Chip Hailstone is an American subsistence hunter, animal trapper, and reality television personality best known for starring in the National Geographic documentary series Life Below Zero alongside his family in remote Alaska.
He moved to Alaska at 19 and built a self-sufficient life in Noorvik, becoming one of the most recognizable figures in American wilderness television before the show’s cancellation in 2025.
Who is Chip Hailstone?
Chip Hailstone, whose full legal name is Edward V. Hailstone, is an American hunter, trapper, and fisherman who made his home in the Inupiaq community of Noorvik, Alaska, on the banks of the Kobuk River.
He lives just north of the Arctic Circle, in one of the most remote and climate-punishing regions of the United States.
His fame came from Life Below Zero, a National Geographic documentary series that followed Chip, his wife Agnes, and their seven children as they survived Arctic winters through subsistence hunting, fishing, and barter.
The show ran for 23 seasons between 2013 and 2025. Chip is skilled with a rifle, a bow and arrow, and traditional handmade tools.
He also practices ivory carving and craft making, skills he picked up from the Inupiaq community around him.
His approach to life in the wilderness has drawn millions of viewers over more than a decade.
Early Life of Chip Hailstone
Chip grew up in Kalispell, Montana, a small city surrounded by forests, lakes, and mountain terrain.
His father, Daniel Franklin Hailstone, taught him to fish and hunt from a young age, giving him a foundation in outdoor survival that would shape the rest of his life.
His mother, Mary Lois Hailstone, raised him alongside at least one sibling. By his late teens, Chip felt drawn to Alaska.
He had read about the hunting grounds there and wanted to experience that world firsthand. In 1988, at the age of 19, he traveled to Alaska for what was meant to be a short stay.
He never left. Chip settled in Noorvik, a small Inupiaq community with a population of just a few hundred people.
He learned traditional survival techniques from the local community and adapted fully to subsistence living.
Chip Hailstone Age / Birthday
Chip Hailstone is 57 years old as of 2026, born on March 8, 1969. His zodiac sign is Pisces, a sign often linked with adaptability and a deep connection to natural environments.
Both traits have defined his decades-long life in the Alaskan wilderness.
Chip Hailstone Ethnicity and Nationality
Chip holds American nationality, born and raised in Montana, USA. His ethnic background is white American, with family roots in Montana.
He has lived among the Inupiaq people of northern Alaska for more than three decades and is well versed in their cultural traditions, though he is not himself a member of the tribe.
Chip Hailstone Height and Weight
Chip stands at 5 feet 9 inches tall, which converts to approximately 1.76 meters.
His weight is reported at around 77 to 78 kg, or roughly 170 pounds. That figure has never been officially confirmed by Chip himself.
He has a sturdy, physically conditioned build shaped by decades of outdoor labor, hunting, and heavy physical work in the Arctic cold.
Dark brown hair and dark brown eyes are consistent features across his appearance on the show over twelve seasons.
Chip Hailstone Wife
Chip met Agnes in Noorvik shortly after he arrived in Alaska. She was born Agnes J. Carter on June 14, 1972, and grew up in Noorvik as a native Inupiaq, a member of the Kuuvanmuit tribal group.
When Chip arrived, she had already been married once and had two sons, Douglas and Jon, from that earlier relationship.
Chip and Agnes married in the mid-1990s, with sources placing the marriage around 1992 to 1993. Together they built a family rooted in traditional subsistence living.
Agnes brought knowledge of Inupiaq culture, language, and survival methods that had been passed down through generations.
Chip brought his Montana hunting background and his willingness to learn. Agnes is also a skilled hunter, fisher, trapper, and craftsperson.
She carries a traditional chin tattoo that signifies her cultural heritage and marital status. She became a key figure in Life Below Zero in her own right.
The couple has remained together through more than 30 years in Alaska, including a difficult period during Chip’s legal troubles and imprisonment in 2017.
Chip Hailstone Children
Chip and Agnes raised seven children in Noorvik. They have five daughters together: Tinmiaq, Iriqtaq, Mary, Caroline, and Qutan.
Agnes’s two sons from her previous marriage, Douglas and Jon, were adopted by Chip and grew up as full members of the family.
All five daughters grew up learning subsistence skills alongside their parents. The eldest, Tinmiaq, lives traditionally in Point Hope with her partner and children.
Caroline has been building a cabin with her partner Skyler. Mary works in pharmacy in the nearby community of Ambler.
The children pursued different paths, but all grew up with the Inupiaq knowledge Agnes brought to the household.
As of 2025 and 2026 reports, Chip and Agnes have more than two dozen grandchildren. The family remains based in Noorvik after the end of Life Below Zero.
Chip Hailstone Career
Chip’s career is built on subsistence hunting, trapping, fishing, and craft making in one of North America’s most challenging environments.
He arrived in Noorvik with basic hunting skills and spent decades refining them, becoming proficient with rifles, bows and arrows, and handmade traps.
He hunts walrus, caribou, seals, wolves, and bears, and processes every part of the animal for food, clothing, or tools.
Life in Noorvik and Subsistence Work
Living in Noorvik means working through the full Arctic cycle. Chip and Agnes manage a seasonal calendar of hunting, fishing, and preservation work.
Summer brings fishing for salmon and other river species along the Kobuk. Fall means caribou hunts and preparations for the deep winter. Spring brings marine mammal hunts and ice fishing.
Chip is also a skilled craftsman. He works with ivory and bone to make tools and decorative items, some of which the family trades or sells.
This craft work supplements the income they generate from animal products and, for many years, from the television show.
The family relies on a barter system within the Noorvik community for goods they cannot produce themselves.
Life Below Zero (2013–2025)
Life Below Zero premiered on the National Geographic Channel on May 19, 2013, produced by BBC Studios.
The series documented the daily and seasonal routines of subsistence hunters living in remote parts of Alaska, with Chip and Agnes among the show’s central cast alongside other participants such as Sue Aikens, Andy Bassich, and Jessie Holmes.
Chip appeared in over 130 episodes across the show’s 23-season run. He handled hunting logistics, equipment repair, long-distance snow machine travel, and shelter building on camera.
His absences from the series also became part of the story, most notably when he served time in prison and missed Season 10 entirely.
The show won eight Emmy Awards over its run, primarily in the category of Outstanding Cinematography for a Reality Program.
It took home that award in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and multiple additional years, making it the most Emmy-winning reality series in history for cinematography.
Chip and his family were central to the audience that made those seasons possible. Chip confirmed the show’s cancellation on his social media account in October 2024.
Life Below Zero officially ended in February 2025 when Disney declined to renew the production contract with BBC Studios.
The complete run of all 23 seasons is available on Disney+ and Hulu.
After Life Below Zero (2025–Present)
Following the show’s end, Chip and Agnes remained in Noorvik. They continue their subsistence lifestyle on the Kobuk River, hunting caribou, processing fish, and maintaining the seasonal work patterns the show captured for twelve years.
Chip has posted updates on his social media accounts about family milestones, including the birth of grandchildren.
In April 2025, he shared news on X about a new granddaughter named Leanne, born to daughter Caroline and her partner Skyler.
Chip Hailstone Legal Troubles
In 2011, Chip filed a complaint against an Alaska State Trooper named Christopher Bitz, alleging the trooper had physically assaulted his then-17-year-old daughter Tinmiaq during an incident in Noorvik.
A second complaint followed shortly after, in which Chip alleged that a neighbor had pointed a rifle at his son during a separate dispute.
An investigation contradicted Chip’s account. In 2015, a court convicted him on two felony counts of perjury and two misdemeanor counts of providing false information to a law enforcement officer.
He maintained throughout the proceedings that he believed his accounts were accurate.
In June 2017, a judge sentenced him to 15 months in prison followed by three years of probation.
Chip served his sentence at the Anchorage Correctional Complex, beginning that same year.
He was absent from Life Below Zero for the entirety of Season 10 while incarcerated.
During those 15 months, Agnes managed all subsistence work, hunting, and household needs for the family alone.
After his release, Chip returned to Noorvik and rejoined the show. He pursued post-conviction relief through appeals, but the Alaska Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of his remaining claims in 2024.
Chip Hailstone Net Worth
Chip Hailstone’s estimated net worth is $100,000 as of 2026. His income over the years came from two main sources: the sale of animal products and craft goods within the Noorvik community, and his salary from Life Below Zero.
During the show’s run, Chip earned an estimated $4,500 per episode. His annual salary from the show reached around $45,000 in its later seasons.
He and Agnes also receive the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend, the annual payment the state of Alaska issues to qualifying residents, which ranges between roughly $1,000 and $2,000 per person per year.
The net worth figure is combined with Agnes for most estimates. Their lifestyle is built around subsistence rather than financial accumulation, and neither Chip nor Agnes has pursued commercial ventures outside of the show and their direct hunting and crafting work.
With Life Below Zero now cancelled, the income from television is gone. The family continues to live off the land in Noorvik, which has been their approach for over three decades regardless of the cameras.
Chip Hailstone Social Media
Chip maintains an active presence on X (formerly Twitter) under the handle @HailstoneChip.
He uses the account to share updates about family life, hunting activities, and news about the show, including his confirmation in October 2024 that Life Below Zero had ended.
In April 2025, Chip posted about the birth of his granddaughter Leanne, daughter of Caroline and her partner Skyler.
He also runs a YouTube channel where he posts clips from daily life in the Alaskan wilderness.
His social media presence gives fans a direct window into the Noorvik lifestyle after the show’s cameras stopped rolling.
Neither Chip nor Agnes maintains a public Instagram account, keeping their social footprint small by the standards of most television personalities.
Conclusion
Chip Hailstone spent more than three decades building a life in the Alaskan Arctic that few people outside Noorvik could imagine sustaining, and then spent twelve years letting television audiences watch him do it.
His story, from a 19-year-old from Montana following his hunting instincts to a father of seven with grandchildren spread across Alaska, played out on Life Below Zero across 23 seasons and eight Emmy Award wins.