[intense music]
[Matthew humming]
MATTHEW: I'm Matt McConaughey.
I'm on a glacier in Norway.
[dogs barking]
I'm about to be
Running Wild with Bear Grylls.
[clicks tongue] Giddy up.
Bear and I have been
trying to hook up
to do this for about 20 years.
Finally we've got
this one together.
Here we go, man.
Enjoy. Looking forward to it.
[Matthew vocalizing]
- [dogs barking]
- [Matthew clicks tongue]
[Matthew humming]
Thank you, Moa.
The dog sled driver gave me
what's called anker, an anchor.
[laughs] I have no idea
if we're gonna be using this
somewhere today.
There's something about
being out in Mother Nature that
the buzz is that you're just a
little closer to the food chain
and where you are
in the food chain.
And that's a natural high.
I've always thought, if I die,
if I go as part
of the food chain,
I just feel there's
an elegance to that, man.
[laughs] It may hurt...
but if that happens,
I'll feel like that was written.
We're not in Texas anymore,
I know that.
BEAR: Matthew McConaughey
is a legend.
- Say that again.
- [Bear clears throat]
BEAR: Matthew McConaughey
is a true legend.
You bet I am.
BEAR: His name brings to mind
so many classic movies,
so many beloved characters.
All right, all right, all right.
BEAR: From blockbusters
to prestige television,
McConaughey has been
a leading man
and an A-list icon for decades.
Truth hurts, baby.
BEAR: Matthew also shares
his wit and wisdom
as a best-selling author.
To get to know the man
behind the legendary action
and heartwarming comedies,
I'm taking Texas' favorite son
out of his element
and into the wilderness
of Norway.
You can't be serious.
BEAR: This is gonna be
an adventure to remember.
All right, all right, all right.
[laughs] Too late now, man.
We're here.
I ain't gon' back down now.
I've got a feeling
today's gonna be
a little bit about adrenaline.
That's a natural high
I'm looking forward to.
Bear is the expert.
I'm coming to his office,
and we'll come out of here,
hopefully both of us,
with a story
that we'll remember.
BEAR: Matthew and I will be
traveling seven miles
through a remote glacial valley.
We'll make our way
down sheer granite cliffs,
up steep rocky terrain,
and through serpentine valleys,
eventually finding
a place to make camp.
On day two, we'll attempt
the largest descent
in Running Wild history
and navigate through
a series of frigid arctic lakes
to get to our extraction point.
They say everything
is bigger in Texas,
but wait till
Matthew sees Norway.
Whoo!
The journey begins. I love it.
That was my first natural high
right there.
Just swoop across the left,
just a little bit of gravity,
making you feel real small,
which makes you feel real good.
Very good, very good.
Nice to see you, brother.
Hey, good to see you, man.
It's been a while.
- You've been keeping okay?
- Yeah.
Kiddos, all teenagers
in the house now.
- I mean, it's crazy, isn't it?
- How old are your kids now?
They're a little few years
ahead of yours.
- Awesome.
- Yeah, yeah.
- But we're still going.
- Hell yeah, man.
And we're still married
to the same women.
- Hey.
- You know what it's like?
You can't take that
for granted in life, man.
Because it's not the majority.
It ain't happening.
And I love the fact that we've
known each other a while,
and we said we'd figure this out
at the right time.
- We finally did. Yeah, man.
- First time in Norway?
- First time.
- Beautiful.
Well, this is west coast,
super remote.
This time of year, obviously,
also almost daylight 24-7.
- MATTHEW: All day long.
- And the weather's nice today,
but the one constant
about Norway weather
is that it will change.
- Happy?
- I'm a happy man.
Good. Come on.
So our journey
takes us basically south.
We can see a whole bunch of
ravines, cliffs, lakes, rivers.
Just take our time down
all of this sort of thing.
This undulating,
pretty difficult terrain.
We're just gonna work
buddy-buddy together.
We're looking for a big drop-off
down towards this lake.
- Definitely not Texas now.
- No. [chuckles]
This is a big respite
for me, man.
I need to shake the city off
of me right now.
Yeah, have you had
quite a lot of city?
A lot of city,
a lot of intellectual stuff, so.
Oh, you're in great company
with this lot and me.
We'll bring the intellectual
down a few notches.
- Let's bring it down, man.
- [Bear laughs]
[intriguing music]
We have got
some blueberry bushes, look.
Yeah, look. Blueberries.
There you go, try that.
What would be
your foods off the land up here
for any long amount of time?
Well, it's a really
interesting question
because so many of the great--
like, the World w*r II
resistant Norwegian heroes,
they literally lived off
reindeer moss,
which is this lichen.
I mean, they actually
arguably saved the w*r
because the Germans
were so close
to developing a nuclear weapon
with the hard water plants
up here.
It was unguarded
because it was established
that nobody could survive
up there in winter.
And these Norwegian
resistance guys
dropped down
and they blew this thing up
and they survived
for, like, 60 odd days.
They'd eat reindeer moss
that was in the stomachs
of dead reindeer.
I mean, they actually
were, like, proper heroes.
Okay, let's head that way
and we'll drop around that bit.
Okay.
BEAR: So,
top of the mountain here,
we've got some cliffs,
big thumping waterfalls.
The weather's pretty good
at the moment,
but also I've known it
horrific up here,
so we take nothing for granted.
That's eventually
where we want to head down.
Okay, come with me.
Watch the step here.
You want to stay
on that south trajectory,
which means we're gonna
have to drop off this cliff.
Okay, here we go.
Be cautious here.
A pre-placed diagonal line
that takes us all the way down
to the valley floor
is gonna save hours.
It's quite committing though
if you haven't done this before
because that exposure becomes
quite significant quite quickly.
Okay, so we've got a line here
tied all the way to the bottom.
Here we are.
First time I guess we're gonna
get off our feet and rappel.
As we lower ourselves down,
we're gonna be clipped
into this tight line,
and it'll take us away
from the edge of the cliff.
MATTHEW:
I don't think down the face,
what it looks like
is we're gonna be two lines
and kind of going off
at an angle away
from the face of the cliff,
which I've never done before.
When I do something like this
or if I do, like, a stunt,
the Tesseract in Interstellar,
I wanna look the stunt
coordinator in the eye.
I'm there shaking his hand
in the morning going,
"How's your heart
and mind these days, man?
[laughs] You know what I mean?
You'll see me do it.
It'll make sense.
Super straightforward.
Trust the gear.
Okay, we get tied in. That's it.
Trust the gear.
[dramatic music]
Here we go. Here we go.
Down, down, down.
Keep going.
And then we're good.
So this will be
the committing bit.
It matters when
you initially drop off.
It's definitely more slippery
and awkward than it looks.
MATTHEW: You know
you're technically strapped in.
You know logically you're good.
But it's still an abnormal thing
to do physiologically.
[laughs]
That's part of the buzz.
Okay, we're good.
Harder work than
I thought it would be.
It's definitely quite committing
if you've never
done that before,
once you go over the edge
and look down.
You'll definitely get what
he's calling the buzz. [laughs]
MATTHEW: The unknown
is what's exciting.
You start to feel smaller,
and that's the beginning
of the humility.
You never take
any of this for granted.
Just the sheer vastness
of Mother Nature.
It feels live now, you know?
We'll go see
what we can overcome.
And after you overcome it,
then you start feeling bigger.
Right now,
I'm feeling really small.
You're good.
Pull it back and then go for it.
[Matthew breathing shakily]
♪♪♪♪♪
BEAR: Okay, we're good.
You're good.
[dramatic music]
[Matthew breathing shakily]
MATTHEW: Trust the gear.
I know mathematically
and the science says
all this stuff can hold you,
and I get it.
But I wasn't there when
they were twining this rope.
And me... [laughs]
...I just kind of wanted
to see them do it.
Trust the gear.
Well done, Matthew. Good job.
- Okay, well done, Matthew.
- [Matthew exhales sharply]
You get a core workout on this.
- [chuckles] Oh, yeah.
- I didn't anticipate that.
Well, the thing is,
it's not like in a climbing gym,
you know.
No. [exhales sharply]
Body sweat officially broken.
That's an A-plus
core-a*s workout right there.
Learned to trust it a little bit
more on the way down. [exhales]
I'm not quite there to
the full-on surrender yet.
But we got a day and a half
to go, so let's see.
BEAR: In winter, this will be
under, like, 20 foot of snow.
Your head's gonna be
so full of random weird facts.
[laughs] Yeah.
Here, look,
we've got this nice stream.
It's definitely worth
just having
a splash of water, hydrate.
you don't drink from streams.
Clear water isn't clean water.
The glacier
is so close above us,
the likelihood of any
contamination from dead animals
or even animals drinking in this
bit of stream is really low.
This is as pristine and
beautiful as you'll ever get.
I mean, this is
God's fresh water right here.
You know, normally you've
got to be careful when you see
mountain streams like that
that look beautiful.
It doesn't always mean
they're good to drink.
But just coming across
that flowing pool
of beautiful Norwegian water
is pristine.
It tastes amazing.
So when you do get a chance
to rehydrate, take it.
MATTHEW: This water here, that's
better than any bottled water.
Even if they put that
in a bottle,
it's better straight
out of the source right there.
[gentle music]
BEAR: Let's have a quick stop.
- [Matthew sighs]
- Well, this could be worse.
This could be
horrific weather, you know.
And we're not counting our
chickens, 'cause it's Norway.
But at the moment,
this is as good as it ever gets.
I mean, this is just beautiful.
Temperature's perfect.
There's not even
a breeze right now.
So was your first thing you
kind of got in the public eye
- was the Unsolved Mysteries?
- Hmm.
- [laughs] Remember that?
- Mm-hmm.
Please don't sh**t. No! No!
I wouldn't say
that put me in the public eye.
But it was
the first thing I did.
And I always like to say this.
They caught the k*ller
two weeks later.
So I was like,
"I must have done a decent job."
- You were very good.
- [both laughing]
If you think back to that
kind of time in your life,
were you thinking,
"This is what I wanna do"?
Nah. I was in the right bar
at the right time.
I knew the bartender, and he
said, "There's a producer down
"at the end of the bar
in town producing a film."
I went down
and introduced myself.
He says his name
is Don Phillips.
He says,
"You ever done any acting?"
He goes, "Come to this address
tomorrow morning at 9:30.
"I got a script for you.
There's a role in there.
"You might be
right for the part."
Next thing I know,
I'm in this '70s Chevelle car
getting a lavalier mic put on.
There's not a word
written for the scene.
And I've never acted before.
I'm sitting there going, "Who's
my man? Who's Wooderson, right?
"What am I about?"
I said, "Wooderson."
I said, "What do I love?"
I said, "I love my car.
"Bam, I'm in my '70s Chevelle."
I said, "I love rock and roll."
I said, "Ah, man, I got
Ted Nugent's 'Stranglehold'
"in the 8-track right now. Two."
I said,
"Three, I love to get high."
Next thing I hear is, "Action."
I drop it in drive
and I think to myself,
"I got three of my favorite
things already..."
[imitates gearshift clicking]
"All right, all right,
all right."
And that was
the three affirmations
for the three things I did have.
First three words
I ever said on film.
That's amazing. That's amazing.
And then drove out to Hollywood.
Showed up on that guy's couch.
Don Phillips, the guy I met
that night in the bar.
Slept on his couch.
And I asked him, I said,
"Can I get an agent's meeting?"
And he started
just yelling at me.
He goes, "You don't need
a [bleep] agent's meeting.
"You're needing it too much.
"Hollywood smells you
needing it.
"Hollywood will kick you out
before you ever got in the door.
"'Cause what you need to do
is get out of here and go
"with your mates
from Dazed and Confused.
"Take your motorcycle somewhere
and go ride somewhere."
And we got tickets
to Amsterdam the next day.
Me, Rory Cochrane,
and Cole Hauser,
our new friends
from Dazed and Confused,
rode through Europe for a month.
Came back, wasn't thinking
about getting an agent.
And about five days
after I was back, he goes,
"Tomorrow morning,
I got us a meeting.
"William Morris Agency."
He goes, "You ready?"
I go, "Why, am I ready?"
He goes, "You don't need it.
You just want it."
- Went in...
- Yeah.
- Don was smart.
- He was real smart.
He's up there now.
But yeah, he was a legend.
But it isn't like
it just sort of fell upon you.
You went to that bar
to meet Don.
You found your kind of niche.
And then you kind of figured
out, "What do I need to do"?
I was aggressive.
But also, dude, I've definitely
had some grace shine down on me.
There's some things I look back
that only make sense now.
That's beautiful and true.
Okay, we're gonna keep moving.
Otherwise we'll start
getting stiff
and then it gets harder to move.
- Okay. Let's go this way.
- Ah.
[dramatic music]
BEAR: In an alpine wilderness,
there are always
peaks and valleys.
We need to make our way
up and over this next ridge
to get to camp.
It's a good way
for Matthew to get ready,
as the terrain will only get
more treacherous tomorrow.
So we're gonna head up
over the top of this.
Over the top of this?
I'd asked our team
to pre-place a rope for us
and a Jumar device,
and I'm gonna use this device
to go up the rope,
but it won't slide back down.
Again, it's physical,
but it'll get us to the top.
We're gonna do
what's called Jumar upping.
A classic technique.
Just goes one way.
I don't know exactly how
this Jumar works technically,
but I'm about to find out.
BEAR: Use your feet
as much as you can.
So you're pulling, sliding,
and you get it then
into a rhythm.
It's just a technique
that climbers use.
Special Forces troops use it
to get onto oil rigs and stuff.
It allows you to climb up,
but not slip down a rope.
What goes down
has got to come up.
So these Jumars
are always quite awkward.
We had a core workout
on the first thing.
This is gonna be
a forearm workout.
That's what they say in nature.
Core body workout.
I'm curious to see
what gets fatigued first
on my body on this one.
- Okay, Matthew.
- Yeah.
On your way up,
just pick up dinner.
- It's just on that ledge.
- MATTHEW: Okay.
I'd ask the crew to leave
a local delicacy for us
to eat for camp later
halfway up this rock face.
♪♪♪♪♪
So Matthew, that's it.
You pull, relax, put your weight
in it, then slide.
As far as it will go. That's it.
You'll get the rhythm.
Oh, yeah,
we got to use slack here.
There it is.
That's it.
Pull it all the way down,
all the way in.
MATTHEW: The problem
with most adventures
is people get out
of the gate too quick.
I've learned that
even working on sets.
I used to wake up at 6:00 a.m.
and fire out of bed
and be like, "Let's go!"
And then by 10:30
in the morning, I'm pooped.
BEAR: Well done, Matthew.
MATTHEW: I've learned
to pace myself.
It's a workout, isn't it?
It's a much more
relaxing visual.
Well, see,
when you're looking up,
- it's much better.
- [laughs]
Yeah, that's not as relaxing.
But now that I trust my Jumar...
Yeah.
- Oh, I see something.
- That's dinner.
It's provided by the reindeers.
Looks like it definitely
might need a fire.
BEAR: Yeah.
Reindeer gift, huh?
Reindeer gift from the bull.
Perfect. What part of the bull?
BEAR: The crew kindly provided
from the reindeer bull
one of its testicles.
That's how much they love us.
MATTHEW: A little reindeer.
Ready for the evening.
Sustain it.
Hyah! [giggles]
You should be able
to climb this up now.
- Use me, use me.
- There we are.
- [exhales]
- Great.
[exhales] I like the Jumar.
- It's hard work, isn't it?
- Yeah, it's a good one.
- It's a good one.
- I was, like, pouring with
sweat when I got to the top.
MATTHEW: This one
I dug quite a bit.
Really good upper body workout.
But again,
a rhythm with it, the patience,
and really comfortable
if you need to rest.
That was like
sitting in a La-Z-Boy.
Jumar. I'm a fan.
Look at the tender hands.
Look at the tender city hands.
No, it's good. It's good.
- Look, the g*ns are firing.
- [Matthew giggling]
Tender feet, tender hands.
Shake a little city off of you,
McConaughey.
[laughing]
BEAR: So, top of the Jumar,
rookie, first time Matthew,
picks things up quickly.
He also managed
to grab us dinner.
You know,
it's like Norway's version...
what is it,
of Rocky Mountain oysters.
Okay.
MATTHEW: So that's what it is.
Reindeer ba*ls.
I'm taking it that's--
yeah, that's the left one,
I believe.
Bear got the right one.
So, we got one nut each.
[bleep]
Look out for us tomorrow, man.
BEAR: Okay, come on.
This is why we came up here.
So now we can see
the whole valley
all the way down to the coast.
Still south.
That's west, the sea.
So, the Jumar saved us
a bunch of time.
But both of us are pretty tired.
We're a little bit colder.
So I'm gonna kind of cut
through that little valley,
and really then
we're gonna start looking for
a place to make camp.
This is gonna be a great place.
We've got water,
a little bit of flat ground,
and a view to die for.
Protected from the bad weather.
It's like in
an amphitheater of mountains.
These one-man tents are great,
so we're gonna get these up,
get a fire going,
get the testicle cooking,
and we should be golden.
We can have a fire
in the opening here.
Okay.
Water.
Need a pee in the night, easy.
Look at that.
- Well done.
- Yeah. k*lled that.
- You worked hard.
- I enjoyed that.
You worked up
a good, honest sweat.
- That's good.
- Yeah.
It was a full-body workout.
And it was long.
It's amazing, isn't it?
And it's true that we usually
remember the getaways that
were the most adventurous.
The ones that didn't
have the silk sheets.
The ones that didn't have the
piña colada under the umbrella.
Even though those are nice.
The highlight
of the evening meal.
Ugh. Doesn't have a great smell.
I'm not gonna lie. [laughs]
[laughing]
No.
What would you think that was
if it was on the menu?
- Smell first.
- You'd probably look for
a different restaurant.
There something about
cutting into a testicle...
as a man,
you can't help but feel pain.
You know, it's phantom pain.
Maybe that's how they
describe it. Phantom pain.
You know, we have got that.
[both laughing]
I mean, bull skew.
- Well, dinner's cooking.
- MATTHEW: Look at this.
I mean, the last time we met,
you very kindly cooked us,
- me and my family, dinner.
- Yeah.
You delivered
these most amazing slabs
of proper Texan T-bones.
It was awesome.
And I feel I've under-delivered.
I'm not gonna lie.
But this is apropos
for where we are.
- It is apropos.
- 100%.
[Matthew sighs]
Your partnership with Woody,
has that been
a fun thing in your life?
Yeah, he's a constant reminder
for me to stay young.
Because he's
a perpetual eight-year-old.
Oh, my gosh.
I mean,
you can't get mad at Woody for
showing up barefoot three
days late to your own wedding.
- Three days late.
- Because you can show up
three days late to his own
wedding and he don't care.
He's never gone through
a front door in his life.
- That's so funny.
- I've woke up next to him
in my bed
between me and my wife,
'cause he snuck through
the bedroom window unannounced.
- No. Are you serious?
- Many times.
- That is brilliant.
- Oh, he's great.
I always like to say,
"I almost kissed my wife
"as many times as I have..."
How many years have you been
married now? Thirteen?
What have you learned
about marriage?
MATTHEW: It's a challenge
once you have children.
Sometimes we get down the track
where it's so much
about the kids,
and we look up and go,
"Oh, hey, how are you doing?"
I've got to remind myself--
I forgot who told me this
a long time ago,
but the best example
you can give your kids
is how you treat their mother.
My grandpa always said that,
he said,
"Parenting in three words,
example, example, example."
I think a man's a prince
until he has children
and then becomes a king.
I don't think there's anything
more important
that a man can do.
In fact, man, we're immortal.
That's the beginning
of our immortality,
and hopefully we're lucky enough
for them to have offspring,
and it continues.
To pass that down,
I think that's the greatest art
that a man can make,
is being a good father
to a son or a daughter.
The rest is detail already.
Right?
- Should we try the testicle?
- Hell yeah.
Look at that.
BEAR: I would say
it's improved with cooking.
Reindeer testicle.
Here's to today.
Life, friendships, family.
Amen.
Hey. Hey.
Can I have another piece,
please?
- [Bear laughs]
- That's a hell of a lot better
than I thought it was gonna be.
That's a phrase you don't often
associate with this show.
Rudolph.
That's really not bad.
Texture was six out of ten.
Taste was six out of ten.
If you just got out of your head
what the heck it was,
you throw the right kind
of spice on there,
some of my famous rub,
char the edges a little bit,
you might have
an eight out of ten,
have something
you can put on the menu.
BEAR: Happy?
MATTHEW: Being out here
is a heck of a gift, man.
Mother Nature is
God's greatest art.
You've got a new book,
a mix of poems and prayers.
Poems & Prayers.
Yeah, great.
Where does that come from?
It just came from
me looking around,
maybe something about
getting into early fifties.
We go from being a child, you're
naive and you're innocent.
Then you're skeptical
as you learn things.
And then there's that fourth one
people become, which is cynical.
That's the disease of aging.
One of the worst diseases
we have is cynicism.
I'm not for foolish optimism.
I don't believe everything's
always just rosy and great
and everyone's always
telling the truth
and everything's
just hunky-dory.
No, [bleep], it's not.
But to sort of tap out and go...
that's just the way it is.
It's just not ready
to put a white flag on that.
And so I, myself,
personally, was going,
"Man, I want more belief."
So, Poems & Prayers.
More mystical,
more spiritual, more faithful.
Belief in self, others,
potential, God.
I think life without
any form of faith is...
life's hard enough as it is.
I don't wanna do it on my own.
Forget it. It's hard.
You look at leadership.
You look at-- turn on the news.
The evidence doesn't
give reason for belief.
You know? At least
in the civilized world.
When you're out here like this,
you sure as heck
get evidence for belief.
If I'm not finding it
in the world
that I'm seeing around me,
maybe I'm looking
in the wrong place.
It's a really fun day
with Matthew.
He's a bright spirit.
He's such a grounded person
as well,
motivated by life
and by his family and faith.
And those are enduring things
in life.
But both of us are pretty tired.
We're gonna definitely
sleep well, I think, tonight.
It's a weird place
because, obviously,
it never gets dark
in Norway in summertime.
So, you just kind of
put the hood up,
cover your eyes, and sleep.
Big day tomorrow.
MATTHEW: Something
comforting about a fire.
No walls,
except for these mountains.
Trust the environment.
Whatever you say
can blow in the breeze
as far as it wants to, and
you've got a pretty good idea
it's gonna land on safe ears,
whosoever ears they are.
Yeah, something
comforting about it.
I've had three really good
buzzes today, natural highs.
I've got a feeling there's
a couple more coming tomorrow.
♪♪♪♪♪
[rain pattering]
BEAR: Okay, those worked.
MATTHEW: First night
in Norway in a tent.
It's not bad at all.
I got more sleep
than I did the night before.
Now, the trickle all night
was a little...
bedtime melody.
This feels like Norway now.
[chuckling]
BEAR: Okay, let's go.
Matthew and I have 1,500 feet
of elevation still to descend.
So, we'll have to find our way
down this granite mountain
and through a series
of glacial lakes
to get to our extraction point.
The only constant
with the Norwegian weather
is that it will change.
And this mountain sees
a lot of rain, a lot of snow.
Watch your step down here.
It's gonna be quite slippery.
[Matthew singing]
♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪
Morale is always harder
when it's raining.
I've learned that.
It's also where
we distinguish ourselves.
MATTHEW: You know,
when you go anywhere that's new,
- you're hyper-focused.
- BEAR: Yeah.
We've still got some
journeying between here
and where we're getting picked
up, so a bit of hiking in
and eventually
our way out of here.
Put a smile on. Keep going.
Yeah, we're ready.
- Hello, guys.
- MATTHEW: Hey!
Yes, man.
[bleating]
[bleating]
[bleating]
♪♪♪♪♪
There's slippery rock,
by the way.
Look, this starts
to drop off now.
MATTHEW: Mm-hmm.
[ominous music]
BEAR: You see,
this is gonna be steep.
We're gonna definitely
need rope for this.
All of this rock is carved
by glacial ice, so it's smooth.
And once that drop-off starting,
it's gonna get quite
committing, I think, this.
You can see all the way
down to the lakes there.
Yeah, I'm just anticipating
this is gonna be bigger
than maybe it feels
from up here.
That's probably about
Yeah, it's definitely
quite a bit more
than the first descent.
But we're obviously
gonna be much steeper.
Fear of heights? Sure.
[chuckles nervously] Yeah.
Okay, let's make
a solid anchor point here.
So, obviously, we haven't got
a lot of trees to tie off to.
These are the rocks.
Not strong enough.
Have you got
that talon from the dogs?
- Yes, I do.
- [Bear chuckles] Yeah.
You might have been thinking,
why do we need this thing?
The terrain so far
has been treacherous,
but nothing compares
to what's ahead.
If Matthew and I are gonna
get off this mountain,
we have to go down
the longest rappel
I've ever done on Running Wild.
This is 800 feet
of sheer granite rock.
But there are no good
anchor points,
so we're gonna have to use
the brake from his dog sled.
We'll stamp it into the ground,
tie it off,
and make our way down.
- MATTHEW: The anchor.
- BEAR: As long as the force
is that way,
but as soon as you go like this,
it lifts out just beautifully.
I mean, it works because
of all the force is...
Give that a kick in.
It's only dug into
about that much,
you know, grass and soil.
It looks a little precarious,
but as long as the angle is low,
which it's gonna be
as we go over these rocks,
that's gonna hold.
- Okay.
- Yeah.
MATTHEW: We're using it
as what it's called, an anchor.
But this time
it's not stopping dogs,
it's holding the rope.
Trust the engineer. [laughs]
I feel good about it.
Plus Bear's going first.
You've got to really
pull it to release it.
Keep it cranked open at the top.
You're lifting
hundreds of feet of rope here,
which is super heavy.
It'll get easier
as it gets steeper.
- Yes.
- And once it gets steeper,
just lean back
and trust the system.
MATTHEW: Okay. Lean back
and trust the equipment.
BEAR: So, yeah, it's all good.
Probably another
and then it looks like
it drops off, okay?
MATTHEW: Yep.
[tense music]
BEARA: This is where it starts
to get a little steeper.
This is where it's gonna
get scarier for Matthew.
You can see
all the way to the bottom.
And the rope.
I needed what looks like
every meter of it.
[exhales sharply]
♪♪♪♪♪
I like it.
Glad that anchor's holding.
BEAR: So another
big drop off here.
Let's hope there's enough rope
even to reach, to be honest.
I thought I'd be
near the bottom by now,
but still a long way down.
Wow.
Lean back
and trust the equipment.
[dramatic music]
♪♪♪♪♪
Okay.
So I knew
we'd need a lot of rope
for that 800 foot in total.
Even with that, it's still
just tickling the bottom,
about five foot left over.
So that was
kind of at our limit.
MATTHEW: I'm not sure
what to expect,
but I trust who I'm with.
I'm not gonna be
looking down singing songs.
I might be
looking up singing songs.
[Matthew singing]
♪ Hey, hey, hey, hey ♪
♪ Hey, hey, hey, hey ♪
♪ Lean back
and trust your equipment ♪
♪ Lean back
and trust your equipment ♪
[tense music]
[exhales sharply]
♪♪♪♪♪
BEAR: The awkward bit
is the start.
You know, it's at the top
when all the nerves are there.
It's not yet vertical,
kind of awkward ground.
You've got
a lot of weight of rope.
Just trust and keep moving.
Once it gets steeper,
it will start to flow and
that rope will run smoother.
[Matthew exhaling sharply]
[groaning]
MATTHEW: An adventure
is gonna put yourself
in a place that you do not know.
I do not wanna do this,
I've never done this before,
but I'm going to
overcome that fear.
I'm usually better in real life
than I am in my dreams.
In my dreams, I never get
the girl. I don't make the jump.
I think belief is actually
the original dream.
So, I've got
to believe in myself.
Here we go, baby.
Do I have a plan?
No, I'm gonna let it come to me.
I'm taking my time.
Play chess with the mountain
a little bit.
This kind of thing
is one of those drugs
that money can't buy.
This is not
my necessarily comfort zone,
but the experience,
I'm sure it'll be something
I damn sure remember.
People maybe have rappelled
in a gym or on a climbing wall.
It's all nice and controlled,
but it's different out here.
But he's got
that glint in his eye
and you can't cheat
your way there.
You've got to earn that.
This is why I love this stuff.
♪♪♪♪♪
He's doing well.
This is a big one for sure.
Yes!
Good effort.
♪♪♪♪♪
That was a bit... [chuckles]
[Matthew laughing]
I've got to admit,
it was longer than I thought.
MATTHEW: You do have to trust
your blind spot, man.
I'm betting I was a few inches
further back, leaning back,
trusting it than I was on the--
the first one on that one.
It gives you more stability.
You're feeling more balanced.
Once the body weight's
bringing that down
and you're not
having to force it,
you really feel
much more control.
- That was good.
- That was good.
That was a buzz.
Proper buzz number four,
I do believe it was.
And the best one yet.
- Good job. That's a long way.
- MATTHEW: Thanks, mate.
[Matthew singing]
♪ Hey, hey, hey, hey ♪
BEAR: So we're gonna
keep following this up.
This will eventually
lead to a lake,
and eventually
our pickup's gonna be
- the other side of it.
- All right.
So we're looking for
the lake first of all.
[Matthew humming]
BEAR: We'll be
following this river
up through this valley.
We've reached this final lake.
I have said to our team,
leave me a really clear red bag,
and inside that is
gonna be a flare,
and that's the flare
we're gonna use
to call in the helicopter.
- Little red bag?
- BEAR: Yeah.
Check out your three o'clock.
BEAR: Yeah, I thought that was
a little fishing pot, actually.
Yeah, that is a red bag.
- [Matthew laughing]
- Yeah.
In typical fashion,
our team haven't made it easy.
They've left it out in the lake.
- Oh.
- [Matthew exclaims]
So close.
Remember, this is
a glacial lake, so this is cold.
This is, like,
a few degrees above freezing.
Looks like it's a swim
to finish this journey.
In, out, dry gear on.
- Okay.
- Hell yeah.
[Matthew vocalizing]
[Bear chuckles]
[Matthew exclaims]
- Okay.
- BEAR: You ready?
This water is gonna be
freezing, freezing cold.
Yes. [Matthew cackling]
BEAR: Okay, we're in.
Hey now!
[Matthew giggling]
[Matthew exclaiming]
[both grunting, exclaiming]
What's this water, 35?
[Matthew huffing]
♪♪♪♪♪
Hey.
BEAR: Oh, boy.
[exhales]
Yes. Good morning.
[indistinct]
Okay. If this is wet...
- we're in trouble.
- [Matthew laughing]
Okay.
- One flare.
- Okay.
BEAR: That's our way
out of here.
MATTHEW: We found the red bag
with the flare,
which was not on land.
It was out in the water.
Thank you very much.
[both laughing]
It's not wet, we don't think.
This goes off,
copter comes, and we're out.
This has been full of surprises.
Had four big buzzes,
like, natural highs.
Great fear looking down,
composing and doing it,
trusting the gear,
trusting the people,
and then a conversation
with Bear and I.
When you're out like this
with somebody one-on-one,
you get comfortable
a lot quicker
in a shorter amount of time.
I think the fact that you're
both dealing with the unknown,
there's a natural bonding
experience that happens,
which is really cool about
getting out and out and about.
- [Matthew laughing]
- [Bear exclaims]
MATTHEW: Oh, yeah. Whoo!
BEAR: This has been
a really fun journey for me.
Obviously Matthew McConaughey
is such an icon,
but the fun part for me
is the man behind the icon
and the values that he lives by.
It's about family,
it's about faith,
but also I think
he's someone that is determined
to live life on his terms
and willing
to step into the unknown
and tackle the difficult.
And that's rare in life,
but it's beautiful.
MATTHEW: Yeah, boy!
Bear, thank you for having me.
We've been trying to do this
and come together
and take on these adventures
for over 20 years.
We finally made it happen.
It was even better
and more than I expected.
Hey, man. Keep it up.
Just keep living.
- [Matthew laughing]
- Well done, brother.
- Well done.
- [indistinct]
Running Wild!
Come on, baby. Come on!
MATTHEW: Whoo!
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