[narrator] On the Bering Sea,
it's time for each captain to grab the bull by the horns
and make a tough call.
There's piles of gold still out here.
[laughs]
[narrator] The end of winter mining
arrives in Nome in less than 10 days...
[Shawn over radio] If you see gold, just keep on digging.
To the north is a big reef.
[narrator] ...leaving just enough time for one more do or die move.
[Zeke speaking]
[narrator] One last game changing decision...
Everything is gonna be better because of this.
[narrator] ...that could seal their fate for the season.
Time to go to work.
[narrator] And that time is now.
-[man] Gold. -[man 2] Yeah!
[man laughs]
[Shawn] On the Tomcod.
You have to go where the gold's at.
Otherwise, you're just diving.
Man, spending money, man.
Hell, I'm,
I'm good enough at spending money.
I like to make it too.
[narrator] Facing an uphill battle to reach his winter gold,
Shawn Pomrenke is making a big move
to bring the gold home.
We mined and mined on, on [indistinct] claim.
Little tiny cleanup.
We come out here where the gold's at,
it's rough and jagged.
But we'll get through it.
Because there's piles of gold still out here.
They're just getting harder to find.
Unless you know where you're going.
At the beginning of the season,
the ice on the Tomcod, it was too bad to work.
There's ice jumbled up everywhere.
So, I had to make a deal to go on 56.
The gold wasn't good enough there.
[man 3 speaking]
[Shawn] I'm doing something major to turn my season around.
I'm going back to Tomcod.
The ice improved just enough to roll the dice.
It's my birthday today.
Let's hope our home ground gives us something to celebrate.
[laughs] I like this.
Show up and all the hard work's done.
These boys are up and running already.
I'm looking forward to get in the water,
making some gold.
Birthday gold. The best kind.
[Joe] Box is running well.
Everything's working good.
All we need's the gold now and I think we got it.
Yeah. [bleep], yeah.
[bleep], yeah-huh.
Huh?
[Shawn laughs]
Oh, [bleep], yeah.
[Shawn] I'm expecting to find a lot of gold here,
and it has to happen.
If it doesn't,
I'm out of ideas, and this season's a loss.
So, there better be a birthday present
waiting down there for me.
-How you feel? The air good? -[Shawn speaking]
Water good?
All righty, let us know what you're seeing down there.
[breathing underwater]
[Shawn over radio] I made it to the bottom.
Well, Shawn's on the bottom.
What's he got down there?
[Shawn speaking]
[Joe over radio] All righty, here it comes. Throttling up.
What do you see down there, Shawn?
[Shawn] The gold's good down here, Joe.
We're gonna make some money.
[Joe] Oh, yeah.
Real break from the monotony of 56.
Find nothing over there.
[Shawn laughs]
Lot of nice chunky pieces of gold in here, Joe.
Gold has poured up the hose like a fine wine.
[Joe chuckles] Oh, yeah.
That's Bering Sea saying happy birthday right there.
[Shawn] Tomcod, the gift that keeps on giving.
[narrator] While Mr. Gold takes charge,
across the ice...
Okay, so check out what we're looking at here with my, uh, sonar map.
We're definitely, according to this image,
we're in the sand here,
and then to the north is a big reef.
That's been the biggest moneymaker for me historically
when I use little dredges,
is to find the south edge
of cobble bodies like this and reefs,
and then, like, just pick my way along.
[narrator] After a season of frustration,
Captain Zeke's found an opportunity
to light up his sluice box
in the final stretch of winter.
[Zeke] According to this bottom image,
we're right here,
and the reef should start in about 38 feet
[whistles] straight to the North.
So, this is, like, definitely, like, a depression
that nothing really ever escapes from.
What I'm hoping is that
the gold has been concentrated up on the edge of this reef,
and as we get closer to it,
the gold will get hotter and hotter.
And, like,
it could potentially get insanely hot right around in here
and there could be a bunch of ounces.
Uh, just as long as no one else has dredged through it yet.
This season has been brutal.
It took us forever to get on the gold.
And when we did, it wasn't that much.
I don't really know what to say.
It's on the low end, you know?
Yeah, it's a lot of work building up to it.
And the fact is, at least we're on gold
and we can keep doing it.
[Zeke] But in the end, my team refused to quit.
Like, we were diving right here,
and we couldn't find any of these rocks
'cause I think they were just outta reach.
And I found a reef a little closer to where we were working
that could turn our whole season around.
This is a place
where historically, there have been big pressure ridges.
And it just piled up rocks here,
you know, over millennia,
and then concentrated the gold here.
So, if we can--
If gold gets really hot right here,
then we'll just be able to follow this East and West
and just plunder it all out.
Hell, yeah.
Sounds good.
[Zeke] We've set up a new hole to attack this reef,
and we've added 20 feet of hose
so that we can cover as much ground as we can.
[motor whirs]
[Zeke] There's a chance it'll take us under a big, nasty pressure ridge
with giant chunks of ice
hanging directly above our heads.
But it's late in the season and we need this.
So, we're gonna risk it.
[over radio] I'm ready to go.
You got me on the comms?
[Nate over radio] Yeah, I got you.
[Zeke breathing underwater]
[Nate] How's it looking down there on this hole, uh...
What are you seeing?
[Zeke speaking]
Does it at least look pretty stable, uh...
I mean, what's that ice look like?
[Zeke speaking]
Yeah, roger.
Let me know when you want these pumps.
[Zeke speaking]
[Nate] How's it looking, dude?
You, uh, you liking our spot?
[Zeke speaking]
[bleep], yeah, dude.
[Zeke speaking]
Oh, dude, that's [bleep] awesome.
I'll let you get after it.
Hopefully, this [bleep] pays!
Need a payday [indistinct]
[Kris] We're trying to do this as cheap as we possibly can.
Because we don't have thousands of dollars
to put into a sluice box at the moment.
[narrator] So far this season...
[Kris speaking]
[narrator] ...Kris Kelly's plans for gold and greatness
have sprung a leak.
[Kris speaking]
[narrator] But the Captain is refusing
to take the setback lying down.
You guys are gonna see how easy this goes.
You know?
Like, don't be intimidated by the five feet of snow in front of you.
[Andy speaking]
[Kris] This season's been a disaster so far.
The main reason's been the sluice box.
We've been on good gold for weeks,
but this sluice box leaks like crazy.
I have to do something about it.
Pick it up.
Hey.
A couple seasons ago,
we had a super insulated box called the coffin.
We didn't use it this season,
'cause it's been buried in the snow for years.
If we can dig it out
and bring the coffin back from the dead,
our gold numbers will start soaring.
Let's get this [bleep] over with.
[Kris] Hold! It's sticking out.
-[Andy] Where? -[man 4] You can see it?
I can see it.
Sticking out just the tip.
Sometimes just the tip is all you need.
The question is,
how the [bleep] are we gonna get this out of here?
You're not gonna get that up.
It's frozen to the ground. You're gonna break your back.
This is [bleep].
-[Kris] One, two, three. -[Andy grunts]
[Kris] Can you put it on the side?
-The question is... -[Andy] What?
...how the [bleep] are we gonna get it out of this hole?
I'll lift this side.
I just need you to put yours on the lip.
And then just keep moving it up as I walk it to you.
I think that way's quicker.
-Are you sure? -[Kris] No.
Who do you think's faster?
-You're up on top. -He won't [bleep].
Do you think it's faster to go that way
or [bleep] faster to go that way?
And be truthful.
[narrator] Now it's time for
Choose your own Kelly Adventure.
Do you pick Kris's bad idea
or Andy's equally bad idea?
[clicks]
You picked Kris's bad idea.
Let's see how you did.
[Kris grunts]
No, that's not gonna work.
[narrator] Would you like to try again?
[clicks]
Okay, hold.
[Kris] I don't have it.
Two people can't do this.
You gotta help me.
[narrator] Maybe it's time to call a friend.
[clicks]
[Andy] Okay, start walking.
-[Kris] Okay. Hold on. Put it down. -[Andy] Okay.
[Kris] There.
To be honest with you, it's just Andy pushing it.
Keep coming. Keep coming.
We dug out the coffin, we'll get it set up dive
and see how this beast handles everything.
Okay. Be careful.
-[Andy] You be careful. -[Kris] Push.
There.
Told you it was gonna be easy.
[narrator] Back on the ice...
[Chris speaking]
[motor whirring]
[narrator] The current gold count leader
is looking to stay on top by doubling his efforts.
We're on killer gold,
but equipment issues is holding us back.
Like last time out,
the high pressure line blew off.
Oh, [bleep].
But that's fixed now.
I'm not gonna let anything stop us.
We're gonna try to get two dives today.
One for me and one for Jeff.
We gotta get the hours and the gold
that we should've been getting all season.
[breathing underwater]
-[Chris speaking] -[Jeff speaking]
[Chris speaking]
How's the light down there?
[Chris speaking]
-[Jeff speaking] -[Chris speaking]
Pump's coming.
Yeah, dude, we got the pump on.
He's down.
Time to go to work.
How's that ground looking down there?
[Chris speaking]
[Jeff speaking]
He says the ground looks good.
So, no, no big plug ups or anything like that.
So, we're just smooth sailing still.
Here we go.
[Chris speaking]
[Jeff] Sweet.
[Chris speaking]
[Jeff] All right, bud. Stay after it.
[Chris speaking]
[Zeke speaking]
Right now, Zeke's out to the east.
And, uh, honestly,
this extension is helping us out a lot.
Uh, it's getting us into places
that we haven't gotten to go into.
So, it's a huge game changer.
It's a little sketchy,
'cause he's far underneath this, like, hanging ice right now.
[narrator] Under constant threats of a pressure ridge,
Zeke Tenhoff raids a new discovery.
[Zeke speaking]
[Nate over radio] How's it looking down there, dude?
[Zeke speaking]
[Nate over radio] Sounds good, dude.
So far there's been...
There's been a reward for the rich so far.
Um, we're 20 feet longer
with this extension we just put on.
The gold's looking really hot, so hopefully it pays.
[Zeke speaking]
Right on, dude. Sounds good.
We'll, uh, run down the pumps and pull the tether up.
[Zeke speaking]
[Nate over radio] Yeah, roger that.
Yeah, buddy.
[Zeke] We found something special and we decided to go for it,
and it paid off huge.
This has been the best day so far this season.
Even though that giant pressure ridge
was hanging out right above our heads,
I can't wait to get back down there.
Finding this reef could be the key to our season.
Over there in those rocks,
that's as rich as [bleep] I've ever seen gold,
like, hands down in, like, my whole mining career.
-For sure. -Ooh.
[Zeke] I mean, it's just, it's totally jacked,
Who the [bleep] knows how much gold--
If, if we can follow that thing, it's like,
we could make some serious money in the next couple weeks.
My mind is blown that nobody has found this.
[narrator] Twelve miles West...
[Chris speaking]
[narrator] Over three hours in,
Captain Chris hasn't stopped hitting the bull's eye.
[Jeff] Yo, yo.
[Chris speaking]
[Jeff speaking]
Were you over by the big rocks?
It's good stuff.
That's a pile right there.
[Zeke speaking]
The gold down there is sick.
I got my hours in.
Now it's time for Jeff to do his first dive for the team.
Whoo!
The dude is one of the most solid divers in Nome.
You ready, G?
[bleep], yeah. Get money.
Let's keep the ball rolling.
[breathing underwater]
[Zeke speaking]
[Jeff speaking]
[Zeke speaking]
Okay, that's it.
Jeff is down there.
And right now, we can't stop.
So, we're gonna keep going.
We're gonna keep pounding some hours in the box
and until the day is over.
What a great day.
Wow!
[narrator] While the McCully team fires on all cylinders,
across the ice...
[Joe] How do you like being back out of Tomcod, Shawn?
[Shawn over radio] Looking good. Yeah.
[narrator] Shawn Pomrenke enjoys his special day
with the season's first dive on his beloved home grounds.
[Shawn over radio] If you see gold, just keep on digging.
Keep digging.
[Joe over radio] Oh, yeah. Good to be home, huh?
[Shawn speaking]
[Joe chuckles softly] Oh, yeah.
Good visibility,
good ice, good gold.
Can't ask for anything more than that.
Oh, yeah.
Shawn's been down for quite a while.
I'm gonna go suit up.
Birthday gold.
Better than birthday cake.
[laughs]
I got my birthday wish.
The Tomcod, it didn't disappoint.
There was gold, gold and some more gold down there.
For the first time all season,
we're crushing it.
It looks really good.
Let's go, Joe!
Joe's gonna go down and keep the party going.
I'm gonna go celebrate with my family.
And tomorrow, I'm hoping to break the bank on the scale.
Good dive.
We're on good ground right now.
[Kris] This sluice box is going to be the game changer for us.
Everything is going to be better because of this.
[narrator] Reaper Nation is entering stage two
of the captain's plan to get their season back on track.
I'm just happy that we made it with zero dollars,
just some man labor
and a bunch of pieces I had sitting around.
But that's why...
That's why you don't throw anything away you know,
because you never know
when you're going to need it again.
We resurrected the Coffin from the dead.
We're going to do a few quick patches
and test it out,
make sure everything is in good shape.
We'll add insulation so it won't freeze up.
Overall, I like the box and everything's looking good.
Now we just got to run for a bit,
let the cold get in, and see where it sits.
And if we have any issues from there,
we just-- we fix it.
[Kris] Everything's doing great.
We've got a box that can handle us turning it up
to full steam on the pump.
Uh, everything's working today.
We've got a great opportunity
and I'm gonna make the best of it.
It's time for me to get down there,
get on some gold
and see how the Coffin handles it.
Hopefully, we see better results than we were seeing
with the other piece of crap sluice box
and the problem is solved for the rest of the season.
Hold on.
Slack tide...
means when there's no current, nothing.
Athe bottom is just murky as hell.
Oh, yeah, let's get some water all over the front.
Andy, he said like, uh...
Kris just found a little something.
-Good. -[laughs]
Good news. Good news.
10-4.
[Kris] I got us on gold.
Put about an hour's worth of material through the Coffin.
We'll weigh this out,
and then we'll know if the Coffin is working for us.
Everything worked great today.
So, right now, we're going to go have some drinks,
we're going to celebrate,
and we're not going to have any more problems.
Okay!
Good job, everybody.
[Chris] Are you hitting some fresh ground down there?
[Jeff speaking over comms]
Sweet. That's-- that's great.
[narrator] Three hours into his first dive of the season
and Jeff Orzechowski is delivering big
for his new teammate.
Wow.
Right under this, uh, super-soft clay...
it opens up into like, uh, river gravel.
Just below this clay land.
Yeah. This stuff right here is really good.
I could-- I could see the color in it.
This is good material right here.
It's gonna be good gold for sure.
Good day on the McCully Claim!
Yes, sir.
-We made money today. -For sure.
[Chris] You see that?
It's still piling up right there.
[whistles] Oh, yeah.
I'm starting to love my job.
Yes!
[laughs]
Today was a win.
We got two dives in, and the equipment worked.
We were on good gold the whole time,
and we took charge.
I can't wait to see what's on the scale.
We're going to go home with pockets full of gold, dude.
Hi, my name is Kris Kelly, and welcome to another episode
of "Kris Kelly's Secret Guide to Successful Mining."
Today we're going to be talking about something
that's extremely important. Working on a budget.
So, you know, in my head,
I only want to spend $100 a day.
The plan is simple.
Work hard all week,
cut as many corners as you can
so I can afford Chinese food one time a week.
And you know how to save even more money
when it comes to a restaurant visit?
Leave your crew at home.
You can't afford to take four or five people
to Chinese food in this town.
Whoa, whoa! I can barely afford to eat here myself.
Oh, yeah, go ahead and put that right here.
Oh, beautiful. Thank you very much.
That's pretty much what I would consider
to be the end of this segment.
[scraping]
[Nate] He's scraping out the bottom.
You know, even if it's just a few flecks,
you know, a small pinch is a $100 bill.
[narrator] After a season where gold has been scarce,
Team Tenhoff's leaving nothing behind
for their reef cleanout.
You know, it wasn't really very picker-y down there.
If there was any big pickers,
I think we would have spotted them.
As far out as I was under those pressure ridges,
I probably should have ended this dive earlier.
But considering where we are at this point in the season,
that really wasn't an option.
We need every flake that we can get,
and hopefully the scale is kind to us.
[Nate] All right.
We got half an ounce.
-Boom. One ounce. -[Zeke] One.
Whoa.
Two ounces.
[Zeke] Coming in hot.
-Three ounces. -Three ounces.
[Nate] Four. Coming in hot.
-[Zeke] Oh, nice, dude. -Oh, my God.
[Nate] Boom. Five ounces, dude.
[Zeke] All right.
[Nate] 5.04.
[narrator] 5.04 ounces is worth over $11,000,
the Tenhoff's crews biggest cleanout of the season.
And the reef helped Zeke turn over a new leaf.
That makes me want to kind of dig deep on this area.
[Zeke] Well, if we can hit holes with gold like that,
then those numbers work for this business.
I mean...
the dream stays alive with ice mining.
[laughing]
[narrator] Back in Nome...
[Kris] The sluice box, so long,
has only cost us, uh, power from the house.
So zero dollars to build that sluice box, so far.
[narrator] ...Kris is hoping the Coffin
brings Reaper Nation's gold count to life.
Bam! Good job, buddy.
I was down there less than an hour.
So if we can get at least a half ounce,
I'd say the Coffin did its job.
If not, you might as well just bury me in it
because our season will be on death watch.
Let's see what we got.
Uh, half an ounce. What I said.
It's 0.7.
That's actually really good.
[narrator] 0.7 ounces.
It's worth about 1,600 bucks.
But more importantly, the Kellys might finally
have a sluice box that doesn't leak gold.
What a novelty.
Mining is just a game. In one week,
everything will turn right around for us.
That box is going to make a serious difference for us.
We're gonna make a lot of money this week.
[narrator] Across town...
I definitely have a great feeling
that this is gonna be a good thing now.
We're on hot ground.
You pound in a lot of hours in.
Every scoop I pour into here, it looks really good.
I can't wait to go pan it down
and dry it up
and get paid.
We're already having a killer winter.
And this day may be the best day so far.
I think I might have a monster cleanup today.
So, ready to see what we got?
Okay, let's see how much we got.
All right, there's six, eight, ten...
There's 17, 20, 22, 24...
27, 29...
-Oh, [bleep]. 30.1. -[tapping on pan]
30.16, baby.
That's not bad at all.
-Wow. -[chuckles]
Damn.
[narrator] 30.16 ounces is worth a hearty 70 grand,
and the bull market
is in full swing at the McCully Camp.
Wow!
[Chris] That cleanup right there was awesome.
With this equipment and this team,
there's nobody gonna stop us.
I think I'll shatter my goal
and maybe even set the winter record.
We crushed it, dude.
-That's 30 ounces. -30 ounces.
And this day, you see the gold price today, too?
Wow.
Great job down there.
[Joe] It looks like we did good on this run.
I see gold in the third tray.
That's always a good sign.
[narrator] After switching to his home grounds on Tomcod,
it's time for Mr. Gold to unwrap his birthday present.
Yeah, I think, uh...
I think I'm in for a pleasant surprise.
I think she's a little bit more
than what I was hoping for.
It's better to have it be more than less.
[chuckles]
[Shawn] That was the best ground I've seen all season.
Oh, that feels heavy.
Way better than anything I've seen, and I'm 56.
And after my dive, Joe worked into the night.
[Shawn laughing]
We should have a monster cleanup.
Five, seven...
There, you beat the last one.
20, 25, 30,
34...
35.
[narrator] 34.88 ounces is worth over 81 grand.
Happy birthday, Shawn Pomrenke.
Welcome back to the gold count.
Nice job, guys.
Happy birthday to me.
After one frustration after another,
this is by far the biggest cleanout of the season.
Moving back to my home turf was the best call.
We're gonna have to push it
'cause there ain't much time left.
But we might have a good season, after all.
It never gets old,
seeing it in the pan like that, does it?
[Joe] It's like winning the lottery.
[Shawn chuckles]
I think we've done pretty well for ourselves.
[narrator] Chris McCully stays on top
and Shawn starts making moves.
[Shawn] Yeah!
[narrator] Next time...
Instead of digging dirt, we're digging ice.
[narrator] ...on Bering Sea Gold...
[Shawn] Now I'm putting it all on the line.
If this doesn't work out, I'll have to start over.
Time to get some gold, baby.
[woman] You okay?
You put that [bleep] saw down like I told you not to do it,
and you did it anyway.
Gary, you want to micromanage how I hold my [bleep]
when I take a piss.
That is [bleep] hilarious.
We're sinking. We're sinking fast.
[diver speaking]
That's all that matters. We're back on the gold.
[Shawn laughing]
There you go.
Wow.
It's not looking bad.
[man] Damn!
Yes!