Edward “Chip” Hailstone, a star of National Geographic’s Life Below Zero, recently engaged with a viewer online, offering a rare glimpse into the balance between his traditional subsistence lifestyle and modern necessities.
While Life Below Zero highlights the harsh realities of living in the Alaskan wilderness, Chip’s response sheds light on the more routine aspects of his life—such as shopping, travel, and staying connected with family.
Balancing the Wild and the Village
A viewer asked Chip how often he and his family go to town for supplies or whether they rely entirely on bartering. In response, Chip explained:
“When we’re in the village, we shop as needed, as we have a store here, and a couple pop n chip stores.”
However, when they are camping in the summer, they only make one or two trips to town, staying for a few days at a time to stock up on fuel, collect mail, do laundry, and take care of any necessary tasks. They also store their catch from hunting and fishing during these trips.
In the winter, things work a little differently. When they are out camping, they return to the village every couple of weeks, or their children bring supplies to them.
If a harsh storm is approaching, they might travel to the village to wait it out, using the time to do repairs, wash clothes, and spend time with family. As Chip described:
“Then there’s crap days or a week-long storm inbound, and we will go to a village and be home or with one of our kids till it passes, so we kill time/repair/launder duds and do things with them and their families.”
The Importance of Self-Sufficiency
Chip highlighted the importance of self-sufficiency in their lifestyle. While money is easy to make through arts and crafts, their biggest necessity is gasoline, as they cannot produce or repair it themselves.
To prepare for winter camping, Chip stores gasoline by the barrel at their summer camp, ensuring that they don’t have to leave if the ocean becomes too rough for travel. Since their boat is small and the village is six to eight hours away by boat, preparation is crucial. He elaborated:
“In winter, I bring gas by the barrel to our Summer camp if I can, so we don’t have to leave if the winds won’t let us, as the ocean is often rough and our boat small, the village far away…6-8 hours by boat.”
Each year, they decide where to stay based on where the work and resources are. Some years, they remain in the village because caribou, fur, and fish are available there. Other years, they stay at their camp for the entire season for the same reasons.
In the past, when they depended solely on caribou for survival, they followed the herds. Though hunting and trapping have changed over the years, Chip and his family continue to embrace the traditional lifestyle that many others have abandoned.
Keeping Traditions Alive
While most hunters today return home after a trip, tenting out while hunting and trapping was once a common practice.
Chip noted that this way of life has largely faded over the past three decades, but his family continues to uphold the tradition.
He mentioned that Skyler and Carol, two younger members of their community, seem to enjoy winter camping as well, proving that the traditional way of life isn’t dead yet:
“Most guys go home after hunting nowadays, but 30 years ago, tenting while hunting and trapping was very common. I guess we just stuck with it while few young folks have taken the life up. Skyler and Carol seem to enjoy winter camping, so it ain’t dead yet…LOL!!”
