02x04 - Moving the Monster

[bunniefuu]

[narrator] Previously on
"The Last Woodsmen."

You gotta be kidding me.

My bid for the Forever Claim,
somebody beat me.

John Mohammed.
[bleep]

Jared strikes a costly deal to
establish a foothold

at the Forever Claim.

[John] If you default on
any payment of the royalties,

no questions asked,
I repossess the Float Camp.

But with his crew now split
between two camps...

[Jared] You wanna walk
this [bleep] thing up that ramp?

...it's a risky balance between
maximizing every last day at

the Float Camp Claim...

[Chris]
It's pinching me on this side.

Holy [bleep].

...and delivering on the lofty
royalty of the Forever Claim.

[Brendan] Show me the money.

[Jared] I only have two weeks to
make sure the first log barge

has a $100,000 check
going to John.

If I don't deliver,
it's game over.

[soft music playing]

[phone ringtone playing]

[Jared] John, how you doing?

[John] Yeah, Jared, I just
wanted to check in with you

and see how things were going.
- Things are going well here.

[John] OK, good.

[Jared] I'm in a bit of
a rock and a hard spot.

John definitely has the upper
hand on me right now.

But if I can get through
this season and hold my end

of this bargain, he will sell me
the Forever Claim

for $2 million.

And that is definitely
worth the risk.

We're gonna have that wood
ready for the first log barge,
no problem.

I've got my best crews on it.

Things are happening.

I've sourced out every piece
of equipment that I can find.

[John] OK, well, I'm really glad
to hear that, Jared,

that it's going well.

And you're hitting
your production targets

and looking forward to that
barge coming in.

OK, you have a good day.

We need to pick up the pace
right now.

If I don't raise this
$2 million,

I pretty much worked
a whole season for nothing.

I need to just keep the push.

That's my job.
I'm the boss.

I'm the push.

We gotta keep our foot on
the floorboard, get that money

to John Mohammed,
and own this claim.

Two weeks in, Jared's expanded
operation is splashing wood

on both fronts.

So far, the Forever Claim crew
has harvested about 2,000 tons

of big timber,
putting them just on

pace to deliver
his first royalty.

But the lease on
the Float Camp Claim

ends in just
three weeks' time,

so the crew needs to log
every last bit of big timber to

stand a chance of meeting
his $2 million goal by winter.

[Jared] All the tires look good.

New boards.

To hit his first target at
the Forever Claim,

there's one more machine to
haul up the mountain.

[Jared] Super snorkel,
it's a machine that casts down,

grabs logs and pulls them up
to the road.

It uses gravity to
its advantage and its long boom

to get the casting going on.

So it's almost like fishing
for logs.

They're very, very productive,
but they are a very big pain in

the a*s to move.

The tow job will be
a nine-mile trek uphill over

some of the roughest road known
to logging.

And with the heavy load,
they'll need to maintain

momentum the whole way.

[Jared] It's gonna be
a pins-and-needles day.

The snorkel is 140 tons,

and it sticks up 135 feet
in the air.

I have a solid team.

I got Lance, who's really good
on the truck.

I have Glen, that's gonna
be amazing on the machine.

And I'm gonna have to drive
the push truck.

We're gonna have some steep
slopes where we're gonna

need to push
and pull the lowbed.

Need my driving boots.
OK.

See if we can do this.

[engine starting]

She's a go.

[Jared]
You have all this snorkel
and lines and cables in the air,

and everything's bouncing
and we've had it almost flip

off the lowbed.
That's the biggest danger.

The last time I drove the push
truck, we just about stalled on

a hill like this.

And if you're behind in
the push truck,

you're gonna get hit.

♪

He's a good pusher guy.

He's not scared
of the throttle.

[music builds]

[Jared]
Like a salmon swimming upstream,
never lose momentum.

But anyone who's ever followed
one of these down the road,

you're on pins and needles
'cause it looks like

it's gonna topple off
a little bit all day long.

[man speaking over
radio indistinctly]

[suspenseful chord plays]

[bleep]

[Lance speaking]

- [bleep]
- [Jared] It's not good.

Eighty miles away,
at the Float Camp Claim...

[birds chirping]

- [Rob] Hey, here we are, Jim.
- [Jim] Our new home.

[Rob] Not very warm
out today, is it?

No, it was a little
chilly yesterday.

[Rob]
I think we're on the back side
of the northern exposure here.

Might have some uphill leaners.

Fallers Jim Gardner
and Rob Winger are on a mission

to find and harvest the last
big end-of-life cycle giants.

[Rob] I'll be right on the other
side of that

other rock knob there.

[Jim]
OK, I can hear you from there.

[Rob] Oh, yeah.
We'll see you at quitting time.

Give me a call if
you need anything.

OK, thanks, buddy.

[Rob] And good luck.
[laughs]

To make the most of
the remaining three weeks,

they'll pivot to a new tactic,
divide and conquer.

[Jim breathes heavily]

[Jim] Got a big red cedar,
looks like seven, eight feet.

Do a little...

[axe thuds]

Yeah, that's solid.

Yeah, that's pretty stellar.

Yeah, it's just where we're
gonna wanna put this, is all.

There's something unique
about my job,

and that's the fact that
the terrain is very

inaccessible by anything
but boots on the ground.

We're in the middle of nowhere.
There's no roads around.

It's like the Wild West.
It's a different set of rules.

It's keep-yourself-alive,
common sense rules.

And common sense is
like deodorant.

The people who need it the most
don't have it or use it.

We've got a rock bluff
over there.

When this thing lands down,
it's gonna smash over there.

The whole top's gonna
shatter off, be lost over

the hill, and we're only gonna
be left with

the start segment.

And even that's gonna be
slabbed and broken.

We do not want that.

We literally have one small
corridor we have to sh**t for.

To avoid the rock bluff,

Jim will aim the tree
straight down the hill.

But a fall that far could risk
damaging it too.

As a precaution, he'll also
make adjustments to

his face cut.
- [chainsaw whirring]

I'm gonna open up
my undercut a bit more

so that the tree
is gonna commit.

It's gonna be more 45
and committed to falling

by the time it closes
and disconnects from that stump.

So it's gonna be
ultra-committed to where

it's gonna land.

On top of that, I'm just gonna
shave the little chin off of

the front of the undercut so
that this tree is gonna hit

the ground, the butt of it,
before the top of it,

which will minimize the impact
to the ground and to the tree.

Fingers crossed, touch wood.

We get this big tree down
with this little saw.

[chainsaw whirring]

[Jim]
If it goes too far up the hill,
it's gonna be breaking

and devalued and half the tree
is gonna be lost,

and we can't recover it
in the first place.

That's gonna be the issue.

[chainsaw whirring]

[chainsaw stops whirring]

And it looks like this is pretty
much gonna be right on.

But what I'm gonna wanna
do is I'm gonna wanna take

this little bit of a chin off
and stick my saw in and take

the inside of this tree out.

So by the time we have the back
cut done, it just falls over.

[suspenseful music playing]

[wood cracking]

[wood continues cracking]

[Jim gasps]

[bleep]

[chainsaw whirring]

[wood cracking]

[Jim gasps]

[bleep]

[Jim] Not ideal.

In the hills of
the Float Camp Claim,

Jim's best efforts to keep
this cedar intact failed.

[Jim]
I had the absolute blind faith
that it was going perfectly.

Oof.

This tree wasn't as sound
as it sounded like.

It was sad to see that it
separated, but it is there.

We'll see if we can salvage
something at the end.

It's basically shingle.

It needs a little bit of TLC
to recuperate

what we have left there.

We'll keep slaying away.

Back at the Forever Claim.

[gentle music playing]

Uh, the lowbed of the truck has
a break hanging out by

the looks of it.
Take a look at what's going on.

[truck honks]

[Jared] Yeah, lads, it seemed
like this one was getting warm.

[Lance] It was.

[Jared] Yeah, it's a little bit
warmer than the others.

These fat trucks have
an extremely robust

braking system that needs water.

We have to really make sure
that we keep our brakes cool,

or you will find yourself up
[bleep] creek without a paddle.

We're gonna fill the water
tank in that logging truck.

If we don't get water into
the brakes, could heat up,

they could fade and...

Crash or maybe even burn.

Probably both.

- [Glen] Underneath?
- Yeah, man.

All right, here we go!

Yeah, my water tank's full.

Excellent, good job!

[suspenseful music playing]

[Jared] I wonder how these trees
are gonna be.

[Glen] Well, that's the issue.
They won't do great.

When the lowbed turns,
that snorkel's

gonna go like this.

And it's gonna be knocking
these trees here.

[Jared] This is the danger zone
for sure.

[Glen] Yeah.

[Lance speaking]

[Jared speaking]

[Lance] OK, mate.
Here I go.

[singing "On the Road Again"
by Willie Nelson]
On the road again.

I wish I knew the rest
of the song [chuckles].

[Jared] This has been a battle,
but it kinda gets

a little more challenging.

This is the tale of the tape
for the trip today.

I can't afford to have
anything happen

to these machines.

Now, as this road gets windy,
these trees will get...

there'll be lots of debris
on the road.

[bleep]

[Jared] Here comes the shrapnel.

Not a lot of fun having
these things drop on ya.

You never know if one could
come through the window.

Like that one and that one.

[bleep]

♪

OK, Dave, I'm in the clear now.

You can start logging anytime.

OK, picking it up here.

Back at the Float Camp Claim,

former hook tender turned
woods foreman Brad Laviolette,

along with yarder operator
Dave Cox,

mop up fallen timber
to prepare it for hauling.

[truck honks]

Because we had so much rain,
the soil itself isn't as strong

as it should be.

There's not a whole lot
to work with here, but...

we'll turn the [bleep]
into sugar.

I've been logging
for 21, 22 years.

I'm a fifth-generation logger
on the West Coast.

I grew up in a logging camp
town, so it was an easy

transition for me.
And now I'm living the dream.

Need some petrol.

A hook tender is defined as
the man in charge of a grapple

yarder side.

You're the hill boss.

You're the guy orchestrating
all the moving parts.

You're running a chess game
out here.

I gotta go to a stump that's
gonna be strong enough,

really stable stump.

It's got a lot
of wood in front of it.

I think this is gonna
be the guy.

To do its job,
a grapple yarder must be

anchored to multiple points so
it can pick up logs and pull

them down to the roadside.

But when a yarder has gathered
everything in its reach,

it's on Brad to rig the new
anchor points, also known as

tail holds, that keep the team
harvesting across the hillside.

[chainsaw starting]

[Brad] Come on, wake up.

Buy some new saws, Jared.

[chainsaw whirs and stops]

[chainsaw whirring]

[Brad]
Time is of the essence here.

I've gotta take all this gear,
I've gotta rig it up,

and just go.

The hook tender sets the pace
for the whole operation.

If you're not getting the wood,
no one else can touch it.

Now that I'm satisfied with
my tieback and the stability of

this next anchor point,
we can start yarding again.

OK, I'm in the clear.

We can give her a tight line
whenever you're ready.

- Hold it, hold it, hold it.
- Whoa, whoa.

[bleep]

[Brad] That ain't happening.

We're gonna have an issue.

I can see there's a great big
hemlock log laying on top of

everything, and it's up
off the ground.

My running lines are actually
gonna sweep under it,

and it's gonna create
a g*n barrel.

[groans in frustration]
Oh, Jiminy Cricket.

A g*n barrel happens when
a log juts into the direct path

of the yarder's pulling cable.

If the two collide, it could
send the log straight down at

the grapple yarder.

[Brad] My quick-fix for that is
to take my saw, buck it up,

and that piece will just get
out of our way.

All right.

All right, take care of that.
OK, going ahead easy.

Roger that.
Going ahead.

[Brad] Wunderbar.

Nice.

Off to market.

That's what we like.

Now I've got a couple minutes.
I can four by into the future

and look at my next tail
hold option.

So when he's done harvesting
all that timber, I've got

the next tail hold ready to go.

He plugs in, same thing over
and over and over all day.

All right, feet don't fail
me now.

[groans]

[Jared] Let's go.

[Lance]
That one track's pretty loose.

[Jared] Track coming off
the snorkel is like blowing

two tires on your pickup truck.

We need to fix this, and we need
to fix this right now.

[eerie music playing]

[crow cawing]

[Jared] [bleep] haywire.

At the Forever Claim,

[bleep]

Jared and the super snorkel
haul hit the trickiest

stretch yet,

under fire from heavy branches

that could topple
the snorkel...

[Jared] [bleep]
Ugh!

...or destroy the push truck.

[Jared] They say, "The darkest
is always before the dawn."

This is it.

But we're making her.
Nothing broken yet.

It's chaos.
It's absolute chaos.

And you never know when that
tree is gonna come down

and smash into the windshield.

Come on, baby.

[Jared] I'm coming, Lance.
I'm coming.

I can't tell you enough how
I hate moving this damn machine.

But the payoff will be there
when it gets

to its destination.

[Jared speaking]

[Lance] Absolutely.

Nice hammers.

We're getting close now.

[Jared] Let's go.

[gentle music playing]

Ah, yeah.
Yeah, we're here.

We're gonna drop the ramps now.

We're gonna get this
old girl off my back.

With the steepest road
still ahead,

Glen will have to walk
the final stretch

to the jobsite on his own.

But the rough ride so far has
already claimed a casualty.

[Lance]
That one track's pretty loose.

You almost get a link out
of that.

Track coming off the snorkel
is like pretty much blowing

two tires on your pickup truck.

We don't have the time
and I don't have the patience.

We need to fix this and we need
to fix this right now.

[crickets chirping]

Quite a few snags
kicking around.

But there's also some frickin'
money trees in here.

Back at Float Camp, with less
than three weeks left to finish

falling operations,
Rob is hard on the hunt

for his next timber giant.

[Rob] That's a beautiful tree.

Hopefully it's sound,
because if it's sound,

it's a money tree.

Hemlock growing out of it too.

It started growing
right down here, and then

said, "Hey, what the hell,
I'm just gonna use him for

support," and grew right up
the side of him.

Hemlocks are a bit
parasitic sometimes.

They'll find any little crack
in these cedars and just suck

all the nutrients out of them.

Please be sound.

[axe thuds lightly]

[Rob] Sounds pretty good.

Sounds like it's got
some meat to her.

We got 27 feet.

No idea what that is
for diameter.

Falling is not just big,
dumb lumberjacks

out in the bush.

It's a big puzzle
you're picking apart.

Weight transfer and movement.
It's all physics.

I originally was going to
university for an electronics

technology degree, and I don't
know if I ran out

of interest or money first.

I can't remember which it was,
but I went logging

and never turned back.

This tree looks like it's got
everything we need for value,

size, scale.

But it's definitely got a good
lean, and that undercut has to

be perfect because if I throw
it too far this way,

it's gonna freaking go right
into these nice cedars over

here and smash the [bleep] out
of them, so I gotta get it right

in between these cedars.

I'll have to watch out
with that cedar eater here.

If it doesn't go with
the cedar, it could fall over

up there.

Hopefully, it holds together.

Once I get my undercut out,
I think I can cut out both

sides and tee it up
and leave a strap.

That's why I'm gonna cut
the sides up first and leave

my trigger right in there.

To keep this tree from
smashing, Rob will have to

sh**t a tight gap between two
nearby cedars and hope

the hemlock growing off
the back doesn't break loose

and crush him.

To better his odds,
he'll make his usual face cut,

then trim away
at the tree's sides,

leaving just enough holding
wood for a fast final cut.

[Rob] Let's do it.

[chainsaw whirring]

[Rob] We won't know for sure
until I get it on the ground,

but this is probably gonna be
the highest value tree in here.

It's pretty important
to lay this thing properly.

Let's just check the aim.

Fingers crossed it's aimed
in the right direction.

If I stick with that,
that's [bleep] near bang on.

I'll just make it deeper
and cut the guts out of it.

I always do a smaller one
and then I widen it out.

That's just 'cause of
the small bar.

Everybody's like, "Why don't
you just use a bigger bar?"

'Cause I'm trying to make
my back last till I'm 65.

OK.

[suspenseful music playing]

[wood cracking]

[Rob] Oh, [bleep].
It's starting to pop.

[wood continues cracking]

[Rob] OK, this thing wants to go
before I want it to go.

And I need to be ready to bolt
if it does.

Oh, [bleep].

[chainsaw whirring]

[Rob] Oh, [bleep].

So it was already starting to
start to pop on that side.

I don't wanna cut any more
back this way.

So now I'm gonna hit
my trigger and [bleep] send it.

First time it popped, jarred me
into, "Uh-oh, it does wanna go."

- Sooner than later.
- [wood cracking]

[wood creaks]

[heavy thud]

[Rob] Booyah!

Right on the money.

And look at that.

Hemlock's slowly falling over.

[wood cracking]

That's why I finished right in
the back, just 'cause it

[bleep] looked like that.

Cedar saved out,
that's the [bleep] main thing.

Pretty damn beautiful piece
of wood.

High grade, high grade,
high grade.

There's a truckload of wood
laying there.

Good fall.

Best case scenario happened.

[birds chirping]

[Glen] We got a busted track.

They're supposed to line up
with these pins

and that makes the track turn.

As the sprocket turns, it hooks
those pins and it rolls

the track, giving me motion.
Now, as you see, this one here

is nice and tight.

And that's how
it's supposed to be.

Very, very slack.
That is just too risky.

So it could get
wrecked terribly.

We've gotta keep it safe.

You know, I've got lots of
experience running the snorkel.

You have to be aware.

And don't be too ballsy,
'cause one mistake in that

thing, over it goes.

The team's only option now?

Bring out a mechanic.

But the extra time is
worth the delay.

[Jared]
First time that Glen ever came
to work for me, two days in,

the machine started having
problems with tracks.

He flipped the machine off
the side of the mountain.

The machine did a tumble
down the bank,

ended up on its roof.

I came running down there,
freed him from the cab.

His words were, "Don't worry
about me, boss, my wife

[bleep] me harder than this."
And he had a broken back.

When we packaged him up,
we flew him out in a helicopter

and I never thought
he'd be back.

So I think he has a lot of fear
of the tracks acting up again.

Here comes the calvary.

- [Lance] As you can see.
- Oh yeah, here's a problem.

[metal clanks]

[indistinct chatter]

[Jared]
Now we're pumping nitrogen
into the cylinder.

It's making the idler come out
and tighten the track

so we can carry on.

[Glen] Oh God of all trackage,
rise and be proud.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Gord] There we go.

Just over 2,000.

[Jared] Will it tighten up
once you walk, you think?

[Glen]
It should, once I move it.

Back up into the races.
Here we go.

Let's get this [bleep] show on
the road, finally.

[Brad]
Nice snag there, big fella!

Looking over the area here,
I think Dave's pretty much done

grappling everything
he can see.

How's it going, Dave?
You almost out of wood there?

- [Dave] Yes, I am.
- Copy that.

Having finally hit
their stride, Brad and Dave

must now reach the rest of
the timber, which means

re-anchoring the yarder's
pulling cable further across

the hill and setting it up
to withstand more than 90,000

pounds of force.

So right now, I've identified
the next tail hold to be used.

So I'm gonna tie that stump
back to one of these green,

healthy trees in lead to make
sure that that stump is not

gonna pull during
the yarding process.

Tail hold failure can be
extremely dangerous.

You know, this grapple yarder

in low gear,

you can pull half
the mountain down

if you're not ready for it.

But in a region that receives
more than 10 feet of

precipitation per year...

[grunts]

...loose soil
is always a concern.

There.

That should hold her back.

Because we had so much rain,
still kinda worried about

the soil saturation and loss of
integrity of the root systems

here, so we're just gonna have
to be real delicate.

If all things go according to
plan, we're really gonna pick

up some speed here, pick up
some time, we're just gonna

produce like b*stards
and hopefully make the boss

a good dollar here, but it's all
gonna depend on this stump

and if we can make her stay
in the ground.

All right, Dave, we're all
clear up the hill here.

Give her a good tight line
here, see what the stump's

made of.
- OK, here we go.

[Brad]
Come on, baby, hold in there.

[cables stretching]

[Brad] Oh, slack it out,
slack it out, slack it out!

[dramatic chord strike]

Yeah, so for a day's work
out here,

this is my wedge belt.

I got my tape measure here,
measuring out the logs,

bucking them to length.
This is my chainsaw, of course.

Very dangerous piece
of machinery.

Gotta be careful, keep it away
from your legs.

Got a flashlight
for emergencies.

A knife in case a bear wants to
attack me.

This thing's just a beauty,
the old multipurpose jug here.

This isn't actually vodka.
I'm not drinking at work.

It is water.

It's just the perfect jug,
and it fits in my pack well.

I have this old Tupperware here
I stole from my mom years ago,

and it's just full of all kinds
of spare parts.

Branches, pliers, mounts,
just small essentials that if

I were to break down while
I'm up there cutting trees down,

I can repair my saw without
wasting too much time.

That's uh...

pretty well what I carry
in my pack.

It varies from guy to guy,
but that seems to work for me.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Brad] Oh, slack it out,
slack it out, slack it out.

Whoa!

[bleep]

This stump's done.

In the hills above
the Float Camp Claim,

Brad's mission to bring logs
down to the roadside

is falling apart.

[Brad] So obviously, we just had
a major blow

to production here.

This stump, it's pulled,
so we're gonna have to

regroup, reset,
come up with a new plan.

As I look around, there's
an option we have right here.

Real close, I could actually
climb this tree and put some

blocks and straps as high
as necessary to get the lines

and the grapple picked up off
the forest floor.

The bigger the spread you can
get between your guy line

and your top choker makes that
tree that much more strong.

So my plan is climb up probably


maybe just below the canopy.

And that's where
I put my guy line out.

And I love how this gear hasn't
changed in 100 years.

This is the same stuff
my granddad was using,

doing the same thing.
Here we go.

Climbing trees,
it's not foreign to me.

You know, as a kid growing up
in a logging camp,

it was just a form of fun.

And then when I became
a logger, it was just part of

the job detail.

I've been doing it for over


so it's second nature.

But a lot of it is just knowing
your gear, trusting your gear,

inspecting it,
you know, knowing your limit

and logging within it.

[Brad pants and groans]

Look at that.

It ain't pretty,
but it's effective.

All right, we're all hooked up.
We can get out of the way.

Get some tension on this line.

Get Dave cycling the wood.
That'll make Jared a happy man.

All right.

Radio check one, two.

Hello.

[Rob] OK, Dave, we're
all good to go here.

Position in the clear,
pick her up.

[Dave] Oh, yeah, picking it up.

Oh, h*-h*, yeah.

Come on, little loggies!

[Brad] Yeah, looking good.

I'm impressed with
the tree there.

The angles are all
looking good.

Should be pretty stable.

Go get 'em.

[Dave] Good, good job.
Right on.

[Brad] I couldn't be more happy
with the rig.

We've got enough lift.

Everything seems to be
holding up.

We're gonna make up
a lot of time off

of this particular spar tree.

A little more.
Good, haul back.

These are the type of
situations that Jared expects

us to thrive in and start
producing, and that's just what

we're doing here.

I know we're just moving
product faster

than we were all day.

That elm's are working
pretty good.

[Dave] Yeah,
they're coming in nice now.

At the Forever Claim.

[truck engines hiss and rev]

[Glen]
We should be good to back up.

♪

I'm driving up this hill
backwards, so I can keep

a watchful eye on the track.

Having this track come off on
this route would stop us dead

in the water.

So, we're definitely gonna pay
a lot of attention to that.

[Glen]
This is the toughest spot.

I have to watch the tracks
on the road.

I don't wanna go
into the ditch.

And I have to watch my snorkel,
make sure it gets by

these trees so we don't land
anything on us.

The track still looks
good and tight.

That's good.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Jared] There it is.

[truck hisses]

[Jared] Oh, we did it, boys.

Took a little longer than
we expected, but hey,

we're here.

This was a hell of a task,
but big reward.

We got her.
Good job.

That's one big check mark off
the list, you know.

Now we just have another


We're gonna do everything
we can make sure the next log

barge has $100,000
as per our agreement.

That will give me the ability
to get to my $2 million goal

that I can push to John Mohammed
at the end of the day

to purchase the Forever Claim.

Great job.
[bleep] awesome, man.

I have this dream.

It's like having
an 80-year company.

Knowing that I support families
and those families have

spin-offs, that is legacy.

Risk-- that's the only way
to do it.

Next time...

[Jared] It's like the weight of
the world on your shoulders.

I gotta collect every square
inch of timber I got on every

square inch of that barge.

[bleep]

[bleep]

[Jared]
If something goes wrong...

- [man groans]
- [bleep]

[Gord] Abort. Abort.

[Jared] ...John could repossess
Float Camp.

What's going on?

[Brad] Just finished loading
the logs up here

at the Forever Claim.
Nothing great, I'm afraid.