TLDR: Chip Hailstone was convicted in 2015 on two felony counts of perjury and two misdemeanor counts of providing false information to an Alaska State Trooper.
The charges stemmed from a 2011 incident in Noorvik in which he filed statements alleging a trooper had physically assaulted his daughter. An investigation contradicted his claims.
He served fifteen months at Anchorage Correctional Complex beginning in 2017, was absent from Life Below Zero during Season 10, and returned to the show after his release.
Life Below Zero was cancelled in February 2025 after 23 seasons.
Chip Hailstone disappeared from Life Below Zero for an entire season and very little was said about it at the time. When he came back, the show moved on quickly enough that most viewers barely registered the gap.
He had been in prison. Here is what happened.
Who Is Chip Hailstone
Edward “Chip” Hailstone was born on March 5, 1969, in Kalispell, Montana. He relocated to southeast Alaska in 1988 at age nineteen, drawn by accounts of hunting grounds he had read about, and moved further north into the Arctic region the following year.
He settled in Noorvik, a small Inupiaq community of approximately 600 people along the Kobuk River, nineteen miles north of the Arctic Circle. He had planned to stay temporarily. He never left.
In Noorvik he met Agnes J. Carter, a native Noorvik resident of Inupiaq and Norwegian descent with ancestral ties to the region stretching back generations. They married around 1992. Chip raised Agnes’s two sons from her previous marriage as his own. Together they have five daughters: Tinmiaq, Iriqtaq, Mary, Caroline, and Qutan.
The family lives by the Kobuk River and practices a subsistence lifestyle: hunting, trapping, ice fishing, and gathering across a range that can extend ninety miles from their home.
They joined the cast of Life Below Zero when the show premiered on National Geographic in 2013 and remained fixtures for most of its 23-season run.
The 2011 Incident That Started Everything
In July 2011, a physical altercation in Noorvik involving Agnes’s son Jon and daughter Tinmiaq prompted a response from Alaska State Troopers. Trooper Christopher Bitz attended the scene.
Following the incident, Chip filed legal statements and applications alleging that Trooper Bitz had physically assaulted Tinmiaq during the response, placing her in a submission hold as she attempted to speak to him, and had issued threats to the family.
An Alaska Bureau of Investigation review was conducted. Physical evidence and witness accounts contradicted Chip’s version of events. The investigation concluded that the trooper had momentarily restrained Tinmiaq during the confrontation but had not assaulted her in the manner Chip described.
Chip was charged with perjury and providing false information to law enforcement.
The Trial, the Appeal, and the Conviction
Chip’s public defender, Jay Hochberg, mounted an aggressive defense. He argued that Chip’s testimony was accurate and that the Alaska State Police had manipulated the audio recordings submitted as evidence.
Hochberg brought in a forensic audio expert who testified that the tape had been paused for approximately eleven seconds, arguing that the missing section contained the trooper’s threats to the family that had informed Chip’s belief that his daughter was in danger.
Hochberg filed a motion for a new trial, arguing the original proceedings contained significant errors and that his client could not receive a fair trial under the circumstances.
The motion was denied. In 2015, Chip Hailstone was convicted on two felony counts of perjury and two misdemeanor counts of providing false information to a police officer. He appealed, arguing ineffective assistance of counsel.
The Court of Appeals of Alaska affirmed his convictions. He was sentenced to fifteen months in prison followed by three years of probation.
The 15 Months Agnes Ran Everything Alone
Chip began serving his sentence at Anchorage Correctional Complex in 2017. He was absent from Life Below Zero throughout Season 10, and the show did not address his absence directly on air.
During those fifteen months, Agnes and the children managed everything the household required to survive an Arctic winter without him. The trap lines, the winter meat harvests, the firewood. The subsistence cycle does not pause for legal proceedings, and Agnes had been practicing these skills since childhood.
She has not made extensive public statements about the period. What is documented is simply what she did: she kept the family alive and fed, and when Chip was released she told reporters he needed to come home to fresh food.
After Prison and the Show’s Cancellation
Chip returned to Life Below Zero following his release and remained on the show through its final season. The family continued their subsistence life in Noorvik through the show’s entire run.
Life Below Zero was cancelled in February 2025 after 23 seasons when Disney declined to renew its production contract with BBC Studios. Chip confirmed the cancellation on social media in October 2024. The show’s complete run is available on Disney+ and Hulu.
As of 2026, Chip and Agnes Hailstone remain in Noorvik, continuing the subsistence lifestyle the cameras documented for twelve years. The show is gone. Their way of life is not.
For more on Agnes and the family’s life in Noorvik, see Agnes Hailstone’s full profile. For the full cast picture, see the Life Below Zero cast hub.
Why did Chip Hailstone go to jail?
Chip Hailstone was convicted in 2015 on two felony counts of perjury and two misdemeanor counts of providing false information to an Alaska State Trooper. The charges stemmed from a 2011 incident in Noorvik in which he filed statements alleging that Trooper Christopher Bitz had physically assaulted his daughter Tinmiaq. An Alaska Bureau of Investigation review contradicted his claims. He served fifteen months at Anchorage Correctional Complex beginning in 2017, followed by three years of probation.
How long was Chip Hailstone in jail?
Chip Hailstone served fifteen months in prison at Anchorage Correctional Complex, beginning in 2017. He was absent from Life Below Zero during Season 10. Following his release he returned to the show and continued appearing until its cancellation in February 2025.
What happened to Chip Hailstone after jail?
After his release from prison, Chip Hailstone returned to Life Below Zero and continued appearing on the show alongside his wife Agnes and their family in Noorvik, Alaska. The show ran until February 2025 when it was cancelled after 23 seasons. As of 2026, Chip and Agnes remain in Noorvik continuing their subsistence lifestyle.
Is Life Below Zero still on?
No. Life Below Zero was cancelled in February 2025 after 23 seasons when Disney declined to renew BBC Studios’ production contract. The complete run of the series is available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu.
Who is Agnes Hailstone?
Agnes Hailstone was born Agnes J. Carter on June 14, 1972, in Noorvik, Alaska, where she has lived her entire life. She is Inupiaq and Norwegian, a registered tribal member of the Kuuvanmuit, and the only native Alaskan in the original Life Below Zero main cast. She and Chip have five daughters together and she has two sons from a previous marriage whom Chip raised as his own. During Chip’s fifteen months in prison, Agnes managed the family’s subsistence operation alone.
