With its endless white desert and frozen rivers for roads, Alaska—”the last frontier”—is a land of extremes. In winter, temperatures can drop as low as -50 degrees Fahrenheit. Richard always keeps a drill handy in his pickup, using it to check the thickness of the ice before driving across—his way of avoiding an icy plunge. Each winter, the Kuskokwim River transforms into an ice highway: risky, yet essential for the locals.
Another key route for the region’s economy lies beyond the Arctic Circle and leads to the oil wells of Prudhoe Bay. The 700-kilometre stretch of the Dalton Highway is the bane of American truck-drivers’ lives. Adam, hauling a load of industrial salt for oil drilling, faces a constant battle against avalanches and treacherous patches of ice.
For pilots and gold miners, the biggest threat is a blizzard—fierce winds loaded with snow that can wipe out everything in its surroundings. In winter, many villages are accessible only by air. This leads to young pilots like 27-year-old Matt coming to Alaska each year, lured by a promise of adventure; their skill and stamina keep remote communities connected, flying residents around for medical appointments and delivering fruit and vegetables to places unreachable by road.
Alaska also offers some the chance to chase their boldest dreams, such as Scott and Lary, a pair of gold miners who dive under the ice into the -1°C waters of the Bering Sea. To last hours in the sub-zero water, they’ve cobbled together a homemade contraption they call “the spider.”
In Nakapiak, the rapid melting of glaciers and permafrost is now a constant threat, disrupting daily life and reshaping the landscape.