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The polar regions are more hostile
to life than any other
part of the Earth.

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Human beings have little natural
protection against the cold,

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so why, for thousands of years,

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have we endured the hardships that
come from living here?

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And what keeps us coming back today,

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to the farthest extremes
of our planet?

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Winter in the most northerly town
on Earth, Longyearbyen.

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Here, for three months of the year,
the sun never rises.

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Only the full moon, which never
sets as far north as this,

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sheds any light into the darkness.

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This town was built here in Svalbard,

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only 700 miles from the North Pole,
to support a mine.

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The Arctic is rich in coal,
oil and minerals.

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In Siberia, the Russian Arctic,
the mineral wealth has given
rise to large cities.

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This is Norilsk,
the coldest city on Earth.

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Temperatures regularly drop
to below minus 50 degrees Centigrade.

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Fuel freezes in the tanks of the
trucks, and has to be melted in a
rather alarming way.

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Ships are frozen into the rivers
for nine months of the year.

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The ice must be cut
away from their hulls

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because steel becomes brittle
and vulnerable to the thickening ice.

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Like all Arctic cities,
Norilsk depends on a power plant
which heats everybody's home.

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Waste heat from the plant even keeps
a lake ice-free all winter.

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Even at air temperatures of minus 50,
the Norilsk Walrus Club come
here every day.

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There is evidence that a dip in cold
water is good for the immune system,

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but when the water is
a degree above freezing,

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it's hard to imagine that the
benefits could outweigh the pain.

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Today's Arctic city dwellers can lead
an almost normal existence
thanks to technology.

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But towns and cities are very recent
arrivals in the polar landscape.

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The polar regions are the least
populated part of our planet.

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Most of the Arctic remains
empty of human beings.

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In the north, the Pole itself is
covered by a freezing ocean.

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Around it lie vast lands, of which
Siberia is the largest and coldest.

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Human beings first ventured onto
the great plains of Siberia,

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the tundra, thousands of years ago,
and some live here still.

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The Dolgan are one of the few tribes
who still live in much the same way

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as those first Arctic pioneers.

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They are reindeer people.

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Reindeer are one of few animals that
can endure these bitterly cold
conditions,

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scraping a living by nibbling tiny
plants that survive beneath the snow.

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Nobody has ever totally
tamed reindeer,

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but today's animals are docile enough
to allow the Dolgan

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to drive them across the tundra in an
everlasting search for their food.

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This is a typical Dolgan village,
home to just two extended families.

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Here, in the coldest part of Arctic,
the only way to get water

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for nine months of the year is to
melt ice from the frozen rivers.

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At least there's no problem
preventing food from decay.

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Outside is one big deep-freeze.

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Survival is only possible
because of reindeer fur.

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It makes wonderfully warm clothing,

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though small children still have to
be sewn into their clothes to prevent
instant frostbite.

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The Dolgan even use reindeer fur to
insulate their huts.

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This is living at its most communal.

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Good relations with the in-laws are
essential.

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Reindeer are so valuable that the
people only eat them if they have no
other choice.

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Their favourite food is
raw fish from the frozen rivers.

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Every week or so, these families have
to travel to find new feeding grounds
for their herds.

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First, they round up their strongest
animals with lassoes,

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a skill that their ancestors brought
with them when they came north from
Central Asia.

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And then, literally, they move house.

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A whole Dolgan village can move
on in just a few hours.

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Over the year, they travel hundreds
of miles like this across the vast
tundra.

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It was the herds of reindeer,
wandering over the lands of the
Arctic,

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that brought the first Dolgan here.

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Other people, however,
took on an even greater challenge.

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They left the land and looked
for their food out on the frozen sea.

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Here in the shifting world of the sea
ice, they found sea mammals.

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Pasha leads a group of Inuit men in
Chukotka, the North Eastern corner of
Russia.

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The men have travelled many
hours from home in the bitter cold,

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fighting their way through
a dangerous maze.

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These hundred tonne ice floes
could crush their small
boats like eggshells.

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The men have big families,
and this is the only way they
have of feeding them.

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Pasha is looking for the puffs of
steamy air produced by their quarry.

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An animal that is bigger than
many Arctic whales.

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A two tonne seal with formidable
tusks.

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A walrus.

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It's heading for open water.
They must reach it before it dives.

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An angry walrus could easily
overturn the boats.

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The harpoon sticks firmly in the
walrus's thick layer of blubber,

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and floats attached to it prevent
the animal from diving.

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Pasha wants to kill quickly with
a single clean shot.

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The hunters are exhausted after a
long day, but they still have a lot
more work to do.

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This enormous prize will feed
everyone's family for weeks.

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It will take many hours to butcher.
Nothing will go to waste.

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The meat is parcelled up in bags
made of the animal's skin.

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It's midnight, but the sun is still
up.

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Summer is almost here.

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This far north,
the seasons change fast,

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the sun is rising higher and
growing warmer with each passing day.

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The transformation from winter to
summer is so dramatic

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that it dominates the lives of all
who live here.

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The ice around the coast has
almost disappeared,

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and gone are the seals and walrus
that Pasha and his men relied on.

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They set off on
another search for food.

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Their destination is
an island in the bay.

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Their walrus skin boat is
an ancient design,

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light enough to carry high up
the beach so it doesn't drift away.

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THEY SPEAK RUSSIAN

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Once again, the men will have to work
as a team,

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but one of them will be taking
very serious risks.

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The lightest man in the group, Kolya,
is also the oldest.

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He will trust his life to a length of
old nylon rope and the strength of
his friends.

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These 100 metre high cliffs are home
to thousands of guillemots,

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and Kolya is after their eggs.

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He relies on the men above to
lower him to the right place.

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Kolya is tough
but his stress is obvious.

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HE SHOUTS IN RUSSIAN

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The men lower Kolya down to
the bottom of the cliff,

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and from there, he works his way back
up the crumbling rock face.

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Stop!

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This mission will produce no more
than about 50 eggs,

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but at least there's no need to
carry a packed lunch.

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Over the years, many men have fallen
to their deaths collecting
seabird eggs.

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This is truly dangerous work.

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These Arctic peoples can't
grow crops.

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The frozen ground never thaws to
allow them to do so.

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They rely on animals for their food
so the chance to collect a few

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dozen eggs has to be taken,
even if it means risking your life.

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The change of season has transformed
the Arctic's coastline

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and inland, the difference
is just as extreme.

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July temperatures on
the tundra can be surprisingly high,
over 30 degrees centigrade.

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Reindeer now move not just to
find fresh pasture,

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but also to avoid the summer
swarms of blood sucking flies.

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To keep their animals healthy, the
local herders are driving them to the
sea.

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The cooler conditions on
the coast bring relief to the herds

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and the chance, every year,
for different tribes to meet.

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Pasha and his hunters live close by.
They've had word of the herders'
arrival.

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The hunters' cargo is highly
prized for the winter ahead,

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fat-rich walrus meat that's been
fermenting in the skin bags for two
months.

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Today will see an exchange that has
taken place every summer for
centuries.

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The herders barter reindeer
skins for walrus meat.

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Pooling their resources has helped
these communities to survive
for so long.

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A fry-up of guillemot eggs is all the
better when shared with old friends.

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Summer brings a brief
chance for isolated peoples to meet.

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This is an opportunity to exchange
news, arrange weddings,

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and tell the latest jokes.

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HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN

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By August, the summer is over.

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Winter arrives only too swiftly,
but the peoples of the Arctic,

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who came here originally to hunt,
have devised ways to deal with

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the hostile and changing conditions
that have stood the test of time.

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Today, there's a new draw to the
Arctic.

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This is Greenland,
a territory of Denmark now known to
be rich in oil and precious metals.

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This sled team is
part of the Danish Special Forces.

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They're on one of the world's
toughest journeys, a 2,000
mile patrol

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to maintain Denmark's
claim to this valuable wilderness.

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But the patrol's mission is only
possible with the help of man's
oldest Arctic companion.

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Rasmus and Roland have spent the
summer months training

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and getting to know their team of
Greenland huskies.

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They need to have a very close bond
with every single dog.

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This is Roger and Armstrong,

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actually the oldest dog in the whole
patrol, but he's still going strong.

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The men are totally dependent on
the stamina of their dogs,

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which will keep on running all
through the bitter cold of the
winter.

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This is the last time the team will
see the sun for two months.

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The most intelligent dogs
always lead,

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choosing the safest route, feeling
for hidden crevasses and thin ice.

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This is one of six teams that patrol
the whole of northeast Greenland,

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the only people in an empty
wilderness that is larger than
France and Great Britain combined.

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00:22:12,820 --> 00:22:17,380
Conditions here are too extreme
for current mining technology,

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but some day, ways will be found of
digging out the huge mineral
treasures

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that lie hidden within these
mountains.

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The patrol secures Denmark's claim to
do so simply by being here.

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But it's not the prospect of getting
rich that makes men sign up for this
patrol,

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it's the chance for the journey of a
lifetime.

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The team travel over
the ice for six months,
covering up to 40 miles in a day.

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Friendship and teamwork are essential
if they're to succeed.

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Their dogs can sleep outside no
matter how cold it gets.

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00:23:11,340 --> 00:23:14,820
Rasmus and Roland have a
nice cosy tent.

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00:23:19,060 --> 00:23:22,340
They have a few modern conveniences,
including a radio,

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with which they report their position
back to headquarters in Denmark

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00:23:26,620 --> 00:23:28,620
and catch up on the latest news.

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00:23:32,420 --> 00:23:34,740
Right now it's the section of money,

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what's new in the economy in
Denmark, the financial crisis

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00:23:39,420 --> 00:23:43,060
and all the other things that we
actually don't care about out here.

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If you can cope with the conditions,
then winter in the Arctic can be
magical,

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especially when the greatest
light show on Earth is overhead.

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The first humans in the Arctic
believed the Northern Lights,

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or aurora borealis,
were dancing spirits.

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00:24:10,940 --> 00:24:16,580
Now we know the lights are caused
by electrically charged particles
streaming from the sun,

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00:24:16,580 --> 00:24:19,860
attracted by the magnetic
pull of the earth's poles.

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A big aurora storm contains enough
energy to knock out satellite

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communications and power supplies
across the northern hemisphere,

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00:24:41,580 --> 00:24:44,820
so understanding the aurora
is vital.

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00:24:50,780 --> 00:24:53,980
In Alaska,
rockets are used to study the Lights.

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00:24:56,740 --> 00:25:00,060
A hundred miles up, at the edge
of outer space, the rockets

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00:25:00,060 --> 00:25:03,660
release a cloud of glowing smoke
that's visible from earth.

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The smoke is blown by fierce winds
which are generated by the aurora.

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00:25:17,100 --> 00:25:20,860
Mapping the movement of the smoke
helps scientists to understand

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00:25:20,860 --> 00:25:24,620
how this unearthly spectacle
affects our atmosphere.

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00:25:45,740 --> 00:25:50,820
They constantly monitor
the aurora to help protect us

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00:25:50,820 --> 00:25:53,980
from its effects, so the rest of us
can simply enjoy the magic,

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00:25:53,980 --> 00:25:57,860
just as the Arctic's first people
must have done, thousands of years
ago.

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00:26:13,780 --> 00:26:16,580
For all the many
peoples of the Arctic,

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00:26:16,580 --> 00:26:21,900
the aurora is a reminder of the sun's
presence throughout the dark days of
winter.

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But when the sun
is below the horizon in the north,

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00:26:29,300 --> 00:26:32,180
it's above it at the southern
end of our planet.

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00:26:35,420 --> 00:26:38,100
Here, humanity's history has
been very different.

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00:26:43,860 --> 00:26:47,260
Antarctica is far colder
than the Arctic,

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00:26:47,260 --> 00:26:51,940
and 99% of its land is permanently
blanketed by ice.

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00:26:53,780 --> 00:26:57,340
Antarctica is so utterly remote

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and inhospitable that no people
ever settled here.

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00:27:03,540 --> 00:27:07,180
It was only 200 years ago that the
first human beings

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00:27:07,180 --> 00:27:09,620
even glimpsed the vast continent.

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00:27:17,420 --> 00:27:20,620
The first people who crossed
the Southern Ocean did

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00:27:20,620 --> 00:27:24,660
so for the same reason that the first
people went to the Arctic Ocean,

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00:27:24,660 --> 00:27:26,900
to hunt sea mammals.

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00:27:39,500 --> 00:27:43,620
The populations of whales
and seals are only now beginning to

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00:27:43,620 --> 00:27:47,220
recover from 150 years
of intensive hunting.

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00:28:02,700 --> 00:28:08,340
But none of those hunters ever tried
to venture into the frigid
interior of the Antarctic continent.

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00:28:10,420 --> 00:28:15,460
The first successful attempt to do
that was made only a hundred
years ago.

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00:28:17,740 --> 00:28:22,820
This hut was the base for one of the
most famous expeditions in polar
history.

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00:28:29,780 --> 00:28:34,260
It was from here in 1911 that
Captain Scott and his team

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00:28:34,260 --> 00:28:38,580
launched their attempt to be the
first people to reach the South Pole.

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00:28:43,220 --> 00:28:45,740
The cold, dry conditions have
preserved the interior

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00:28:45,740 --> 00:28:50,180
of the hut almost exactly
as the expedition members left it.

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00:28:55,900 --> 00:29:01,540
Expedition photographer
Herbert Ponting captured
the spirit of the age of exploration.

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00:29:06,620 --> 00:29:11,100
These first explorers borrowed
the techniques of the Arctic peoples.

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00:29:12,420 --> 00:29:17,660
They wore fur gloves and boots
and burned seal blubber to keep warm.

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00:29:19,860 --> 00:29:24,060
They built sleds based on a
traditional Inuit design.

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00:29:29,980 --> 00:29:33,700
They even made their sleeping
bags from reindeer hide.

221
00:29:39,980 --> 00:29:45,580
Scott and his men sought the glory
of discovery in an untouched
wilderness,

222
00:29:45,580 --> 00:29:48,260
and died in the attempt.

223
00:29:48,260 --> 00:29:52,020
But he, and those who followed him,
were the first to reveal

224
00:29:52,020 --> 00:29:55,140
the splendour of Antarctica to
the rest of the world.

225
00:30:03,340 --> 00:30:07,580
The lure of adventure still draws
intrepid travellers today.

226
00:30:07,580 --> 00:30:10,060
Like the first explorers,

227
00:30:10,060 --> 00:30:15,260
most modern visitors come during the
brief summer when the cold relents

228
00:30:15,260 --> 00:30:20,580
enough for the toughest icebreakers
to reach the edge of the continent,

229
00:30:20,580 --> 00:30:22,940
but most still need
a helicopter to go further.

230
00:30:32,140 --> 00:30:36,020
The scenery in Antarctica is
magnificent and dramatic,

231
00:30:36,020 --> 00:30:39,940
but what really attracts people
here is the wildlife.

232
00:30:42,340 --> 00:30:45,180
An emperor penguin colony is
a particular highlight.

233
00:30:49,860 --> 00:30:54,220
Because human beings didn't arrive in
the Antarctic until the past few
centuries,

234
00:30:54,220 --> 00:30:56,740
the animals have never
developed a fear of man.

235
00:31:01,100 --> 00:31:05,740
But very strict regulations govern
how close people can approach
any wildlife.

236
00:31:07,740 --> 00:31:11,980
And when visitors leave, they must
take every trace of their visit
away with them.

237
00:31:39,940 --> 00:31:45,300
Since 1959, the whole of Antarctica
has been protected by international
treaty.

238
00:31:47,300 --> 00:31:51,580
The nations of the world have agreed
that no country can claim
Antarctica,

239
00:31:51,580 --> 00:31:53,620
or prospect for its oil or minerals.

240
00:31:56,820 --> 00:32:00,660
The only significant human activities
allowed here are those that

241
00:32:00,660 --> 00:32:03,300
extend our scientific knowledge.

242
00:32:07,460 --> 00:32:11,060
But unlocking Antarctica's secrets
requires some unusual tools.

243
00:32:29,580 --> 00:32:33,340
This brand new robot submarine has
been designed to go

244
00:32:33,340 --> 00:32:35,940
far beyond the limits of any human.

245
00:32:48,500 --> 00:32:53,940
Today, this diver is putting
the sub through its paces
on one of its very first dives.

246
00:32:55,340 --> 00:32:59,020
It's designed to be small
and nimble enough

247
00:32:59,020 --> 00:33:02,940
to explore the Antarctic seabed
without damaging it.

248
00:33:17,500 --> 00:33:21,740
The submarine's mission, as it
journeys into the unknown,

249
00:33:21,740 --> 00:33:24,980
is to map the seafloor and look for
species new to science.

250
00:33:40,660 --> 00:33:46,540
The seawater here is a degree below
zero, so even the toughest human
diver can't stay down for long.

251
00:33:50,020 --> 00:33:55,060
The submarine will explore deeper
under the ice than anyone has
gone before.

252
00:33:59,780 --> 00:34:04,820
From the depths of the ocean to
the highest peaks of the land,

253
00:34:04,820 --> 00:34:10,260
new discoveries are being made
even in places which were first
visited over a century ago.

254
00:34:22,740 --> 00:34:28,180
Mount Erebus was an irresistible draw
to the legendary explorer
Ernest Shackleton.

255
00:34:29,540 --> 00:34:35,020
In 1908, his men became the first to
climb this active volcano.

256
00:34:35,020 --> 00:34:39,740
They soon discovered that this is the
coldest place on the Antarctic coast.

257
00:34:40,820 --> 00:34:45,060
Today's explorers still have to guard
against frostbite in the height of
summer

258
00:34:45,060 --> 00:34:48,660
when temperatures rarely creep
above minus 30 degrees centigrade.

259
00:34:54,660 --> 00:34:59,460
Shackleton's men had no idea
of the extraordinary spectacle

260
00:34:59,460 --> 00:35:01,700
that lay beneath their feet.

261
00:35:07,300 --> 00:35:09,820
Yep, OK, up on the wall there
somewhere now. Yeah.

262
00:35:09,820 --> 00:35:13,300
Under the ice and snow is a network
of caves,

263
00:35:13,300 --> 00:35:18,140
which only a handful of expert cavers
have ever dared to enter.

264
00:35:24,660 --> 00:35:29,740
This is the first scientific
expedition to explore them in detail.

265
00:35:35,260 --> 00:35:39,900
Here, there are ice formations that
occur nowhere else on Earth.

266
00:35:42,940 --> 00:35:46,820
Each cave contains its own unique
collection of structures.

267
00:36:14,460 --> 00:36:20,300
The team is mapping the caves to see
how their shape changes over the
years.

268
00:36:20,300 --> 00:36:22,740
OK, flat side to here.

269
00:36:30,860 --> 00:36:35,940
That's 126.8 degrees for the angle.

270
00:36:35,940 --> 00:36:37,580
126.8. Correct.

271
00:36:37,580 --> 00:36:42,260
The steam leaking from vents
in the side of the volcano

272
00:36:42,260 --> 00:36:46,300
is constantly sculpting this
labyrinth that extends deep
under the ice.

273
00:36:48,420 --> 00:36:52,220
When the hot breath of the volcano
hits the icy walls,

274
00:36:52,220 --> 00:36:55,860
the moisture in the air
freezes into beautiful shapes.

275
00:37:09,420 --> 00:37:14,340
Some of the crystals are so unusual
that the cavers are investigating

276
00:37:14,340 --> 00:37:17,580
a remote but tantalising
possibility about their formation.

277
00:37:20,260 --> 00:37:23,460
Could it be that some of these
extraordinary crystal shapes

278
00:37:23,460 --> 00:37:28,140
are formed by highly specialised
bacteria, living in the ice?

279
00:37:43,980 --> 00:37:46,460
Nobody yet knows the answer.

280
00:37:46,460 --> 00:37:50,260
This is just one of the many strange
mysteries that draw people to

281
00:37:50,260 --> 00:37:53,340
work in a place that is
so hostile to human life.

282
00:38:00,940 --> 00:38:05,780
While some scientists come to Erebus
to explore its bizarre ice caves,

283
00:38:05,780 --> 00:38:11,020
others visit the volcano to study
the innermost workings of our planet.

284
00:38:16,900 --> 00:38:20,900
Erebus is one of the most active
volcanoes on Earth,

285
00:38:20,900 --> 00:38:25,220
but even so, volcanologists work on
the very rim of its crater.

286
00:38:27,180 --> 00:38:31,860
They stand in the bitter cold,
while 100 metres below them

287
00:38:31,860 --> 00:38:35,380
is a lava lake where temperatures are
over a thousand degrees centigrade.

288
00:38:39,220 --> 00:38:44,860
This is a rare glimpse of the molten
rock that lies beneath the earth's
crust.

289
00:38:59,540 --> 00:39:03,060
But research here is looking
up as well as down,

290
00:39:03,060 --> 00:39:06,700
measuring how the gases that bubble
out of the volcano

291
00:39:06,700 --> 00:39:09,700
influence the make-up of the air we
breathe.

292
00:39:13,020 --> 00:39:18,260
Antarctica is the best place to
measure any changes in our atmosphere

293
00:39:18,260 --> 00:39:21,740
because it has the least polluted air
on Earth.

294
00:39:23,140 --> 00:39:28,020
It's also the perfect place to launch
more outward-looking missions.

295
00:39:33,900 --> 00:39:38,380
This balloon, made of material no
thicker than Clingfilm,

296
00:39:38,380 --> 00:39:41,260
will eventually grow to
be 300 metres tall.

297
00:39:44,460 --> 00:39:48,380
It will carry a device for detecting
cosmic rays,

298
00:39:48,380 --> 00:39:53,460
tiny particles from the beginning of
time that are only now reaching
earth.

299
00:40:04,340 --> 00:40:09,420
The balloon will travel to the very
edge of outer space

300
00:40:09,420 --> 00:40:13,380
to gather clues about the formation
of the universe.

301
00:40:22,060 --> 00:40:26,860
Even today, very few ever make
the journey inland from the coast.

302
00:40:28,140 --> 00:40:32,460
We still know remarkably little
about the interior of the continent.

303
00:40:34,260 --> 00:40:39,500
The people on this plane are trying
to answer one of the fundamental
questions.

304
00:40:39,500 --> 00:40:41,740
How much ice is there in Antarctica?

305
00:40:48,460 --> 00:40:50,820
They measure
the depth of the ice sheet,

306
00:40:50,820 --> 00:40:54,740
which is over 4,000 metres in places,
using radar.

307
00:40:56,740 --> 00:40:59,780
Their work will enable us to see

308
00:40:59,780 --> 00:41:03,020
how the volume of Antarctica's ice
changes in the future.

309
00:41:04,300 --> 00:41:07,700
It also makes it possible to map
a hidden landscape.

310
00:41:21,180 --> 00:41:26,820
This plane is following the same
route through the Trans-Antarctic
Mountains

311
00:41:26,820 --> 00:41:30,100
that Captain Scott took a hundred
years ago.

312
00:41:30,100 --> 00:41:35,380
His team hauled their sleds over
a hundred miles up this glacier,
the Beardmore.

313
00:41:42,460 --> 00:41:46,780
Skirting seemingly endless crevasses,
with no map to guide them

314
00:41:46,780 --> 00:41:51,660
and no idea of what lay ahead, it was
a journey of extraordinary suffering.

315
00:42:02,820 --> 00:42:05,380
Their target lay beyond the
mountains,

316
00:42:05,380 --> 00:42:10,500
over 3,000 metres above sea level,
on the Antarctic Plateau.

317
00:42:17,180 --> 00:42:20,900
An unbroken sheet of ice,
larger than Western Europe,

318
00:42:20,900 --> 00:42:25,380
this is the coldest, the windiest,
the most lifeless place on Earth.

319
00:42:30,380 --> 00:42:34,660
Roald Amundsen's team narrowly
defeated Scott's to become

320
00:42:34,660 --> 00:42:40,900
the first people to reach the South
Pole on the 14th of December 1911.

321
00:42:42,220 --> 00:42:47,660
Nobody else successfully completed
the journey for nearly 50 years
after that.

322
00:42:51,940 --> 00:42:56,580
But, since 1957, there has been
a permanent base at the South Pole.

323
00:42:56,580 --> 00:42:59,220
You can even land a plane on
the ice runway.

324
00:43:02,460 --> 00:43:07,980
The early explorers would be
astounded by the facilities
at the South Pole today.

325
00:43:11,380 --> 00:43:16,900
Construction work isn't easy
when the average summer temperature
is minus 25 degrees Centigrade.

326
00:43:18,380 --> 00:43:21,860
But, despite the difficulties, the
most high-tech scientific research

327
00:43:21,860 --> 00:43:26,340
station ever built was
unveiled here in 2006.

328
00:43:32,020 --> 00:43:36,340
The brand new Amundsen-Scott South
Pole Station is designed to

329
00:43:36,340 --> 00:43:40,500
cope with the World's most
extreme conditions.

330
00:43:40,500 --> 00:43:45,820
The building's sloping edge deflects
the prevailing wind.

331
00:43:45,820 --> 00:43:49,420
Beneath, there are stilts that can
raise the whole building

332
00:43:49,420 --> 00:43:52,380
a further eight metres to keep
it above the accumulating snow.

333
00:44:01,260 --> 00:44:06,900
Living inside is as close to being on
a space-station as you can
find on Earth.

334
00:44:06,900 --> 00:44:11,340
This base is totally self-sufficient,
the people are completely

335
00:44:11,340 --> 00:44:15,860
cut off from the outside world for
more than half the year over winter.

336
00:44:23,140 --> 00:44:27,420
The total darkness makes this the
perfect place to study the night sky.

337
00:44:35,500 --> 00:44:39,580
The group of star gazers will be
the most isolated community on our

338
00:44:39,580 --> 00:44:42,820
planet, but they will have
all their needs catered for.

339
00:44:48,500 --> 00:44:52,620
There is even a greenhouse where
fresh vegetables grow under

340
00:44:52,620 --> 00:44:57,260
artificial light all through
the darkest, coldest winter anywhere.

341
00:45:13,940 --> 00:45:18,780
The sun sets in March at the
South Pole, and won't rise again
for six months.

342
00:45:25,020 --> 00:45:30,020
For a few days at this time of year,
high altitude clouds of ice crystals

343
00:45:30,020 --> 00:45:34,660
continue to catch the sunlight,
even when the sun itself is
far below the horizon.

344
00:45:52,340 --> 00:45:55,580
But soon all trace of the sun
disappears,

345
00:45:55,580 --> 00:46:00,620
and today's over-wintering scientists
remember the first explorers.

346
00:46:05,140 --> 00:46:09,140
These men, who endured
the winter in flimsy wooden huts,

347
00:46:09,140 --> 00:46:13,540
borrowed knowledge from the Arctic
pioneers before them,

348
00:46:13,540 --> 00:46:19,300
but they came here to study and
explore, rather than to hunt or
exploit.

349
00:46:19,300 --> 00:46:24,180
They embodied the human spirit that
has enabled us to survive at the
poles.

350
00:46:30,100 --> 00:46:33,740
Here, we are pushed to our limits,
but in being pushed, humanity has

351
00:46:33,740 --> 00:46:39,260
achieved the extraordinary
and opened up the last frontier.

352
00:46:49,940 --> 00:46:52,260
Next time, I'll be travelling to
the ends of the earth,

353
00:46:52,260 --> 00:46:57,460
to witness for myself how rising
temperatures are dramatically
changing the Frozen Planet.

354
00:47:03,740 --> 00:47:08,020
I'll see how the animals are coping
with their changing world

355
00:47:08,020 --> 00:47:11,500
and find out how these changes might
even affect the whole planet.

356
00:47:25,900 --> 00:47:29,580
To tell the story of how we survive
at the Poles, Frozen Planet

357
00:47:29,580 --> 00:47:32,260
travelled to Siberia,
the far north of Russia,

358
00:47:32,260 --> 00:47:35,700
where most of the Arctic's
people live.

359
00:47:38,380 --> 00:47:40,980
The team got to know many
extraordinary people.

360
00:47:44,020 --> 00:47:47,820
But one group of men above all really
opened their eyes to what it means

361
00:47:47,820 --> 00:47:52,340
to live off the land in the most
unforgiving environment on earth.

362
00:47:55,020 --> 00:47:58,420
Men who take their life in their
hands everyday, just to find their
food.

363
00:48:10,700 --> 00:48:16,100
Producer, Dan Rees, led the Frozen
Planet team on their longest journey
in the Arctic.

364
00:48:18,180 --> 00:48:23,420
Their mission was to film walrus
hunters in Russia's most
remote region, Chukotka,

365
00:48:23,420 --> 00:48:26,700
the closest point to their old enemy
the United States,

366
00:48:26,700 --> 00:48:29,500
4,000 miles and nine time zones east
of Moscow.

367
00:48:32,180 --> 00:48:34,620
It's still a sensitive region,

368
00:48:34,620 --> 00:48:39,180
and the team soon learn that the
border guards remain twitchy
about foreigners with cameras.

369
00:48:39,180 --> 00:48:41,300
GUARD: Nyet! Nyet!

370
00:48:46,140 --> 00:48:50,100
To get permission to film, the crew
relied on anthropologist Niobe
Thompson,

371
00:48:50,100 --> 00:48:53,300
one of the few westerners
to have worked with the people here.

372
00:48:56,940 --> 00:48:59,180
But even Niobe finds
a lot of doors closed to him.

373
00:49:01,220 --> 00:49:07,340
I have experienced a level of red
tape I never could have anticipated.

374
00:49:07,340 --> 00:49:09,980
We've got our Russian
visas in our passports,

375
00:49:09,980 --> 00:49:12,740
that's fine,
but that's just the beginning.

376
00:49:12,740 --> 00:49:16,460
Here is the special permission
given by the security services to

377
00:49:16,460 --> 00:49:19,580
be in the region of Chukotka,

378
00:49:19,580 --> 00:49:25,220
a special permission to be in every
one of the population centres
we will visit on our trip,

379
00:49:25,220 --> 00:49:29,580
permission to shoot with a
telephoto lens,

380
00:49:29,580 --> 00:49:34,540
permission to shoot from a
helicopter,

381
00:49:34,540 --> 00:49:38,620
permission to shoot in
a natural reserve,

382
00:49:38,620 --> 00:49:41,060
but we still don't have our
migration cards.

383
00:49:41,060 --> 00:49:44,500
I'm trying to get them, and if we
don't get them by the end of the day

384
00:49:44,500 --> 00:49:48,740
we're going to be deported back to
Alaska, it'll take three months to
get new ones.

385
00:49:48,740 --> 00:49:51,020
Niobe's paper chase takes two days,

386
00:49:51,020 --> 00:49:55,580
but finally the team is allowed to
begin their journey to the hunters'
camp.

387
00:49:55,580 --> 00:49:58,860
With no roads, sometimes the only
passable route is over

388
00:49:58,860 --> 00:50:01,940
the fast melting
surfaces of the lakes.

389
00:50:12,100 --> 00:50:13,700
OK?

390
00:50:18,180 --> 00:50:20,420
They need to be
prepared for a quick exit.

391
00:50:28,340 --> 00:50:32,460
The next day the crew finally
reach the coast.

392
00:50:32,460 --> 00:50:37,500
The hunting camp is now
just 30 miles away across a bay,
but the crossing could be risky.

393
00:50:37,500 --> 00:50:42,180
The frozen sea is melting
fast in the spring sunshine.

394
00:50:47,500 --> 00:50:50,660
Confident it's safe? It's not going
to break underneath us?

395
00:50:50,660 --> 00:50:53,460
Is that the decision, 50/50?

396
00:50:53,460 --> 00:50:55,580
50/50!

397
00:50:55,580 --> 00:50:59,020
The locals employ several generations
of arctic transport,

398
00:50:59,020 --> 00:51:01,460
from the ancient to the merely
antique.

399
00:51:05,940 --> 00:51:10,420
With the sea ice cracking up beneath
them, Dan has to trust the crew

400
00:51:10,420 --> 00:51:13,980
and a ton of filming gear to
the experience of the locals.

401
00:51:15,460 --> 00:51:18,940
Even by their standards this was
fast becoming a risky journey.

402
00:51:24,860 --> 00:51:28,460
Where the first sleds crossed just
minutes before is now impassable.

403
00:51:34,180 --> 00:51:37,660
It's broken right up, we can't cross
the leads in the ice here,

404
00:51:37,660 --> 00:51:42,060
so we need to get on some boats,
and the ice is just breaking up too
fast for us at the moment.

405
00:51:42,060 --> 00:51:45,740
Fortunately, the hunters from the
camp turn up in the nick of time

406
00:51:45,740 --> 00:51:49,620
to rescue the crew for the final leg
of the journey.

407
00:51:59,820 --> 00:52:02,860
Six days and 5,000 miles from home,

408
00:52:02,860 --> 00:52:07,580
the crew finally arrive at the place
that will be their home for the next
month.

409
00:52:14,380 --> 00:52:17,980
This is an active hunting camp
and, that evening, the team

410
00:52:17,980 --> 00:52:21,740
are introduced to the realities of
fending for yourself in the Arctic.

411
00:52:24,180 --> 00:52:26,820
Well, we've just seen a walrus hunt

412
00:52:26,820 --> 00:52:30,900
out here in the waters
of the Bering Sea.

413
00:52:30,900 --> 00:52:34,620
All the meat will be eaten, they eat
an awful lot of the internal organs
as well,

414
00:52:34,620 --> 00:52:37,180
they use the skin,
they use the sinews,

415
00:52:37,180 --> 00:52:41,860
they use the stomach for making
drums, so it'll get used very
heavily

416
00:52:41,860 --> 00:52:47,100
and it is completely free range,
you know, wild caught animal.

417
00:52:48,540 --> 00:52:53,860
You can't grow any vegetables up
here, but sea mammal meat contains

418
00:52:53,860 --> 00:52:58,380
all the nutrients the hunters need
and is very low in cholesterol.

419
00:52:58,380 --> 00:53:01,340
Dan is keen to try
some of Kolya's health food.

420
00:53:01,340 --> 00:53:06,260
Well, this is yesterday's seal
and a chunk of flesh there,

421
00:53:06,260 --> 00:53:08,820
behind it is some intestine.

422
00:53:08,820 --> 00:53:11,060
We should try a bit.

423
00:53:11,060 --> 00:53:13,700
That's seal intestine.

424
00:53:17,580 --> 00:53:20,860
It's quite fishy.
Fishy, fishy rubber.

425
00:53:20,860 --> 00:53:24,900
That's not too bad. I thought it was
going to be more disgusting than it
actually is.

426
00:53:24,900 --> 00:53:28,340
The salt helps. Yeah.

427
00:53:28,340 --> 00:53:31,780
Would he like to try what we eat?
It's chicken, chicken korma.

428
00:53:31,780 --> 00:53:33,820
No?

429
00:53:33,820 --> 00:53:37,660
I don't blame you to be honest,
yours is much better!

430
00:53:44,020 --> 00:53:49,860
As well as providing food,
the animals here traditionally
provided transport.

431
00:53:49,860 --> 00:53:52,940
Kolya and Pasha, the oldest hunters,

432
00:53:52,940 --> 00:53:56,100
keep alive the skill
of building walrus skin boats.

433
00:53:56,100 --> 00:53:58,620
You don't need a welding torch to
repair this boat,

434
00:53:58,620 --> 00:54:02,340
just a juicy lump of seal fat to bung
any holes.

435
00:54:04,900 --> 00:54:09,220
By living amongst them,
the crew had really begun to get
to know the hunters,

436
00:54:09,220 --> 00:54:12,740
but there was one big part of their
lives which remained a mystery.

437
00:54:16,300 --> 00:54:21,980
As spring turns to summer, the
hunters head out to an island to
gather seabird eggs.

438
00:54:21,980 --> 00:54:27,220
The crew had heard stories of this,
but had little idea of what it was
going to involve.

439
00:54:29,500 --> 00:54:33,300
That's where they climb,
those are impressive heights.

440
00:54:33,300 --> 00:54:34,340
Quite something.

441
00:54:39,020 --> 00:54:44,300
For cameraman Ted Giffords,
this was the first sight of the rock
face he was about to work on.

442
00:54:48,580 --> 00:54:53,700
These cliffs can be treacherous, as
Kolya, the expert egg collector,
knows only too well.

443
00:55:20,900 --> 00:55:26,540
Ted will rely on steel stakes for
anchors and an array of climbing gear
and ropes.

444
00:55:28,020 --> 00:55:33,700
Kolya preferred to stick with
the simpler method that has
served him well for many years.

445
00:55:39,980 --> 00:55:43,180
The crew can't quite believe what
they're seeing.

446
00:55:49,780 --> 00:55:54,580
If he fell on that that would be
absolutely horrendous.

447
00:55:54,580 --> 00:55:59,020
It's...yeah, it's a bit sketchy, and
the rope is only about that thick.

448
00:55:59,020 --> 00:56:00,860
It's an interesting method.

449
00:56:02,180 --> 00:56:07,180
The limestone cliff is loose and
crumbling, because of hundreds of
years of freezing and thawing.

450
00:56:09,660 --> 00:56:14,460
Even for a highly trained
professional climber like Ted,
it's a dangerous descent.

451
00:56:24,220 --> 00:56:29,100
Kolya has been climbing here for four
decades, but this is the first time

452
00:56:29,100 --> 00:56:32,740
he's had company, and sometimes he
forgets that Ted is just below him.

453
00:56:36,620 --> 00:56:40,260
Climbing supervisor Adam Scott
holds his breath as he watches.

454
00:56:40,260 --> 00:56:44,940
A fall to the rocks 100 metres below
would almost certainly be fatal.

455
00:56:54,740 --> 00:56:58,620
This is the most hardcore
thing I've ever seen.

456
00:57:03,220 --> 00:57:06,300
It was when the team returned
to the boat to finish filming

457
00:57:06,300 --> 00:57:11,340
that they got their most
spectacular view of the lengths
Kolya was going to, to get his dinner.

458
00:57:16,380 --> 00:57:20,740
This shot sent the team home with
a fresh perspective and a deep

459
00:57:20,740 --> 00:57:25,980
respect for these people who still
live off the land in the Arctic.

460
00:57:25,980 --> 00:57:29,020
A way of life for which there
is no safety net.

461
00:57:59,700 --> 00:58:02,740
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

462
00:58:02,740 --> 00:58:05,700
E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk