(deep meditative music)
- [Nick] Our ancestors, as Iñupiat people.
they had to adapt and overcome every single day.
If the ice isn't coming in the way it usually does.
We got to figure out a way to go
and still maintain our subsistence lifestyle.
Rural Alaska has the highest rate of suicide per capita
for the entire United States.
I lost 13 of my basketball teammates and classmates
to alcohol related deaths and suicides.
I went to that dark place in my life.
That's when a kid said,
Hey, you should try out for American Ninja Warrior.
- [TV Show host] More than 40,000 applicants.
(epic drumming music)
- So I built a ninja course.
Unalakleet, you know, it's only accessible by plane or boat.
You can't just go to a home depot or get materials.
Went walking down on the beach and just picked up logs
and turned them into Ninja warrior obstacles
and that was my training ground.
(grunts)
- [Matthew] Unalakleet is a community
that sits where the Unalakleet river comes down
and feeds into the Bering Sea.
Much like other communities, Unalakleet relies
on shorefast ice to protect it from storms
throughout the winter .
- [Nick] And that ice kind of comes
right up against the beach.
And it creates this barrier between us and the weather.
- [Matthew] When that shortfast ice is gone,
that protective barrier is gone.
It presents an immense challenge as that,
as that coastline is eroding.
(wind blowing)
- [Nick] Back in September, we had a big storm,
- basically flooded my entire course
and tore apart like half of my obstacles.
And I was hopeless. You know,
there was nothing I could do against the weather.
but more importantly, we were wondering
if we were going to have to evacuate town.
We were worried if we were safe or not.
- The ice season in the Bering Sea region has shifted
from November to June, to January to late April.
- [Clyde] By February, we'd have maybe four or five feet,
six feet of ice. By spring time,
I used to help out our aunties and grandmothers
when they went ice fishing.
If you're small, younger, 12 years old,
you'd have to get inside that hole.
- [Tom] Sometimes it's so deep.
I can't even reach the bottom.
My tuuk keep chipping, but you can't pull the slush out.
- [Clyde] When you get near the bottom
the water will rush up.
You're not careful you'll get all wet.
Now we're lucky we get six inches, 12 inches a year.
- [Nick] You know, in my lifetime,
I've seen the amount of ice almost diminish.
- [Matthew] As you lose protective shore fast ice
along the coast, communities are exposed to a rough ocean
for much longer periods throughout the year.
- [Tom] You get a 20 mile an hour wind,
those waves get pretty big
and they start eating away at the land that we live on.
- [Nick] Well, Unalakleet's a village of 750 people.
There's river on one side,
and then the ocean on the other side.
- [Matthew] When you have storm surge,
it's not only a rising sea,
but a rising river as well.
- [Frank] We're lucky that we do have a dike
made up of rock.
However, that rock settles with the wave action.
The wave action becomes larger and just more water
with full force hitting the beach.
When this high water comes,
a lot of times can go over even the airport runway
and it brings in wood, it brings in rock.
Well, we kind of become like an Island.
We're surrounded by water.
- [Matthew] There are communities all the way
from the Northern side of the Seward peninsulas
all the way down to the Aleutian islands
that are facing extreme rates of coastal erosion.
- Beaches are kind of washing away.
We're seeing a lot of landslides.
We're seeing a lot of sink holes.
- Back when I grew up as a little boy,
and we traveled the ocean ice to Shaktoolik
about 44 miles and we no longer can do that.
We're having to travel on an inland trail.
And a lot of times it's not enough snow
or consistent rain melting the snow.
- Our Springs are thawing out earlier.
The foundation of the frozen river is not as solid
as it has been in the past.
Last fall, my wife's uncle raced down to get some tomcods.
Got a few tomcods.
Coming back fell through the ice and drowned.
(slow piano music)
I need to haul wood earlier in the winter,
instead of late in the spring, like we've been doing.
- [Frank] Sooner or later,
our low lands may get flooded out.
- You know, moving out of here.
It just has never been an option for me.
- [Frank] The only options are relocating.
And some people are doing that along the hillside.
- [Nick] The community of Unalakleet decided
to set up an allotment for young people that you know,
wanted to have their own place to live.
They wanted their own piece of land and their own home.
- Get up in the higher areas for safety.
- [Nick] I want to, you know, eventually have my own kids
and you know, I just wanted to have my own place
and this, you know, my kids to grow up and say,
my dad built this house with his bare hands.
Change is tough for a lot of elders.
Like this is their home, this is where they grew up.
- It took me 25 years to pay off a three bedroom home,
and I can't afford to even consider moving my home.
- Born in Alaska, raised in Unalakleet,
it's heaven on earth if you live here for long enough.
Once I started doing American Ninja Warrior,
the entire community just fully supported me.
(people speaking happily)
- [Nick] Here I am auditioning and sending you guys a video.
So...
pick me!
(laughing)
The producers of the show loved it.
(crowd cheering)
- [Show Host 1] He's quick!
Went through these first two obstacles
- [Show Host 2] It's a wild ride.
- [Show Host 1] Nick Hanson, go on with your bad side!
- [Competitors] Eskimo! Eskimo!
- It turned into this crazy phenomenon.
(children cheering)
So now it's just a matter of starting from scratch.
It's an opportunity to start something fresh
and start something new,
and it's going to be amazing.
(soft upbeat music)