WEBVTT - Bonus: A Day on the North Slope 0:00:05.640 --> 0:00:08.320 From My Heart Media. This is Missing in Alaska, the 0:00:08.400 --> 0:00:11.280 story of two congressmen who vanished in nineteen seventy two 0:00:11.680 --> 0:00:14.080 and my quest to figure out what happened to them. 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:26.720 I'm your host, John Wallzac. Welcome to our first bonus episode. 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:29.520 As you can tell, I spent a ton of time 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:32.120 on this project, and there are many things we just 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:34.680 can't fit in the core show, but we want you 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:37.040 to hear some of them to get a deeper sense 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:40.839 of the story and the players involved. This episode begins 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:50.600 with a phone call. Hello, Hey, I speak to Barbara, 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:55.280 please speaking. That's Barbara Conti, who dated Don John's, the 0:00:55.320 --> 0:00:59.120 Missing Pilot in the early nineteen seventies. A few years ago, 0:00:59.400 --> 0:01:02.200 her son us heard about my research and emailed me. 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:05.760 He told me that his mom had something fascinating an 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:09.640 unpublished article written by Don John's called A Day on 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:13.320 the North Slope. In it, Don details of plane crash 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:16.720 he survived in Alaska in early nineteen seventy two and 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:19.560 the brutal conditions he encountered as he trudged through the 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:23.280 bush looking for help. When Don vanished. Barbara gave the 0:01:23.360 --> 0:01:26.120 article to her sister, who wanted to read it, but 0:01:26.720 --> 0:01:30.959 the stead guard is. My sister was murdered at the 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:35.240 same time, and I don't remember the day. I was 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:38.679 completely lost. You know. Her husband killed her. Then he 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:43.440 committed suicide, and her poor kids were fifteen and sixteen. 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:46.720 He had taken her down, put her in the trunk 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:49.920 of her car, and when he got home from school, 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:54.080 they still something dripping from the trunk. So they ran 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:56.720 in and got to eat, and opening up, I saw 0:01:56.800 --> 0:02:00.600 their mother was there, head blown up. So they they 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:06.120 are still traumatized by Barbara's sister was murdered on October, 0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:11.680 only one week after Dawn disappeared. After the murder, Barbara 0:02:11.720 --> 0:02:14.720 found this article A day on the North Slope, laying 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:19.960 in her sister's den. Here it is voiced by Chandler Maze. 0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:25.200 To the southeast, Alaska's Brooks Range is silhouetted in pink 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:31.920 Am February. I'm planning a three flight to Fairbanks in 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:35.799 my for a load of supplies. I fly support for 0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:39.840 an oil exploration camp. The thermometer is negative fifty four 0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:43.560 degrees fahrenheit pre flight the aircraft. It has been heated 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:46.480 all night with a flameless cattle at a heater full 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:52.160 oil drained sumps. Everything brittle and vulnerable to breakage. Be careful, 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:58.320 ever so careful, I remind myself. Depressed starter a feeble 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:02.040 click click from the starter, solenoid battery frozen. I try 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:06.720 hand propping it. After yanking five minutes, I give that up. Finally, 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:09.280 locate a hundred pound caterpillar battery and a pair of 0:03:09.360 --> 0:03:13.240 jumper cables. The engine starts. Disconnect the caterpillar battery. Let 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:16.160 the aircraft idle five minutes while they return battery to caterpillar. 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:19.200 Hurry back to the aircraft. Whack the skis to break 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:23.680 them loose, mount the cockpit, forward on the throttle. Things 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:26.520 don't sound all that healthy, What does it? Negative fifty 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:29.640 four degrees fahrenheit. The aircraft rumbles down the side of 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:34.720 the hill, airborne and climbing slowly. Cockpit fills with frost. 0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:38.720 Left wing Super Heavy had parked on a hill last night. 0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:41.880 As a result, fuel flowed to the downhill tank, just 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:45.680 the happy bullshit of an arctic day. Ice crystals filled 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:49.360 the cabin, wind shield frosted. I fly by instruments. In 0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:52.080 a couple of minutes, condensation from my breath diminishes with 0:03:52.120 --> 0:03:55.000 the warming by the cockpit heater. Soon I'll be up 0:03:55.000 --> 0:04:00.000 in an inversion layer and warm. Suddenly the propeller over speeds. 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:03.240 The g D non congealing cooler has frozen and thereby 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:06.200 prevented oil from coursing through the engine's enters, a condition 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:10.880 I've experienced many times. Mother throttle back to permit the 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:13.200 oil cooler to warm up, slow the air speed in 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:15.600 order to keep prop within sight of the red line, 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:18.560 remedies that have worked in the past. I could do 0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:23.160 a doctorate on non congealing oil coolers that congeal. However, 0:04:23.200 --> 0:04:28.560 airmen are vein buggers ad forever occupied with digging up excuses. Basically, 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:31.680 I fucked up by letting the engine idle too long. 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:34.600 Oil under too little pressure got mushy, clogged the oil 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:38.440 cooler and its supply lines. In short order, oil remaining 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:41.280 in the engine core overheated and thinned to the viscosity 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:44.679 of water. In turn, the propeller governor, which boosts normal 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:47.720 oil pressure, couldn't make two with water like oil, so 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:51.760 it copped out on its job. Yes, the prop oversped 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:54.840 because an arctic wise pilot screwed up. Should have put 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:57.200 more masking tape over the cooler glance at the oil 0:04:57.240 --> 0:05:00.960 temperature j C far above the red line means engine 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:03.600 oil is red hot. A furtive look at the oil 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:07.280 pressure gage zero. The engine's butters and begins to knock. 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:10.880 What does an old pro do when he encounters a 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:15.640 tight situation? Ship his pants pray? Tell what else? Unfortunately 0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:19.080 it's a diversion, all too quickly completed. If impending catastrophe 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:21.240 is kept too long in a Vivians, one is better 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:24.599 off with another diversion. I am already flying low and slow, 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:27.200 too little of everything for a turn back towards camp. 0:05:27.560 --> 0:05:30.200 Ahead into the left, I see the enactivic river. In 0:05:30.200 --> 0:05:32.239 the real world it would be called a frozen creek. 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:35.240 I make the mile or so to the river. Went boom, 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:38.680 the engine blows blow, it does fire and smoke up 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:41.279 through the oil filter access door, oil spreading out the 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:45.920 front errand takes now what best shot? Already fired as 0:05:46.000 --> 0:05:47.520 it is, it will take a week of warm wind 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:49.599 to dry the seats. I point the nose down and 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:52.359 look ahead for a landing place. Thank god, this horizon 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:55.800 skis A moment later, goddamn river bed is all rocks 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:58.920 and ice ridges. A bum day to die happy fiasco. 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:01.960 D J. There is no question about landing. It is 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:04.440 reduced to a simple puzzle. Will I walk away with 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:09.599 my one as intact? Two airplanes bladdered? I slow airspeed more, 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:12.400 but you won't fly. The combined result of no power 0:06:12.520 --> 0:06:14.360 and a hefty load of ice brought in yesterday from 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:18.160 port barrow jerk on first notch of flaps, almost immediately, 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:21.960 I'm forced to grab another notch over one embankment across 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:24.760 the serpentine leg of the frozen river, flashing perpendicular in 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:27.719 front of me, Now very low and aiming to center 0:06:27.760 --> 0:06:30.239 punch the three ft high embankment and the river's far side. 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:33.480 Third and last notch of flaps up like a balloon 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:36.440 on a false gust, A short stretch of rocks, strown gravel, 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:43.400 bar thud, hit, bounce, sliding, fuel off, switch off stop. 0:06:44.040 --> 0:06:45.760 I can hear the snap, crackle and pop of a 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:49.479 well done engine, Smoke gushing into the cockpit. One good sign. 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:52.480 The fire blew itself out. I fumble with the seatbelt, 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:57.200 opened the door, jump out, balls, gotta be bum karma. 0:06:57.400 --> 0:07:01.480 Plane undamaged, except lept Ski has a grapefruit size hole 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:04.360 gouged in it. The tire above the hole is punctured. 0:07:04.960 --> 0:07:06.880 I reach in the air intake to touch the engine. 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:09.640 My hand drags out a jagged chunk of metal about 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:12.120 the size of campbell soup can. It is part of 0:07:12.120 --> 0:07:14.000 the crank case. What do you think you are? A 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:43.080 d J A junk collector, and put it back it is. 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:47.920 I'm at a latitude sire north or thereabouts, maybe seven 0:07:47.960 --> 0:07:49.920 eight miles from a tiny camp in which there are 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:52.800 four other men, who, by the way, pay this birdman 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:55.360 to be their lifeline. I'm sixty miles or so north 0:07:55.400 --> 0:07:58.560 of a small Eskimo settlements, or more to the other 0:07:58.600 --> 0:08:01.679 nearest white man. It is more than fifty degrees below, 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:06.280 So stay and pray to the east, burn the aircraft, 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:11.040 or walk out on with blue insulated survival suits actually 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:14.000 an adopted snowmobiles cover all. Tighten the laces on my 0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:18.160 muckluck's pull on a face mask, march man A thought. 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:21.800 Many years have I spent flying the Arctic. Unfortunately, I've 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:24.960 been a walking only twice, but both times in these 0:08:24.960 --> 0:08:27.720 blue cover alls. The first time after a double engine 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:30.120 failure in the sky van a hundred fifty miles south 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:33.960 of here in October, nearly lost a frost bitten foot 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:38.000 to a surgeon's blade. Baby, better change your lifestyle. Maybe 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:40.320 it is the blue cover alls. I decided to trash them. 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:43.560 If I get out trudging north down the Enactivic River, 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:45.920 I break through a lightly bridged crevice and stick my 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:48.920 right muck cluck into the slowly flowing black water beneath 0:08:49.400 --> 0:08:52.880 screw You will take my stroll on the bank ahead 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:54.840 and on the right side of the river. About five 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:59.040 miles is I'm certain Rooftop Ridge not much of a mountain, 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:03.480 maybe feet, But in this flat, frightening, forlorn, fricking frozen desert, 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:07.680 it passes. I know our camp is opposite Rooftop Ridge, 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:09.920 on the west side of the Inactivic River, just a 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:13.000 hair from the river. Muck luck before muck luck before 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:16.480 muck luck. Christ, what a bummer. In any event, it 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:19.800 could be worse, Yeah, asshole, it could be a lot better, 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:21.880 Like you could have been at twelve thou feet over 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:24.640 the Brooks Range cockpit, all cozy and a hundred miles 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:27.280 closer to town by now, not to mention four thousand 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:31.080 dollars less worse off. How would a stoic's philosophy of 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:35.120 never look back fit out here? Personally, I'll hang onto 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:38.480 my regrets. At nine, the distinctive sound of our nod 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:41.319 Well snow tractor fractures the Arctic morning. At first, the 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:43.600 sound appears from the west. There was a west wind 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:45.920 of three to four knots. I removed my face mask 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:49.040 to uncover my ears. Now the sound seems from the north. 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:51.320 As suddenly as it started, the sound of the reving 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:54.439 engine stops. I strained my ears, but all I can 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:56.719 hear off on the river three quarters of a mile 0:09:56.800 --> 0:09:59.880 to my right is the bank pop crack of river ice. 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:04.280 I recognize this as the sound of overflow, the Arctic 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:06.960 phenomena whereby a river freezes to the bottom of the 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:10.520 river bed in some constricted spot, causing a reservoir of 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:13.920 deep water to swell upstream. When the pressure gets strong enough, 0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:17.200 it splinters four to six feet of surface ice, flooding 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:19.959 it with gushing water from beneath. Sometimes the new water 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:23.480 is three ft thick. The new surface water itself quickly freezes, 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:26.120 but while doing so it makes a lot of ice fog. 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:28.840 It is exceedingly dangerous to attempt a landing or try 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:32.080 to walk on overflow. Overflow conditions happen most readily when 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:36.240 temperatures take a sudden dive or when cold persists. This morning, 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:38.400 the river begins to fog due to open water flooding 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:41.520 the surface. Sure as hell isn't getting any warmer. I 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:44.439 decided to continue north parallel to the river, about a 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:47.400 half mile from the river bank. Thank the Virgin for 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:50.960 abundant warm clothes this time. Following my nineteen seventy crash, 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:53.920 I damn near died of cold and exhaustion. For leg gear, 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:56.120 I am wearing long John's under a pair of brown 0:10:56.200 --> 0:10:59.760 checkered street trousers. Over it all my blue insulated snowmobile 0:10:59.800 --> 0:11:03.400 cover rawls. For the torso. I wear a head turtleneck undershirt. 0:11:03.679 --> 0:11:07.520 My head makes luxurious skis. Remember Austrian ski sweater down 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:10.800 vest and my new orange down ski PARKA. Damn it, dude, 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:13.199 ever consider becoming a ski bum and really saying screw 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:16.640 airplanes forever. On my feet, I'm wearing Canadian Army Arctic 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:20.319 muck Luck's with natural rubber souls with canvas uppers, no 0:11:20.520 --> 0:11:24.400 cold fracturing, quote rubber eyes plastics. Like last time. The 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:27.920 whole works is called footpacks the best going. My feet 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:30.640 are loose and warm, but they will still freeze if 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:33.920 I sywash for the night. What a funny word. It 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:37.280 means going native in the open, a poor man's bivouac, 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:40.320 kick a trench in the crust, and try to keep breathing. 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:45.600 The idea causes a sharp pain in the ass on 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:48.800 my head. I'm wearing my customized stocking cap slash face mask, 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:52.400 purchased and hacked up only day before yesterday in Fairbanks. 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:55.480 What a blast that was. I looked all over town 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:58.320 for a lightweight, long stocking cap with mouth and eye holes. 0:11:59.200 --> 0:12:02.880 No luck. Finally I purchased a stock model, grabbed a 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:06.120 pair of scissors, sniffed holes in the correct locations, and 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:09.200 watch my brainchild unravel in my hands. In desperation, I 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:11.400 fetched a needle and thread and spent half an hour 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:14.400 making stop stitches. I am glad such a fine job 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:17.320 had been done. D J. Maybe you would make someone 0:12:17.360 --> 0:12:20.360 a good wife. Go slow, better extract your ass from 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:24.200 this predicament before considering marriage. Speaking of ass, I forthright 0:12:24.280 --> 0:12:27.920 reached two conclusions. One, my sexuality had been dealt a 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:30.560 stunning blow when I shipped my trousers two hours ago. 0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:33.400 To my ass and chin are the only parts of me, 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:36.960 that are cold, outrageous coincidence on my hands. I have 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:41.640 jumbo leather mittens with woolen liners ten a m. Where 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:44.080 in the hell am I? In answer? The enactivic river 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:47.240 looses a volley of snaps like a popcorn machine. Two 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:49.800 hours you've been walking, that is eight to ten miles. 0:12:50.200 --> 0:12:52.520 I stopped to listen again. Where did the nod Well 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:55.199 tractor sound go? Just like these dudes to shut the 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:58.840 engine off? No consideration for pilots. Ahead on the right 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:02.360 river bank about three miles is rooftop ridge. I think 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:05.000 if it was five miles away before, and you've just 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:07.960 walked eight miles and it is still three miles away, 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:11.600 you're arithmetic bears watching with the mere utterance of bear 0:13:11.880 --> 0:13:14.800 comes to reality. There was a goddamn grizzly ahead into 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:17.520 the right j C. This is all I need. A 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:20.040 feeble minded bear that doesn't have sense enough to hibernate. 0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:22.800 He should run from me and I from him. But 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:25.000 I'm ass whole deep in snow and can't run, and 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:27.400 he is obviously a muck if he's out here in midwinter. 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:29.240 To be on the safe side, to take a y 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:32.320 detour when about two hundred yards on his down wind side, 0:13:32.559 --> 0:13:35.480 an old hunting trick. I see that he is a 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:39.079 large wind exposed rock. Nonetheless, I'm fresh out of faith 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:41.800 number one. I'm gravely concerned over the remains of a 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:44.680 four thousand dollar engine now worth about a hundred dollars 0:13:45.120 --> 0:13:48.680 Arctic depreciation, just to rattle my cage. I am lost, 0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:52.520 or nearly so frightened on the ViRGE of panic. Like 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:54.840 it will be dark again in five hours. Then what 0:13:55.520 --> 0:13:58.199 behind me? I can see my lonely trail at meander 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:01.320 south from where I stand strong with little zigs and zags, 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:04.760 where I've walked with head down. It disappears over the horizon. 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:08.400 The breeze is stiffening, ice fog obscures more of the river. 0:14:09.040 --> 0:14:11.880 The whole scene looks like a science fiction nightmare. I 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:13.640 make up my mind to walk another hour in the 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:16.320 northerly direction that will put me three hours back to 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:18.680 the aircraft. Of a storm comes up. If a really 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:22.000 big blow starts, I've got big problems. There is not 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:25.040 a tree, bush or stump within a hundred miles. The 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:26.960 only chance would be to make a hasty retreat toward 0:14:27.000 --> 0:14:29.560 the aircraft and hope to make it even if I 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:31.680 got back to the aircraft, it would be a gruesome 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:34.760 ordeal to survive. I've seen storms last a week with 0:14:34.800 --> 0:15:05.080 winds over fifty knots and fifty below. Bullshit. When will 0:15:05.120 --> 0:15:07.880 they start looking for me? I imagine in two to 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:10.240 three days. There isn't that many in our breed that 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:12.920 will venture a search on the north slope. Maybe a 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:15.560 few of the old pros from the interior airways, like 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:17.920 Bob Jacobs, or a couple of the fellows hired by 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:21.480 the oil companies like Jack Spurgeon of Aalieska pipeline who 0:15:21.480 --> 0:15:24.120 found me last time. Definitely not C A P or 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:26.520 f A A. Last time I crashed, I damn near 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:29.640 died before anybody considered looking. All around me are teeny 0:15:29.720 --> 0:15:32.920 rolling hills tops shrouded in fog. The effect is to 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:35.920 make pip squeak mounds appear as mountains. Of course, there 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:38.160 are no mountains on the north slope, all of which 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:40.600 makes me less and less sure of where I am. 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:43.240 It isn't the first time I thought I was in Siberia. 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:45.560 I can still see rooftop ridge, but in the bleak 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:49.320 Arctic morning, it looks fuzzy too far away Where are 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:53.080 all the good donarracts this morning. Douniacs are old Eskimo spirits. 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:57.200 They may be good donats or bad don acts. Doniracts 0:15:57.240 --> 0:16:00.640 may dwell in specific large mountains, rivers, trees, et cetera. 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:03.600 I hastened my march only to work up a sweat 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:05.960 across my shoulders in the back of my neck. I 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:08.640 opened the front of my parka and coveralls. The faster 0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:11.400 pack still makes me sweat. Sweat is a goddamn no 0:16:11.400 --> 0:16:14.200 no in the Arctic. It leads to deep chills and 0:16:14.280 --> 0:16:17.120 freeze dried corpses. If consistent, it would make a good 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:19.920 walking Instead, I fall through the crust and scrape my 0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:23.120 shins once in about every twenty yards. The anticipation of 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:25.920 falling through is innervating. Reminds me of waiting for a 0:16:26.000 --> 0:16:28.560 jack in the box. My muck lucks make a crisp 0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:32.360 thump creek sounds like walking on a wrinkled drum. The 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:36.480 wind bites my eyes, they water, the water freezes into 0:16:36.560 --> 0:16:39.880 instant icicles. Every five minutes, I take a glove off 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:43.120 and flick the accumulated ice from my eyelashes. Otherwise, all 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:46.120 the mirages are blurry. Who needs blurry mirages. At a 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:49.040 time like this, if I look down my nose inside 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:51.520 the face mask, I can see icicles hanging a half 0:16:51.520 --> 0:16:54.880 inch from my nostrils. Great day for a hike. From 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:57.480 time to time, my chin freezes. I dig in a 0:16:57.520 --> 0:17:00.760 pocket and come up with a knitted earbands, more romantically, 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:04.480 a Norwegian jockstrap. This goes around my lower face. That 0:17:04.600 --> 0:17:07.720 cures the chin problem. I am afraid, not soon enough. 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:11.360 My chin is numb and feels brittle. My windward ear, 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:15.000 the left prick is near frostbite. Fifteen years ago, both 0:17:15.000 --> 0:17:17.560 ears were severely frost bitten. They have always been more 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:21.600 vulnerable to freezing. Since is it only negative degrees fahrenheit? 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:24.480 The only sign of life is an occasional limbing trail. 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:27.920 Imagine those little mothers out here and a fox track. 0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:30.280 All tracks are blown in which means a week or 0:17:30.320 --> 0:17:34.560 so old. Not a bird, not another living thing save 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:39.000 one lonesome aviator flapping his wings in a vacuum, an endless, 0:17:39.000 --> 0:17:43.360 worthless pearl. This the fat cat conservationists of California want 0:17:43.400 --> 0:17:47.399 to save any ecological accident, even oil spill, would be 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:52.320 a step forward, no doubt about it. I'm lost visibility 0:17:52.359 --> 0:17:54.679 is getting hazier. My ass is in a sling. If 0:17:54.680 --> 0:17:56.800 I don't find camp. In fact, if I don't get 0:17:56.840 --> 0:17:58.760 back to camp, some prick somewhere will notify the f 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:01.840 a A. Tis little better than not being found at all. 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:05.000 Not that they would come looking, No, they would get 0:18:05.040 --> 0:18:08.840 lost and blame the airplane manufacturer. But they would lounge 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:11.040 around and wait for someone to find me, then slap 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:14.400 a big violation against me. For assuredly, as Allah did 0:18:14.480 --> 0:18:17.720 his own thing, I've violated some law. The f a 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:21.000 A operates under the philosophy that the only legal airplane 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:24.440 is a parked airplane. So when accidents do happen, never 0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:27.040 mind the missing wing or faulty engineering, there is a 0:18:27.119 --> 0:18:30.000 violated rule. Thus the f a A motto, if the 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:33.639 pilot hadn't taken off, the accident wouldn't have happened. Listen, 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:36.520 all I hear is the incessant bang from the distant 0:18:36.600 --> 0:18:39.840 river ice. My right foot is beginning to blister. Good 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:43.760 time to pee. Pause for a philosophy break. Granted, passing 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:46.040 water is not one of life's biggia's until you've taken 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:50.160 a frightened frozen tool, apply attention to it, and attempt 0:18:50.160 --> 0:18:53.240 to coax it over three inches of clothing. Follow me through, 0:18:53.800 --> 0:18:58.280 remove clubs on jam frozen park a zipper, unsnapped down vests, 0:18:58.960 --> 0:19:02.520 unzip frozen cover rolls, and pull up sweater. From here 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:06.600 it is by brail unzipped trousers with right hand, fish 0:19:06.640 --> 0:19:09.359 for the little gym, pry open long john fly and 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:13.879 underwear pouch Eureka with horse and hand. I began uncoiling 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:16.159 quicker than you can blink an eye. I had the 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:18.959 entire two inches pulled taut over the edge. I can 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:23.800 just discern his frosted label made in Japan. Anyway, great 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:27.520 white pilot tankled. I resolved to hike to the nearest knoll, 0:19:27.640 --> 0:19:30.200 maybe a mile west of the river. From that vantage 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:33.240 point I may see better referencing rooftop ridge with a 0:19:33.240 --> 0:19:36.160 primitive fix on the sun. I turned ninety degrees left 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:39.040 from my otherwise straight north running footprints, and begin to 0:19:39.080 --> 0:19:41.840 walk west. It takes balls to change course in life. 0:19:42.160 --> 0:19:47.120 Sometimes it is the only way it is. I am frightened, 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:50.119 perhaps from the forced landing. More I think from the 0:19:50.119 --> 0:19:53.320 familiarity with the unrelenting Arctic. Less than a year ago, 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:56.120 a scant forty miles from where I stand, I collected 0:19:56.119 --> 0:19:58.879 the frozen body of my good friend George Curtis. George 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:01.040 and I had known each other for to five years. 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:04.840 He was the Arctic's most experienced geophysical supervisor. The night 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:06.879 before he was killed, George and I raft about the 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:10.760 Arctic and its catastrophic assault on things living. The conversation 0:20:10.880 --> 0:20:13.560 ended with George, what the hell are you still doing here? 0:20:13.840 --> 0:20:16.280 Don't you know life goes on outside while you freeze? 0:20:16.680 --> 0:20:20.080 George reminded me, and you you made it big ones. 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:23.560 We fell asleep inside by side bunks. The next morning, 0:20:23.640 --> 0:20:26.159 I bade George so long and jumped into my plane. 0:20:26.680 --> 0:20:28.960 Later that day, the helicopter in which he was writing 0:20:29.000 --> 0:20:32.320 augured into Mother Earth in a white out. The following day, 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:35.120 I circled the wreck while another chopper landed and confirmed 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:38.040 the worst. The day after, I took George Curtis on 0:20:38.080 --> 0:20:43.400 his last airplane ride. Such as the Arctic so goddamn beautiful. 0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:47.440 It hurts sometimes so brutal, with such finality. At others 0:20:48.280 --> 0:20:50.439 I used to love it. To be one of its 0:20:50.520 --> 0:20:54.200 unique experts was a pride I couldn't verbilize. Ecstasy comes 0:20:54.240 --> 0:20:57.120 less frequently these days, but when it does I think 0:20:57.119 --> 0:20:59.720 it worth the weight? I am very near or my 0:20:59.760 --> 0:21:02.480 friend and Jules Thibodeaux, the most illustrious pilot of the 0:21:02.520 --> 0:21:06.760 North bit the dust of Kayak Mountain Christmas sixty or 0:21:06.800 --> 0:21:10.640 sixty eight. My mind rebels. To get my head straight, 0:21:10.640 --> 0:21:13.960 I start reviewing great books of courage I've read. Foremost 0:21:14.080 --> 0:21:16.720 is The Long Walk, where the mind of man overcame 0:21:16.800 --> 0:21:20.840 unbelievable hardship in Siberia. Next, I remember Papillon and his 0:21:21.000 --> 0:21:23.600 years of travail and utter isolation. If I should be 0:21:23.640 --> 0:21:26.520 totally lost out here, I resolved to use these examples 0:21:26.520 --> 0:21:30.080 for inspiration. It is now eleven o'clock. Is the whole 0:21:30.080 --> 0:21:32.679 world flat white? Or do they still make trees and grass? 0:21:33.119 --> 0:21:34.640 When I get to the top of the knoll, I'll 0:21:34.640 --> 0:21:36.879 sit and rest half an hour and listen carefully for 0:21:36.920 --> 0:21:38.960 any sounds that might come drifting out of white space. 0:21:39.520 --> 0:21:41.200 At the end of half an hour, I'll retrace my 0:21:41.240 --> 0:21:44.320 steps to the aircraft. All reasoning points to the probability 0:21:44.359 --> 0:21:46.520 that I've walked past the camp and am too far north. 0:21:46.920 --> 0:21:49.440 I have walked over fifteen miles before being forced down. 0:21:49.680 --> 0:21:52.440 But reasonable certainties are not enough on which to bet 0:21:52.440 --> 0:21:55.760 your life and getting lost is an absolutely certain route 0:21:55.760 --> 0:21:58.639 to disaster in the Arctic. I am plotting due west 0:21:58.840 --> 0:22:01.040 according to the sun, which is a whole ten degrees 0:22:01.040 --> 0:22:04.399 above the southern horizon. My zombie like shadow is at zenith. 0:22:04.760 --> 0:22:07.480 The Arctic day is half gone. Civilized parts of the 0:22:07.480 --> 0:22:10.800 world are contemplating spring. We're just emerging from deep winter. 0:22:11.359 --> 0:22:13.520 Not long ago, an acquaintance asked me to teach him 0:22:13.560 --> 0:22:17.119 to fly on the north slope. Teach luck, Show a 0:22:17.119 --> 0:22:19.920 man how to do the common sense number, Demonstrate a 0:22:19.960 --> 0:22:22.040 will to survive, Drill him on how to fly lot 0:22:22.080 --> 0:22:24.480 with confidence. Instruct him on how to fly by the 0:22:24.480 --> 0:22:26.960 seat of his pants on instruments. Tell him about darwin 0:22:27.040 --> 0:22:30.440 Survival of the Fittest the blind. Teach the blind. He 0:22:30.520 --> 0:22:34.760 must have been shooting me. I glanced to the south 0:22:35.040 --> 0:22:39.000 j C smoke. I start walking. Before walking five minutes, 0:22:39.040 --> 0:22:41.359 I suddenly catch sight of the camp, not at the smoke, 0:22:41.560 --> 0:22:44.120 but off to the west. Is ecstatic the correct word? 0:22:44.520 --> 0:22:47.080 As it turned out, the smoke isn't smoke, but sunlight 0:22:47.119 --> 0:22:49.680 making a mirage on the ridge. Remind you of the 0:22:49.720 --> 0:22:52.040 bear that wasn't. Had it not been for the mirage, 0:22:52.040 --> 0:22:54.680