Bering Sea Gold

Dangerous out here.

God, I feel like I'm on the moon right now.

I just want to go check out this open water that we have.

We got this, like, massive lead right there.

I've never dealt with unstable ice like this before.

This is freaking me out.

At this point, the ice should be pretty stable,

this point in the year.

The fact that it isn't is pretty alarming.

The ice is so thin right here.

It's open ocean.

In February, it's open ocean.

I'm just not comfortable being out here right now.

This is frickin' nuts.

oh!

This is the bering sea, man.

This isn't supposed to happen until may.

It's breaking off or it's broken off.

The ice is probably

right here, right where I'm sitting,

the ice is about a foot,

which I'm really glad I didn't bring my snow machine out here.

dude.

I don't know if any of this is viable this year.

This is nuts.

Doesn't bode well for this ice season.

For the truly dedicated...

The quest for gold never stops...

...Even when temperatures plummet...

And the gold is locked beneath a sheet of bering sea ice.

Your hand's numb. Your face freezes.

Nothing works. Everything's shut down.

Suddenly, you can't breathe.

Then you're trapped under the ice.

But this winter...

Nature's wrath is bringing a new enemy to the battlefield...

Thinning, unpredictable ice.

The ice is like nothing we've ever seen.

Thinner than ever.

It could just break apart at any minute.

It's deadly.

There's open water everywhere you look.

The window is short, and survival is not guaranteed.

But the lure of winter's price jump in gold

is too tempting to resist.

The few with the courage and perseverance

to dive into this deadly race

will find that hell can indeed freeze over.

captions paid for by discovery communications

off the coast of nome...

On the frozen bering sea...

not looking good.

The ice is more stable than it ever has been before.

...Shawn pomrenke is meeting the challenge

of the thin ice head-on.

This ice is probably three, four feet thick.

And then you look out here, just a jumbled-up mess.

How do you pull equipment across this stuff?

If it's like this down at the tomcod, we're screwed.

Despite the conditions,

the chance of a lifetime has mr. Gold back on the ice,

first time in years.

I had an opportunity to purchase tomcod.

I got the deal signed.

Now I just got to come up with the cash.

Soon as I make it out of debt,

I put myself right back into the fire.

Out of the blue, the tomcod come up for sale.

I've been mining there for years.

I've built my empire off of it.

I had no choice but to jump on it.

This season's goal is to get $400,000

to finish paying off the down payment for the tomcod

so it's mine.

It's a big goal, but I think I can do it.

Just one half of the claim is worth $80 million.

I'm sure the other half's worth that yet, too.

Tomcod's the mack daddy of all the claims.

That's why I'm putting all my chips into it.

I have to make this happen.

With the ice layers so uncertain,

the question is...

How are the grounds at shawn's pricy new purchase?

yeah!

With the purchase of tomcod,

I received a bunch of drill log information.

So it gives you a really good idea where to start.

The drill logs list potential hot spots

that are too deep for the christine rose to access.

Got to get the gps out here,

make sure we're on the right spot.

Which means ice diving will give shawn the opportunity

to mine ground he's never been able to reach before.

We're gonna go ahead and pop a couple holes here,

take the camera out, see what the bottom looks like.

What do you think, goldy?

The gold's right here.

first hole.

Miners hunt for patches of rock known as cobble,

where gold is trapped in large pockets.

In summer, dredges move on open water,

making the search as easy as pulling anchor.

But in winter,

large dive holes must be sawed out of the ice

for a diver to access the water below.

And moving the entire operation each time a new hole is cut

can take days.

whoa.

We got water.

Maybe a foot and a half of ice.

This thin is a little sketchy to have your equipment out on.

Grab the camera, see what the hell's down there.

Alls it takes is one good north wind to blow

and drop the sea level out on the ocean down,

and this all will just break up, go out to sea.

All your gear could be out here.

You could be out here and lose everything.

Instead of coming here, cutting a dive hole,

and finding out there's a bunch of sand,

we're gonna just drop a camera.

-There it is. -Sand.

Pretty much just seeing sand.

We're gonna go ahead and move in a little bit.

See what it looks like.

And we don't want to be in deep sand

with a little six-inch dredge.

We want to be in cobble.

The tomcod's huge a thousand acres.

You don't know how thin the ice is wherever you go.

But I have no choice. I got to go find good ground.

Lot more sand.

Move to another spot.

So this spot, 722 from may 2008.

12 years ago.

There's known to be really good gold right in this area.

There's a lot of these mining claims

that have absolutely nothing on it.

No rocks, no sand, no gold.

The clock's ticking.

At any point, I could drive over a thin section of ice

and fall through.

But I have to find cobble.

Third time's a charm, right?

Third time's the charm.

I hope third time's the charm.

oh, it's deep.

ooh. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, yeah!

There we are.

Oh, yeah. There we go.

Yeah!

Like, if I was some gold,

I'd be hiding in that stuff right there.

-Untouched ground. -Yep.

Now we're on the decline.

We're close to a good drill hole.

I think this is a good place to start.

Why don't you head to town and start getting the gear together?

This is where we're gonna mine.

If I can't pay out $400,000,

I've spent a fortune for nothing.

I'll lose access to the grounds. It'll be devastating.

I have to get on the gold a.S.A.P.

now instead of spending money, time to make some money, honey.

Hoo-hoo-hoo.

Coming up...

Hey, be careful, dude.

Okay, back up.

Hey, that's water you're walking in, dude.

I know it is. Calm down.

Winter has come to the bering sea

and with it the thinnest, most unstable ice in decades.

But in nome...

Back at ice-mining season.

Going to pick my dad and brother up right now at the airport,

and we're gonna get a lot of gold this season.

Freezing temperatures and precarious conditions

aren't enough to keep captain kris kelly away.

I've got a plan so good and so epic,

pennies on the dollar.

You know, and I love that. Let me tell you.

And he's got a plan yet again

to elevate his family to mining's top tier.

I hope my dad and brother are in a good mood.

What a piece of

As summer mining ended...

It really is kind of a piece of

...The boat kris anchored his hopes and dreams on...

Look at the picture and then look at the boat.

...Turned out to be a dud.

It's not what I thought it was gonna be.

The summer plan, the bering explorer, that was a disaster.

We sunk a bunch of money into that deal.

But there's no way we're gonna be able to finish it.

Right now my dad and brother are really pissed at me.

But that was plan "a.'

I have a plan "b," and I know they're gonna love it...

Maybe.

everybody's gone. Now we're the last ones here.

You know, waiting for this guy.

Waiting for the captain.