Raising the Mammoth Page #8

iron will not support the block.

There will be three other piece

who the support will be transversal.

Until we, we, we have not installed

the three other pieces

or two other pieces, we don't take

out ground from this place.

We will take ground

the ground on this place

after we have put this three...

We can work, I think,

without any problem of security

on the both sides of the block.

After we put the other one

two piece of wood

to be sure and only

only one hour before the take-off

of the block

by the helicopter, we will cut...

Bernard and the Russians are heading

toward an impasse.

Ah we cannot move it.

No, we need to decide that.

The next morning the chopper from

Khatanga arrives with new supplies

and a welcome face.

Vladimir, the interpreter,

is back in time to help iron

things out.

They work out a plan to secure

the unstable block

so that the men can move more

safely around it.

But it will mean going a little bit

more slowly.

Everybody's comfortable

with this solution.

So I can go to sleep again.

Boris made a good job last night.

All people are agree with him, now.

They are against me and agree

with him.

Boris at that time explained me also

one very important thing.

During 22 years he lives in tundra

and if he is still alive

it's because the most important thing

is to take care about human life.

So, in each step of his life

he can do crazy things

but he is always thinking about

safety.

He likes the life

he respects the life.

The men are in the final stages of

their construction marathon.

Once the beams are welded together

the mammoth frame

and the animal on top

will be ready for lift-off.

That is, if it's possible to raise

a block this size with a helicopter.

It's never been done before.

Khatanga airport.

As Bernard feared

the place is as silent as

a ghost town due to weather

and a kerosene shortage.

It's bad timing.

The M l-26 is the largest civilian

helicopter in the world

and is scheduled to lift the mammoth

if there's fuel to be had.

Bernard has raced to Khatanga for

a meeting

with the civil aviation director.

Now I don't know, possible fly

Not possible?

May be problem, may be no problem?

If you decide...

The problem, he explains, is the ice.

Cargo ships can't get through

to Khatanga.

So there are shortages of fuel for

heating, electricity and airplanes.

That is, until the icebreaker

gets here.

...what do you want, what you want.

Having muscled through 5 meters

of permafrost

it would be tragic to be defeated

by 26 centimeters of ice.

Back at camp, Christian DeMarliave

and Dick Mol organize the

scientific work

ahead once the mammoth reaches

Khatanga.

The flesh and organs may reveal much

about the animal's health and diet.

And evidence of pollen and

insect life

will add to our knowledge

of their Ice Age habitat.

Now that the work is done

Dick Mol has time to reflect on

what it's like to meet

a woolly mammoth.

This was a wonderful experience

for me.

We were working on top of the block

with the hair dryer

with your hands between the hairs

because you have to destroy

the sand pieces and so on

and it feels warm, it feels hot.

It was like sitting on a living

mammoth from 22,222 years ago.

And the smell of the animal, too.

You have the smell of urine, of dung

of the animals.

And this is how the mammoth

the Jarkov mammoth smells like.

This was beautiful.

This was the biggest event for me

in my life.

Hidden in the flesh,

the wool and perhaps the DNA of the

Jarkov mammoth

may be the secrets of how the animal

lived and why his species died.

In Khatanga, the arrival of the

icebreaker was a major event.

Because in its wake are the ships

that supply the city.

It's the news Bernard and Anatoly

have been waiting for.

The kerosene has arrived, at last.

The plan is to head for the dock and

see what they can arrange.

When the ship arrives

the men are ready to negotiate

their deal.

Operating at three tons of fuel

per hour

the M l-26 that will fly the mammoth

could burn up to seven tons

of kerosene.

Time is running out.

It's up to Anatoly to make it work.

The only thing left to do now is

to phone the camp with good news.

The kerosene is here

Bernard is on his way back

the mammoth will fly.

With the M l-26 already en route

there's no time to lose.

The long weeks of working

and waiting

and dreaming on the tundra are about

to come to a close

in a frenzy of activity.

It was unbelievable for me because

after waiting for weeks and weeks

for the news of kerosene

the Russian give me only two hours

to prepare the lift.

Everything at that time has to be

done in a hurry.

I look at the sun.

It was four o'clock in the afternoon

and I knew that I have one small hour

in front of me of daylight.

And I think, "okay, it's a sign

from the sky."

We have so nice weather

we have kerosene.

The big helicopter is here.

The Russian are ready to do this now.

Let's go now and we will see

what happen.

As the M l-26 hovers over

the mammoth site

the wash from its 42-foot blades

knocks men to the ground.

But they manage to attach the cables.

After some minutes I become

a little bit crazy.

I start to speak to, to the mammoth

and tell to him

"Let do this, everything's ready

there is no risk

they want to take you, you

you you can go."

I was speaking to him.

There's been a glitch

in communication.

The payload is three tons overweight

and the chopper is straining.

It's dangerous.

For a few terrifying minutes

nothing happens...

Until suddenly there's lift-off.

After some couple of minutes

the block start to appear

and those tusks start to appear

from the, from the ground

and I say "Ah, it's unbelievable.

These people are able to do this."

At first unwilling to budge

the mammoth surrenders

sliding clumsily out of the hole

and narrowly escaping a crash

with the generator.

For what seems an eternity,

the pilot attempts to trick the

forces of gravity.

Finally, he succeeds.

It was completely magic because after

all of this during 12, 15 minutes

I was ready to stop the process.

I was ready to, to not take

anymore risk

because the life of people

was engaged.

And, uh, after all this process

everything was okay.

The helicopter was there.

The mammoth was there with

his two tusks

and the sun was just setting

at that time

and it was the perfect timing

and I think we are

we have, we have the help of

the sky today.

How would it feel to be a traveler

suspended in space and time

between being and nothingness?

To look down on the Arctic with eyes

frozen shut for 12,222 years.

At the dawn of the new millennium,

this refugee from the Ice Age will

take the ride of his life.

As night falls on Khatanga,

the Jarkov mammoth and his hunter

come to the end of their journey.

It's a soft landing that resounds

across the globe.

This is the final chapter

in the story

of the search for the Jarkov mammoth.

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