Expedition

(gentle music) -

Steve

We've come to Greenland for an extraordinary challenge. Many of these peaks remain unclimbed and unexplored. Having never had a human foot set upon them. I'm leading a crack team of explorers to conquer this one last frozen frontier. (suspenseful music) But when you're on expedition, you can only climb the mountain that's in front of you. In this case, that mountain is a river. We can't go around it, we can't go over it. So we've got to go through it. Should we go down and see what it looks like, like on the edge and see how. How deep it is. And then we send in the sacrificial Backshall. Scale of rubbish one to five. I think at one, we would be wading through up to our knees, get frostnip in all our toes and mud in our boots. A level five, we all die. -

Steve

But even getting to the water is proving difficult. Whoa, stand on it and give it a few hits. Quicksand. As soon as you take two or three more steps on the one spot you start going under. (quicksand sloshes) (wind blows) I'm thinking that there's a couple little channels here that are narrow. What do you all think? I'm keen to just plunge in and see what happens. Yeah, okay. -

Steve

The team seems less than enthusiastic. And Aldo resorts to childish distractions. Bear! Just joking. -

Steve

The last thing we need in the arctic is wet clothes. So we only have one option. It's time to strip off. You look like you're the dude at festivals that empties out the porta loos. (laughs) Well completely preposterously we're standing in our pants in the middle of Greenland. (laughs) -

Steve

Enough messing about. It's time to get on with it. The thing is, is that this river, was a glacier a matter of hours ago. So it's going to be freezing cold. (water splashes) Nope. Please don't get any deeper than that. Oh no, it's getting deeper. Oh, you've gone to a dark place. (geese honk) Whole bunch of barnacle geese on the mud flats ahead of me. It just sounds like they're laughing at me or mocking my misfortune. What the (beep) are we doing? (squeals and laughs) I am pretty short. (beep) (beep) That was the deepest part and it's bloody cold. What! (laughs) (breathes heavily) I think that's the worst of it, done. (giggles) -

Steve

With the river behind us, we can trouser up and get warm. But this is proof that on expedition the best way forward isn't always the easiest. (gentle music)