01x05 - Canadian Arctic

[bunniefuu]

I don't see much shelter over in those
mountains.

But that's the only choice I have right
now.

This is gonna be a long week.

This time on Survivorman, I'm headed to
the top of the globe.

Baffin Island, high in the Canadian
Arctic.

It's about an eight-hour
flight straight north into the

ice and snow and the small
Inuit community of Pond Inlet.

A place where basic existence depends on
your ability to survive a harsh environment.

I'm gonna have to find my way back to this
community seven days from now.

For ten straight hours, I'll push this
snowmobile farther, and farther into the

barren Arctic, where I'll be left alone to
survive.

This is the Arctic at the top of our
world.

It's a changing landscape
of barren land, snow-covered

mountains, and vast expanses
of constantly shifting ocean ice.

In the wintertime, the Arctic is immersed
in months of frigid darkness.

But in the short polar summer,
it's daytime all the time.

The temperature's here.

Well, it's the Arctic.

It's cold.

And it's one of the lowest population
densities in the world.

To go out on the land, you ride the knife
edge of trouble.

You can get disoriented by whiteouts and
get lost.

You can fall through the ice into freezing
water.

Traditionally, they use dog sleds to get
around.

But for the most part,
this is the modern, slightly

noisier way to get from
one place to another.

Of course, dogs don't break down.

Oh, yeah.

Well, this guy's not going anywhere.

Camera crew took the good
snow machine and left me

alone for seven days out
here with this broken down one.

And where's here?

The middle of the Canadian Arctic.

For seven days, I have to survive out here
with very little in the way of equipment.

And yet, somehow, find my own way back to
safety, back to town.

And, of course, I've got to film the whole
ordeal myself.

I took ill on my way to the Arctic.

But the production team had little
sympathy.

I've had laryngitis for a week.

The producer said, well, you can't pick the
time or place you're going to break down.

I guess they're right.

And I'm 1,100 miles from the nearest tree.

Heck, I'm 700 miles north of the Arctic
Circle.

I'm closer to the North Pole than I am to
the Arctic Circle.

So, sometimes, you've got to really take a
look at your circumstances.

If the snowmobile can't help me get back,
I'll take advantage of what it can offer.

Everything from sharp parts for digging to
the wires and the oil.

I've got to use what I can to survive.

Who knows?

I might take some of
this grease and just put it

under my eyes just to
kind of give me that football.

Look, you know, maybe stop some of the
glare off the snow.

Ripping some of the sponge right out of
the sea cushion.

I figure it's a good idea to soak up some
gasoline.

It could prove valuable in this land
without trees.

It's mid-May, but here in the Arctic,
it can still get blisteringly cold.

And storms can move in at any time.

I have to build a shelter.

There's really only one thing to build a
shelter with out here.

It's white, and there's a lot of it.

Even though it's so cold,
I have to be very careful

not to overheat in this
caribou skin clothing.

If I sweat, it'll chill me to the bone in
no time.

Real simple equation.

You sweat, you die.

Let's see what I can get out of this guy
now.

There.

Well, that's it.

The snowmobile cowling, some foam from the
seat, and some snow.

That'll be home for the night.

You know, I just turned the camera on,
and the little clock comes on in the

beginning, and I happen to notice the
time.

It's 3 o'clock in the morning.

I've been going for a long time.

Tomorrow, I'll try to get my bearings and
start the long walk out.

But for now...

Good night.

As you can see, the white did get whiter.

I can't even see the mountains in behind
me now.

The wind has picked up as well.

And my feet are cold, and my body's
starting to get chilled, even though I'm

protected down in here with fur and a
windbreak.

It doesn't seem to matter.

I gotta get off this sea ice.

I don't see much shelter
over in those mountains,

but that's the only
choice I have right now.

This is gonna be a long week.

The machine is too heavy to take much of
it with me.

But it won't stay here.

The crew will return for it at the end of
my week alone.

In the Arctic, navigation is a challenge
to say the least.

The sea ice here is about six feet thick,
and cracks in the ice are very dangerous.

If I fall into one, it's game over.

The compasses don't work up here because
we're so close to the magnetic pole.

The huge pans of ice are also constantly
shifting.

You could be floating out to sea and not
even know it.

The snow has finally
settled just enough that

I can show you what
supplies I have with me.

To survive in the extremes
of the Arctic, you really

need some minimum
requirements or else you'll die.

This time, the producers gave
me the break of having a few

small supplies to survive
this harshest of environments.

I'm supposed to catch food with this.

This is a seal hook.

We'll see about that.

Knife made out of a caribou leg bone for
heat.

This is a big chunk of seal blubber.

See that?

This is my source of heat.

What I have to heat myself up with this...

with...

kudlik.

Soapstone kudlik.

Three matches.

These things aren't going
to do me any good at all

until I have some kind
of real solid shelter built.

Of course, I always carry with me a good
multi-till.

First time ever...

I've got a g*n.

I was actually required to bring the g*n.

They wouldn't let me come out here without
it.

One reason, one reason only.

Polar bears.

Lots of them.

Big... 1500 pounds of
claw, fang and muscle.

They're on the seal hunt right now.

And, uh... I'll be walking
right through their territory.

Spooky, to say the least.

My rules are... that I can only use the
g*n to protect myself from polar bears.

Not for hunting.

This time...

They said I could actually have some food.

Which excited me.

What they didn't tell me was...

That it was going to be a bag...

of raw... seal meat.

Which is traditional.

Look at that.

Big hunk of raw... seal liver.

You know what?

I haven't eaten in a long time.

There is fat attached to the seal meat.

Eating meat alone, I could die from what
has been nicknamed... rabbit starvation.

After only a week of meat without fat...
you will show signs of protein poisoning.

Even after eating...
you still feel ravenous.

The stomach will distend...

and in eight days...
diarrhea begins.

A few weeks of
that... and you will die.

It's not bad, actually.

But...

because it's lightened up a bit
better... off to the side there...

I think I'm gonna try and get out of
here... and make my way over there.

Okay.

Now, smelling like a seal... I'll make
my way through thick polar bear country.

Just a big piece of slow-moving bear food.

Well, I pulled my...

Comatec as far as I could... up
this little break in the mountains.

And... I found this...

beautiful glacier... making
its way to the ocean.

And that's not even the best part.

Let me show you what else I found.

I.

gotta be careful not to slip...

because... I get down in there...
I actually can't get back up.

There's about a
ten-foot... straight drop.

If you get down to the bottom...
there's no way of getting back up.

This is fantastic.

I am sitting...

underneath... the
big toe... of a glacier.

It makes me kind of nervous...
being in caves like this anyway.

You don't know when one of
these... big chunks is gonna fall off...

break your neck.

Big piece right up above you, actually.

This is kinda spooky.

I was so chilled...

I could barely sleep.

Who would have thought...
that an ice cave... would be cold?

I've got five more
days... to survive.

But right now... I have to get up high
enough... to check my direction... for travel.

The total white-out conditions...
make travel impossible.

So any markers I can spot...
such as an iceberg... or a hill...

will help me from losing
track... of my route... to safety.

Lots of cracks... and crevices.

I could literally... fall
into the ocean here.

I gotta be... better be careful.

Trying to go... up there.

So I can get a look.

Better look at where I gotta go.

Better look at how far.

I gotta go.

It's very hard to tell... where
you're putting your feet.

It's just... white.

You know what I mean?

Look... if you look this way... I
mean... that's what I'm stepping in.

Just white... white...
white... white... white...

You can barely see... where the...
sky begins... and the land ends.

Well...

I'm at the base of this...
little mountain here.

This little hill.

So... I'm going to climb up...
see if I can get a better look.

Where I gotta go?

You gotta see this.

I figure I've got about a 30-mile walk
back to Pond Inlet.

If I can make it to the other shoreline...

across the five miles of jumbled,
rough, pack ice...

I can follow the shoreline to safety.

After a full day of traveling
yesterday... the funny thing is...

I can still see my snowmobile.

Well, of course, as always...
I've got way too much...

heavy camera equipment to haul around.

I can't...

underestimate... how much of
a hassle... having this stuff is.

It's why it wouldn't be so hard...

if I didn't have to try to film it at the
same time.

But I'm thinking now...

if I'm gonna do that walk
across the sea ice... then, uh...

maybe I can make use of some
of this... these... pieces from the...

snowmobile.

One of the problems I'm
gonna have out there... is, uh...

this... well, snow
blindness, basically.

Even with this overcast...

it's so very, very bright...
I'm always squinting.

So I'll take a couple of these wires...

right out of work...

and, uh...

some of that...

crappy old seat cover.

There.

Not so bad.

I can see anyway.

I won't... I won't bother
my eyes so much now.

Off we go.

Snow blind.

Just imagine a bad sunburn...
to the cornea of your eyes.

If that happened to me... I'd
be blind and helpless out here...

for at least three days.

Snow blindness.

Hypothermia.

Polar bears.

Frostbite.

Exhaustion.

Starvation.

These are the perils... the
realities... of Arctic survival.

Distance in these conditions is tough to
judge.

Perspective in the white...
can play tricks with your mind.

I've heard of people... who upon seeing
a mountain... start to head towards it...

only to find a few steps
later... that it was just... a rock.

It's just so white out here.

I mean it's white upon white upon white.

Everything is a shade of white.

Even the seagulls... are white.

all along the way...

I've been...

eating snow... for
my water intake.

Because the only water
around here... is either...

frozen...

or...

salty... coming up
through the cracks.

Now... a lot of books
warn... don't eat the snow.

It damages the membranes...
it cools you down.

Well, you know what?

It's very true.

If I was just about to go...
sleep... or crawl into an igloo...

then yeah... I wouldn't eat
snow... to cool me down.

But... during the day... when I'm working
this hard... eating the cold snow...

it's helping to keep me from sweating.

So...

personally...

I don't have a big problem with it.

I'm not that close to the flow
edge... but I'm close enough...

I could literally be on...

one...

big... pan of ice.

I could be on a five square... mile
piece of ice... that... that cracks...

over by the shore.

There could be... a hundred feet of
water... between me and the shore...

and I wouldn't even know it.

I could be well on my way... to
Greenland... just drifting away.

Just a few years ago... tragedy
nearly struck... a group of Inuit children.

They were drifting off... to
Greenland... without even knowing it.

And only a daring rescue... by the
local townspeople... brought them back...

from sure death.

I'm gonna stop here...
beside this iceberg.

See if I can actually sleep for an
hour... before I... push on through...

and make it to the other shore.

It's great how this
caribou fur... is incredible.

It doesn't hold the snow at all.

It just... falls
off of it like dust.

So here I sit... in the
middle of the Arctic...

with a big... chunk of...

raw seal meat...

attempting to sleep...
beside an iceberg.

I'm in probably... the thickest
polar bear area... around here.

I'm beside an ice crack.

They like to... hunt the ice
cracks... looking for seals.

Beside an iceberg.

They like to circle the
icebergs... looking for seals.

And I'm sitting here...

with a big hunk of raw seal meat.

You know, this is not the most intelligent
thing I've ever done.

Day four... of my seven day challenge...
to survive in the Arctic... alone.

The weather seems to be clearing...
and if the whiteouts do subside...

I know my general
direction... back home.

But this morning... I
woke up to a surprise.

These guys... are
polar bear tracks.

Big ones.

Man... his head would have been
about here... and his back end...

way back here.

This is a big bear.

What's important about these tracks...
is that... they're only 30 feet...

from where I've been sleeping.

And you thought I was kidding about polar
bears.

Yeesh.

Look at the size of these things.

Right here you can even see the...

impression of them.

Wow.

Even carrying a
r*fle... I'm not safe.

I'm not exactly a sure shot.

I know of one Inuit man... who spotted
a bear outside his cabin window...

turned to see a second bear...

outside the other window.

They were about to corner him.

He bolted from the cabin...
and with the bears in pursuit...

he jumped to his snow machine... pulled
out the r*fle... and turned to sh**t.

k*lling both bears... as they dropped
to the ground... only feet away.

I'm keeping my r*fle loaded.

Boy, how everything changes...
when the sun comes out.

This could be... glacial melt.

And if it is... that's gonna be great...
because it's... it's gonna be fresh water.

Yeah.

That's salty.

Any given time... there's about 10,000...
of these icebergs... floating around...

in the eastern arctic waters.

Most of them... come from
Greenland... or Ellesmere Island.

Mmm.

You know what they say...

it's just the tip of the iceberg.

Apparently there's another... nine-tenths
of this guy... right underneath me.

Mmm.

Not salty.

Nice and fresh.

Later on in the summer... this guy's
gonna float... right past Newfoundland.

I'm taking my way up the iceberg.

This isn't just a flight of fancy.

In fact...

the Inuit... used icebergs...
to watch out for polar bears...

to look for seals on the
ice... to determine their route.

They use them quite
regularly... to get a view...

on all of their surroundings.

And that's what I'm gonna do too.

This is actually...

pretty exciting.

There's a seagull...
and I'm level with him.

That's cool.

This is absolutely breathtaking.

I mean...

there's not a soul around...

for miles.

This is about as alone as you can get.

Wow.

I can see polar
bear tracks... and...

a lot of icebergs.

I can see my route out too.

And I can see...

why the Inuit climbed...
the glaciers... to look around.

Even if it was
just... for the view.

this is less sleeping in the sun.

Even though there is good weather
now... my stomach reminds me...

that I've had four long days...
with only a few bites of meat...

and very little sleep.

You know, the fascinating...

beautiful... and actually quite
dangerous... aspect to this time of year...

is that it can go from...

kind of a scorching hot sun...
to minus 30 in just a few hours.

I could even get a sunburn out here right
now.

Anyway, this is a nice break from
that... freezing time in the ice cave.

A few days of... nothing
but cloud and snow.

Well, I'm not hanging around here.

This is thick polar bear territory.

I have three days left to survive.

My meat is almost gone.

And I still have a long way...
to travel over the ice... to safety.

This is it.

My last bit of... seal meat.

After this... all I have is... scraping
the blubber... off the inside of the hide.

I'm gonna find something else.

You know... these
mukluks... they're frozen solid.

Because... they're... my own moose hide
mukluks... that I brought from Ontario.

And... they're not
supposed to get wet.

I should be wearing... seal
skin mukluks... called Kamiks.

Then I'd be fine.

These ones... got soaked...
when I had that day of sunshine.

And now... I'm walking around...
in big... frozen... blocks of ice.

But the hardest part... of being
out here... it's not the cold...

it's not survival...

it's not existing...
without food in my belly.

It's running the cameras.

They are... a...

pain... to put it lightly.

Oh well... that's
what I'm here for.

Damn it, I did press record.

I'll.

call them... sleeps... instead of
nights... because... there is no night.

So I've had... short sleep...
in kind of like a snow grave...

beside the snow machine.

Very windy... very
cold... experience.

I had... short sleep... in an ice cave...
and a little better sleep... in the sun...

when it finally came
out... beside the iceberg.

What I've been doing... is... I've
been looking for... some... better snow...

some deeper snow... where I
could maybe... make an igloo.

And I think I found it.

So...

that's where I'm headed.

If a big storm... does
come in... a big blow up...

better that I have... a good igloo...
to protect me... than try... handling it.

I hope... again.

This might look like... a beautiful
shot... but I still have to go back...

and get the camera.

It's cold.

The windshield... scavenged from
the snowmobile... will come in handy.

I checked around... and
this snow does feel good.

The snow's too soft...

then... uh... it's just
gonna crumble on you.

If it's too hard... then
you're gonna work too much.

And I hate to make this comparison...
but it's gotta... kinda feel like...

like styrofoam.

Okay.

This is gonna take me a while...

as you can see.

And I've got... time-lapse camera
running... and I'm just gonna go to it.

The Inuit have been relying on
igloos... for thousands of years.

It's the perfect shelter.

Snow is an incredible insulator... and the
dome shape... can withstand severe storms.

Built properly...

an igloo is an amazing
marriage... of function... and form.

Well, folks... this is it.

I really thought... that
I'd put on the time-lapse...

and give you a work-of-art igloo.

But being that... this is the first
time... I've ever tried to make one...

and... according
to the... local Inuit...

a friend of mine
actually... Sam Elwick...

the snow is the worst type of snow... to
try and make an igloo with... right now.

And then I just realized...
that I've been going all night...

I have no idea what time it
is... although I'm sure it's...

close to morning already...

and... I'm exhausted.

Put all those factors together...

and you've got
a... a crappy igloo.

So I'm gonna try and sleep.

I got my...

my seat cushion...
from the snowmobile still.

And at least I'm protected...
pretty well from the wind actually.

Oh, this will have to do.

After almost a week... of seeing
nothing but rock... and snow...

I finally found a grassy
area... not too far from my igloo.

Just to walk upon... and
touch this grass... feels so good.

After such a long, cold, miserable
night... working on that shelter.

Oh, man.

Oh, this is wonderful.

Look at this.

Scraps of wood.

Some of it not even that old.

I'm sure local Inuit... come through...
and repair their comatics here.

So I've got...

dried wood... dried grass...

and little arctic flowers... that have
already gone to seed... so they're fluffy.

Sounds to me like...
the makings of a fire.

There are old whaling stations... and
Inuit hunt camps... everywhere out here.

So it follows... that scraps of wood...
and small metal objects... appear...

as the snow... slowly
leaves the land.

I.

don't know if you remember this.

I stuck this into the gas tank.

Of course, it's evaporated...
from being soaking wet with gas...

but it still smells like gasoline.

I still have three matches... but
I'll need them later... for the Kudlik.

And although they said... I can't
hunt with the r*fle... they didn't say...

I couldn't start a fire with it.

Let's try that again.

Hang on, hang on, hang on.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,
yes.

Yes, Lou, sorry.

Oh, man.

Except my kindling's blown...
all over Kingdom Come here.

I think I left... a little too
much powder... in that time.

Well, soaking the sponge... with
gas seems like... a great idea now.

And it gives me the chance... to finally
warm my feet... and dry out my mukluks.

That little bit of wood... didn't last
very long... but I can still find ways...

to melt the snow...
for drinking water.

In these conditions... I need


With only four bites... of seal meat
each day... I'm only taking in 200.

Right now, there aren't...
a lot of animals out here...

except for seals.

So it's back down... into the
thick of polar bear territory...

and onto the sea ice.

The sun being out...
makes it a perfect day...

for hunting seal.

You want to keep the sun... at
your back... because the seals have...

such sensitive eyes... that when
they... come out... they keep their eyes...

turned away from the sun.

The object...

is to stand over this hole... for a long
time... and wait for the seal to come.

like this.

And when the seal comes...
you lunge down... and pull.

Inuit people...

could stand for... hours... and hours...
and hours... perfectly still... waiting...

for a seal to come.

You have to stand completely still...
and silent... or the seal won't come...

to the breathing hole.

After what seems like hours...

my arms and legs are aching.

I can't do this anymore.

When you burn more calories... than you
take in... your body will literally begin...

to consume itself.

At first...

subcutaneous
fat... will be burned.

If things get bad enough... your
body will start to burn... what's left...

your muscles.

Something else I can do... to try and
catch... some bigger and more... food... is...

taking this bone... from
the seal... left over... and...

and hopefully a seagull... or raven or
something... might land... and go for that.

And if... they come for it...
I've got a chance of grabbing...

and maybe getting myself...
a much bigger dinner.

In fact... there's also lots of... survival
situations... where people have...

eaten their... rawhide gloves... and... muck
locks... you know... anything on them...

that is a natural... you
know... animal part...

eventually... can be eaten...
in a real dire situation.

I'm gonna hope for a bird.

It's the end of day five... of my
seven days to survive... in the Arctic...

and I've spent all day... looking
for food... without any luck.

Now it's back to the
igloo... for another night.

I think what I'm gonna
do... is make my kudlik.

This is a soapstone dish...
and... uh... basically to...

give myself a little bit of...
warmth during the night... let's see...

I found this... little paper
towel... in with the bag...

of... seal blubber...

so I'm assuming that... it's... to
help with the... the... the kudlik...

the blubber...

which... I guess... if I
need to... I could also eat.

That's the part I hate.

The tape's running out... so... I gotta
go climb down... the hill... to the lake...

get another tape... come all
the way back up... and put it in...

so I can finish this segment.

So... what I wanna do...

is...

scrape this blubber... basically you do
that... until you fill this thing up with...

the... the slimy oil...

add.

this to the kudlik...

like so...

okay... well... I got three matches
here... and these three kudlik fires...

well... that little flame...
which is getting bigger...

it's going all the way
across... it's really exciting...

okay... I forgot to mention... I never
go anywhere... without my harmonica...

you know... it just occurred
to me... that... I was told that...

polar bears are attracted...
to curious sounds...

and this is where... I
can say goodnight...

this is where... I decided
to sleep last night...

a loaded g*n by my side... in the
middle of the night... with frozen feet...

I climbed up to the top... of
this... little mini mountain...

and decided to sleep up here...
and... I think there was... a little...

another layer of...

warmth up here... although... I
feel like a big... slab of meat...

on top of a pedestal... in the middle
of... polar bear country... which is why...

I kept that beside me... I'm not
really even sure... what day I'm at...

with the sun... spinning around... I
can't figure out... what the days are...

okay...

I'm so hungry... I'm faint... now
I'm starting to... obsess on food...

it's really hard... to get motivated...
with nothing in your system...

and no calories to burn... but I
only have... another day left...

and if I don't make it back... over the
last few miles... the crew will come...

looking for me...

it felt like... I was getting closer...
and closer... to my final destination...

in town... but around every
corner... nothing but rock... and ice...

if my travel looks easy... guess again...
I couldn't pull that... heavy sled...

more than 20 minutes... at a
time... without having to stop...

dizzy from exhaustion... and sick...
from my empty stomach... any food at all...

would be a relief...

I found some... wild edibles...
in amongst the rocks...

and Willow...

buds...

mmm...

ooh... three...

wow... I'm full... this
landscape... is incredibly stark...

just snow...

and ice... at this time of year...
there is very little... to support life...

the arctic... has a tragic
history... of countless explorers...

and native peoples... who have
starved to death... out here...

I.

hope this is my last night...
out here... if I'm right...

tomorrow I'll be able to make it...
into the town... it occurred to me...

while sleeping here... even
with a loaded r*fle... if I wake up...

and a polar bear is breathing down...
on top of me... I don't stand a chance...

it's the morning of day seven...
and I'm due back in town... today...

or else the crew... will have to
find me... but just as I'm packing up...

I spot something
out... on the sea ice...

Sam Umek... the Inuit hunter... who
picked me up... offered to take me home...

it turns out... I'm still another two
days... of travel... by dog team...

back to town...

along the way... he shot a seal... and
offered to me... what is considered to be...

an Inuit delicacy...

prized by the children... and as tasty
as ice cream... the eyes of the seal...

I asked Sam... when the toughest
time was... to survive out here...

he said... now... there
aren't any eggs to eat...

because the birds haven't
returned... and it's become too warm...

to make a good igloo... stuck in
between seasons... this goes down...

as one of my toughest...
survival odysseys.