Bering Sea Gold (2012–…): Season 14, Episode 1 - Winter, Lose or Draw - full transcript
[narrator] there's
nothing like ice mining.
It's the most dangerous
game you'll ever play.
If you're going to
step up to the table.
You better know...
How to play your hand.
Argh!
[man] I'm betting everything
I have on myself this winter.
But the only way to make
big money is to risk it all.
I'm in the red so much that right now I just
need gold, gold and then some more gold.
[vernon] with the claim I've got, I'm
holding a monster of stackable chips.
Right there, it's cooper gold. We've
got to take advantage of every minute.
- Now it's time to break the bank.
- [man] whoo!
[zeke] if I don't start
making real gold this winter.
I won't have a seat
at the table any more.
I want to, like, dive a ton.
- Argh!
- Are you okay?
[gurgling]
[man] never count
out the wildcard.
Pizza delivery. Put me to work.
I might be the difference
between winning and losing.
Yee-haw! [laughing maniacally]
my expansion is
just getting started.
If you don't gamble, you'll never
win. And I'm a gambling fool.
When it all comes together.
Yee-haw!
This game will
never be the same.
[motor whirring]
[engine revving]
[wind blowing]
we got weather coming in.
It's time to get some gold.
[narrator] the worst winter in
100 years is forecast for nome.
As a series of blizzards are expected
to relentlessly pound the bering sea.
But the man they call mr. Gold
shows no signs of backing down.
Ice is back!
We're going to go
and check it out.
We left off on a really
good spot, with the myrtle.
Hopefully, we can hit it again.
[narrator] the top player in the nome
gold mining game, shawn pomrenke,
has taken home the biggest
pot, season after season.
But this winter, he may have
made a bet he can't pay off.
[shawn] this season's
really important.
We've got to get as much
time on the bottom as possible.
I'm expanding my operation fast,
but I'm in debt
up to my eyeballs.
With buying the
tomcod, the inland mine
and the upgrades on the myrtle.
I'm almost in it for $2 million.
This winter, I need at least 120
ounces to keep the ball rolling.
Otherwise, I won't
make my payments
and everything will go bye-bye.
But I do have a
plan to pull it off.
[shawn] I believe there's a
jackpot in that ancient river bed
that I was working this summer.
The material I was
seeing tells me it's there.
This stuff looks amazing.
The drill logs say it's there.
It's gotta be there.
It has to be there.
We're talking something special.
[chortling] yeah!
A giant concentration
of gold in one spot.
And this winter I'm
betting big that I can find it.
We were out here this
summer and we did really well.
This is where I'm gonna go.
There's a pile of gold
here, somewhere.
I can feel it in my bones.
What are you thinking, joel?
- That looks like a good spot to get in, huh?
- Yeah.
They're predicting a nasty
winter, so I'm not messing around.
I'm gonna bring in joe
fullwood to help me out.
Joel's the best diver out there.
Well, besides me.
If joe and I can't find that jackpot,
well then, it just doesn't exist.
What do you think, grab the
auger and start drilling some holes?
- [shawn] get in the water?
- [joe] yeah that sounds good.
[engine roaring]
- [joe] cold out here.
- [shawn chuckling]
[chuckling]
this is the... The
worst part of it.
- [shawn] I don't have a choice, do I?
- [joe] no, no, no.
-No way to do it but to do it, eh?
[laughing] -[shawn] that's right.
[engine spluttering]
I feel like a girl trying to
get into the skinny jeans.
[joe] you ready?
[shawn speaking]
it's just like my
first time diving.
Murky.
Ice mining's no joke. You gotta
haul all your gear out on the ice.
Cut a ice hole.
And then dive under
the ice to find some gold.
And if that's not enough
for you, the ice can shift
and crumble up and send everything and
everybody to the bottom of the bering sea.
But it's the name of the
game that we signed up to play.
Better get your big boy panties
on if you want to come play up here.
[shawn speaking]
[shawn speaking]
[shawn speaking]
[shawn] first dive
of the season.
Feels good.
I think we're gonna make
some money this winter.
[narrator] 10 miles east.
Woah! Tokyo drift. [chuckling]
[narrator] after stepping away
from the game for a few years.
Zeke tenhoff is following up on
his experimental summer season,
with what he hopes
will be a hot hand.
After rolling the dice with his
groundbreaking sailboat dredge.
This winter he's
going under the ice,
to start replenishing
his bankroll.
What I want to do is, prove to myself
what I can do with very little equipment.
And just dive a ton.
This summer was cool, in that, I
got a sailboat dredge in the water.
It proved that it could work.
- [zeke] dude, it's really fast.
- [man] yeah!
And it reignited my passion
for gold dredging again.
I love a sailboat
dredge so much.
But I didn't get a
whole lot of gold.
Luckily, I run a
small operation.
So I don't need a whole
lot of gold to keep afloat.
But if I don't get around
eight ounces this winter,
my mining career could be over.
[zeke] brr. Holy [bleep].
And my zipper's not
working. Whatever.
[both] woo-hoo!
Sam and raven weren't able to
come back up and help me this winter.
- [zeke] how's it going?
- Trying to get that nut, bro. [chuckling]
so this winter I have
a whole new crew.
Oh [bleep] bonus!
[zeke] I have my other
younger brother, gabe.
[gabe] that one tasted weird.
- Oh! Sell by 2017.
- [laughing]
[zeke] [bleep], you serious?
And his best friend shlomo.
And, also, gabe's dog
stormy, who's a really cute dog.
[zeke] no! Ugh.
Gabe and shlomo, they don't have
a whole lot of mining experience,
but, they're
commercial fishermen,
they're used to pulling stuff out of
the ocean, so I think it should work out.
What I would like to do is,
make a trip down to the ice,
and then, yeah, I don't really
know exactly where we should start.
I have some coordinates.
It might take a
little bit of scouting.
We should take the auger
and just, like, drill some holes.
- [gabe] yeah.
- [zeke] as far as I'm concerned
this is ready to,
uh, get pulled down,
- [gabe] okay. Ready to move!
- [zeke] onto the ice.
[engine revving]
this winter is forecasted to be
really stormy and rowdy and rough.
And, so, we're gonna set up close
to town on the west beach claim.
This way we'll be able to stay
out on the ice until the last minute
because we're
super close to town.
Yeah! [whip cracking]
mostly, I have to dive non-stop
because I need to make up for the gold
that I didn't get last
summer. It's imperative.
[engine roaring]
[gabe] have you ever seen a better ice
mining sled? These things are incredible.
You can just [bleep] jerk 'em over
anything and they just bop bop. So fun.
I'm gonna auger a hole.
Then we'll put the camera down to
make sure that there's cobble right here.
[engine starting]
the first order of business is to drill
holes and search with the camera
to find a juicy place to dive.
[drilling]
we're looking for rocks and
cobble, that's where the gold is.
If we just find
sand, it's no bueno.
[whirring]
[zeke] damn!
Let's see if we got, uh, cobble.
[splashing]
[zeke] that's
greasy sand, isn't it?
[gabe] we're right on the edge.
-[zeke] dude, this is [bleep] -[gabe] dude,
I don't know, that looks like some of that,
like, murky, like, weird, like,
goopy stuff, you what I'm saying?
[zeke] oh, yeah!
Technical nomenclature.
[zeke] damn! It looks like
sand. Gonna have to move.
This is not gonna work.
[drilling]
[splashing]
sandy!
[beeping]
[zeke]sand.
[whirring]
sand.
Find any cobbles?
Not yet. It's all sand.
Mother[bleep].
[bleep]
[both laugh]
[zeke] there's some rocks
down here in this hole.
[gabe] yeah?
[zeke] but for some reason
the ice is super thick over here.
Let's see if we can find
some thinner ice around here.
[zeke] the ideal ice for
our operation would be
from about two
to three feet thick.
If it gets any thicker than that then it
gets really hard to punch holes through and
I wanna hit the ground
running this season.
[zeke] just a bunch of
dirty sand right here man.
Okay, well, I think that
sounds like that's our boy.
[zeke] well, oh damn.
Sand!
[gabe] what the [bleep]!
Where is the one that
had the cobble [bleep]?
[shlomo] few ones
are over there.
-[zeke] no... -that
one, it's that one.
- Which one?
- That one.
[gabe] is that a hole?
[zeke] what in the
[bleep] happened?
- Is that sand?
- [zeke] yeah, it's sand!
Well, we, uh, kinda forgot
which hole we had cobble at.
This is a really dumb problem.
[zeke] there's holes everywhere
and I don't know which one is which.
Every minute we can't find the holes
with cobbles in it, we're losing money.
- Nooo!
- [laughs]
uh, okay there's... I don't
know where that hole was man!
Dude I'm telling you over here.
Okay well just go
over there then [bleep].
[zeke] or maybe I
was hallucinating.
It's like something I've done before, I'm
like, making it more complicated for myself
or am I actually just getting
dumber as I get older?
We will have this
resolved, shortly.
[kris] uh, what excites me
about this ice mining season?
[bleep] I hate ice
mining let me tell you.
With characteristic
optimism, this winter,
captain kris kelly
is upping the ante.
[kris] so I went
down to california,
I got a brand new
eight-inch operation on credit.
Right now I need to make
the money to pay for everything.
But I know I'm gonna pull the hail
mary path out and win the game this year.
In order to keep my seat at the table, I
had to upgrade some of my equipment.
All of my equipment.
So why not go for broke
with a top notch operation.
I got two 23 horsepower pump.
I got a brand new
air compressor.
Hand crafted eight inch nozzle.
A new flare, new water heater.
I got a brand new top of the
line three stage suice box.
That will save my season.
All totaling over 15,000 dollars
which is an amazing irish deal.
Add in the expenses to
maintain it, I need at least
25 ounces to pay this all of.
No pressure, 25
ounces? Bam! I got this.
I'm in the red so much
this year, it's disgusting.
It's just money, money, money.
So right now I just need gold, gold,
gold, gold and then some more gold.
Last summer I thought I was
gonna hit the mother load in elim.
[bleep]
we're going home
in utter defeat.
But elim was a disaster.
So I gotta get on big gold this
winter. We gotta get on it, fast!
So where we going,
out to mccully?
Yeah, we're gonna go to chris's
and check out his operations.
Find out where we're
gonna go, check out the ice.
- Okay, well let's go.
- Okay, let's go.
[motor revving]
[motors stop]
[kris] what's up buddy?
- You made it!
- I made it [bleep].
I just came to scan my area.
[laughing]
last season working with
james on the mistress,
we worked on
dave mccully's claim.
That was a great opportunity.
I made some money.
Digging up gold
on the bering sea!
So we're heading back
out there to mine this winter.
[kris] chris mccully also has an
ice mining operation right here.
And he says he's gonna give
me some damn good spots.
[kris] so where are we going?
[chris] well, I was thinking, I
was eyeballing your spot already.
It's gotta be right over
there, south... South west
towards that way about 200 feet.
[kris] nice. Lead
the way, chris.
Hey! That's what I need to hear!
[both laughing]
right now this is perfect. If chris says this
is a good spot it's gonna be a good spot.
So andy's on his way right now,
we're gonna get my equipment and
get it hauled out there. Then I can start
making money instead of just spending it.
I know!
We're standing here. Chris says now
it's an hour right underneath our feet.
Oh, that's neat.
-Yeah, well you
know... -for sure?
[all laughing]
yeah, yeah, yeah.
[kris] I'm gonna
insulate my box.
[kris] I'm gonna insulate
the [bleep] out of it.
[chris] ice is your enemy!
[kris] ice is my
enemy, I know that.
[zeke] did I drop my tape
measure in the ice hole?
[chuckles] I think I might have.
There wasn't one under here.
- What the hell!
- Stormy's been known to run off with it.
Damn stormy! Where's
my tape measure.
[chuckles]
[narrator] intent on improving
on their summer output,
zeke and his crew doggedly put in
the finishing touches on their operation.
I like that it's hot tub
shaped. It's enticing.
[laughing]
it took us a hot minute but we
found the hole with the cobble.
So now it's about getting
on the gold and getting
as many hours on the
box as we possibly can.
Or honestly, this could
be my last mining season.
Yeah!
All right stormy, get to work.
[whining]
ugh!
Gabe and shlomo are
great guys to have around
but they haven't done
a whole lot of mining.
I just need to focus on getting
these little things done and everything
and I can't really
do this and do that.
Mm!
I have so many little chores to do
that require ice mining experience
and I... I can't
do it all myself.
So I called the only guy that I
know has nothing else to do.
[motor whirring]
- [steve] hey zeke!
- Hi steve, how's it going?
- Great! How about you?
- It's going all right.
[narrator] every poker game
has it's wild card, and this
fleet has theirs
in steve riedel.
Who spent years unsuccessfully
trying to start his own operation
and is now desperately looking
to gain a foothold this winter.
So I'm thinking if your saw is long
enough, you might be able to just
- cut...
- Yeah.
Like a block out
here and then you slide
- that block out.
- Slide it over.
[zeke] you never really know what
you're gonna get when you bring steve
onboard your operation. He can
be really difficult sometimes but
sometimes he can be really
on point and really brilliant.
So it's a high risk,
high reward situation.
But I'm willing to
take the chance with it.
Okay well, one way or the other
we'll get a hole cut here and, uh,
we'll get you under water.
[zeke] that's fantastic.
[saw whirring]
[steve] ah-ha ha!
Whoo-hoo! That's it!
See. Woo-hoo!
[steve] I think we're ready.
We're gonna be in the water as
soon as zeke gets his sweat suit on.
[zeke] mining is way more dangerous
in the winter than it is in the summer.
It's freezing and there's a giant
sheet of ice above your head.
And it's been a few
years since I've done this.
I'm honestly really
nervous about it.
I'm... It's... It's a scary
thing to do. But I need to get
under the ice and I need
to start looking for gold.
[steve] you good?
Pretty excited to like, go dive in
that hole, but it does look kinda chilly.
[breathing heavily]
[zeke] ah-ha ha!
It's brisk and refreshing.
All right!
This looks familiar.
[gabe] how you feeling?
[zeke] I'm feeling good. It's
dark and spooky down here.
All right, I'm on the bottom.
[gabe] hi man, how's
it look down there?
[zeke] it looks like there's kind of
like, a reef of cobbles like, heavy rocks.
And a lot of murk
over to the left.
It's kind of like a sort
of a circular little eddy.
Where the... It looks
like the cobble and, uh,
hardpan meet.
So I think the gold
might be collecting there.
[gabe] got ya, got ya!
[zeke] yeah, there's...
There's gold here.
[gabe] how's the gold look?
[zeke] and I want to
try to like, wrench it.
For a while before
the storm hits.
Yeah, we might as well pound it as
hard as possible until we gotta leave.
[shawn] that I can do.
It's what god put me
here for, apparently.
Well, let's do it.
I like that plan.
[narrator] the first of a
barrage of blizzards this winter
is gaining strength
on the horizon.
But ten miles west of nome...
So how's it going
down there, shawn?
Well, it feels good to
be back on the bottom.
How's it looking
for your first dive?
Not the king of ace again.
Not seeing a whole lot of color.
[narrator] shawn pomrenke
is just starting his quest
to find a jackpot on
an ancient river bed.
Here we go.
Suction's good.
Getting bored.
A pretty nice, easy
working ground.
Ideal for a small
dredge like this.
How's it looking down there?
Nice black material,
maybe about six inches thick.
Nice little patches
of rock sticking out.
Hell yeah, I like
the sound of it.
You seeing any
gold on top of that?
There's sand
covering the gravel.
Then the material turns yellow.
Yeah, I'm seeing some color now.
Seeing gold on
the first dive. Yeah!
Woo-hoo!
[shawn] oh [bleep] yeah!
That sounds good.
Nice to see gold
on the first dive.
Yeah, it's good to hear
about gold on the first dive.
I don't think anybody's
looked around over here.
Might be a lot more gold on
this claim than everybody thinks.
- Nice. -Yeah.
Just got to get after it.
Hell yeah. Let's suck it up.
Gold's really good.
Just sucking it up.
[narrator] shawn's
already on the gold.
But, ten miles east...
This is the... holy [bleep].
I was grabbing it.
I'm still grabbing it.
Kris kelly is rushing
to get his new
top of the line
operation on the ice.
But, some assembly is required.
All brand new
equipment, like christmas.
[kris] I may have gone
a little nuts this year,
but it's about time the
kellys' riding with some style.
[kris] it feels great to finally
get my first brand new system.
Even if I'm in
debt up to my ass.
[kris] now we have to put it
together before the storm hits.
Or this might be
a bet I can't cover.
[kris] hey, let's get
started, everybody.
- Push, push, push.
- There you go.
We got a brand new water heater.
I need you guys to really
take care of this tool.
And I'm looking right at you
when I'm saying that, turtle.
This operation is much bigger
than what we've used in the past.
So, I'm expanding my team.
I'm bring out my buddy, turtle.
And I need to bring in james,
the captain of the mistress.
So I think I'm gonna
do well, for sure.
Come on, help me grab this.
It's heavy as [bleep].
We still got a
mountain-full of work.
So in shack number one, I've the
two 23 horse tank power pump engine.
Move on to shack number two.
We got the hot water system, all
brand new, of course, on one side.
And we've got the air
compressor on another side.
Move on to the
communications shack.
I consider this an
enormous upgrade.
So, the window frame.
I know that looks like a simple piece
of wood to a lot of people, but for us,
that's a difference of
another 20 degrees,
and the heat staying
inside my shed.
So it's not like when you buy
this stuff, everything is pre-built.
This whole operation has
to be put together by us.
It's a big deal but the creme de la
creme is something I came up with myself.
- Pick it up.
- Yay!
[kris] an insulated box, to keep
the slooze box from freezing.
I call it, the coffin.
[eerie music playing]
when my brother dies, I'm
shifting this down to wherever he is,
and I'm burying his ass in this.
[kris] its mainly the height that
I'm worrying about at the moment.
Oh look that's [bleep]
something not done.
We're gonna have to add a
stringer. Andy, cut that wood.
- [kris] hey, you're [bleep] fired.
- What?
Okay, I'll do this, sorry, I
didn't mean to get upset.
Just 'cause, man, you
have no carpentry skills at all.
You know you don't
take it like this and do it.
-No, you take it from
the... -yeah you do.
- Take it from the other end.
- Guys, what's it matter.
It doesn't matter
[bleep]. I'll do it.
I'll do it. I will do it myself.
Look, I asked andy,
that lazy [bleep] to do this.
I asked him to cut one board for me
real fast, I gave him the measurements.
There's two of
them, they're capable.
I've pretty much done
everything else today myself.
I told you to do this.
Why can't you... why do you...
- Why can't somebody else? Why does it always have to be me?
- What is always you?
What is always you?
[kris] go home then.
[andy] all right. Whatever.
I tell that guy to do a
simple ass little [bleep] job.
He does one a day. He thinks
that he's a [bleep] accomplishment.
It's gonna be a long month.
[kris] we're ready
to rock n roll.
This is the nicest operation.
I don't even... it's so nice I
don't even think it belongs to us.
It's not really the kelly style.
Sorry everybody.
Kind of in a bad mood today trying to push
together doing all of these last little bits.
Wait till andy didn't...
[bleep] andy.
We need to get out there
and start getting gold.
God willing,
everything will work out.
[kris] if I can't make it work with everything
brand new I'm gonna have to quit mining.
I need to go get a job at
mcdonald's or something.
How's it going
down there, shawn?
Man, the gold's so
good down here.
I mean, you know, we're
getting a whole bunch of gold.
Right.
Sucking it up.
Which direction you
reckon you're in?
The gold's headed to the north.
But, I'm all stretched out here.
I'm thinking we're gonna
have to move the dredge.
All right, maybe we'll start
prepping a new hole over there.
Yeah, let's go ahead
and get this thing moved.
I'm coming up.
Boo-yah! I'll get taylor and
sasha to shovel in a new hole.
I think this is the pay streak
that leads to that huge jackpot.
The plan is to move
everything about 20 feet.
[shawn] put joe down and
hopefully, he can get on it.
But it looks like mother nature's
not gonna go along with my plan.
This blows.
Yeah, the storm's
here way earlier.
- They said we had till Sunday.
- That's what I thought.
[shawn] well, I
think it's here today.
[shawn] they weren't
kidding about this winter.
This first storm's hitting
earlier than I expected.
And its brutal.
Makes moving to a new spot,
or even mining impossible.
I've been in this game long enough
to know when not to push my luck.
And now it's time
to pull off the ice.
- Let's get the hell outta here sounds good.
- Yes boss.
[narrator] while
mr. Gold, that likes to fold.
10 miles east
another member of
the fleet goes all in.
It's not that bad yet.
No matter what, we're
getting on the ice today.
If not today, it's right
[bleep] now today.
[kris] the update is, wind's
picking up, snow's picking up.
But I don't care about
any of those factors.
Right now I got people who
are breathing down my neck.
I gotta get out there
and make some gold.
So we're not giving
up yet, I mean...
We can still see for like a mile,
we're not in whiteout conditions.
[kris] I've been in a
lot worse than this.
Go inside outta the
weather, have a conference.
With this massive debt hanging over
our heads, we have no time to waste.
We busted out butts getting everything
assembled, but we can't get it there ourselves.
So I need my buddy, diesel don to
pull everything out with his track truck.
I know don's not gonna let
a little snow get in his way.
This storm came up faster
than its supposed to have.
It wasn't supposed to
be like this till tomorrow.
Going out like this, knowing it's
going to get worse, is probably not
the smartest thing
we could try and do.
Fact of the matter
is it's just stupid.
No, it's not stupid. It'd mean we're
only going seven miles out of town.
You know, you see, absolutely no
definition. Everything's wide out there.
You can run into a big old
block of ice sitting in front of you
and not even know it
till you come to a stop.
I'm not in a rush to
become a statistic.
No.
I think the best thing is just
let's wait till the weather clears.
Once we get an opening, launch.
Yeah, okay.
You know, I'm
kind of bummed out.
It's depressing and it's a
let-down, but it is what it is.
Thank you very much for trying.
Yup, okay.
[wind blowing]
the blizzard came up on us and
now it's impossible to get out there.
It still really wish
we would have went.
But I can't make everybody out.
As soon as we get a break
in the weather, we're going,
no matter what the situation is.
Just a little bit better
than this, though.
[wind blowing]
let's get the
[bleep] outta here.
What a waste of time.
[blizzard blowing]
[narrator] one mile west,
there's still one miner
who hasn't cashed out.
The wind's really started to
get bitchy up here. It's picking up.
[motor whirring]
you okay?
Yeah.
[drilling]
how's the hot water?
My hot water's doing good.
I'm toasty warm.
[narrator] despite
the blizzard's assault,
zeke tenhoff and his
crew, letting it ride.
Determined to get gold before
mother nature calls their bluff.
[zeke] there's a
definitive layer of gold.
On top of the claim.
Right on.
[zeke] I got a
lot of work to do.
[motor whirring]
zeke's on the bottom.
We're running. We're mining.
[zeke] I'm just trying to cover
as much ground as possible.
[zeke] oh, yeah.
[whirring]
[mechanical scraping]
that's a piece of gold.
Whoa.
[drilling]
[bleep]
[zeke heaving]
I have a rock, cam.
[heaving]
[whirring]
[zeke heaving]
[machine creaking]
[drilling]
there's so much
to fight out here.
[whirring]
[drilling]
[zeke] the weather up
here is getting really bad.
But, I'm not going to let the
weather stop me this winter.
I need to get some gold put away
to keep my mining
operation going forward.
[hammering]
as soon as I can get this
jam out and the hose is fixed,
I'm going to get
back down there.
[whirring]
[water bubbling]
there it is. There he goes.
[water splashing]
[zeke] all right.
[whirring]
so, I'm going down the rope.
[motor whirring]
little out of time.
[whirring]
okay, well, my feet
are touching the bottom.
[motor whirring]
[water splashing]
there is gold here
pretty consistently.
[whirring]
it's super hot.
Right on, man.
He told us to get out of there,
so we can get out of here.
[whirring]
yeah, I'll probably be
finished with this hole,
within the next couple of hours.
[blizzard blowing]
[wind blowing]
[motor running]
[steve] the storm is picking up.
We may not last very long here.
Wind's picked up
about 10 minutes ago.
[wind blowing]
the weather's really
started to pick up.
We're kind of in a
white-out at this point.
[wind blowing]
[zeke] if it's already started to
blow, it's not going to get any better.
How does it look down there?
It's scary.
[blizzard blowing]
[car approaching]
delicious.
Did you dip your finger in it?
I know all those knuckleheads out
there, are trying to outrun the storm,
and trying to get gold.
But I know better.
I've been doing
this a long time.
I'm going to wait
until it passes to start.
A day like today, it's stormyng
outside. Not much else to do.
Catch up on social media.
[narrator] and now, another
social hour with vernon.
Crack. Snack.
[vernon reading]
well, you know there
used to be that character
that kind of ruins that name.
I never did like being
called, "vern" to start out with.
But then there was that guy,
"earnest", or whatever his name was.
He used to always say,
"you know what I mean, vern?"
I wanted to [bleep] that [bleep]
every time he'd said it. Okay?
So, I just don't like
"vern", you know, vern.
Vernon. Let's enunciate it
and say the whole damn word.
I'll take it like I have a
second more to say it,
[vernon reading]
I don't know about that.
I'm pretty sociable.
Nobody [bleep] with me.
[narrator] this has been
another social hour with vernon.
I can actually sit here and have a drink,
and get people to listen to my [bleep].
What could be better than that?
[laughing]
[blizzard blowing]
[motor running]
visibility up top just
went down to nothing,
in the last like, 20 minutes.
I'm genuinely worried that this blizzard
will get really severe really quickly.
[motor running]
sort of picking up, it's exponentially
worse by every 10 mins.
[blizzard blowing]
[narrator] as the blizzard
assaults the bering sea,
zeke tenhoff and his
crew are pushing their luck.
We're going to have
to get out of here.
[whirring]
I think I'm going to come on up and
we can get that process underway.
Yeah. Okay. Moving.
[blizzard blowing]
[whirring]
[whirring]
[motor running]
[motor running]
he's dragging the
[bleep] out of the beach.
You know what, at this point, there's
not any amount of gold that would be wise
to stick around for.
Because this is just
getting too nasty. I mean,
we're gonna lose all of our
[bleep] if we stay out here.
It's bad. We gotta be moving.
It's pretty nasty out. I
know town's that way.
I wish I had a compass.
We're already kinda [bleep] because
we can't see anything. It's white out.
We're going to do our best to get
as much stuff off the ice as I can.
I thought we were
gonna have a good time.
This isn't supposed to
come on until later tonight.
It's supposed to
be nice all day.
[zeke] I know.
It's just a blizzard.
Blizzard [bleep].
[vehicle approaching]
[zeke heaving]
[zeke straining]
wind's going to pick up to
70 by tomorrow morning.
So...
These things should be lost in
the ice. They can go to russia.
So I'm going to take
a load in to the beach.
[straining]
put it below our placement.
[steve] over here. It's
caught right here guys.
Okay.
[steve grunting]
[zeke] we've definitely overstayed
our welcome out here on the ice.
We gotta get our equipment pulled to
shore otherwise it's gonna get torn apart
by these high winds.
This is the madness that
comes along with ice mining.
[zeke] all right.
[zeke] good to go.
[motor revving]
[zeke] I don't know. I think my brain is
just trying to process all this blizzard.
What if blizzards happen
like this, get over years.
Don't think of too much.
Just go. We gotta go.
Stormy! We can't lose stormy.
[motor revving]
[stormy barking]
[motor revving]
[blizzard blowing]
[wind blows]
[clicking]
[light buzzing]
[shawn] yeah.
First clean up of
the season here.
Lots of magnetite.
There's definitely
something here.
I mean, there's no way
there's that much heavy material
without a big pile of gold.
Yeah, I know too.
Hope to see it turn
into a pile, soon.
I've had this feeling all along. We're
on the trail of a huge pile of gold.
But what I'm seeing right now
makes me wanna double down.
I know we're on the right track.
[shawn] let's see what
the hell we have here, joe.
Look at this.
[exclaiming]
four.
Four-five.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
Eight.
Ten.
10.20
damn, that's not a
bad start to the season.
Nice job, joe.
[joe] yeah.
[narrator] 10.2 ounces. It's
worth over 19,000 dollars.
Even though mother
nature dealt some bad cards,
shawn pomrenke still
had a winning hand.
[shawn] yeah.
We're doing great.
I mean it's there.
We're catching it.
And like, we could just keep plugging
away, we're going to hit something big.
That's just why I got
the feeling and it's there.
Boom!
That's how you start
ice-mining season.
[shawn] we had that huge
storm breathing down our necks.
But we still got that gold.
We gave what we needed to do
but now we just gotta keep it up.
[shawn] not bad.
Yeah, it's great.
[narrator] next time...
On bering sea gold.
It is cold.
[drilling]
just to keep the thing
running is the struggle.
[shawn] but the harder it is to
get, the better the gold's gonna be.
[drilling]
[vernon] right there.
Underneath that. Is cooper gold.
So, fingers crossed,
knocking on wood...
[zeke] we have to move
this entire snow there.
Earning my money today.
If I get everything running
today, I'm gonna smash out,
a bunch of more
hours. Dig, stormy dig!
[zeke] right now, the plan
is simple. We'll dig this out.
I'll pull my sled to the water.
[bleep]
looks like the show's
about to begin.
What the hell is it doing?
[wind blowing]
we gotta go.
It's just gonna get worse here.
But we're going for it.
Where?
[drilling]
[yelling]
yeah, buddy.
[yelling]
nothing like ice mining.
It's the most dangerous
game you'll ever play.
If you're going to
step up to the table.
You better know...
How to play your hand.
Argh!
[man] I'm betting everything
I have on myself this winter.
But the only way to make
big money is to risk it all.
I'm in the red so much that right now I just
need gold, gold and then some more gold.
[vernon] with the claim I've got, I'm
holding a monster of stackable chips.
Right there, it's cooper gold. We've
got to take advantage of every minute.
- Now it's time to break the bank.
- [man] whoo!
[zeke] if I don't start
making real gold this winter.
I won't have a seat
at the table any more.
I want to, like, dive a ton.
- Argh!
- Are you okay?
[gurgling]
[man] never count
out the wildcard.
Pizza delivery. Put me to work.
I might be the difference
between winning and losing.
Yee-haw! [laughing maniacally]
my expansion is
just getting started.
If you don't gamble, you'll never
win. And I'm a gambling fool.
When it all comes together.
Yee-haw!
This game will
never be the same.
[motor whirring]
[engine revving]
[wind blowing]
we got weather coming in.
It's time to get some gold.
[narrator] the worst winter in
100 years is forecast for nome.
As a series of blizzards are expected
to relentlessly pound the bering sea.
But the man they call mr. Gold
shows no signs of backing down.
Ice is back!
We're going to go
and check it out.
We left off on a really
good spot, with the myrtle.
Hopefully, we can hit it again.
[narrator] the top player in the nome
gold mining game, shawn pomrenke,
has taken home the biggest
pot, season after season.
But this winter, he may have
made a bet he can't pay off.
[shawn] this season's
really important.
We've got to get as much
time on the bottom as possible.
I'm expanding my operation fast,
but I'm in debt
up to my eyeballs.
With buying the
tomcod, the inland mine
and the upgrades on the myrtle.
I'm almost in it for $2 million.
This winter, I need at least 120
ounces to keep the ball rolling.
Otherwise, I won't
make my payments
and everything will go bye-bye.
But I do have a
plan to pull it off.
[shawn] I believe there's a
jackpot in that ancient river bed
that I was working this summer.
The material I was
seeing tells me it's there.
This stuff looks amazing.
The drill logs say it's there.
It's gotta be there.
It has to be there.
We're talking something special.
[chortling] yeah!
A giant concentration
of gold in one spot.
And this winter I'm
betting big that I can find it.
We were out here this
summer and we did really well.
This is where I'm gonna go.
There's a pile of gold
here, somewhere.
I can feel it in my bones.
What are you thinking, joel?
- That looks like a good spot to get in, huh?
- Yeah.
They're predicting a nasty
winter, so I'm not messing around.
I'm gonna bring in joe
fullwood to help me out.
Joel's the best diver out there.
Well, besides me.
If joe and I can't find that jackpot,
well then, it just doesn't exist.
What do you think, grab the
auger and start drilling some holes?
- [shawn] get in the water?
- [joe] yeah that sounds good.
[engine roaring]
- [joe] cold out here.
- [shawn chuckling]
[chuckling]
this is the... The
worst part of it.
- [shawn] I don't have a choice, do I?
- [joe] no, no, no.
-No way to do it but to do it, eh?
[laughing] -[shawn] that's right.
[engine spluttering]
I feel like a girl trying to
get into the skinny jeans.
[joe] you ready?
[shawn speaking]
it's just like my
first time diving.
Murky.
Ice mining's no joke. You gotta
haul all your gear out on the ice.
Cut a ice hole.
And then dive under
the ice to find some gold.
And if that's not enough
for you, the ice can shift
and crumble up and send everything and
everybody to the bottom of the bering sea.
But it's the name of the
game that we signed up to play.
Better get your big boy panties
on if you want to come play up here.
[shawn speaking]
[shawn speaking]
[shawn speaking]
[shawn] first dive
of the season.
Feels good.
I think we're gonna make
some money this winter.
[narrator] 10 miles east.
Woah! Tokyo drift. [chuckling]
[narrator] after stepping away
from the game for a few years.
Zeke tenhoff is following up on
his experimental summer season,
with what he hopes
will be a hot hand.
After rolling the dice with his
groundbreaking sailboat dredge.
This winter he's
going under the ice,
to start replenishing
his bankroll.
What I want to do is, prove to myself
what I can do with very little equipment.
And just dive a ton.
This summer was cool, in that, I
got a sailboat dredge in the water.
It proved that it could work.
- [zeke] dude, it's really fast.
- [man] yeah!
And it reignited my passion
for gold dredging again.
I love a sailboat
dredge so much.
But I didn't get a
whole lot of gold.
Luckily, I run a
small operation.
So I don't need a whole
lot of gold to keep afloat.
But if I don't get around
eight ounces this winter,
my mining career could be over.
[zeke] brr. Holy [bleep].
And my zipper's not
working. Whatever.
[both] woo-hoo!
Sam and raven weren't able to
come back up and help me this winter.
- [zeke] how's it going?
- Trying to get that nut, bro. [chuckling]
so this winter I have
a whole new crew.
Oh [bleep] bonus!
[zeke] I have my other
younger brother, gabe.
[gabe] that one tasted weird.
- Oh! Sell by 2017.
- [laughing]
[zeke] [bleep], you serious?
And his best friend shlomo.
And, also, gabe's dog
stormy, who's a really cute dog.
[zeke] no! Ugh.
Gabe and shlomo, they don't have
a whole lot of mining experience,
but, they're
commercial fishermen,
they're used to pulling stuff out of
the ocean, so I think it should work out.
What I would like to do is,
make a trip down to the ice,
and then, yeah, I don't really
know exactly where we should start.
I have some coordinates.
It might take a
little bit of scouting.
We should take the auger
and just, like, drill some holes.
- [gabe] yeah.
- [zeke] as far as I'm concerned
this is ready to,
uh, get pulled down,
- [gabe] okay. Ready to move!
- [zeke] onto the ice.
[engine revving]
this winter is forecasted to be
really stormy and rowdy and rough.
And, so, we're gonna set up close
to town on the west beach claim.
This way we'll be able to stay
out on the ice until the last minute
because we're
super close to town.
Yeah! [whip cracking]
mostly, I have to dive non-stop
because I need to make up for the gold
that I didn't get last
summer. It's imperative.
[engine roaring]
[gabe] have you ever seen a better ice
mining sled? These things are incredible.
You can just [bleep] jerk 'em over
anything and they just bop bop. So fun.
I'm gonna auger a hole.
Then we'll put the camera down to
make sure that there's cobble right here.
[engine starting]
the first order of business is to drill
holes and search with the camera
to find a juicy place to dive.
[drilling]
we're looking for rocks and
cobble, that's where the gold is.
If we just find
sand, it's no bueno.
[whirring]
[zeke] damn!
Let's see if we got, uh, cobble.
[splashing]
[zeke] that's
greasy sand, isn't it?
[gabe] we're right on the edge.
-[zeke] dude, this is [bleep] -[gabe] dude,
I don't know, that looks like some of that,
like, murky, like, weird, like,
goopy stuff, you what I'm saying?
[zeke] oh, yeah!
Technical nomenclature.
[zeke] damn! It looks like
sand. Gonna have to move.
This is not gonna work.
[drilling]
[splashing]
sandy!
[beeping]
[zeke]sand.
[whirring]
sand.
Find any cobbles?
Not yet. It's all sand.
Mother[bleep].
[bleep]
[both laugh]
[zeke] there's some rocks
down here in this hole.
[gabe] yeah?
[zeke] but for some reason
the ice is super thick over here.
Let's see if we can find
some thinner ice around here.
[zeke] the ideal ice for
our operation would be
from about two
to three feet thick.
If it gets any thicker than that then it
gets really hard to punch holes through and
I wanna hit the ground
running this season.
[zeke] just a bunch of
dirty sand right here man.
Okay, well, I think that
sounds like that's our boy.
[zeke] well, oh damn.
Sand!
[gabe] what the [bleep]!
Where is the one that
had the cobble [bleep]?
[shlomo] few ones
are over there.
-[zeke] no... -that
one, it's that one.
- Which one?
- That one.
[gabe] is that a hole?
[zeke] what in the
[bleep] happened?
- Is that sand?
- [zeke] yeah, it's sand!
Well, we, uh, kinda forgot
which hole we had cobble at.
This is a really dumb problem.
[zeke] there's holes everywhere
and I don't know which one is which.
Every minute we can't find the holes
with cobbles in it, we're losing money.
- Nooo!
- [laughs]
uh, okay there's... I don't
know where that hole was man!
Dude I'm telling you over here.
Okay well just go
over there then [bleep].
[zeke] or maybe I
was hallucinating.
It's like something I've done before, I'm
like, making it more complicated for myself
or am I actually just getting
dumber as I get older?
We will have this
resolved, shortly.
[kris] uh, what excites me
about this ice mining season?
[bleep] I hate ice
mining let me tell you.
With characteristic
optimism, this winter,
captain kris kelly
is upping the ante.
[kris] so I went
down to california,
I got a brand new
eight-inch operation on credit.
Right now I need to make
the money to pay for everything.
But I know I'm gonna pull the hail
mary path out and win the game this year.
In order to keep my seat at the table, I
had to upgrade some of my equipment.
All of my equipment.
So why not go for broke
with a top notch operation.
I got two 23 horsepower pump.
I got a brand new
air compressor.
Hand crafted eight inch nozzle.
A new flare, new water heater.
I got a brand new top of the
line three stage suice box.
That will save my season.
All totaling over 15,000 dollars
which is an amazing irish deal.
Add in the expenses to
maintain it, I need at least
25 ounces to pay this all of.
No pressure, 25
ounces? Bam! I got this.
I'm in the red so much
this year, it's disgusting.
It's just money, money, money.
So right now I just need gold, gold,
gold, gold and then some more gold.
Last summer I thought I was
gonna hit the mother load in elim.
[bleep]
we're going home
in utter defeat.
But elim was a disaster.
So I gotta get on big gold this
winter. We gotta get on it, fast!
So where we going,
out to mccully?
Yeah, we're gonna go to chris's
and check out his operations.
Find out where we're
gonna go, check out the ice.
- Okay, well let's go.
- Okay, let's go.
[motor revving]
[motors stop]
[kris] what's up buddy?
- You made it!
- I made it [bleep].
I just came to scan my area.
[laughing]
last season working with
james on the mistress,
we worked on
dave mccully's claim.
That was a great opportunity.
I made some money.
Digging up gold
on the bering sea!
So we're heading back
out there to mine this winter.
[kris] chris mccully also has an
ice mining operation right here.
And he says he's gonna give
me some damn good spots.
[kris] so where are we going?
[chris] well, I was thinking, I
was eyeballing your spot already.
It's gotta be right over
there, south... South west
towards that way about 200 feet.
[kris] nice. Lead
the way, chris.
Hey! That's what I need to hear!
[both laughing]
right now this is perfect. If chris says this
is a good spot it's gonna be a good spot.
So andy's on his way right now,
we're gonna get my equipment and
get it hauled out there. Then I can start
making money instead of just spending it.
I know!
We're standing here. Chris says now
it's an hour right underneath our feet.
Oh, that's neat.
-Yeah, well you
know... -for sure?
[all laughing]
yeah, yeah, yeah.
[kris] I'm gonna
insulate my box.
[kris] I'm gonna insulate
the [bleep] out of it.
[chris] ice is your enemy!
[kris] ice is my
enemy, I know that.
[zeke] did I drop my tape
measure in the ice hole?
[chuckles] I think I might have.
There wasn't one under here.
- What the hell!
- Stormy's been known to run off with it.
Damn stormy! Where's
my tape measure.
[chuckles]
[narrator] intent on improving
on their summer output,
zeke and his crew doggedly put in
the finishing touches on their operation.
I like that it's hot tub
shaped. It's enticing.
[laughing]
it took us a hot minute but we
found the hole with the cobble.
So now it's about getting
on the gold and getting
as many hours on the
box as we possibly can.
Or honestly, this could
be my last mining season.
Yeah!
All right stormy, get to work.
[whining]
ugh!
Gabe and shlomo are
great guys to have around
but they haven't done
a whole lot of mining.
I just need to focus on getting
these little things done and everything
and I can't really
do this and do that.
Mm!
I have so many little chores to do
that require ice mining experience
and I... I can't
do it all myself.
So I called the only guy that I
know has nothing else to do.
[motor whirring]
- [steve] hey zeke!
- Hi steve, how's it going?
- Great! How about you?
- It's going all right.
[narrator] every poker game
has it's wild card, and this
fleet has theirs
in steve riedel.
Who spent years unsuccessfully
trying to start his own operation
and is now desperately looking
to gain a foothold this winter.
So I'm thinking if your saw is long
enough, you might be able to just
- cut...
- Yeah.
Like a block out
here and then you slide
- that block out.
- Slide it over.
[zeke] you never really know what
you're gonna get when you bring steve
onboard your operation. He can
be really difficult sometimes but
sometimes he can be really
on point and really brilliant.
So it's a high risk,
high reward situation.
But I'm willing to
take the chance with it.
Okay well, one way or the other
we'll get a hole cut here and, uh,
we'll get you under water.
[zeke] that's fantastic.
[saw whirring]
[steve] ah-ha ha!
Whoo-hoo! That's it!
See. Woo-hoo!
[steve] I think we're ready.
We're gonna be in the water as
soon as zeke gets his sweat suit on.
[zeke] mining is way more dangerous
in the winter than it is in the summer.
It's freezing and there's a giant
sheet of ice above your head.
And it's been a few
years since I've done this.
I'm honestly really
nervous about it.
I'm... It's... It's a scary
thing to do. But I need to get
under the ice and I need
to start looking for gold.
[steve] you good?
Pretty excited to like, go dive in
that hole, but it does look kinda chilly.
[breathing heavily]
[zeke] ah-ha ha!
It's brisk and refreshing.
All right!
This looks familiar.
[gabe] how you feeling?
[zeke] I'm feeling good. It's
dark and spooky down here.
All right, I'm on the bottom.
[gabe] hi man, how's
it look down there?
[zeke] it looks like there's kind of
like, a reef of cobbles like, heavy rocks.
And a lot of murk
over to the left.
It's kind of like a sort
of a circular little eddy.
Where the... It looks
like the cobble and, uh,
hardpan meet.
So I think the gold
might be collecting there.
[gabe] got ya, got ya!
[zeke] yeah, there's...
There's gold here.
[gabe] how's the gold look?
[zeke] and I want to
try to like, wrench it.
For a while before
the storm hits.
Yeah, we might as well pound it as
hard as possible until we gotta leave.
[shawn] that I can do.
It's what god put me
here for, apparently.
Well, let's do it.
I like that plan.
[narrator] the first of a
barrage of blizzards this winter
is gaining strength
on the horizon.
But ten miles west of nome...
So how's it going
down there, shawn?
Well, it feels good to
be back on the bottom.
How's it looking
for your first dive?
Not the king of ace again.
Not seeing a whole lot of color.
[narrator] shawn pomrenke
is just starting his quest
to find a jackpot on
an ancient river bed.
Here we go.
Suction's good.
Getting bored.
A pretty nice, easy
working ground.
Ideal for a small
dredge like this.
How's it looking down there?
Nice black material,
maybe about six inches thick.
Nice little patches
of rock sticking out.
Hell yeah, I like
the sound of it.
You seeing any
gold on top of that?
There's sand
covering the gravel.
Then the material turns yellow.
Yeah, I'm seeing some color now.
Seeing gold on
the first dive. Yeah!
Woo-hoo!
[shawn] oh [bleep] yeah!
That sounds good.
Nice to see gold
on the first dive.
Yeah, it's good to hear
about gold on the first dive.
I don't think anybody's
looked around over here.
Might be a lot more gold on
this claim than everybody thinks.
- Nice. -Yeah.
Just got to get after it.
Hell yeah. Let's suck it up.
Gold's really good.
Just sucking it up.
[narrator] shawn's
already on the gold.
But, ten miles east...
This is the... holy [bleep].
I was grabbing it.
I'm still grabbing it.
Kris kelly is rushing
to get his new
top of the line
operation on the ice.
But, some assembly is required.
All brand new
equipment, like christmas.
[kris] I may have gone
a little nuts this year,
but it's about time the
kellys' riding with some style.
[kris] it feels great to finally
get my first brand new system.
Even if I'm in
debt up to my ass.
[kris] now we have to put it
together before the storm hits.
Or this might be
a bet I can't cover.
[kris] hey, let's get
started, everybody.
- Push, push, push.
- There you go.
We got a brand new water heater.
I need you guys to really
take care of this tool.
And I'm looking right at you
when I'm saying that, turtle.
This operation is much bigger
than what we've used in the past.
So, I'm expanding my team.
I'm bring out my buddy, turtle.
And I need to bring in james,
the captain of the mistress.
So I think I'm gonna
do well, for sure.
Come on, help me grab this.
It's heavy as [bleep].
We still got a
mountain-full of work.
So in shack number one, I've the
two 23 horse tank power pump engine.
Move on to shack number two.
We got the hot water system, all
brand new, of course, on one side.
And we've got the air
compressor on another side.
Move on to the
communications shack.
I consider this an
enormous upgrade.
So, the window frame.
I know that looks like a simple piece
of wood to a lot of people, but for us,
that's a difference of
another 20 degrees,
and the heat staying
inside my shed.
So it's not like when you buy
this stuff, everything is pre-built.
This whole operation has
to be put together by us.
It's a big deal but the creme de la
creme is something I came up with myself.
- Pick it up.
- Yay!
[kris] an insulated box, to keep
the slooze box from freezing.
I call it, the coffin.
[eerie music playing]
when my brother dies, I'm
shifting this down to wherever he is,
and I'm burying his ass in this.
[kris] its mainly the height that
I'm worrying about at the moment.
Oh look that's [bleep]
something not done.
We're gonna have to add a
stringer. Andy, cut that wood.
- [kris] hey, you're [bleep] fired.
- What?
Okay, I'll do this, sorry, I
didn't mean to get upset.
Just 'cause, man, you
have no carpentry skills at all.
You know you don't
take it like this and do it.
-No, you take it from
the... -yeah you do.
- Take it from the other end.
- Guys, what's it matter.
It doesn't matter
[bleep]. I'll do it.
I'll do it. I will do it myself.
Look, I asked andy,
that lazy [bleep] to do this.
I asked him to cut one board for me
real fast, I gave him the measurements.
There's two of
them, they're capable.
I've pretty much done
everything else today myself.
I told you to do this.
Why can't you... why do you...
- Why can't somebody else? Why does it always have to be me?
- What is always you?
What is always you?
[kris] go home then.
[andy] all right. Whatever.
I tell that guy to do a
simple ass little [bleep] job.
He does one a day. He thinks
that he's a [bleep] accomplishment.
It's gonna be a long month.
[kris] we're ready
to rock n roll.
This is the nicest operation.
I don't even... it's so nice I
don't even think it belongs to us.
It's not really the kelly style.
Sorry everybody.
Kind of in a bad mood today trying to push
together doing all of these last little bits.
Wait till andy didn't...
[bleep] andy.
We need to get out there
and start getting gold.
God willing,
everything will work out.
[kris] if I can't make it work with everything
brand new I'm gonna have to quit mining.
I need to go get a job at
mcdonald's or something.
How's it going
down there, shawn?
Man, the gold's so
good down here.
I mean, you know, we're
getting a whole bunch of gold.
Right.
Sucking it up.
Which direction you
reckon you're in?
The gold's headed to the north.
But, I'm all stretched out here.
I'm thinking we're gonna
have to move the dredge.
All right, maybe we'll start
prepping a new hole over there.
Yeah, let's go ahead
and get this thing moved.
I'm coming up.
Boo-yah! I'll get taylor and
sasha to shovel in a new hole.
I think this is the pay streak
that leads to that huge jackpot.
The plan is to move
everything about 20 feet.
[shawn] put joe down and
hopefully, he can get on it.
But it looks like mother nature's
not gonna go along with my plan.
This blows.
Yeah, the storm's
here way earlier.
- They said we had till Sunday.
- That's what I thought.
[shawn] well, I
think it's here today.
[shawn] they weren't
kidding about this winter.
This first storm's hitting
earlier than I expected.
And its brutal.
Makes moving to a new spot,
or even mining impossible.
I've been in this game long enough
to know when not to push my luck.
And now it's time
to pull off the ice.
- Let's get the hell outta here sounds good.
- Yes boss.
[narrator] while
mr. Gold, that likes to fold.
10 miles east
another member of
the fleet goes all in.
It's not that bad yet.
No matter what, we're
getting on the ice today.
If not today, it's right
[bleep] now today.
[kris] the update is, wind's
picking up, snow's picking up.
But I don't care about
any of those factors.
Right now I got people who
are breathing down my neck.
I gotta get out there
and make some gold.
So we're not giving
up yet, I mean...
We can still see for like a mile,
we're not in whiteout conditions.
[kris] I've been in a
lot worse than this.
Go inside outta the
weather, have a conference.
With this massive debt hanging over
our heads, we have no time to waste.
We busted out butts getting everything
assembled, but we can't get it there ourselves.
So I need my buddy, diesel don to
pull everything out with his track truck.
I know don's not gonna let
a little snow get in his way.
This storm came up faster
than its supposed to have.
It wasn't supposed to
be like this till tomorrow.
Going out like this, knowing it's
going to get worse, is probably not
the smartest thing
we could try and do.
Fact of the matter
is it's just stupid.
No, it's not stupid. It'd mean we're
only going seven miles out of town.
You know, you see, absolutely no
definition. Everything's wide out there.
You can run into a big old
block of ice sitting in front of you
and not even know it
till you come to a stop.
I'm not in a rush to
become a statistic.
No.
I think the best thing is just
let's wait till the weather clears.
Once we get an opening, launch.
Yeah, okay.
You know, I'm
kind of bummed out.
It's depressing and it's a
let-down, but it is what it is.
Thank you very much for trying.
Yup, okay.
[wind blowing]
the blizzard came up on us and
now it's impossible to get out there.
It still really wish
we would have went.
But I can't make everybody out.
As soon as we get a break
in the weather, we're going,
no matter what the situation is.
Just a little bit better
than this, though.
[wind blowing]
let's get the
[bleep] outta here.
What a waste of time.
[blizzard blowing]
[narrator] one mile west,
there's still one miner
who hasn't cashed out.
The wind's really started to
get bitchy up here. It's picking up.
[motor whirring]
you okay?
Yeah.
[drilling]
how's the hot water?
My hot water's doing good.
I'm toasty warm.
[narrator] despite
the blizzard's assault,
zeke tenhoff and his
crew, letting it ride.
Determined to get gold before
mother nature calls their bluff.
[zeke] there's a
definitive layer of gold.
On top of the claim.
Right on.
[zeke] I got a
lot of work to do.
[motor whirring]
zeke's on the bottom.
We're running. We're mining.
[zeke] I'm just trying to cover
as much ground as possible.
[zeke] oh, yeah.
[whirring]
[mechanical scraping]
that's a piece of gold.
Whoa.
[drilling]
[bleep]
[zeke heaving]
I have a rock, cam.
[heaving]
[whirring]
[zeke heaving]
[machine creaking]
[drilling]
there's so much
to fight out here.
[whirring]
[drilling]
[zeke] the weather up
here is getting really bad.
But, I'm not going to let the
weather stop me this winter.
I need to get some gold put away
to keep my mining
operation going forward.
[hammering]
as soon as I can get this
jam out and the hose is fixed,
I'm going to get
back down there.
[whirring]
[water bubbling]
there it is. There he goes.
[water splashing]
[zeke] all right.
[whirring]
so, I'm going down the rope.
[motor whirring]
little out of time.
[whirring]
okay, well, my feet
are touching the bottom.
[motor whirring]
[water splashing]
there is gold here
pretty consistently.
[whirring]
it's super hot.
Right on, man.
He told us to get out of there,
so we can get out of here.
[whirring]
yeah, I'll probably be
finished with this hole,
within the next couple of hours.
[blizzard blowing]
[wind blowing]
[motor running]
[steve] the storm is picking up.
We may not last very long here.
Wind's picked up
about 10 minutes ago.
[wind blowing]
the weather's really
started to pick up.
We're kind of in a
white-out at this point.
[wind blowing]
[zeke] if it's already started to
blow, it's not going to get any better.
How does it look down there?
It's scary.
[blizzard blowing]
[car approaching]
delicious.
Did you dip your finger in it?
I know all those knuckleheads out
there, are trying to outrun the storm,
and trying to get gold.
But I know better.
I've been doing
this a long time.
I'm going to wait
until it passes to start.
A day like today, it's stormyng
outside. Not much else to do.
Catch up on social media.
[narrator] and now, another
social hour with vernon.
Crack. Snack.
[vernon reading]
well, you know there
used to be that character
that kind of ruins that name.
I never did like being
called, "vern" to start out with.
But then there was that guy,
"earnest", or whatever his name was.
He used to always say,
"you know what I mean, vern?"
I wanted to [bleep] that [bleep]
every time he'd said it. Okay?
So, I just don't like
"vern", you know, vern.
Vernon. Let's enunciate it
and say the whole damn word.
I'll take it like I have a
second more to say it,
[vernon reading]
I don't know about that.
I'm pretty sociable.
Nobody [bleep] with me.
[narrator] this has been
another social hour with vernon.
I can actually sit here and have a drink,
and get people to listen to my [bleep].
What could be better than that?
[laughing]
[blizzard blowing]
[motor running]
visibility up top just
went down to nothing,
in the last like, 20 minutes.
I'm genuinely worried that this blizzard
will get really severe really quickly.
[motor running]
sort of picking up, it's exponentially
worse by every 10 mins.
[blizzard blowing]
[narrator] as the blizzard
assaults the bering sea,
zeke tenhoff and his
crew are pushing their luck.
We're going to have
to get out of here.
[whirring]
I think I'm going to come on up and
we can get that process underway.
Yeah. Okay. Moving.
[blizzard blowing]
[whirring]
[whirring]
[motor running]
[motor running]
he's dragging the
[bleep] out of the beach.
You know what, at this point, there's
not any amount of gold that would be wise
to stick around for.
Because this is just
getting too nasty. I mean,
we're gonna lose all of our
[bleep] if we stay out here.
It's bad. We gotta be moving.
It's pretty nasty out. I
know town's that way.
I wish I had a compass.
We're already kinda [bleep] because
we can't see anything. It's white out.
We're going to do our best to get
as much stuff off the ice as I can.
I thought we were
gonna have a good time.
This isn't supposed to
come on until later tonight.
It's supposed to
be nice all day.
[zeke] I know.
It's just a blizzard.
Blizzard [bleep].
[vehicle approaching]
[zeke heaving]
[zeke straining]
wind's going to pick up to
70 by tomorrow morning.
So...
These things should be lost in
the ice. They can go to russia.
So I'm going to take
a load in to the beach.
[straining]
put it below our placement.
[steve] over here. It's
caught right here guys.
Okay.
[steve grunting]
[zeke] we've definitely overstayed
our welcome out here on the ice.
We gotta get our equipment pulled to
shore otherwise it's gonna get torn apart
by these high winds.
This is the madness that
comes along with ice mining.
[zeke] all right.
[zeke] good to go.
[motor revving]
[zeke] I don't know. I think my brain is
just trying to process all this blizzard.
What if blizzards happen
like this, get over years.
Don't think of too much.
Just go. We gotta go.
Stormy! We can't lose stormy.
[motor revving]
[stormy barking]
[motor revving]
[blizzard blowing]
[wind blows]
[clicking]
[light buzzing]
[shawn] yeah.
First clean up of
the season here.
Lots of magnetite.
There's definitely
something here.
I mean, there's no way
there's that much heavy material
without a big pile of gold.
Yeah, I know too.
Hope to see it turn
into a pile, soon.
I've had this feeling all along. We're
on the trail of a huge pile of gold.
But what I'm seeing right now
makes me wanna double down.
I know we're on the right track.
[shawn] let's see what
the hell we have here, joe.
Look at this.
[exclaiming]
four.
Four-five.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
Eight.
Ten.
10.20
damn, that's not a
bad start to the season.
Nice job, joe.
[joe] yeah.
[narrator] 10.2 ounces. It's
worth over 19,000 dollars.
Even though mother
nature dealt some bad cards,
shawn pomrenke still
had a winning hand.
[shawn] yeah.
We're doing great.
I mean it's there.
We're catching it.
And like, we could just keep plugging
away, we're going to hit something big.
That's just why I got
the feeling and it's there.
Boom!
That's how you start
ice-mining season.
[shawn] we had that huge
storm breathing down our necks.
But we still got that gold.
We gave what we needed to do
but now we just gotta keep it up.
[shawn] not bad.
Yeah, it's great.
[narrator] next time...
On bering sea gold.
It is cold.
[drilling]
just to keep the thing
running is the struggle.
[shawn] but the harder it is to
get, the better the gold's gonna be.
[drilling]
[vernon] right there.
Underneath that. Is cooper gold.
So, fingers crossed,
knocking on wood...
[zeke] we have to move
this entire snow there.
Earning my money today.
If I get everything running
today, I'm gonna smash out,
a bunch of more
hours. Dig, stormy dig!
[zeke] right now, the plan
is simple. We'll dig this out.
I'll pull my sled to the water.
[bleep]
looks like the show's
about to begin.
What the hell is it doing?
[wind blowing]
we gotta go.
It's just gonna get worse here.
But we're going for it.
Where?
[drilling]
[yelling]
yeah, buddy.
[yelling]