On tonight’s episode of Alaska: The Last Frontier, you get a big snapshot of how the Kilcher’s operate, and hint: It’s a chaotic massed effect lovingly referred to as “Kilcher khaos.”
In the episode titled Calling All Kilchers, we see the men of the Kilcher clan band together with their get it done mentality as they all are working hard to raise up a house and finish off a roof and porch while the weather is cooperating.
It’s a classic “seize the moment” manly Kilcher event as Otto Kilcher seems to be the lead and directs the rest of the male clan members to do specific tasks.
It is the threatening weather that has them mobilized. The location is Grady’s Perl Island cabin build which is under threat of the approaching remnants of a typhoon, which could seriously do harm to the structure.
It is time to seal up that roof and get the eaves and the overhangs all buttoned up.
In the fray and on the roof and driving the machinery are Atz Kilcher Sr., Atz Sr’s brother Otto Kilcher and their boys, Atz Lee Kilcher, Shane Kilcher, Nikos Kilcher plus Eivin Kilcher too.
In the cab of a lifter, Otto asks one of the Kilcher boys to help him in the clip.
Atz Sr.’s son Shane Kilcher is on the ground and shaking his head over the number of people doing many things. “When you get a bunch of Kilchers together it can be chaos. I call it “Kilcher khaos.” But it is somehow a perfect storm.”
During this, Otto Kilcher has disabled the heavy equipment for a spell.
Nikos Kilcher explains the process: “We use heavy equipment for all kinds of things in this situation we’re using the excavator for kind of a scaffolding for cutting the boards off the eaves of the roof.”
He adds: “It is definitely not OSHA approved, however, this isn’t an OSHA job… this is a Kilcher job and it’s Kilcher approved.”
Their hard work is about as precision as it gets on Pearl Island with the tools that they have. Improvisation and clever uses of these tools make the job get done, no matter how odd it may look as they do it.
Fans know that series resident tinkerer Otto is a big believer in using the right tools. He says: “You got to use the right tool for the job!”
Many believe their Swiss lineage is a contributing factor to their handiness with building things, as Atz Sr. and Otto’s dad Yule came from Switzerland in the 1940s. Yule established the homestead and actually made waves in political life too, authoring part of the first Alaskan constitution.
Interesting Kilcher fact: Atz and Otto have six sisters! Alaska.org lists two of them. None of the sisters are on the show.
If you remember, Otto and his som Eivin moved an entire building last week using similar equipment.
Meanwhile in the episode, Charlotte and August build a cat patio to keep their house cats contained and from killing the local animals. You read that correctly, in the land of grizzly bears and wolves, their fierce cats need a lockdown to keep them from killing the local animals.
Alaska: The Last Frontier airs Sundays at 9 pm ET/PT on Discovery Channel. Watch live or catch up on the Discovery Go app.