Life Below Zero

Today, I'm heading up the mountain.

When I'm up in the mountains travelling and hunting,

I need a place to get out of bad weather.

I've built snow caves before, but this winter, I wanna try something new.

This winter, I'm gonna try to build an igloo.

If I get caught in bad weather, I'll have a place to take shelter.

Sometimes when you're up on a mountain, you can just walk into a total whiteout,

not even see which way to go to get down.

Weather can be nice one minute, and bad the next.

This right here is a ridge that I spend a lot of time on.

It'll be a good place for an igloo.

The caribou are gonna start moving to the north, and they often come right

down this ridgeline.

So if caribou do come through here, I'll be well-positioned with a shelter right here.

Keep an eye on things.

See if any animals are moving through.

This is the spot.

I'm just gonna level it out a little bit.

Let's mark this out.

That's about the size of me.

That's the center of my new home up here on the mountains.

Now I just got to make it come true.

It's an interesting material to work with, snow, because it's very easy to cut.

You can shape it any way you want.

You don't need any power tools or anything.

Like if I was building with bricks or tile, it would require a lot more

in the way of tools.

Okay, I like this block.

It's a good size.

About like this, but I'm gonna need maybe 100, 150 of them to make my igloo.

There, that's my first block and this string will help me put it in just

the right place.

Perfect, now I just need to keep cutting blocks, put them around in a ring,

and spiral up.

I like to do things precisely.

I don't like to rush it.

I like to take my time, get it right.

And this is the first igloo I ever built.

Every time I put on a new block, it has to tip a little bit in, so that at the end,

they'll all meet at the top.

The walls will become the ceiling if I do it right.

If I get it wrong, it could all fall down.

There, last block in the first ring.

The first ring, that's like the foundation.

Everything's gonna rest on it.

Let's walk around this, make sure all these blocks are in good position.

Looks pretty good.

Look at that, nice and circular.

Look at that, isn't that beautiful?

A nice circle.

Okay, time to keep building.

The more time I spend with these young dogs doing things, interacting with them,

I think the better for our bond, our relationship.

Try to pack as much in there as I can get in there, minimize my amount of trips

getting the snow here.

This right here is my pump that's broken.

Sediment was building up on the bottom, and I was trying to get it loosened up and

twisting it, and I broke the point that's down there in the bottom.

It's a problem I can't deal with and fix right now.

I've got to wait till it all thaws out and I can take a jack and jack that whole

18 feet of pipe out.

I just keep the snow melting and keep as much of it on the stove as I possibly can and

try to keep ahead on water.

I got 38 dogs right now.

It requires me to have about 30 gallons of water a day.

That's just how you start your morning out, getting the water into your dogs

for the day's work.

They have to stay well hydrated.

They're not gonna wanna drink cold or clear water, so we make like a soup and

we call it "Brothing" the dogs.

The runs will be longer and they need a little bit of energy, too,

for out on the trails.

I don't take water for granted, because I've had to struggle to get it ever since

I've been in Alaska, not having electricity or running water.

No easy way around getting water out here.

It's just a real pain in the neck way of getting water.

I've had to do this before, but, uh, kind of swore I would never have to do it.

And now that I've had this water pump for years, I'm pretty spoiled,

and this is not a very efficient way of having water for me.

So what I'm gonna do instead is I'm gonna load up my dogs and my dogsled and I'm gonna

head downriver and, uh, go put it in a nice waterhole.

I'm gonna combine my need for water, and while I'm doing that,

I'm gonna get the dogs out for some exercise, and I'm gonna go out and

try some ice fishing.

This isn't something I've done before, but if this works out good then I'm gonna be able to

do this every year, extend my months of opportunity to have fresh food.

Getting some water is gonna be a really good thing about this trip.

I won't have to melt no snow no more, and once I got the hole in,

I'll be able to maintain it, and I won't have to melt any snow for the

rest of the winter.

All right, I don't wanna come home empty-handed.

I don't wanna waste time.

When I'm doing things like this, I'm trying to combine them,

because it's an efficient means of putting up some food and getting some water.

While I enjoy living simply, I'm very realistic about all the things that I got to do

and how much I would like them to be easier, that way I could spend more time doing

what I love out on the trails.

I like an active physical day and I like a productive day.

I need to feel like I accomplished something at the end of the day to

feel good about myself.

I've got a huge project ahead of me in the next two days.

I'll be going to Eagle.

I've got about 2,000 pounds of brand new batteries for my off-grid system.

My off-grid system went down right as winter set on, and the road was closed,

and it really screwed me up, so I've had to burn gasoline and a generator

all winter long.

It's a really exciting time here for me, to be completely self-sufficient again.

Andy Bassich relies mostly on solar and wind to power his camp.

Rebuilding his off-grid system will allow him to live independent of gasoline.

But first, he must cross the treacherous Yukon River to retrieve his new battery bank

and haul the heavy load back to camp.

I'm really excited to finally get up to Eagle, be able to haul these batteries down the

Yukon River, which is gonna be a major challenge for me because the Yukon River is not

a friendly place when you're freighting heavy load.

It's gonna take me two days to haul these batteries down.

I've got close to $10,000 invested in this whole new system now.

When you're investing a lot of money in something, you want longevity.

This new battery bank is guaranteed for 25 to 30 years.

I'm spending a bit more money right now, but in the long term,

I don't expect to ever have to buy another bank of batteries the rest of my life out here.

Ta-da!

All that needs to go downriver, 15 miles.

So each one of these batteries weighs about 80 pounds, there's 19 of them.

The reason I'm doing this now instead of waiting until summer is, A,

the sun's coming back so I'm getting lots and lots of free power,

and it's really pissing me off to have to use fossil fuels to make my power.

And B, if I was gonna do this in the summertime, I would have to carry them

into a boat, drive downriver, unload them out of a boat,

into a tractor, drive the tractor or trailer up to the hill,

and then unload them again into my shop.

So the ironic thing about up here is that it's actually easier to freight and

transport things in the winter than it is in the summer.

Time to strap her down and head back to Dodge, at an incredibly slow rate.

The Yukon froze up a little better this year than it has for other years,

so this is a good year to freight.

But with a delicate load like this, it's always a challenge, and all it takes is one bad

bump, one bad battery, and I'm dead in the water.

Oh man, I don't know if I can get this home like this.

Oh, man, this thing's gonna steer weird (bleep) now.

All right.

I wanna go really slow and take it easy.

What a mess.

Slow and easy wins the race.

Yay, one down, one to go.

For now, it's just me and the girls taking whatever comes our way.

We have girl power.

Ah.

My last two pieces of wood.

Chip's gone.

Before he left, he got us a whole bunch of real big pile of firewood.

And now that my firewood's gone, this is all I have left.

Agnes Hailstone's husband, Chip, is serving a 15 month sentence in Anchorage.

Throughout dark winter, Agnes and her five daughters have been forced to carry out

crucial tasks, and learn new skills to survive on their own.

-Usually, Chip's the one who goes out and get all the wood, and he tries to bring, um,

a few loads back at a time.

I'm gonna be getting wood today and I just need enough to keep the house, um,

nice and warm.

We don't usually saw the trees down.

It's gonna be a learning experience for me.

-You need help? -Yeah, I was just gonna go bring some woods in.

If you don't mind, I think I need to go get more wood before Idi and them come.

Idi and Edward are bringing home their newborn baby and they just want us to meet him.

So they're gonna come visit for a while.

All right.

-Right on, so you gonna follow?

Yeah.

-My grandson's coming and he's just a brand new baby.

So, um, I'm gonna get my house nice and warm.

So I think I'm gonna go out and go get wood.

I'm glad Qutan want to follow me.

I don't really know if I'd actually be brave enough to go get wood by myself.

I know how to spot wood, I know how to limb them, but I've actually never

cut a tree down.

You've never, mom?

-I have never really honestly cut a tree down, sweetheart.

So this is something we're gonna go learn together.

This is gonna be fun.

I'm glad you're following.

Today, Qutan and I are gonna be getting some wood.

I have a grand baby coming in and, um, I want to try to keep my grandson

nice, comfortable, and warm.

Idi just had a baby, so she's bringing him to meet the rest of the crew.

Even though we're not wood gatherers, I have a purpose and I want my grandson to be

warm and welcomed when he comes to my house.

These look a little small but they look like right next to the edge.

Come look at these trees.

This is what, this is what we're looking for, right next to the edge, mostly dead.

So, I think, these two right there will be just perfect.

Shall we?

Yeah.

-I get to go get wood with Qutan and teach her something.

I get to do, um, my own wood gathering, and make it feel more special heat for my

grandson that's coming, and besides that, uh, keeping the house from freezing.

So, it's gonna be a real awesome day.

I know it's gonna be hard work but it's for the best.

Ooh-wee.

This is kind of a new experience for me.

Although I've been getting wood all my life, I haven't actually sawed a tree down.

So, my first attempt, hopefully it'll go good.