12x18 - Freezer Burn

[bunniefuu]

♪♪

Narrator: Nome, alaska.

In the winter,

It's already one of the coldest
places to find gold.

And today...

The temperatures have plummeted

To the lowest reading
of the season,

Bringing even more challenges
onto the ice-mining b*ttlefield.

♪♪

So for captain shawn pomrenke...

You have to improvise.

You have to be a macgyver
out here.

Sometimes you don't have
all the stuff you need,

So you improvise.

Narrator: ...That means
before donning his wetsuit,

It's time to put on
his thinking cap

And put together something he
hopes will defeat mother nature.

Shawn:
Built a home-built steamer.

We're definitely gonna make
some steam here today.

Very hot on the end here.

But we got ourselves
a little problem.

We're following
a really nice vein of gold

Into the frozen dirt.

It's frozen, and you can't get
the gold out from underneath it.

So right now,
I'm gonna get the steam going.

We're gonna try thawing
the ground to get to the gold.

Last time I tapped into
the hottest pay streak

I found all winter.

Problem is it ran straight
into the frozen ground.

It can happen up here in nome.
It gets that cold.

So I had to get
a little creative.

Got the steam hose here.

Need special hose for steaming.

I built a steam g*n.

I had a dive heater that
makes hot water for a diver.

I figured, hell,
this should work

For thawing ground with steam.

Yeah, I think
that's a good plan,

A good idea, you know?

Shawn:
I've never tried it before.

I know steam's
kind of like a big b*mb.

If you get it plugged
and don't have a place

For it to go, it'll go boom.

It may or may not work.

Narrator:
Still short the ounces he needs

For the down payment
on the tomcod claim,

Shawn's rolling the dice
to tap into

What he believes
is a path to riches.

Shawn: Gold mining's a risk.

When it's this cold out,
it makes the job even tougher.

I mean, the risks get
greater and greater,

But you're not gonna get rich
by playing it safe.

Okay, got water.

I got power.
Let's make some steam,

It's gonna get crazy...

If it works.

It could go boom.

Hopefully it just goes
"wssshkkkk!"

Narrator: To make steam, shawn's
using a gas-fired furnace

To boil water inside a tank.

But to keep the steam
from turning back into water

On its journey to the sea floor,

The temperature must be raised
substantially,

Heightening the chance
for the system to,

As shawn put it, go boom.

Here you go. Let's see.

♪♪

Come on, girl.

♪♪

Ah-ha-ha-ha!

Seems to be working just fine.

Let's get diving.

The steam g*n's working
on top of the ice,

But now the real test will be
if it works under water.

This works,
we're gonna be in the gold.

Will the steam g*n
thaw the ground,

Or am I just a crazy person

Running around
with a dangerous machine?

We'll see.

Go down and check out that steam
and see what it'll do.

Okay.

♪♪

♪♪

On the bottom.

All right,
we're gonna fire it up.

Give us just a second.

♪♪

♪♪

If this thing here works the
way we think it's gonna work,

Oh, man, this is big.

Shawn: Uh-oh.

I don't have nothing
coming out down here.

Houston, we have a problem.

It's already falling apart.

Okay, give me just a second.

Narrator: 30 feet down,
the cold ocean is turning

Shawn's steam back into water,

Forcing his team
to turn up the heat even more.

How's that working
for you, shawn?

♪♪

Shawn: Yeah!

Yes.

[ laughs ]

Yeah.

So is that steam able to melt

That gold out of
the ground or what?

- Finally.
- Yee-haw!

Narrator:
As shawn works to melt away

The frozen sea floor,



Minus-20 right now.
Bloody cold out.

Narrator: ...The kellys are
struggling just to get started

In the frigid conditions.

Our ice hole froze up
closed so much

That I've lost half my hole.

If I have an emergency ascent,
I'm [bleep]

'cause I'm not getting
out of that hole.

Not fast, anyways.

It's gonna be a great day today.

I know we're gonna get
a lot of gold today.

We just got to get in the water.

Narrator:
But kris has, you guessed it,

A plan to beat the cold.

Kris: It's the coldest day
of the year.

Humans shouldn't be
in conditions like this.

Seals maybe, but not humans.

Each diver's gonna risk
freezing his a*s off

If it takes too long.

So my plan is for three of us...
Andy, myself, and shaunna...

To have short dives today.

Even though
that they're short dives,

We're still gonna make
a lot of gold today.

Narrator: The quick dives should
get the kellys closer

To the ounces they need

To rent the boat of their dreams
this summer.

But...

It's gonna suck.

Narrator: ...Not everyone is
warming up to the idea.

It's negative-20.
You got to have tough skin.

We got to press hard right now
and make this happen.

- Hotter water.
- Turtle!

Turn it up a little bit then.

You like that?

Okay.

Kris: With temperatures
getting this low,

Things can get pretty crazy.

So turtle's gonna be
watching the temperature

And watching the dive hole.

It's so cold out right now,
the dive hole's already

Beginning to freeze over,
and none of these machines

Are built
for this kind of temperature.

It's a [bleep] show.

Kris: Okay, no matter what,
just keep your eye on your exit.

You know the rules.

♪♪

♪♪

For a couple of minutes there,
I didn't think

He was gonna get
underneath the water.

Turtle: You okay?

♪♪

Kris: Are you seeing
any gold at all?

I haven't seen any yet.

I'm still moving around, though.

Just keep going I go.

Any day could be our last,
you know,

'cause we're getting to
the end of the season now.

Hopefully andy puts us
on big gold right now.

♪♪

Andy: Right there at the end
of my finger.

Looks nice, doesn't it?

Really good gold.

- Okay, go to work.
- Okay.

Finally everything's running
smooth again.

Just got to put
some more hours in,

And this could turn out to be
a pretty good season.

♪♪

Kris: How much gold
do you think you got?

[ coughs ]

That's why you get paid
the big bucks.

Yeah, we're gonna
look into that.

[ coughs ]

♪♪

I don't know what the [bleep]
is wrong with the hot water.

I'm sick of that hot water.

The hot water's on right now.
It's working.

How would you know?

I can see the steam coming out
of there, the smoke,

That doesn't... that just means
the exhaust is working.

Yeah, it means
the heater's going.

[ andy breathing heavily ]

♪♪

[ wheezing ]

Turtle!

[ breathing heavily ]

Andy's working hard down there.
We really got to...

Kris: Pull him in! Pull him in!

Andy: God!

♪♪

[ wind blowing ]

♪♪

♪♪

Andy: God!

♪♪

Kris: [bleep]
pull him in! Pull him in!

Kris: Are you okay?

I just lost all [bleep] air
on my way back to [bleep]

Well, try not to [bleep] die,
but I'm glad you [bleep] had

Your escape route planned.

Don't take your [bleep] mask off
when you're near the hole.

Yeah, I had no breath, [bleep]

See how small this hole is?
You can crawl back in.

My fat a*s can't get...
I got my arms on the thing.

The what happens
if you fall in, though?

Well, stop pulling me,
a*s [bleep]

Kris: I'm glad you're okay.

I lost air pressure.

And then I'm trying to
shimmy through this [bleep]

Producer: How far were you
from the hole?



Yeah, when the water
doesn't go hot,

It freezes the reg.

Kris: Oh, man.

The hot-water system
not only pumps hot water

To andy's suit, it also keeps
the whole system from freezing.

No, the mask is not okay.

When the hot water stops,

The mask will freeze
completely shut,

And you won't get any air
underneath the water.

Now, that's [bleep] scary.

This cold weather
is bad news on everything.

♪♪

It's coming. It's turning on.

No, I know. You're getting...

Just relax.
[bleep], I don't know.

And that hole is too small.

It really is, dude.

Hopefully nothing else
breaks down.

Nothing's gonna break.
Nothing's broken right now.

We're just having
small, little complications.

[bleep] me.

Hell, yeah.
That's scary as hell.

Super anxious now.

I'm not gonna risk my life
and go down like that.

It looks like
the hot-water situation

Has scared andy and shaunna.

Neither of them are gonna
dive any more today,

Which means I only have
one option right now

To try to keep us on gold
and get hours on the box.

Yeah, I left the nozzle
on some good stuff.

Okay, good.

Did you find
where andy left off?

Yeah.

- Are you still seeing gold?
- I'm seeing gold.

Okay, get to work.

Narrator: Five miles west...

♪♪

Yeah, this is the dive hole.

Just clearing out the ice.

Looks good? - Yeah.

This was a new hole.

We're out here
a little bit deeper.

We think we're on that ancient
beach line right now,

And if that's the case,

Then there's most likely
some gold down there.

Narrator: Captain vernon adkison
is rolling the ice.

Vernon:
We're following this pay streak,

And it's leading us
further and further out.

The further out we go,
the richer it gets.

Today, we're moving camp
nearly a mile

Onto some seriously thin ice.

It's gonna be dangerous,

But I think we're getting close
to the mother lode.

Time's a wasting.
The season's getting real short.

We need serious gold right now.

Narrator: To pay for
a winning bid on claim 16,

Vernon needs 200 ounces,

But so far
he's nowhere near his goal.

So the captain's hoping

That today's risky bet
will be a game changer.

We'll get in the water just
as quick as we possibly can.

Nice and tight?
Got your neck in, yeah?

Yep, good.

Let's see what happens.

If the gold gods are with us,

We'll be rolling in the dough
here before the night is over.

♪♪

♪♪

All right, here we go.

♪♪

Vernon: How's it looking, gary?

He's working sand.

I mean, now I don't see
how that's gonna work.

I'm seeing some cobble
in the sand,

So maybe he don't have to
go down too far.

Yeah, I can't tell
how much sand,

But I'm seeing some cobble
under it.

Yes.

All right. I think I'm starting
to wake up a little bit now.

Come on.

Yeah.

Ooh. Ooh!

Nice little dip.

Oh, boy!

All right-a-rooney.

Ah, we're on the gold,
you guys. Whoo!

Yeah!

We'll make a season.

[ laughter ]

This is...

This is gold porn, baby!

Yeah, gold porn.

[ laughs ]

Anyway, so far,
it's looking good.

Probably ancient, ancient clay.

Oh, yeah!

That's set up hard.

Gold lays right on top of that.

Something about an ice chunk.

Oh, [bleep] that ain't good.

No.

[ rattling ]

Okay, they're adjusting
your water.

Ah.

Ah, he's got a plug.

Agh!

Ah! Ah!

♪♪

We just lost prime.
We just lost prime.

Oh, [bleep]

Shut down the engine.

Shut down the engine!

[bleep]

Come on up, gary.
We're shutting down the engine.

Pull the umbilical!

He's coming up.

Pull the umbilical!

Ahhhh!

[ wind blowing ]

♪♪

Vernon: Pull the umbilical!

He's coming up.

Pull the umbilical!

Ahhhh!

♪♪

♪♪

Oh, boy.

Vernon: That big blue hose
over there,

That's where the water
to the pump comes from.

And I think it sucked some
sludge up into the pump,

And the pump lost prime.

Ah, this damn cold.

Pump clogged up with ice.

That means no suction,
no hot water to the diver.

Oh, my god. My face is froze!

Damn.

I was worried today
was gonna be rough.

It seems my premonition
was right on the money.

Yeah, we don't have
any water flow.

We can't run the pump dry.

It will destroy it
pretty quickly.

Yeah, we damn near blew
the main engine

Because we didn't have
cooling water.

It all froze up.

Just keep going.
Just keep going.

Good job. Yeah!

Vernon: Lucky for us,
we found there was slush

In the suction hose.

We'll be able
to get that cleared out.

It could have been far worse
for the equipment

And, of course, for gary, also.

Vernon: Hey, gary, is it primed?

All right.
Well, let's start it back up.

♪♪

All right, now it's going.

Now everything's flowing.
The water is hot.

The pump is running,

Hopefully this fix will hold up,

But there's no reason
why it can't happen again.

The temperature only gets lower
the later would go in the day.

We're playing with fire,
or ice, I suppose.

Gary, get down there,
get that gold.

Suit up!

But we got no choice.
We got to get in it.

We got to get that gold today.

All right! Awesome!

♪♪

Yeah, the water is good.

Vernon: How's it looking, gary?

All right, sweet.

Okay, he's got suction.
He's got suction.

Man, it's sucking
like a sun of a g*n.

I'm loving it. Oh, yeah.

That's some suction.

And it... it sucks,
and in a good way.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator:
Captain shawn pomrenke is using

A potentially expl*sive
steam generator,

And so far the only thing
that's been expl*sive...

...Is the amount of gold
piling up in the box.

♪♪

I just know that if we blow up,

I'm doing it with
a full stomach.

I'll make a big mess.

♪♪

Shawn: Like a hot knife
through butter.

Oh, nice.

Yeah, it's a lot more work
doing it this way,

But, I mean, hell,
we're getting gold.

Joe: Yeah, the ice is mixed in
with the gravel, though.

That much frozen gravel,

That much gold.

A lot of sand underneath it.

Sand's all gone, so you can
kind of undermine it, go and...

She left behind
a whole bunch of gold.

Man, might have to take her
out to dinner.

[ laughs ]

Sounds like you're on
really good gold down there.

Really good.

Right on, man. Great news.

Might be. It might be.

♪♪

Uh-oh.

All right,
I'll take a look at it.

I don't know what's going on.

Come on.

[ hissing ]

How's that working for you,
shawn?

It's nothing.

[ popping ]

♪♪

You might want to
get up here quick, shawn.

Oh, [bleep]

There's steam coming everywhere.

All right, I'm on my way up.

♪♪

Joe: Watch it! She's gonna blow!

♪♪

Yeah, you better get up here.

Looks like it's about to blow.

Shawn: Oh, [bleep]

Narrator:
On the trail of frozen gold,

Shawn pomrenke is getting hot.

Joe: Watch it! She's gonna blow!

♪♪

♪♪

It looks like
that thing's about to blow.

♪♪

♪♪

I just... I shut it off because
it just steaming everywhere.

[bleep]

It was... it was...

Well, it is steam.
It's like a b*mb.

Yeah, well, and I was confused.

I didn't know pretty much
what to do.

And I just turned it off.

Well, let's check it out
and see what's going on here.

♪♪

Got hot. Think it blew
the whole ring out?

Cooked it out?
Melted it out, I think.

- Melted that all apart.
- Yeah.

Narrator:
Equipment failure has brought

Shawn's steamy mining session
to a halt,

But, hey,
it could happen to any miner.

Before she blew, the steamer
was working just fine.

Ah-ha-ha-ha!

At least we know that that...
We can pull another card

Out of our pocket,
and it'll work.

Time to clean some gold.

Yeah, it's looks really,
really, really good.

Oh, it was working great.

I was able to "skskkk!"
shove it into the sand

Underneath that frozen ground,

And then I was able
to come in behind it

And "skskkk!"

Pretty bummed we got cut short,

But this thing is
a game changer.

Can't wait to get it fixed up
and back on the gold.

We'll do it again.

♪♪

♪♪

How's it looking down there?
You seeing any gold?

Narrator:
Despite a dicey water heater,

Kris kelly's braving
the coldest day of the season,

And three hours into his dive...

...He's keeping
the fighting irish in the game.

Come on up. You had a good dive,
good day today.

Okay. I'm coming up.

Did a good job.

♪♪

Hey, tired as hell.

We got good gold,
but this sucks.

Kris: Today was the coldest day
of the year,

But we got great gold.

Andy and shaunna
tapped out today,

But with me being the captain,
I don't have that option.

Sometimes being the captain
means being

The stupidest one on the team,
but that pays.

I'm living proof.

Today was a great day, you know?

Andy made it out
of a bad problem

Without any problems.

So let's just keep going
with what we're doing,

And let's not stop
till we get 50 ounces.

♪♪

♪♪

Vernon: With gold mining,
hey, baby, it don't come easy,

It's not for the faint of heart

Because it's discouraging
as hell.

But what we do...
It breaks, we fix it.

We keep on pushing,
and right now,

This is the result
of that perseverance.

Narrator:
After season-low temperatures

Nearly shut down
their operation...

...Vernon adkison's crew
is heating up.

Vernon: Did I hear you say
you're whooping a*s?

♪♪

Jenny: Yeah, brother!

Get 'er done!

O.G. Come through again.

I got a good team here.

I'm proud of these guys.

Hello, everybody.

Today, we'll be talking
about freeze ups

On "secrets underneath the ice
with kris kelly."

♪ doo-doo-doo! ♪

Freeze ups.

Quickest way to die
underneath the ocean

Is you can't breathe.

[ distorted screaming ]

I don't think so, okay?

So that's the quickest way
to die.

A freeze up is where
ice blocks your air.

Water comes out
when you breathe,

Condensation from your breath.

So that little bit of water
can technically freeze

And cut off your air system.

Isn't that [bleep]?

There's a couple of different
places you can get freeze ups...

At the regulator,

At the... the air comes in.

What do you call that piece
at the back

Of the end of it
where the air comes out?

The left side of the regulator?

I don't [bleep] know.
I'm not an instructor.

Eric, I am your father.

We're out here. It's 20 below.

Trying to get burgers cooked.

Not looking too well.

These are all frozen.

What do I expect out here, huh?

Somebody's having five-stack,
you know what I mean?

How does this barbecue work
in minus 20?

Not very well.

It could take me an hour
to cook these burgers.

[ whistling ]

♪♪

Uh-oh.

This has turned into
a big [bleep] mess.

That one pound
of [bleep] gross [bleep]

We'll call this one
andy's burger.

Oh, well, we can't worry
about those anymore.

I just have to
worry about this one right here.

This one's shaunna's right here.

I don't know
if they're ready to eat yet.

They look pretty raw still.
[ laughs ]

Can't have a burger
on the ice without cheese.

The cheese isn't even melting.

Ooh. There it is.

I don't even know
if it's cooked.

[ laughs ]

♪♪

Brad: All charged up now
with the bering sea burger.

[ belches and coughs ]

Hell, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

♪♪

Narrator: In nome...

♪♪

Kris: Damn hot-water heater.

That thing is a pile of crap.

Yes, I was freezing my nuts off.

I don't know if turtle
wasn't hitting

The reset button or what, but...

Narrator: ...After the air was
nearly taken out

Of their season,
kris led by example.

Brad: Still looks like
pretty good gold, though.

And now the captain
will find out

If the icy dive was worth it.

Kris:
A little emergency ascent...

That's definitely
not gonna stop us.

- Nope.
- It did scare shaunna.

I don't really care about that.
We're getting gold.

Let's get this cleaned out,
get it dried up,

And get it on the scale.

Let's see what we got.

Come on, baby.


I'm not gonna say it wouldn't.

Come on, 10 ounces.



- That's 1 ounce.
- Oh, yeah, 1 ounce. [ laughs ]

- sh**t.
- Calm down.

Okay, now we're at 3...



Come on, there's no 10 ounces.

Agh! - Got one left.

Over 7 ounces.
- Oh, yeah, over 7 ounces.

- That's still good, man.
- Wow.

Narrator: 7.17 ounces is worth
over $11,000.

So right now, every single day,

We keep grinding,
getting closer and closer.

I have no doubt that we're
gonna make it our 50 ounces

And get the... Next summer.

We keep going on track,
and hopefully we can work out

All the bugs and hopefully
everything gets better for us.

Be positive.
Everything will work out.

I am being positive.

And positively wanting
more gold.

Narrator: Out on the ice...

♪♪

I'm looking to buy the track.

It's coming up on the lease.
Hell, I've already bid on it.

I need the gold to pay for it.

And so it's not gonna be
too long before I got to come up

With some serious cash
if I want this lease.

And then the other part of it
is I got to know

That the damn lease
is worth buying.

...It's down to the wire
as vernon adkison faces off

With his gold scale.

Let's weight this.

This one's got
some weight to it.

I think we've done
a little better.

This is the way I love
to do my banking.

It's coming up on 2.





There's 9.



Almost 11 ounces. 10.94.

That's the best one
we've had so far.


over $17,000

In vernon's w*r chest.

That speaks
very powerfully to me.

I think jenny brings us luck.

- Hell, yeah.
- Hell, yeah.

It was risky as hell
going out on the ice this far,

But gold mining
is a risky business,

No getting around it.

But based on the payout,
it's been worth it.

Now I know what 16 is all about.

I'm satisfied this claim
is loaded with gold.

That's a pretty
good-looking gold.

There's some chunky stuff
in there.

This is what we've been
working for.

If we'd have done that
on those other three cleanups,

We'd be looking
pretty good right now.

But as it is,
we're behind the curve,

But we're heading in
the right direction.

So now what we need to do
is just get down there

And get some more.

♪♪

Narrator: Back in nome...

♪♪

♪♪

Shawn:
It's a decent-looking pile.

We got into some frozen ground,

Come up with a way to thaw it.

Narrator:
...After steam-blasting his way

Through a frozen pay streak,

Mr. Gold is ready
to see just how hot it was.

I mean, we got out there,

Melted the o-rings
on the heater,

But we'll get it tuned in.

♪♪

Here we go.









We hit 20.



Another good cleanup.

Narrator: The previously frozen


Are worth over $41,000
in cold, hard cash.

That'll definitely help make
a payment on the claim.

That gold's
locked into that ice,

But we're blasting it free
and getting it.

It's working. We're getting it.

Every cleanup,
we get a little bit closer,

But I don't want to jinx it.

Tomcod's within my reach,

But I'm not counting my chickens
before they're hatched.

It's getting tough out there.

And as it comes to an end,
it's only gonna get tougher.

You just got to keep coming up
with new ways

To get the gold that's there.

It's gonna be a battle
to the bitter end.

Yeah. We'll get there.

Tomcod's going to be mine.

Narrator:
Shawn racks up the gold,

But kris and vernon
aren't looking too shabby.