Flying to the Ends of the Earth (2005) s02e01 Episode Script
Siberia
1 Whoa! Wow! Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow! - Ooh! - That wasn't a good landing.
Whoa! 'On our crowded planet, 'there are still beautiful and remote wild places.
' - It's absolutely stunning out here.
- Yeah.
'But if you're determined enough' It's all in Russian! '.
.
there is a way to reach them.
' Buenos dias.
'I'm Arthur Williams.
'I used to be a Royal Marine, but eight years ago, 'I was paralysed in an accident.
'Then I learnt to fly 'and regained my spirit of adventure.
' Why would you let a small thing like not being able to feel two thirds of your body get in the way? 'Now I'm going to use the aeroplane to reach the world's most isolated airstrips 'and meet the people living at the ends of the Earth.
' The volcano is our gateway to heaven.
I'm not toasting Stalin! 'To get there, I'll have to tackle some of the world's most dangerous flying' Oh, my God! Jesus Christ! Whoa! '.
.
and take my chances in the toughest places on our planet.
This is a different kind of flying than I'm used to.
'To find out how to make a life out here' I feel like Del Boy! '.
.
and why?' The people -- they are a community.
'This time, I'm in Siberia -- 'home to some of the most cut-off communities in the world.
'Its rivers and roads are impassable for most of the year.
'Aeroplanes are often the only way in or out.
'First, I'm flying 3,500 miles 'east from Moscow to Siberia's 'most inaccessible region -- Yakutia.
'Then deeper and deeper into the most inhospitable part of Russia.
'I'll fly to the coldest inhabited place on Earth.
' This is as remote as I've ever been.
There's no doubt about it.
'Travel deep down into Siberia's frozen core.
' It's like something out of Mad Max! 'And I'll find out the hard way when things go wrong out here, 'they go really wrong.
' Oh, my God! He's crashed! He doesn't understand what exactly happened, and that's what he's trying to figure out.
I'm in shock at the moment, actually.
I'm in shock.
'Russian legend says that 'when God was scattering his wealth across the Earth, 'his fingers froze over Siberia 'and he dropped all of his precious gifts at once.
'After World War II, 'the Soviet Union was rebuilt on these precious gifts of coal, 'oil and gold.
'Back then, the Communist Party offered good money to people 'who'd move to Siberia and work in the coal mines and oilfields.
'But times have changed and I want to learn 'what life's like for people living out here today.
'I'm starting my adventure in southern Yakutia -- 'the heart of mining country.
'I've come to a tiny airfield 50 miles outside the city of Mirny.
'It's run by Victor.
' Victor, you're happy, OK? 'Victor used to drive tanks for the Soviet Army 'before moving here in the 1980s to drive trucks down the mines.
' Ah.
Don't touch? - Parachute.
- Oh, we don't use that? OK.
'These days, he provides an unofficial search and rescue service 'for hunters that get lost in the forest.
' Here we go.
Full power now.
And we're airborne.
We're off.
'But today, 'Victor is taking me to see Siberia's most unnatural wonder -- 'Russia's largest man-made hole, the infamous Mir mine.
What's so great about this little microlight is that when we go over the hole, we can do it slowly, we can see it for all its vastness and enjoy it.
You know, when people think of Siberia, they think of vast desolate wildernesses, but, you know, it's full to the brim with, like, coal, oil, gas.
But Mirny, where we're going, is known for one thing and one thing only -- diamonds.
'The diamond mine we're heading for is a strictly controlled no-fly zone 'but Victor's been given special permission 'to fly his little microlight right up to the edge of the pit.
'60 years ago, Mirny was just another frozen wasteland.
'As we approach, 'I can honestly say it's the most bizarre place I've ever seen.
' Oh, this is insane! That has got to be the most unnatural sight I have ever seen in my life! It's like something out of Mad Max! 'The city seems to disappear into the moor of the crater.
'This giant open-cast diamond mine 'is nearly 40 football pitches wide 'and five times deeper than the cliffs of Dover.
' As we're flying over the edge, your, sort of, stomach falls out.
You get the strangest feeling of vertigo.
'Victor tells me the hole is so big, it creates its own weather.
'Swirling winds have been said to 'suck helicopters right out of the sky.
' This is really, really bizarre.
'Which is not all that reassuring 'when you're sitting in a flying moped 200 feet over the top of it.
'Victor says that when he worked here, 'it got so cold the tyres on his truck would snap 'and the oil would freeze solid.
' - Victor.
- Is that OK? That is mad! - Beautiful.
Piece of cake.
Well done, Victor.
- OK.
OK.
'Victor was spot-on.
'Mirny is amazing from the air, 'but the Mir mine is no longer operational.
'Now, ALROSA, the state-owned company who run the mines, 'dig even deeper underground for their diamonds.
'And that's where I'm going next -- 'to meet the people who do the dirty work, the miners.
'400 miners work the mine's seven subterranean levels every day.
'I'm headed for the deepest.
'1km down.
' In the same way that you go up in an aeroplane, your ears pop, we're going that far underground -- my ears are popping.
'My first mistake was thinking that the diamonds would be near the lift.
'It turns out the seam is several kilometres further into 'the mine network.
' This place is really eerie.
I don't scare easily, but at the back of my mind, I have got the thought that above me is a million tonnes of permafrost rock and earth.
'I've come here to meet foreman Sergei, 'who's been working in the mines for longer than I've been alive.
' Hello, Sergei.
It's good to see you.
This is your den.
'It's rare for anyone other than the miners to see the diamond-rich kimberlite core, 'but Sergei seems delighted to show off his office, 'especially his hi-tech kit.
' How far can you go before you have to stop and start supporting everything? 'Sergei and his fellow miners never really get to see the diamonds.
'They dig the ore, 'it's scooped up and transported topside to be sorted, 'cleaned and valued.
'It's not exactly glamorous work.
' What's it like to work down here? Because it's very dark, it's very dank, it's claustrophobic.
Do you ever feel like you've had enough? - Me? - Yeah.
- Controls? Da.
Da.
Da.
I didn't think they'd let me do that! Look at this piece.
It must weigh 100 tonnes.
Mm, let me think.
"Would you like to have a go behind the controls "of a massive mining piece of equipment?" "Yes, please!" Watch your toes.
Here I am, literally at the ends of the Earth, digging 1km underground into the gut of our planet.
It's insane! It's really good fun, though.
Really, really good fun.
I think I'd better get down before I start destroying this place.
Thank you.
That was really, really good fun.
'But not everyone in Mirny works underground.
'Thousands more work up top, 'including carefully vetted geologists who weigh, 'grade and value the stones at this highly secure sorting facility.
' This is my wife's idea of heaven.
'It's Lena's job to decide if the gems will end up as an industrial drillbit 'or a girl's best friend.
' Oh! Look at the size of that diamond in my hand! - It's an expensive stone.
- Is it? - So, what if I was to do this? - No! You can see them -- the little black marks inside it.
- Yes, yes.
- This is absolutely amazing.
I've got to know -- how much are all these stones worth on this table? These diamonds can cost about ¤100,000.
¤100,000! It's a good job you got here.
Thank you very much.
Spasiba.
'Mirny's diamonds helped fuel a Soviet superpower.
'But today, the Russian government are selling hundreds of millions of 'pounds worth of shares in ALROSA to help Russia's failing economy.
'And the future is uncertain for the people of Mirny.
'I'm heading north now to the coldest inhabited place in the world 'where I'll learn that when things go wrong in Siberia, 'they go very, very wrong.
' I've come to Magan Airport in southern Yakutia.
It's the only airport that serves the most remote Siberian settlements, 700 miles east of here.
And that's where I'm going next.
That's incredible.
The sun is out, but it's still -14 Celsius and they are having to defrost the aircraft.
As you do, eh? There is just endless ice-burnt wilderness.
It stretches for thousands of miles.
I'm wondering, how much more remote can we get? Hard to get your head around.
I'm heading to a settlement called Oymyakon.
It's the coldest inhabited place on Earth.
You get things wrong here and it's game over.
We are not just a few degrees below zero here.
We are tens of degrees below zero.
Outside the aeroplane now, probably minus 60-plus.
You wouldn't last half an hour without shelter on the ground here.
And, of course, we're landing on ice.
How do we brake? How do we stop? Oh, wow.
Keep the nose up.
Very smooth.
Very, very nice.
Very, very, very, very nice.
I've been invited to join an expedition to Labynkyr Lake, 40 minutes flight south of here.
The trip is being organised by the local chairman of the Russian Geographical Society, Alexander Dolzenkov.
Alexander.
It's good to meet you.
'He's putting me up for the night, before heading up to the lake 'in the morning.
' Alexander's parents moved here in 1967, when his father got a job running the local airport.
Back then, patriotic young Russians took enormous pride in moving up here and conquering the north.
And Alexander misses Soviet Siberia.
Stalin?! I'm not toasting Stalin! You are a communist? Alexander hopes expeditions like the one I'm joining today will bring some pride back to his homeland.
He's already left for the lake on the support chopper, but I'm flying in something a little more old school.
'Pilot Andrei calls his aeroplane The Tank.
' Give it the beans! What a machine! Proper Russian seat-of-your-pants, big guts flying.
This is my idea of heaven! 'The Antonov AN2 is a Soviet classic -- 'the ultimate in no-frills flying.
' And we're off! Airborne! OK! 'They've churned out thousands of them since the 1940s 'and, to be honest, not much has changed on the plane since.
' This sends me back to my school days.
When I was a boy, I used to look at books with World War II bomber pilots sat up in this glass cockpit, like this.
It's exactly the same.
Going to see if I can get my hands on the controls, but it's so funny.
I'm trying to look at the instruments and work out what's what.
I have no idea where our speed is.
It's all in Russian! OK? I'm OK to have a go? Lovely.
Wow, I'm flying the thing! Absolutely beautiful.
Can we see the lake? That's it in front, eh? Ah! 'At this time of year, 'the surface of the lake is covered in a thick layer of ice.
' You have control? We are just skirting the tops of the trees.
I hope this guy knows what he's doing! Good job! Oh, wow.
Would you look at that? That's epic.
Labynkyr Lake is nine miles long and 2.
5 miles wide.
Last year, scientists on another of Alexander's expeditions spotted something unusual below the ice.
Alexander believes it's the wreckage of one of the thousands of fighter planes that flew past here on their way from Alaska to the Russian front, during World War II.
So, he's brought together some of Russia's most experienced divers to search for the plane.
Hello! 'They're led by world ice diving champion Sasha Gubin.
' - My name is Sasha.
- Sasha.
Big day today.
Big day.
We are going to find the aeroplane.
It's hard to explain just how exposed we are out here.
This is still Russia, but we are 3,500 miles from Moscow and just a few hundred from the Arctic Circle.
- Good? - Good! - OK, let's go.
The dive site is four miles from the lodge.
In these temperatures, that's far enough to be fatal, if someone gets injured.
Alexander, Alexander.
Here.
Here, give us a hand.
Pull onto the thing Wey! Perfect.
Right.
I wonder how many people have ever had to dig access paths for wheelchairs on frozen lakes in the middle of Siberia? Not too many, I'd imagine.
This is unbelievable.
Look, I've never seen anything like this before.
They've cut a foot out of the lake.
They're standing on what they've already cut out and they are still digging down.
'It takes several hours for Alexander's team 'to cut through the ice.
They know what they're doing, but chainsaws, 'humans and frozen lakes are a dangerous combination.
' How deep? How deep? One metre? It's that deep? It would come up to here on you? 'If someone were to fall through now, 'a warm stove and a canvas tent won't save them.
'It'll just make dying slightly more comfortable.
'This is our lifeline.
If an accident happens on the lake, 'this helicopter can get us to hospital in just over one hour.
'Without it, the only way out of here is a six-hour, 'off-road drive through the mountains.
' The helicopter has just about arrived and Sergei has made, or improvised, a landing site, by whizzing round in circles on the skidoo, to get through the two-feet thick snow that is very soft powder and then he's put logs around on each corner and a roll mat in the middle, to show the pilot where the wind is going.
Up here, look, he's just making his approach now.
'But something is going wrong.
The pilot is ignoring the landing zone 'and he's headed for deep snow.
And he's getting far too close to us.
' Oh, wow.
Bloody hell! What a huge Oh! BLEEP.
He's ripped the tail rotor off it! He's crashed! He's crashed! Jesus! Oh, my God, the guy has just crashed the helicopter No, this is beyond funny now, because he's just crashed his aeroplane and ripped the tail rotor off it about ten metres from where we are.
Welcome to Siberia.
Are you for real? Landing there?! Jesus Christ! You idiot! I am absolutely flabbergasted.
That is our only emergency way of getting out of here.
We are stuck here on a frozen lake in the middle of nowhere.
'As well as the pilot and his little girl, 'there was a local journalist and members of our production crew 'on the chopper.
It's an absolute nightmare.
' If that happened in the air, the aeroplane would have spun out, hit the deck and it would have killed everybody on board, no doubt.
'There is shrapnel everywhere.
Amazingly, nobody has been hurt, 'but a line has been crossed and our director cancels 'any further flying here.
' I want four by fours over here or another airline, because we're not travelling with these people again.
- No.
- That's it.
No.
- Oh, dear God.
Really just taking stock.
I'm in shock at the moment, actually.
I'm in shock.
But I can't emphasise how close That's part of the tail rotor.
I can't emphasise how close we came to just being cut in half by these propellers, when they cut off the tail of his aeroplane.
'Maria, one of our producers, who was on the aircraft when it crashed, 'tries to help me get some answers.
' He doesn't understand what exactly happened and that's what he's trying to figure out, - what went wrong with the helicopter.
- I'll tell you what happened.
Tell him this, as well.
He didn't land on the designated landing site.
You've landed in two foot of virgin powder snow.
- This is inevitable.
- The snow didn't touch the tail.
It was something wrong.
It's not a matter of uncleared He landed here just, you know, recently, and it was in the same, on the same spot and it was fine, so he doesn't know.
He says we need to understand what has happened.
It takes nearly two hours to get everyone off the ice.
Alexander and the helicopter pilot have taken the AN2 back to Oymyakon, to get parts for their damaged chopper.
But back at the lodge, there is more bad news for us.
Our four by fours haven't arrived.
Right now, we are totally stranded.
'The crew are exhausted and the divers aren't happy, either.
'If they pull the plug, this expedition is over.
' It's been 12 hours since the crash.
Negotiations about whether to keep filming have gone on through the night.
The producers have managed to find a couple of drivers to come and get us in their 4x4s, but they're still a few hours away.
Sasha Gubin and his dive team are ready to return to the lake.
They're all hardened explorers and have decided to press ahead despite the setbacks.
So while we wait for our 4x4s to arrive, I'm returning to the dive site with my cameraman Chris and director Owen.
The rest of the team are packing up to leave.
We must be off the lake before dark, or our drivers will leave without us.
You're good to go.
The guys have been down about 40 minutes now and they're just in the final stages of rising back up to the surface.
Here they come! Alexander, are you seeing aeroplane? Oh.
No, there's no aeroplane? Oh, this is unbelievable.
It doesn't look like there is an aeroplane under here.
This lake is so vast, it's not to say that it isn't going to be here somewhere.
These guys will carry on, I'm sure.
But, for me, I've had my fill of this lake, so we're going to get out of here.
The helicopter crash has totally scuppered our plans.
We can carry on filming, but there will be no more flying in Oymyakon.
It's been a tough couple of days, and a few hard lessons have been learned.
But after some well-earned rest, we're ready to crack on and finish our film.
- Yeah, this is a good day, huh? - Yeah, good day.
- Beautiful day.
- Springtime.
My driver Yevgeny and I are travelling on one of the world's most infamous highways, Joseph Stalin's 1,200 mile Road of Bones.
What's this cross on the right-hand side in front, here? - You see the cross? - Er - Gulag.
- The memorial for the gulags? - Yeah.
- Wow! - Can we have a look at that? - If you want.
- Yeah? Can we stop and have a look, yeah? - OK.
Between 1918 and 1956, historians believe more than 20 million people died in Siberia's brutal gulags.
What does this plaque say? "This memorial was built for victims of political oppression, "who died, er, building this road.
" - Really? - If somebody dies .
.
his body buried under the road.
So they just threw them in and built the road on top of them? Many people.
What I find interesting, Yev, is that over here you've got quite a grand monument.
It's a big globe at the top and a statue, for the coldest day ever recorded here, which is minus 71.
2 centigrade.
But over the road here you've got quite a humble, modest memorial to thousands of people that died digging the road.
It just doesn't seem quite right.
Siberia is itself a natural prison, frozen solid for most of the year.
It's a wonder anyone lives here at all.
But I'm on my way to meet some people that wouldn't leave this place for all the diamonds in Russia Look at the horses! Indigenous horse farmers, living and working entirely off grid.
60-year-old Mikhail has invited me to spend the day on his farm.
What animal is it? Is it bear? And this.
What's this? Is it another skin? Oh, it's a coat.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's big.
Blimey, it weighs a ton as well.
I feel like Del Boy! Wow! This would keep you warm.
Oh, when you're riding? Yeah! It's minus 15 degrees today but in five or six weeks, temperatures will soar into the mid-20s.
Let's go! Mikhail needs to round up some of his horses for their seasonal haircut.
But first, we have to catch them.
Oh, this is epic! It's as remote as I've ever been -- there's no doubt about it.
We're not using sort of motorbikes or Ski-Doos, we're on a sled.
We're doing it exactly as it's been done for hundreds of years.
This is amazing! It really is breathtaking.
And look at these! Look at these guys coming up behind us, here.
Once-in-a-lifetime stuff.
It's quite tough, actually.
Mikhail, you've obviously had a lot more practice than I have.
Really, really thick hair.
Really thick.
I thought it would be, like, really easy to cut through, but it's not.
- It's quite - OK.
- Look at that.
Mikhail, do you ever feel, sort of, disconnected from the outside world? Mikhail and his wife Tatiana met at university in Yakutsk, but their passion for the icy forests of Siberia -- or the taiga -- meant the city didn't hold them for long.
When you come in through the door, it hits you like a wall, and you can smell it.
It's lovely.
Mikhail and Tatiana love their way of life here.
But even putting food on the table involves a constant battle against the cold.
That's amazing.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So put a bit of salt on it? Wow! It's red meat, frozen red meat.
It's very good, though.
This is frozen horse meat? Tatiana, do you ever get worried about him working in such cold conditions? Well, Tatiana, Mikhail, I've had a really amazing time.
I've really, really enjoyed myself.
Thank you very much indeed.
Goodbye.
Thank you, Tatiana.
I'll see you.
Take care.
After everything we've been through over the last few days, my time with Tatiana and Mikhail has been a real tonic.
I'll never forget my time here.
But before I leave Siberia, I'm heading for the River Lena, to join the Yakutsk search and rescue team on ice patrol.
I've come to the river city of Yakutsk .
.
the capital of Yakutia.
It's famous for being the coldest city in the world.
For seven months of the year, its great river, the Lena, is frozen solid.
But I'm not here for the big freeze.
I'm here for the thaw.
Soon, ships from all over Russia will be able to deliver vital supplies to this isolated city -- but right now the ice is breaking up and the river is treacherous.
Fishermen are warned to stay away, and boats strictly forbidden.
- Afanasiy.
- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you too.
- Welcome to Yakutsk.
Afanasiy Nikolayev works for Yakutsk Search and Rescue.
It's his job to assess when the river is safe to travel.
There's your new uniform.
- Cracking.
- You are joining rescue service of Yakutia.
- Happy days.
- Let's go to our boat.
Right, let's go.
After you.
How many months of the year can boats and ships actually navigate the Lena? From June .
.
to the end of October.
It's not very long.
During the thaw, strong currents carry great chunks of broken ice downstream, creating dangerous conditions.
I know that you see the tip of an iceberg and it's much larger underneath.
Is that the case for much of the ice in the river here? Yes, of course.
It's like hitting the rock.
We are coming up to the ice field.
- As you can see here.
- Yeah, look.
Wow.
Look at this one! The ice is starting to get quite dense now, quite thick.
That's a huge block of ice.
The Lena is the tenth-largest river on the planet, but it's only a fraction of the area Yakutsk Search and Rescue have to cover.
It was out here in the endless forests, an area five times the size of France, that Afanasiy became involved in a case that made headlines around the world.
Three-year-old Karina Chikitova went missing after following her father into the forest.
She was gone for four days before her parents were able to make contact with Afanasiy and his team.
For us, it's like a death sentence.
- Oh, God! It's every parent's worst nightmare.
- Yeah.
Did you have any idea at all where she might be? No, absolutely no.
The zone of search was about 300 square kilometres.
In this remote part of Siberia, bears, wolves and freezing temperatures claim even the most experienced hunters.
After 11 days alone in the wild, Karina wasn't given a chance.
When Afanasiy decided to film the search, he imagined it would be crucial evidence in a tragic story.
Then, on day 12, one of Afanasiy's team spotted something in long grass.
About 70 metres from me, one of the volunteers shouted that he found a kid.
- No way! - I told them not to touch anything because police detectives and forensics have to check out the body.
First, I saw there were two thin little arms staring out from the grass, holding a cookie.
I asked her, "Where were you going? What were you doing here in the forest?" She said, "I was going home.
" She was going home for 12 days.
12 days without water, without food.
How did she survive? It was a, like, miracle.
The River Lena will not be open for business today.
In Mother Russia, you don't take chances with Mother Nature.
Afanasiy believed that Karina survived because she wasn't scared.
The forest, he says, is in her genes.
It's an incredible thought but the people I've met here have an extraordinary bond with their environment.
When our helicopter crashed, it brought home how fragile life can be here.
And it is an unforgiving place, but people have found a way to survive, even to thrive, out here in magical, mysterious Siberia.
'Next time' '.
.
I'm flying across the largest ocean in the world' Absolutely stunning out here.
'.
.
to explore the islands of the South Pacific.
' You have to be kidding! 'I'll meet a lady who bought her very own island paradise.
' Bush surgery, jungle-style.
'I'll try my hand as a dentist's assistant '.
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and I'll meet the leader of a tribe 'who worship a World War II god living in a volcano.
' Whoa!
Whoa! 'On our crowded planet, 'there are still beautiful and remote wild places.
' - It's absolutely stunning out here.
- Yeah.
'But if you're determined enough' It's all in Russian! '.
.
there is a way to reach them.
' Buenos dias.
'I'm Arthur Williams.
'I used to be a Royal Marine, but eight years ago, 'I was paralysed in an accident.
'Then I learnt to fly 'and regained my spirit of adventure.
' Why would you let a small thing like not being able to feel two thirds of your body get in the way? 'Now I'm going to use the aeroplane to reach the world's most isolated airstrips 'and meet the people living at the ends of the Earth.
' The volcano is our gateway to heaven.
I'm not toasting Stalin! 'To get there, I'll have to tackle some of the world's most dangerous flying' Oh, my God! Jesus Christ! Whoa! '.
.
and take my chances in the toughest places on our planet.
This is a different kind of flying than I'm used to.
'To find out how to make a life out here' I feel like Del Boy! '.
.
and why?' The people -- they are a community.
'This time, I'm in Siberia -- 'home to some of the most cut-off communities in the world.
'Its rivers and roads are impassable for most of the year.
'Aeroplanes are often the only way in or out.
'First, I'm flying 3,500 miles 'east from Moscow to Siberia's 'most inaccessible region -- Yakutia.
'Then deeper and deeper into the most inhospitable part of Russia.
'I'll fly to the coldest inhabited place on Earth.
' This is as remote as I've ever been.
There's no doubt about it.
'Travel deep down into Siberia's frozen core.
' It's like something out of Mad Max! 'And I'll find out the hard way when things go wrong out here, 'they go really wrong.
' Oh, my God! He's crashed! He doesn't understand what exactly happened, and that's what he's trying to figure out.
I'm in shock at the moment, actually.
I'm in shock.
'Russian legend says that 'when God was scattering his wealth across the Earth, 'his fingers froze over Siberia 'and he dropped all of his precious gifts at once.
'After World War II, 'the Soviet Union was rebuilt on these precious gifts of coal, 'oil and gold.
'Back then, the Communist Party offered good money to people 'who'd move to Siberia and work in the coal mines and oilfields.
'But times have changed and I want to learn 'what life's like for people living out here today.
'I'm starting my adventure in southern Yakutia -- 'the heart of mining country.
'I've come to a tiny airfield 50 miles outside the city of Mirny.
'It's run by Victor.
' Victor, you're happy, OK? 'Victor used to drive tanks for the Soviet Army 'before moving here in the 1980s to drive trucks down the mines.
' Ah.
Don't touch? - Parachute.
- Oh, we don't use that? OK.
'These days, he provides an unofficial search and rescue service 'for hunters that get lost in the forest.
' Here we go.
Full power now.
And we're airborne.
We're off.
'But today, 'Victor is taking me to see Siberia's most unnatural wonder -- 'Russia's largest man-made hole, the infamous Mir mine.
What's so great about this little microlight is that when we go over the hole, we can do it slowly, we can see it for all its vastness and enjoy it.
You know, when people think of Siberia, they think of vast desolate wildernesses, but, you know, it's full to the brim with, like, coal, oil, gas.
But Mirny, where we're going, is known for one thing and one thing only -- diamonds.
'The diamond mine we're heading for is a strictly controlled no-fly zone 'but Victor's been given special permission 'to fly his little microlight right up to the edge of the pit.
'60 years ago, Mirny was just another frozen wasteland.
'As we approach, 'I can honestly say it's the most bizarre place I've ever seen.
' Oh, this is insane! That has got to be the most unnatural sight I have ever seen in my life! It's like something out of Mad Max! 'The city seems to disappear into the moor of the crater.
'This giant open-cast diamond mine 'is nearly 40 football pitches wide 'and five times deeper than the cliffs of Dover.
' As we're flying over the edge, your, sort of, stomach falls out.
You get the strangest feeling of vertigo.
'Victor tells me the hole is so big, it creates its own weather.
'Swirling winds have been said to 'suck helicopters right out of the sky.
' This is really, really bizarre.
'Which is not all that reassuring 'when you're sitting in a flying moped 200 feet over the top of it.
'Victor says that when he worked here, 'it got so cold the tyres on his truck would snap 'and the oil would freeze solid.
' - Victor.
- Is that OK? That is mad! - Beautiful.
Piece of cake.
Well done, Victor.
- OK.
OK.
'Victor was spot-on.
'Mirny is amazing from the air, 'but the Mir mine is no longer operational.
'Now, ALROSA, the state-owned company who run the mines, 'dig even deeper underground for their diamonds.
'And that's where I'm going next -- 'to meet the people who do the dirty work, the miners.
'400 miners work the mine's seven subterranean levels every day.
'I'm headed for the deepest.
'1km down.
' In the same way that you go up in an aeroplane, your ears pop, we're going that far underground -- my ears are popping.
'My first mistake was thinking that the diamonds would be near the lift.
'It turns out the seam is several kilometres further into 'the mine network.
' This place is really eerie.
I don't scare easily, but at the back of my mind, I have got the thought that above me is a million tonnes of permafrost rock and earth.
'I've come here to meet foreman Sergei, 'who's been working in the mines for longer than I've been alive.
' Hello, Sergei.
It's good to see you.
This is your den.
'It's rare for anyone other than the miners to see the diamond-rich kimberlite core, 'but Sergei seems delighted to show off his office, 'especially his hi-tech kit.
' How far can you go before you have to stop and start supporting everything? 'Sergei and his fellow miners never really get to see the diamonds.
'They dig the ore, 'it's scooped up and transported topside to be sorted, 'cleaned and valued.
'It's not exactly glamorous work.
' What's it like to work down here? Because it's very dark, it's very dank, it's claustrophobic.
Do you ever feel like you've had enough? - Me? - Yeah.
- Controls? Da.
Da.
Da.
I didn't think they'd let me do that! Look at this piece.
It must weigh 100 tonnes.
Mm, let me think.
"Would you like to have a go behind the controls "of a massive mining piece of equipment?" "Yes, please!" Watch your toes.
Here I am, literally at the ends of the Earth, digging 1km underground into the gut of our planet.
It's insane! It's really good fun, though.
Really, really good fun.
I think I'd better get down before I start destroying this place.
Thank you.
That was really, really good fun.
'But not everyone in Mirny works underground.
'Thousands more work up top, 'including carefully vetted geologists who weigh, 'grade and value the stones at this highly secure sorting facility.
' This is my wife's idea of heaven.
'It's Lena's job to decide if the gems will end up as an industrial drillbit 'or a girl's best friend.
' Oh! Look at the size of that diamond in my hand! - It's an expensive stone.
- Is it? - So, what if I was to do this? - No! You can see them -- the little black marks inside it.
- Yes, yes.
- This is absolutely amazing.
I've got to know -- how much are all these stones worth on this table? These diamonds can cost about ¤100,000.
¤100,000! It's a good job you got here.
Thank you very much.
Spasiba.
'Mirny's diamonds helped fuel a Soviet superpower.
'But today, the Russian government are selling hundreds of millions of 'pounds worth of shares in ALROSA to help Russia's failing economy.
'And the future is uncertain for the people of Mirny.
'I'm heading north now to the coldest inhabited place in the world 'where I'll learn that when things go wrong in Siberia, 'they go very, very wrong.
' I've come to Magan Airport in southern Yakutia.
It's the only airport that serves the most remote Siberian settlements, 700 miles east of here.
And that's where I'm going next.
That's incredible.
The sun is out, but it's still -14 Celsius and they are having to defrost the aircraft.
As you do, eh? There is just endless ice-burnt wilderness.
It stretches for thousands of miles.
I'm wondering, how much more remote can we get? Hard to get your head around.
I'm heading to a settlement called Oymyakon.
It's the coldest inhabited place on Earth.
You get things wrong here and it's game over.
We are not just a few degrees below zero here.
We are tens of degrees below zero.
Outside the aeroplane now, probably minus 60-plus.
You wouldn't last half an hour without shelter on the ground here.
And, of course, we're landing on ice.
How do we brake? How do we stop? Oh, wow.
Keep the nose up.
Very smooth.
Very, very nice.
Very, very, very, very nice.
I've been invited to join an expedition to Labynkyr Lake, 40 minutes flight south of here.
The trip is being organised by the local chairman of the Russian Geographical Society, Alexander Dolzenkov.
Alexander.
It's good to meet you.
'He's putting me up for the night, before heading up to the lake 'in the morning.
' Alexander's parents moved here in 1967, when his father got a job running the local airport.
Back then, patriotic young Russians took enormous pride in moving up here and conquering the north.
And Alexander misses Soviet Siberia.
Stalin?! I'm not toasting Stalin! You are a communist? Alexander hopes expeditions like the one I'm joining today will bring some pride back to his homeland.
He's already left for the lake on the support chopper, but I'm flying in something a little more old school.
'Pilot Andrei calls his aeroplane The Tank.
' Give it the beans! What a machine! Proper Russian seat-of-your-pants, big guts flying.
This is my idea of heaven! 'The Antonov AN2 is a Soviet classic -- 'the ultimate in no-frills flying.
' And we're off! Airborne! OK! 'They've churned out thousands of them since the 1940s 'and, to be honest, not much has changed on the plane since.
' This sends me back to my school days.
When I was a boy, I used to look at books with World War II bomber pilots sat up in this glass cockpit, like this.
It's exactly the same.
Going to see if I can get my hands on the controls, but it's so funny.
I'm trying to look at the instruments and work out what's what.
I have no idea where our speed is.
It's all in Russian! OK? I'm OK to have a go? Lovely.
Wow, I'm flying the thing! Absolutely beautiful.
Can we see the lake? That's it in front, eh? Ah! 'At this time of year, 'the surface of the lake is covered in a thick layer of ice.
' You have control? We are just skirting the tops of the trees.
I hope this guy knows what he's doing! Good job! Oh, wow.
Would you look at that? That's epic.
Labynkyr Lake is nine miles long and 2.
5 miles wide.
Last year, scientists on another of Alexander's expeditions spotted something unusual below the ice.
Alexander believes it's the wreckage of one of the thousands of fighter planes that flew past here on their way from Alaska to the Russian front, during World War II.
So, he's brought together some of Russia's most experienced divers to search for the plane.
Hello! 'They're led by world ice diving champion Sasha Gubin.
' - My name is Sasha.
- Sasha.
Big day today.
Big day.
We are going to find the aeroplane.
It's hard to explain just how exposed we are out here.
This is still Russia, but we are 3,500 miles from Moscow and just a few hundred from the Arctic Circle.
- Good? - Good! - OK, let's go.
The dive site is four miles from the lodge.
In these temperatures, that's far enough to be fatal, if someone gets injured.
Alexander, Alexander.
Here.
Here, give us a hand.
Pull onto the thing Wey! Perfect.
Right.
I wonder how many people have ever had to dig access paths for wheelchairs on frozen lakes in the middle of Siberia? Not too many, I'd imagine.
This is unbelievable.
Look, I've never seen anything like this before.
They've cut a foot out of the lake.
They're standing on what they've already cut out and they are still digging down.
'It takes several hours for Alexander's team 'to cut through the ice.
They know what they're doing, but chainsaws, 'humans and frozen lakes are a dangerous combination.
' How deep? How deep? One metre? It's that deep? It would come up to here on you? 'If someone were to fall through now, 'a warm stove and a canvas tent won't save them.
'It'll just make dying slightly more comfortable.
'This is our lifeline.
If an accident happens on the lake, 'this helicopter can get us to hospital in just over one hour.
'Without it, the only way out of here is a six-hour, 'off-road drive through the mountains.
' The helicopter has just about arrived and Sergei has made, or improvised, a landing site, by whizzing round in circles on the skidoo, to get through the two-feet thick snow that is very soft powder and then he's put logs around on each corner and a roll mat in the middle, to show the pilot where the wind is going.
Up here, look, he's just making his approach now.
'But something is going wrong.
The pilot is ignoring the landing zone 'and he's headed for deep snow.
And he's getting far too close to us.
' Oh, wow.
Bloody hell! What a huge Oh! BLEEP.
He's ripped the tail rotor off it! He's crashed! He's crashed! Jesus! Oh, my God, the guy has just crashed the helicopter No, this is beyond funny now, because he's just crashed his aeroplane and ripped the tail rotor off it about ten metres from where we are.
Welcome to Siberia.
Are you for real? Landing there?! Jesus Christ! You idiot! I am absolutely flabbergasted.
That is our only emergency way of getting out of here.
We are stuck here on a frozen lake in the middle of nowhere.
'As well as the pilot and his little girl, 'there was a local journalist and members of our production crew 'on the chopper.
It's an absolute nightmare.
' If that happened in the air, the aeroplane would have spun out, hit the deck and it would have killed everybody on board, no doubt.
'There is shrapnel everywhere.
Amazingly, nobody has been hurt, 'but a line has been crossed and our director cancels 'any further flying here.
' I want four by fours over here or another airline, because we're not travelling with these people again.
- No.
- That's it.
No.
- Oh, dear God.
Really just taking stock.
I'm in shock at the moment, actually.
I'm in shock.
But I can't emphasise how close That's part of the tail rotor.
I can't emphasise how close we came to just being cut in half by these propellers, when they cut off the tail of his aeroplane.
'Maria, one of our producers, who was on the aircraft when it crashed, 'tries to help me get some answers.
' He doesn't understand what exactly happened and that's what he's trying to figure out, - what went wrong with the helicopter.
- I'll tell you what happened.
Tell him this, as well.
He didn't land on the designated landing site.
You've landed in two foot of virgin powder snow.
- This is inevitable.
- The snow didn't touch the tail.
It was something wrong.
It's not a matter of uncleared He landed here just, you know, recently, and it was in the same, on the same spot and it was fine, so he doesn't know.
He says we need to understand what has happened.
It takes nearly two hours to get everyone off the ice.
Alexander and the helicopter pilot have taken the AN2 back to Oymyakon, to get parts for their damaged chopper.
But back at the lodge, there is more bad news for us.
Our four by fours haven't arrived.
Right now, we are totally stranded.
'The crew are exhausted and the divers aren't happy, either.
'If they pull the plug, this expedition is over.
' It's been 12 hours since the crash.
Negotiations about whether to keep filming have gone on through the night.
The producers have managed to find a couple of drivers to come and get us in their 4x4s, but they're still a few hours away.
Sasha Gubin and his dive team are ready to return to the lake.
They're all hardened explorers and have decided to press ahead despite the setbacks.
So while we wait for our 4x4s to arrive, I'm returning to the dive site with my cameraman Chris and director Owen.
The rest of the team are packing up to leave.
We must be off the lake before dark, or our drivers will leave without us.
You're good to go.
The guys have been down about 40 minutes now and they're just in the final stages of rising back up to the surface.
Here they come! Alexander, are you seeing aeroplane? Oh.
No, there's no aeroplane? Oh, this is unbelievable.
It doesn't look like there is an aeroplane under here.
This lake is so vast, it's not to say that it isn't going to be here somewhere.
These guys will carry on, I'm sure.
But, for me, I've had my fill of this lake, so we're going to get out of here.
The helicopter crash has totally scuppered our plans.
We can carry on filming, but there will be no more flying in Oymyakon.
It's been a tough couple of days, and a few hard lessons have been learned.
But after some well-earned rest, we're ready to crack on and finish our film.
- Yeah, this is a good day, huh? - Yeah, good day.
- Beautiful day.
- Springtime.
My driver Yevgeny and I are travelling on one of the world's most infamous highways, Joseph Stalin's 1,200 mile Road of Bones.
What's this cross on the right-hand side in front, here? - You see the cross? - Er - Gulag.
- The memorial for the gulags? - Yeah.
- Wow! - Can we have a look at that? - If you want.
- Yeah? Can we stop and have a look, yeah? - OK.
Between 1918 and 1956, historians believe more than 20 million people died in Siberia's brutal gulags.
What does this plaque say? "This memorial was built for victims of political oppression, "who died, er, building this road.
" - Really? - If somebody dies .
.
his body buried under the road.
So they just threw them in and built the road on top of them? Many people.
What I find interesting, Yev, is that over here you've got quite a grand monument.
It's a big globe at the top and a statue, for the coldest day ever recorded here, which is minus 71.
2 centigrade.
But over the road here you've got quite a humble, modest memorial to thousands of people that died digging the road.
It just doesn't seem quite right.
Siberia is itself a natural prison, frozen solid for most of the year.
It's a wonder anyone lives here at all.
But I'm on my way to meet some people that wouldn't leave this place for all the diamonds in Russia Look at the horses! Indigenous horse farmers, living and working entirely off grid.
60-year-old Mikhail has invited me to spend the day on his farm.
What animal is it? Is it bear? And this.
What's this? Is it another skin? Oh, it's a coat.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's big.
Blimey, it weighs a ton as well.
I feel like Del Boy! Wow! This would keep you warm.
Oh, when you're riding? Yeah! It's minus 15 degrees today but in five or six weeks, temperatures will soar into the mid-20s.
Let's go! Mikhail needs to round up some of his horses for their seasonal haircut.
But first, we have to catch them.
Oh, this is epic! It's as remote as I've ever been -- there's no doubt about it.
We're not using sort of motorbikes or Ski-Doos, we're on a sled.
We're doing it exactly as it's been done for hundreds of years.
This is amazing! It really is breathtaking.
And look at these! Look at these guys coming up behind us, here.
Once-in-a-lifetime stuff.
It's quite tough, actually.
Mikhail, you've obviously had a lot more practice than I have.
Really, really thick hair.
Really thick.
I thought it would be, like, really easy to cut through, but it's not.
- It's quite - OK.
- Look at that.
Mikhail, do you ever feel, sort of, disconnected from the outside world? Mikhail and his wife Tatiana met at university in Yakutsk, but their passion for the icy forests of Siberia -- or the taiga -- meant the city didn't hold them for long.
When you come in through the door, it hits you like a wall, and you can smell it.
It's lovely.
Mikhail and Tatiana love their way of life here.
But even putting food on the table involves a constant battle against the cold.
That's amazing.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So put a bit of salt on it? Wow! It's red meat, frozen red meat.
It's very good, though.
This is frozen horse meat? Tatiana, do you ever get worried about him working in such cold conditions? Well, Tatiana, Mikhail, I've had a really amazing time.
I've really, really enjoyed myself.
Thank you very much indeed.
Goodbye.
Thank you, Tatiana.
I'll see you.
Take care.
After everything we've been through over the last few days, my time with Tatiana and Mikhail has been a real tonic.
I'll never forget my time here.
But before I leave Siberia, I'm heading for the River Lena, to join the Yakutsk search and rescue team on ice patrol.
I've come to the river city of Yakutsk .
.
the capital of Yakutia.
It's famous for being the coldest city in the world.
For seven months of the year, its great river, the Lena, is frozen solid.
But I'm not here for the big freeze.
I'm here for the thaw.
Soon, ships from all over Russia will be able to deliver vital supplies to this isolated city -- but right now the ice is breaking up and the river is treacherous.
Fishermen are warned to stay away, and boats strictly forbidden.
- Afanasiy.
- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you too.
- Welcome to Yakutsk.
Afanasiy Nikolayev works for Yakutsk Search and Rescue.
It's his job to assess when the river is safe to travel.
There's your new uniform.
- Cracking.
- You are joining rescue service of Yakutia.
- Happy days.
- Let's go to our boat.
Right, let's go.
After you.
How many months of the year can boats and ships actually navigate the Lena? From June .
.
to the end of October.
It's not very long.
During the thaw, strong currents carry great chunks of broken ice downstream, creating dangerous conditions.
I know that you see the tip of an iceberg and it's much larger underneath.
Is that the case for much of the ice in the river here? Yes, of course.
It's like hitting the rock.
We are coming up to the ice field.
- As you can see here.
- Yeah, look.
Wow.
Look at this one! The ice is starting to get quite dense now, quite thick.
That's a huge block of ice.
The Lena is the tenth-largest river on the planet, but it's only a fraction of the area Yakutsk Search and Rescue have to cover.
It was out here in the endless forests, an area five times the size of France, that Afanasiy became involved in a case that made headlines around the world.
Three-year-old Karina Chikitova went missing after following her father into the forest.
She was gone for four days before her parents were able to make contact with Afanasiy and his team.
For us, it's like a death sentence.
- Oh, God! It's every parent's worst nightmare.
- Yeah.
Did you have any idea at all where she might be? No, absolutely no.
The zone of search was about 300 square kilometres.
In this remote part of Siberia, bears, wolves and freezing temperatures claim even the most experienced hunters.
After 11 days alone in the wild, Karina wasn't given a chance.
When Afanasiy decided to film the search, he imagined it would be crucial evidence in a tragic story.
Then, on day 12, one of Afanasiy's team spotted something in long grass.
About 70 metres from me, one of the volunteers shouted that he found a kid.
- No way! - I told them not to touch anything because police detectives and forensics have to check out the body.
First, I saw there were two thin little arms staring out from the grass, holding a cookie.
I asked her, "Where were you going? What were you doing here in the forest?" She said, "I was going home.
" She was going home for 12 days.
12 days without water, without food.
How did she survive? It was a, like, miracle.
The River Lena will not be open for business today.
In Mother Russia, you don't take chances with Mother Nature.
Afanasiy believed that Karina survived because she wasn't scared.
The forest, he says, is in her genes.
It's an incredible thought but the people I've met here have an extraordinary bond with their environment.
When our helicopter crashed, it brought home how fragile life can be here.
And it is an unforgiving place, but people have found a way to survive, even to thrive, out here in magical, mysterious Siberia.
'Next time' '.
.
I'm flying across the largest ocean in the world' Absolutely stunning out here.
'.
.
to explore the islands of the South Pacific.
' You have to be kidding! 'I'll meet a lady who bought her very own island paradise.
' Bush surgery, jungle-style.
'I'll try my hand as a dentist's assistant '.
.
and I'll meet the leader of a tribe 'who worship a World War II god living in a volcano.
' Whoa!