01x01 - Hell or High Water

[bunniefuu]

[Joseph] I know Ran is there

looking at this terrible form.

He'll be watching my every move.

[Ran] Go left, Joe, go left!

[Joseph] Amazing.

I can see why Ran is driven

and addicted to this.

[Ran] He's doing so well.

[Joseph] I'm Joseph Fiennes,

and I'm in Western Canada

for a unique adventure.

As an actor, I've helped bring

fascinating stories to life.

But I'm here with someone

whose real-life journey

is more awe-inspiring than

anything I've encountered,

Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

He's the world's greatest

living explorer,

and he's my cousin,

known to me as Ran.

For much of my life,

he's been away exploring,

from the peak of Mount Everest

to the South Pole.

[Reporter] Fiennes emerged from

the Antarctic after 97 days

more dead than alive.

[Joseph] Five years ago,

I was able to fulfill a dream

by joining Ran

on an incredible adventure.

Together we retraced

his daring 1969 journey

up the river Nile.

Should we do a bet

to who gets there first?

[Ran] Well, all I can say,

Joe, is good luck.

[Joseph] May the best team win.

[Ran] Yeah, and I would hope

to see you again at some point.

[Joseph] It was

an opportunity for Ran and I

to forge a close bond.

You know why Cleopatra needed

a psychiatrist, don't you?

Because she was

the Queen of Denial.

[Ran] Ha, Queen of Denial.

[Joseph] Now we want

to do it all again,

to spend time together, travel

through beautiful landscapes,

and meet incredible people,

but this time following

Ran's pioneering 1971 trip

through the Canadian wilderness.

I can't wait to learn more about

the man behind the adventurer.

[Ran] You're a maestro.

[Joseph] It runs

in the family, then.

[Ran] Time goes by,

doesn't it?

[Joseph] It really

does, doesn't it?

So join me as I take on

the wilderness of Canada

with my cousin Ran,

the world's greatest

living explorer.

To the edge

but not over the edge?

[Ran] I can't promise. [laughs]

♪

[Joseph] We're in

the Northwest Territories.

It was from here

that my cousin Ran

began his Canadian adventure

half a century ago.

And this handsome chap

is him, aged just 27.

[Ran] Captain Sir Ranulph

Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes,

Royal Scots Greys.

Live is very short.

An active life is even shorter,

and so I think one wants to go

to as many different places

by as many different methods

of travel as possible.

[Joseph] Now, some

50 years later, he's back,

with me in tow, to explore this

beautiful region once again.

Our journey will lead us

through the ancestral lands

of Canada's indigenous people,

the First Nations,

who have called this region home

for over 10,000 years.

To respect this heritage,

Ran and I sought their

permission for our journey.

[Leader] I know that

you've come to our land

and you were here before.

And so today we are doing

a sunrise ceremony

for help for you

on the rest of your journey.

So in order for you

to connect to your ancestors

for your journey, we offer you

this sage to cleanse you

and bring your ancestors

to you to help you.

[Ran] Thank you

very much for everything.

[Leader] Thank you.

[Joseph] Not only are

we granted permission,

Gilbert Cazon of the Déné tribe

has offered to lead

a sunrise ceremony

to give thanks

and bless our journey.

[Gilbert] We ask for protection

for the people that travel

on your waters, on your land.

[Joseph] It was a lovely way

to start the trip.

I feel that I've sort of

keyed in in a way,

which I wouldn't

have ordinarily.

But as you're surrounded

by the wilderness,

you're also surrounded

by the knowledge, the culture,

and the spirituality

of the people,

the First Nations people,

so that was a real gift.

♪

I'm taking the raven flyover

as a good omen.

♪

To begin our journey,

we, too, get airborne.

♪

This is my first chance

to get a sense of the vastness

of the wilderness below.

♪

So difficult to comprehend

coming from

a tiny little island.

The scale is

something I'm just

trying to compute.

I mean, from up here

it all looks rather idyllic

and manageable but

I can't imagine what it's like

on the ground then.

All that's exactly correct.

And then you're cold

and wet as well.

And as for the mosquitoes

and midges

Well, that's no help.

And we hadn't expected it

to be that bad.

[Joseph] Across five decades,

Ran has relentlessly pushed the

boundaries of human endeavor.

[camera shutter clicks]

He was the first person to

surface circumnavigate the globe

via both the North

and South Pole,

a mammoth three-year expedition

that has never been repeated.

To honor this achievement,

in 1984, the Guinness Book

of Records named him

the greatest living explorer.

But back in 1971, having only

just left active army service,

Ran was keen to establish

himself as an explorer

and record breaker.

He set his sights on leading

the first recorded expedition

to transnavigate the rugged

terrain of British Columbia

by river, a journey

of 2,400 kilometers,

battling nature all the way.

Ran led a team of three,

all soldiers

from his old army regiment,

the Royal Scots Greys.

[Ran] Three soldiers and me,

and there was a BBC film crew

gonna go the whole way,

and they had a Royal

National Lifeboat Institution

policeman with them.

We would need fuel in remote

parts of British Columbia.

So Ginny, my late wife, became

the supplier with a Land Rover

and a trailer full

of jerricans of petrol

and one or two boxes of whiskey.

[Joseph] But before

the journey began,

it was here

in the Northwest Territories

on the South Nahanni River

that Ran and his team trained

for the grueling task ahead.

Three weeks of running rapids

were rewarded

by one of nature's

most breathtaking spectacles

the Virginia Falls

which is exactly

where we're heading now.

We're coming in to land, Ran.

I better buckle up.

The Déné people who first

saw these waterfalls

named them Nailicho,

literally "big water falling,"

and they certainly

live up to their name.

They are nearly twice the height

of the more famous Niagara Falls

and a perfect place

to begin our adventure.

♪

I was expecting a little

bit more of an abrupt hit.

That was so smooth.

I think he might have

done it before.

Do you think

he's done it before?

♪

[Joseph] We've landed upriver

from the Virginia Falls,

where the calm waters belie

the turbulence just beyond.

On Ran's original journey

up the South Nahanni River,

he and his team only got as far

as the foot of the waterfall.

[Ran] We desperately wanted,

because we're humans,

to see what it was like

from the top.

And we had been told that

it was possible to clamber up

the entire height of the cliffs.

We tried so hard,

but no way could we get

to the top and look down.

So very sad indeed back then,

but very happy because now

we can have a good look

at what we missed

all those years before.

[Joseph] So, Ran, 52 years

later, second attempt,

and you're finally at

the Nailicho-Virginia Falls.

How does it feel?

[Ran] It feels good,

but I have to say,

now that I've seen close-up

what it's like,

if we had known the rivers

were this powerful,

we wouldn't have done

this training run at all.

It put the crew frightened

of the river thereafter.

[Joseph] Yeah.

[Ran] But I have got

a surprise for you right now,

which is that

the Nahanni National Reserve

are gonna take us in their canoe

to the very edge

of the waterfall top.

[Joseph] To the edge

but not over the edge?

[Ran] Yeah.

[Joseph] Promise?

[Ran] I can't promise. [laughs]

I've reached the stage

where wisdom has crept in.

The intention is to survive.

[Joseph] Yeah, okay, very good.

On our journey,

Ran is eager to show me

the forces of nature

he was up against,

and I'm up for anything if it

means traveling with my cousin,

while we still can.

The main thought was

connecting with Ran again.

It's been a number

of years since Egypt.

I was eager and anxious that

he was in the best of health

and had the energy

to do this again.

In fact, he's got just

as much energy as I have,

but it's no mean feat

at 79 going on 80

to take on such a colossal trip.

There is a fragility

that comes with age.

So, I am thrilled at the chance

to join my intrepid cousin

as, after half a century, he

is back on the Nahanni River.

And it's fair to say

that he's earned the right

to take it easy this time round.

Ran is leaving Aidan, a guide

in the Nahanni National Park,

and me, to get on

with the paddling.

This is like the still quiet

before the crazy storm.

300 meters of rapids

before you hit

the 90-odd meters of sheer fall.

[Ran] Yeah.

It's taken such a long time

to get up here.

[Joseph] How comfortable

are we being so close here?

[Ran] There's

little bits of white.

Must be the beginning of that

300 meters you're talking about.

[Joseph] Yeah. I'm just

feeling the pull here

might be something we won't

be able to escape from.

That pull is serious,

one million liters

of water per second

thundering over a drop

of 96 meters.

As the pull gets stronger,

Ran makes the call,

and we head for the shore.

[Ran] Aidan, thank you very much

for a very comfortable journey.

No, no worries at all.

My pleasure.

Happy you're on the river again.

♪

[Joseph] Standing

next to the falls,

I get a perfect view of the

power Ran witnessed in 1971.

Humbling and mesmerizing.

I can't imagine what Ran was

thinking at the age of 20-odd,

with his team of even

younger army members.

Sheer Mother Earth power.

♪

[Joseph] Ran's record-breaking

journey in 1971

saw him travel south,

from British Columbia's

northern border with the Yukon,

heading for Vancouver.

The goal was to achieve

the first recorded crossing

of British Columbia

via interconnecting waterways.

To achieve this, his team

would have to fight nature

all the way, through dense

forests and challenging rivers.

Having done it all before,

Ran knows the dangers,

and given his age

and my inexperience,

we agree on a less dangerous

mode of transport

to recreate his epic

2,400-kilometer journey,

allowing me

plenty of time with Ran

to hear his fascinating stories.

What's the longest you've

stayed alone by yourself

on an expedition?

Unaccompanied and unassisted?

[Ran] The true answer

is I don't know,

but probably two and a half

months in Antarctica.

[Joseph] Wow!

As Ran and I breeze

down the Canadian highways

towards the Rocky Mountains,

we are traveling on a road

that cuts through

the majestic wilderness

that Ran had to battle

50-odd years ago.

So this is about the time,

a sort of dusk,

when some of the wildlife

does come out.

So I have to keep

my eyes peeled here.

The roadsides are like

not only highways for humans,

but they're also highways

for animals in many ways.

So, a lot of the time

when you're driving,

you get to encounter

the beauty right next to you.

And that was pretty stunning.

What do you remember

from your trip 50 years ago?

Do you remember any wildlife

on your adventures?

[Ran] Yes. I remember moose,

goats, mountain goats,

which were pretty much only

that part of the Rockies.

And in the bush

when we were lost

what we described as brown

bears, not black bears.

[Joseph] So did you

see them up close,

or did you make enough noise

that they weren't interested?

[Ran] It was close,

200, 300 yards away

in bush country, yeah.

[Joseph] If you are

lost over days,

you must have felt

exposed, right?

[Ran] That's right.

[Joseph] And then,

as though on cue

Wait a minute. Look,

do you see that up there?

About 200 meters up there?

[Ran] Yeah,

could well be a bear.

We shouldn't really get nearer

than about 100 meters away.

[Joseph] Okay,

so let's gently move in

but not encroach on its space.

[Ran] Let's do that, agreed.

♪

[Joseph] It's about there,

you see.

[Ran] Yeah.

Just behind that tree.

[Joseph] Behind that tree. Yeah.

Of course,

your first reaction is,

"Oh, my God, I want

to get on the buffalo

or talk with a bear,"

or you know.

And you have to sort of

hold yourself back

and remind yourself

you're not in a Disney movie,

you're in, you know,

the reality of the wilderness

and you're in their territory.

This is not your territory.

Ran's right; never get

closer than 100 meters.

I think that's good enough.

Won't go any further than that.

British Columbia has the highest

population of black bears

and grizzlies in Canada.

And seeing this bear

is a reminder

of just one of the dangers

the 1971 expedition faced,

exposed in the wild,

miles from civilization,

and without

modern communications.

That was incredible.

Quite a mellow bear.

Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

♪

In 1971, the Rocky Mountains

presented the first great hurdle

to Ran's quest, having

to fight narrowing rivers

and pushing

against strong currents.

Ran has spared me the t*rture

of trying to paddle upstream.

Instead, we've decided to embark

on a different

Rocky Mountain adventure.

We're heading

to the Athabasca Glacier,

part of the largest ice field

in the Rockies.

This is my first ever glacier,

and I can't think of a better

partner to witness it with.

[Ran] You are

very kind saying that,

and I will try not

to let you down.

[Joseph] This is

familiar territory for Ran.

He has walked to both

the North and South Pole

and was the first person

to cross Antarctica

entirely on foot.

♪

No wonder he wanted

to bring me here.

This is where

he is in his element.

♪

♪

The Athabasca Glacier extends

for about six kilometers,

and it being my first glacier,

looks truly remarkable.

But what makes the experience

even more enjoyable

is watching Ran, full of energy,

expertly maneuvering

the icy expanse.

[Ran] I very much enjoyed

being on a glacier there

and hadn't been on one

for certainly three years.

I do like ice very much.

[Joseph] As beautiful as it is,

Ran is quick to point out

the dangers of this environment.

[Ran] When I was doing

a solo expedition in the Arctic

and I set out and in the dark,

minus 48, and unfortunately,

my sledge fell 10 foot down

into the sea between two floes.

I then very, very quietly

and slowly and in the moonlight,

managed to get down,

very slowly,

down the slope of ice blocks

into the water to the sledge.

The great thing was I managed

to use my left hand

to pull the rope out.

[camera shutter clicks]

[Joseph] But there is a price

to pay for putting a hand

in the Arctic water

at minus 48 degrees Celsius.

[Ran] The fingers have all gone,

as you can see.

[Joseph] You had frostbite?

[Ran] Yeah, and I had to

cut them off two months later.

I did it with a fret saw.

I was getting very irritable

because the doctor wouldn't do

a proper amputation for

five months after the trauma.

[Joseph] How long did

that operation take?

[Ran] That one, which

I didn't do very well,

that middle one,

that took two hours.

[camera shutter clicks]

[Joseph] Yes,

you heard it correctly.

Ran actually cut off

his own fingertips,

with a saw, in his shed

because he didn't want

to wait for his operation.

[camera shutter clicks]

And he still has the tips!

[Ran] The physiology lady

in Bristol Royal Infirmary

said I'd done a good job.

[Joseph] Really?

[Ran] Yeah.

[Joseph] You must have been

in such excruciating pain

to go to those lengths.

I can't imagine it.

[Ran] Well, it sort of

puts you off the next one.

[Joseph] Yeah.

[Ran] And the motto really is

don't do anything by yourself,

because in those crevasses,

it's the most horrible death

that you can have, slowly.

You fall in, if you're

by yourself, you'll get wedged.

And as you go down,

it gets thinner,

and like an arrow,

you wedge yourself in there.

And I've heard it

from the mouth of somebody

who didn't quite die,

but by the time they managed

to get him out,

he could remember and

describe the nightmare time

he'd spent slowly, surely

dying down there.

[Joseph] And with those

encouraging words,

Ran sends me off

to jump down a crevasse.

♪

[Joseph] The Athabasca Glacier

is scored with ravines

and gorges.

Ran thinks I can get a better

sense of this environment

by exploring their depths,

the same ones that he tells me

are notoriously difficult

to escape from.

A few years ago, Ran would

have lowered me down himself,

but instead, he's brought

local mountaineer

Max Darrah to be my guide.

[Max] Welcome

to the Athabasca Glacier.

[Joseph] What a pleasure

to be here.

I'm all geared up,

ready to go. Lead on.

♪

[Max] So, 15 years ago,

we would have stepped

onto the glacier right here.

[Joseph] Wow. So, what rate

is the glacier receding,

do you think?

[Max] The most current estimates

are 10 to 15 centimeters

per month,

recession at the toe.

But it's not only that,

it's the volume of ice that's

being lost off the surface,

which is quite dramatic.

[Joseph] This meltwater cuts

deep gorges into the ice,

creating vast crevasses,

and I'm about

to explore one of them.

♪

[Max] Okay. We're all set.

[Joseph] Okay.

♪

This is a good day

for it, I guess.

♪

This is the closest I've come

to getting a glimpse

of Ran's adventures

during his numerous journeys

to the Arctic

and Antarctic regions.

♪

Incredible!

[water rushing]

Wow! This is the one place

Ran has been warning me

never to get stuck in.

This is beautiful, but imagine

on your own in the Arctic

for months on end.

This is the one place you want

to avoid, however beautiful.

I'm, uh, lost for words.

♪

At the bottom,

six meters below the surface,

I'm surrounded by ice that

formed over 10,000 years ago.

♪

I adjust my camera

but drop my glove into

the icy river alongside me.

My instinct is to run

and grab it,

but I slip and nearly end up

submerged in the freezing water.

I remember Ran's story

and let the glove go.

I realize just how quickly

things can turn

in places like these,

especially when I see

what's round the corner.

Okay, that was intense.

Suddenly it opens up into

a massive cascading waterfall.

My glove has been pulled

into a drainage channel

that flows into a river

underneath the glacier.

Being swept into that

doesn't bear thinking about.

Unbelievably beautiful.

It looks imperceptibly calm,

but it actually is,

is going at tremendous speed.

What looks beautiful

and enticing suddenly becomes

very, very dangerous.

♪

With my fingers beginning

to feel the chill,

it's time to head

back to the surface

and catch up with Ran.

[Ran] Joe, how's it been?

[Joseph] Ran, good.

[Ran] I can't

take my gloves off.

Can't put them back on again.

[Joseph] Good to see you.

[Ran] You, too.

[Joseph] The crevasse

that I went down,

I lost my glove, Ran.

[Ran] No, your mitt.

[Joseph] These are new ones,

but, uh

[Ran] Did you get

quite cold at the time?

[Joseph] I did get a bit chilly,

and I immediately

thought of you,

and I'm standing right now,

and I've got a smile on my face,

which belies the truth of

my feet being absolutely frozen.

[Ran] Poor cousin Joe.

Get the towel out.

[Joseph] [laughs]

Yeah, my own fault.

I guess a pair of cold feet

was never gonna get

too much sympathy from Ran.

Although he never made it

to this glacier in 1971,

Ran got well-acquainted

with the Canadian Rockies.

When the rivers they traveled

on got too narrow and shallow,

they had no choice but to brave

the mountain wilderness by foot.

It is here that Ran

got terribly lost.

And after following the river

upstream for hours,

I wanted to know where we were

in relation to Ran's

original route.

Ran, I wanted to just

bring up the map

so I can get a better sense

of where we are.

When we last met, in Egypt,

I didn't need these,

and such is life that I'm

going downhill all the way,

and I'm gonna join you

with my specs now.

[Ran] Now, I have to tell you,

not only hair loss, but

[Joseph] Eye loss.

[Ran] eye loss

and deafness as well.

[Joseph] What did you say?

[Ran] Deaf

What I think I said.

[Joseph] Following nearly

three weeks of being lost,

Ran's team regrouped,

but spirits were low.

[Ran] I tried to keep

the team morale up,

not totally successfully

all the time,

particularly

when we ran out of river.

We're going up to Summit Lake,

the water gets less and less.

[Joseph] The team persevered

and eventually made it

to Summit Lake.

10 kilometers from there

was the Fraser.

This river flowed south

all the way to Vancouver.

It was all downhill

from here, literally.

But the only way to reach

the Fraser was by portage,

carrying their boats

across land.

So, after you'd walked

all those miles

onto the Fraser River

here behind me,

which looks wonderful, smooth,

and it must have been

a seeming blessing.

[Ran] Oh, it definitely was.

After the portage

of nine miles to get here,

and remember, all the water

goes from here,

the way we want to go,

to the Pacific Ocean,

whereas before it had been

heading north to the Arctic.

So when we get here and it's

lovely and smooth, beautiful,

we're very, very happy.

And then we soon got to realize

there would be a hell of a lot

of horrendous rapids.

[Joseph] For Ran,

reaching Vancouver

was anything but guaranteed.

[Joseph] After reaching

the mighty Fraser River,

Ran and his team had over 1,100

kilometers left to navigate.

They still faced one

of the biggest hurdles

to their successful

transnavigation

wild and perilous rapids.

But before we get to those,

I want to convince Ran

we should first enjoy

one of the calmer sections

of the Fraser River.

I know you might be wondering

about my head apparel.

[Ran] No, it's very suitable.

[Joseph] I'm wearing this

because I want to take you

on a little treat.

I thought, wouldn't it be nice

if we got onto the Fraser River

and went fishing?

[Ran] That would be great, yeah.

Don't think I've ever

fished in a big way.

But maybe when I was

about sort of 14, 15.

[Joseph] So, you just

did it for the "halibut"?

[Ran] We ate everything

that we caught.

[Joseph] Right, right.

So you didn't "krill" anything?

[Ran] Yeah,

we put everything back

except what we ate

for that particular day.

Yeah.

[Joseph] I'm doing

my awful puns.

[Ran] Oh, right.

So, I actually heard that one.

So there's no excuse

for not giving you full marks

on your "pun-ism."

Joe, I just love

traveling with him.

Just a wonderful bloke.

He's ultimately

totally friendly,

totally full of jokes,

and puns are his speciality.

[Joseph] So, I think we're

gonna be fishing for sturgeon.

I don't fish, I've never fished,

but here they do a conservation

program, catch and release.

They look prehistoric.

Some of them live up

to 100 years or 200 years.

[Ran] 200 years.

[Joseph] Would you like

to live to 200?

[Ran] I would love

to live to 200

to see how many,

many things work out.

[Joseph] Yeah, yeah.

And think how wise

one would be at 200.

[Ran] Should be.

[Joseph] Should be, yeah.

Yeah. Not always

a guarantee. True.

[Ran] Ah, look!

[Joseph] Look at that, Ran.

[Ran] 52 years

since the last time

I passed over that bit of river.

Time goes by, doesn't it?

[Joseph] It really does,

doesn't it?

Stops for no man.

[Ran] Look at

that beautiful river.

[Joseph] This mighty river is

the longest in British Columbia,

stretching for nearly

1,400 kilometers.

Taking us out on the water

is local guide John Beaty.

[John] Nice to meet you. John.

[Joseph] Thrilled

that you can take us out

and we can share

in your knowledge.

I guess we should call you

Sturgeon General.

[John laughs]

[Ran] I got that one. [laughs]

[Joseph] Okay. All aboard.

We're all suited and booted

and ready to go.

[John] Ready to go? Perfect.

[Joseph] Although the river

already had many names

in local First Nation languages,

it's named after

the fur trader Simon Fraser,

who explored the river in 1808.

Today it's known

for its salmon runs

and its huge sturgeon.

So, talk to us

about conservation.

[John] Well, here

on the Fraser River,

everything's catch and release.

Conservation is

the number-one issue at hand.

We're ensuring that

they're gonna be around

for years and years

to come, forever.

We got some rods going here.

Keep your rod nice and high.

If we get one on, we'll

have to chase it downriver and

[Joseph] How long

can a chase ensue for?

[John] Last couple trips

was out here,

they were large fish and it took

like an hour to get them in.

[Joseph] You up for fighting

for an hour, Ran?

I'll do half an hour,

you do half an hour.

[Ran] Yeah, sounds good.

[John] All right, perfect.

We'll get some bait on this one.

We'll throw them out here.

Just down here.

Put that out this side here.

[Joseph] Oh, wow.

And then we wait.

♪

From our last trip together,

I know Ran likes a little wager.

Ran, let's take a bet.

Which rod is gonna

get chewed on first?

[Ran] I know for sure

it'll be not that one,

but the middle one. Five quid.

[Joseph] Five quid?

Okay. Five quid.

I'm saying it's this one here.

[Ran] Right,

and I'm in the middle.

[Joseph] But for

our wager to work,

something's got to bite.

[John] Yeah. So now

it's just patience.

I usually sit in the spot

for at least 25 minutes,

half an hour.

[Ran] Before you

give up that area?

[John] Before you move on.

♪

[Joseph] Oh, something's

What was your rod?

The middle one, were you?

[Ran] Yeah, the middle.

[Joseph] I think something's

nibbling at yours.

It's very slight.

[Ran] That's five quid.

[Joseph] Well, nothing to get

too excited about yet, Ran.

I don't think nibbling

is five quid.

It's got to take the whole lot.

But whatever was nibbling

sadly lost interest.

And I'm losing patience.

[Ran] "Patience is a virtue.

Possess it if you can.

Seldom in a woman,

but always in a man."

[Joseph] That's the first time

I've heard that.

[Ran] My wife says it

the other way around.

[Joseph] Of course, she does.

Obviously, some angry bloke

made that up.

[Ran] Yeah, way back probably.

[Joseph] Yeah, yeah. To get

back at his wife or something.

[Ran laughs]

No doubt.

[Joseph] I, though,

am clearly without virtue.

I think I'm too impatient

a person

[Ran] to be a fisherman?

[Joseph]

To be a fisherman.

[Ran] Yeah.

[Joseph] This might be

my toughest challenge yet.

♪

[Joseph] Ran and I

are not having much luck

fishing for sturgeon.

After nearly an hour

of waiting for a bite,

Ran admits he prefers

more active hobbies.

[Ran] Until about the age of 73,

I used to do big races

like the Marathon des Sables.

[Joseph] Ran is leaving out

some key details here.

The Des Sables race

is no mere marathon,

it is a six-day

250-kilometer ultra-marathon

through 40-plus-degree desert.

And Ran completed it

in 2015, aged 71.

His drive and determination

never cease to amaze me.

And then what,

you just thought

[Ran] Then the run

became a shuffle.

[Joseph] And then

the shuffle became?

[Ran] The shuffle became a walk

with or without sticks.

Yeah, and so

[Joseph] Then the walk

became an armchair.

No, not yet.

[Ran] Not that one, not yet, no.

♪

Three or four years ago,

I was seeing a doctor

about something else.

And during the tests,

which he did automatically,

one of them

must have been neuro.

And he said, "I think

you've got Parkinson's."

He then got it confirmed

that it was,

and so I started taking

the pills that he recommended,

which is now seven pills a day.

[Joseph] Seven pills a day. Wow.

[Ran] And a little bit

of exercise,

doing things like squats.

That's the physical side;

the mental side,

just forgetting,

which is very annoying,

I work on that very hard.

Because I, you know, I make

a living through lecturing,

forgetting what you're

about to say is very awkward.

[Joseph] How did you know

that something was up

in terms of memory,

and what did you do?

[Ran] I can't remember

the exact first symptoms,

but I would have been,

you know, mid-70s or whatever.

I've had this Parkinson's

diagnosed not very long.

With me, the problem is

balance sometimes, you know,

but I don't fall over yet.

I haven't, touch wood,

fallen over yet.

Balance and forgetfulness.

I don't shake much.

If it shakes, I can

look at it and say,

"Stop it,"

like you would to a dog.

So I don't get the shakes

at the moment, touch wood,

but I do get memory lapse

more than I already had.

[Joseph] I'm humbled

by Ran's strength and honesty

in light of

his new circumstances.

But then our conversation

is rudely interrupted.

♪

Ran, I'm trying to lift it.

Ran, I think I owe you five

pounds. Bloody hell, this

[Ran] That's the middle one.

[Joseph] This one is big!

[cranking]

There he is, right below here.

Whoa!

[John] Hold on tight.

Hold on tight.

[cranking]

[Joseph] Woo!

[John laughs]

This is heavy. He's heavy, huh?

Well, it's going out.

[reel unspooling]

He's just taking it out.

[John] Yeah, he's just

taking a bunch of line.

[reel unspooling]

Oh, there we go.

Now he's running.

Keep your rod nice and high.

[reel unspooling]

[Joseph] Oh, no! That's it.

[John] He popped off.

[Joseph] It popped off.

He escaped.

[Ran] Ha ha, I'll forgive you.

[Joseph] Yeah. That was

a strange experience.

Very, veryit felt huge.

[Ran] All of a sudden,

after you've been relaxing.

[Joseph] Yeah, yeah.

I wanted to do you the honors.

It was your rod.

[Ran] It was my rod.

[Joseph] So, I'm sorry I don't

get to pay you five pounds.

I'm sorry about that.

It was just an excuse to get

on this marvelous-looking belt.

That's all it was.

♪

We may not have had

much success with the fishing,

but that did mean that Ran and I

got to have a meaningful chat.

But now it's time to head

further down the Fraser River.

♪

In 1971,

after nearly nine weeks,

Ran had led his team,

followed by a film crew,

down the Fraser River

toward Vancouver.

But to reach

their final destination,

they had a few more hurdles.

[Joseph] The deadly rapids

Ran and his team

faced on the Fraser River

had claimed the lives of many

who had tried before.

[Ran] I thought that it was very

unlikely that any rubber boat

would get through there

without overturning.

[Joseph] But with

no better option,

Ran decided to give it

a go anyway.

Their final hurdle was

the ominously named Hell's Gate.

Ran wants me to get a look

at these rapids up close,

which is a worry,

until he reveals that an aerial

tramway has been installed

since he was last here.

Very atmospheric

with the clouds.

[Ran] Yeah.

[Joseph] Should we

commandeer this gondola

and take a ride down?

[Ran] Yeah. What a good idea.

That's a brilliant idea.

[Joseph] Do you have

your gondolier license?

[Ran] Of course.

[Joseph] Okay, great.

[Ran] I hope you haven't

forgotten yours.

[Joseph] I failed mine twice,

but I'm still happy

to take us down.

♪

As we get closer,

while Ran appears unruffled,

I am struck by the power

and the noise of the water below

as the huge Fraser River

squeezes through a gap

just 35 meters wide.

Wow, it's beautiful.

Ran, you were just paddling

down here just a moment ago.

[Ran] Just paddling, sunbathing.

[Joseph] I wonder what

that was like for you

as you heard the roar

of Hell's Gate.

[Ran] We could hear it

from about 15 miles away.

[Joseph] Wow.

[Ran] And by that time,

we got a bit more nervous

than earlier. Yeah.

Oh, look at that.

[Joseph] Isn't that great?

That's where you came?

[Ran] Yeah.

[Joseph] Look at that.

[Ran] Yeah, that's

the V shape there.

[Joseph] Yeah.

[Ran] That I remember

being very frightening.

[Joseph] So, Ran, I don't

have the guts to do this,

but I do have the guts

to get on the bridge

and have a look at it

from another perspective.

[Ran] Yes, let's do that.

Definitely do that.

[Joseph] When Simon Fraser

reached this point

during his expedition,

he chose to portage around it.

So, Simon Fraser, when

he passed by here in 1808,

he didn't dare go

through the rapids like you do.

[Ran] Right?

Well, very sensible.

[Joseph] If I remember right,

he wrote in his journal

that no human being

should venture past here,

he said, for these truly

are the gates of hell.

[Ran] He said those very words.

[Joseph] So that's why

they call it Hell's Gate.

I can imagine it was ferocious

at the time

you came through here

because it would have been

200 million gallons of water

moving through here.

♪

But in 1971, Ran and his team

did what Fraser didn't.

You must have had

such sense of elation

as you came through here.

[Ran] After this particular one,

partly because

it's called Hell's Gate,

we felt very relieved indeed.

[Joseph] "Very relieved indeed."

Quite the understatement,

but I can picture Ran

all those years ago

just getting on

with the next thing.

Just as he is now,

taking on his next adventure.

I am aware that

the wear and tear of life

has made its visit upon Ran,

and at times,

it's made me nervous,

but also at times it's made me

hugely appreciative of him,

his effort,

and of the human spirit.

♪

So, looking back, if you saw

young Ran passing here

and you could shout

something down to him,

what would you shout?

[Ran] Not to say,

"No, we can't do this,"

but to always ask myself

a question,

"Why can't we do this?

Why couldn't we do that?"

[Joseph] And you did it.

You did it, which is incredible.

[Ran] Well, I would then

go on to say, you know,

we had the luck of the devil.

[Joseph] I think

that's aptly put,

considering we're

at Hell's Gate.

I think before we get

absolutely sopping wet,

maybe we'll make our way back

on that cable car.

[Ran] Lead the way, cousin.

[Joseph] Okay.

Ran, I'm looking at this river.

It's like us, isn't it?

We're all just passing

through, aren't we?

[Ran] Very quickly.

[Joseph] Very quickly.

♪

In the next part

of our Canadian adventure,

Ran gives me a climbing lesson.

[Ran] Well done, brilliant.

[Joseph] Although

a boat-navigating lesson

might have been more useful.

[bleep]

[Guide] Oh, Ran,

it's a pleasure.

[Joseph] We meet

inspirational people,

find out more

about First Nations

history and culture,

and we mark the end

of our journey

with an unforgettable experience.

Just stunning!

[Ran] Just incredible.