Gold Rush Season 6 Premieres On Friday
One of the Discovery Channel’s flagship shows has been Gold Rush, which we profiled in the December, 2014 issue of our sister publication, Alaska Sporting Journal. The show’s sixth season premieres on Friday. Here’s the Discovery Channel with more:
As the Klondike winter comes to an end, a new mining season begins. And this year, the tables have certainly turned. There are bold new challenges, new equipment and massive power shifts. It’s a battle like never before among the crews as they push to find the most gold yet. Gold mining is a dangerous business and you never know who’s going to come out on top. Discovery’s #1-rated show GOLD RUSH returns for its sixth season on Friday, October 16 at 9 PM ET/PT, with the pre-show, The Dirt, at 8 PM ET/PT.
Last year, Todd Hoffman rose from the ashes and brought his crew back from the brink of bankruptcy. This season he has gold-rich ground, a seasoned crew and is in position to keep his hot streak alive. But Todd’s a big dreamer and this year even his crew is blown away by the staggering season goal he sets. For the first time, he’ll have three generations of Hoffman men working on the claim as Hunter, his 16-year old son, keeps the family tradition alive. The only thing standing in Todd’s way could be his ego. Can he keep it in check and finally give young Parker Schnabel a run for his money? Or will his lofty season goal backfire leaving the Hoffman crew disappointed yet again?
Meanwhile, Parker Schnabel has his hands full. Last season, he mined an unprecedented $3 million of gold. But it came at a price as he drove his crew into the ground leaving many questioning whether they would ever work for the young mine boss again. Parker, who turns 21 this year, finds out the hard way that one season of gold mining has nothing to do with the next. He’s forced to draw on everything his beloved Grandpa John has taught him in order to avoid a disastrous season. Parker has to do more than find a lot of gold this season, he has to figure out how to become a leader of men.
Tony Beets, aka “The Viking,” is a Klondike legend. As winter closed in at the end of last season, Tony was finally about to resurrect his million dollar, 75-year-old gold mining dredge. But this year, he has to get the machine, which hasn’t run in 30 years, to actually produce gold. Tony desperately needs the dredge to start paying for itself but more than anything, he wants to shut up the naysayers that think he’s crazy to gold mine the old fashioned way. This season it’s all hands on deck as dredging for Klondike gold becomes a family affair. Can the Beets, the first family of Yukon gold mining, revive an ancient way of pulling gold out of the ground or will the massive undertaking turn into a giant money pit? Tony’s out to prove that the old timers had it right…that dredging is the future of gold mining in the Klondike.
Also returning is the GOLD RUSH pre-show “The Dirt,” a series of one-hour shows, beginning 8 PM ET/PT on Friday, October 16, where the miners give the inside scoop on all things GOLD RUSH and where fans can get access to behind-the-scenes, cutting room floor material that never makes it into the show.
Season 6 of GOLD RUSH is full of shocking twists and far more gold than our miners have ever seen before. The question is…who gets it all? Tune in on October 16 to see all the drama unfold on Discovery’s #1-rated show GOLD RUSH.
Here’s my interview with Parker Schnabel (above right) that appeared in the December, 2014 issue of ASJ:
By Chris Cocoles
Parker Schnabel is just 20 years old, so please forgive the young man if he’s not satisfied with finding over $ 1 million in gold last year.
“We’re going all out this season – I’m setting a 2,000-ounce goal for us,” the Haines, Alaska, resident tells his crew from his claim on Scribner Creek in the Yukon, during a Season 5 episode of the Discovery Channel hit, Gold Rush.
Schnabel’s rookie season running his own Klondike operation brought in quite a haul – 1,029 ounces worth a cool $1.4 million. You know that had to bring a smile to the face of Parker’s grandfather John Schnabel, an Alaska-toughened 94-year-old who has battled through an aggressive prostate cancer to see his original mining company, Big Nugget, handed down to his wunderkind of a grandson.
At one point, John visited Smith Creek, a Southeast Alaskan mine site the family’s patriarch has vowed to find gold at before he runs out of time, and found his son, Roger and grandsons Parker and Payson. It was an emotional moment for the family.
“I think my grandpa was really pleased to see us up here working together, side by side,” Parker Schnabel says. “That’s a big thing, and at his age he’s gotten pretty sentimental about family.”
It’s become the most human element of Gold Rush. Sure, it’s about striking it rich; but for young Schnabel, it’s about carrying on a family tradition at the youngest of ages and doing quite nicely for himself.
We caught up with Parker Schnabel and talked success, family and his clashes with landlord and fellow miner, Tony Beets.
Chris Cocoles I’m sure you get asked this all the time: you’re 20 years old having this success and leading your own crew, but have there been moments when you’ve asked yourself what you’ve already accomplished before the age of 21?
Parker Schnabel It’s a little surreal sometimes, for sure. I’ll be the first one to say that I’m awfully lucky; I’ve had a hell of a lot of good opportunities. It’s not like I started at the very bottom shoveling ditches or anything. Really, a whole lot of it has to do with being at the right place and the right time, and I don’t forget that.
CC But you’re clearly way ahead of the curve from a business sense.
PS I grew up doing this, watching my dad run a business – and a pretty successful one. And I was pretty lucky because he didn’t really keep any secrets from me. He was letting me watch what he was doing. I’d sit in his office during meetings while he’d hire people and fire people; anything I wanted to see as a far as a business goes, I could. It got me into a position where, two years ago, it wasn’t all completely foreign. So while a lot of it is a little scary and daunting, if you just tear into it it’s not that bad.
CC What kind of positive influences have you had from your family?
PS My grandpa was the one who was doing the gold mining. My dad runs a construction business. But it’s the same idea. You’re trying to move dirt from Point A to Point B as smooth as you can. And it’s not like I’m the most organized person in the world. I pay my bills as long as I have money in the bank, and that’s about it.
CC What I love most about the show is the dynamic of the relationship between you and your grandpa. How much of an impact has he had on your young life?
PS It’s pretty easy to say that none of this would be happening if it weren’t for him. But he’s definitely a big part of my life and my whole family’s life. He’s one of a kind – that’s for sure.
CC Is there one moment that stands out between your relationship?
PS There’s no one thing, really, I don’t think. I basically spend three to four months a year with him for almost 10 years, from the time I was 8 until I was 18. When I’d get out of school I’d still be staying at home. But I would go there every day. I can’t really say there’s one specific thing that defines us.
CC Is there one word that defines what it takes to be successful in finding gold? Persistence? Patience?
PS Stupidity? Honestly, it’s probably that you have to be a pretty stubborn. You look at the guys who have been in the Yukon for a while mining like Tony and a lot of those other guys, you’re a long ways away from anything that you need. If you need parts or some steel, things like that, you’re not going to be able to get it anytime soon. So you really have to work with just what you’ve got and to make due what you have there. And I’m not very good at that; I don’t have the greatest imagination. But the guys on my crew like Gene (Cheeseman) and Mitch (Blaschke), and another new mechanic I brought in, Mike Beaudry – they’re some of the best of the best when it comes to that kind of stuff. We can pretty well make do with whatever we have laying around.
CC As a team, have you built it around each other’s strengths and weaknesses?
PS For sure, especially this season because it’s our second year together for most of them. And now that we kind of know what everybody’s good at and bad at, things go together fairly smoothly, usually. [pauses] Maybe I shouldn’t put my foot in my mouth too far in case a few things don’t work out too well.
CC Over the course of time, have you found yourself needing to earn the respect of a crew that’s mostly older than you?
PS There are always issues with that. I don’t really think it has to do with my age; maybe it does. But I haven’t had those kinds of issues before with people. I’m going in blind to certain extent and I do the best I can. But it’s still tough. I would say it’s still an issue. When you watch this season you’ll see there are still some of the same issues with my crew as there were last season. And it’s just part of the game.
CC Does it sort of feel like a big family that you know will have moments of insanity?
PS Yeah, one big dysfunctional family.
CC What about Tony Beets? I’m sure at times he’s been both a mentor and the enemy along the way.
PS Tony is a tough guy to work with. He’s very demanding as far as the way he wants things done. And that’s OK, but it changes too. You think you’re doing everything perfectly fine, he’ll see you doing it and won’t say a thing; and the next day, you’re doing the worst thing you could do in the world. And that I don’t really appreciate. He’s probably the toughest guy who I’ve ever worked with.
CC What was life like growing up in Haines? Was it normal or pretty unique?
PS For Alaska and the town I grew up in it was normal. There were a lot of kids I grew up with, who, at the same age I started doing what I was doing, they bought a fishing boat and started commercial fishing. Or there were other people who don’t really own a business but are running a business. Everything is obviously smaller, but it’s still a lot of responsibility. I still (had time to) play basketball. I played all four years of high school. And it wasn’t like I was some social outcast.
CC Was the haul you had last season with over 1,000 ounces in gold a surprise?
PS Last season was [pauses], we were surprised with it, but, at the same time, we didn’t know what to expect. We didn’t have anything to base it off of. We didn’t know what the grade in the ground was going to be as far as how much gold we were going to get every day or every week, or anything. We didn’t how to deal with permafrost or any of that kind of stuff. So anything would have been a surprise – either 500 ounces or 5,000 ounces.
CC It had to be awfully satisfying to accomplish what you did.
PS Yes, it was. And it put us in position where there is a huge amount of startup cost with a new operation.
CC On an episode recap show your mom and you talked about wanting you to go to college. But what’s in store for you in the future?
PS There are a lot of things I want to do, like getting back to college. But, at the same time, I’m getting the opportunity do something (special). I’m not going to learn any more than I am now sitting in college.
CC I guess what you’ve done is already quite the education.
PS Two days ago I was having lunch with the COO of Discovery Channel. That’s not going to happen sitting in some college classroom, as fun as that sounds. ASJ
Editor’s note: New episodes of Gold Rush can be seen on the Discovery Channel on Fridays at 9 p.m. Pacific/8 p.m. Central. Check out Parker Schnabel on Facebook (facebook.com/pages/Parker-
