It's a place where you're not alone.
51:46You're not alone.
51:48This is an active hunting camp,
51:50and that evening, the team are introduced to the realities
51:53of fending for yourself in the Arctic.
51:57We've just seen a walrus hunt
52:00out here in the waters of the Bering Sea.
52:03All the meat will be eaten.
52:05They eat an awful lot of the internal organs as well.
52:07They use the skin.
52:09They use the sinews. They use the stomach for making drums.
52:12So it will get used very heavily,
52:14and it is completely free-range.
52:18Wild-caught animal.
52:21You can't grow any vegetables up here,
52:24but sea mammal meat contains all the nutrients the hunters need
52:27and is very low in cholesterol.
52:30Dan is keen to try some of Collier's health food.
52:33Well, this is yesterday's seal,
52:35and there's a chunk of flesh there.
52:38Behind it is some intestine.
52:41We should try a bit.
52:43That's seal intestine.
52:49It's quite fishy.
52:51Fishy rubber.
52:53That's not too bad.
52:55I thought it was going to be more disgusting than it actually is.
52:57The salt helps.
52:59Would he like to try what we eat?
53:02Chicken korma? No?
53:06Don't blame me.
53:08Yours is much better.
53:10I ate this at home.
53:16As well as providing food,
53:18the animals here traditionally provided transport.
53:21Collier and Pasha, the oldest hunters,
53:23keep alive the skill of building walrus-skin boats.
53:27You don't need a welding torch to repair this boat,
53:30just a juicy lump of seal fat to bung any holes.
53:36By living amongst them,
53:38the crew had really begun to get to know the hunters.
53:41But there was one big part of their lives which remained a mystery.
53:48As spring turns to summer,
53:50the hunters head out to an island to gather seabird eggs.
53:54The crew had heard stories of this,
53:57but had little idea of what it was going to involve.
54:01That's where they climb. Those are impressive heights.
54:05It's quite something.
54:09For cameraman Ted Giffords,
54:11this was the first sight of the rock face he was about to work on.
54:19These cliffs can be treacherous,
54:21as Collier, the expert egg collector, knows only too well.
54:39Ted will rely on steel stakes for anchors
54:42and an array of climbing gear and ropes.
54:47Collier preferred to stick with the simpler method
54:50that has served him well for many years.
54:56I'm not afraid of heights.
54:58I'm not afraid of heights.
55:00I'm not afraid of heights.
55:02I'm not afraid of heights.
55:04I'm not afraid of heights.
55:06I'm not afraid of heights.
55:08I'm not afraid of heights.
55:11The crew can't quite believe what they're seeing.
55:21If you fell on that, that would be absolutely horrendous.
55:28It's a bit sketchy, and the rope is only about that thick.
55:31It's an interesting method.
55:34The limestone cliff is loose and crumbling
55:36because of hundreds of years of freezing and thawing.
55:41Even for a highly trained professional climber like Ted,
55:44it's a dangerous descent.
55:56Collier has been climbing here for four decades,
55:59but this is the first time he's had company,
56:02and sometimes he forgets that Ted is just below him.
56:08Climbing supervisor Adam Scott holds his breath as he watches.
56:12A fall to the rocks 100 metres below would almost certainly be fatal.
56:27This is the most hardcore thing I've ever seen.
56:33It was when the team returned to the boat to finish filming
56:37that they got their most spectacular view
56:40of the lengths Collier was going to to get his dinner.
56:47This shot sent the team home with a fresh perspective
56:51and a deep respect for these people
56:53who still live off the land in the Arctic.
56:56A way of life for which there is no safety net.
57:32For more information, visit www.fema.gov