IRT Deadliest Roads (2010) s01e01 Episode Script
Freefall Freeway
In the world's highest mountains are roads only the best can survive.
- The possibility of getting killed on this job is very good.
It's a whole new challenge for the top ice road truckers.
What did I get myself into? They're taking on the world's deadliest roads to prove there's no route they can't conquer.
I came here to prove a point: that it doesn't matter how bad the road is you throw at me, I'll adapt and overcome and do the job.
And no load they can't haul.
I came here for a reason.
I want to try this road because everyone says it hard.
I'm all about that.
But this road was terrifying.
But these roads average a death every 41/2 minutes, and one trucker won't make it through the first day.
These are the truckers who make their living on thin ice.
- Oh, I respect this road completely.
Like, anything can happen to you here.
There's no guardrails.
It's sheer drop-offs.
Most of the road is only built for one truck.
You get cocky, you're gonna pay the price big time.
For thousands of years, goods have traveled these trading routes, but the journey's never been deadlier.
Last year, over 180,000 people were killed on India's roads.
- Everything around here is chaos.
Now, Alex, Rick, and Lisa have signed contracts to deliver 150 tons of material to supply massive hydroelectric projects located halfway around the world in northern India.
From the city of Shimla, they'll head up the Freefall Freeway, facing cliffs Well, my heart's pounding.
Blind corners, and crumbling infrastructure There's a structural bolt that holds the two I beams together, and it's gone.
Through a section carved from solid rock called the Cutouts - There's a giant crack that's right here.
This whole section could come down, take the whole road out.
And up a narrow side road dubbed "the Ledge".
- Kind of having second thoughts about this job.
If they survive, they'll push higher into the Himalayas.
From Manali, they'll climb over the 13,000-foot Rohtang Pass, facing landslides - A landslide could come off the side and swipe you right into the river.
We're running over rocks.
It's coming down right now.
And countless switchbacks to deliver essential goods to a city that's been cut off all winter.
I'm scared out of my mind.
These truckers are risking everything - He's dead? Oh, my gosh.
In trucks unlike anything they're ever driven.
You get hit in this thing, you got no protection whatsoever.
In North America, trucks are constructed with a steel frame that protects the driver in a crash.
The Tata 1613's just an engine and wheels on a chassis with a wood frame.
And in a collision, there's rarely anything left.
- You get hit, it's gonna be like driving around with a Matchbox on wheels.
It's just gonna be sticks everywhere.
Three truckers - I want to go home to the Dalton where it's safe.
Two months - This is survival of the fittest at its best.
A race at the top of the world.
At a small trucking company on the outskirts of the capital city Lisa, Rick, and Alex inspect the rigs they'll drive for the next two months.
- Decorations are definitely gaudy.
They like everything pretty bright.
Steering wheel's on the opposite side of the truck.
It's gonna be interesting dealing with that.
- I just want these fans to work.
This one's good.
It's got highlights in blue just like my hair.
We're looking for the boss.
What's a spotter? Every trucker in the country rides with a spotter.
In the city, they help negotiate the grueling traffic.
And in the mountains, they're often the only reason the truck stays on the road and a trucker stays alive.
Hameed.
Rick.
He will go with you.
- Nice to meet you.
- Tashi.
- Hi.
Yeah, he's Tashi.
And, Sanjeev, you spot Alex, okay? So please be careful, okay? - We're gonna try.
- Yeah, yeah.
- That's good this way? That's balanced good? - No problem.
- No problem.
Oh, BLEEP.
I just realized there's no BLEEP air conditioning.
- Thank you, Lord dear God, for all your blessings and help.
Please bless me and Sanjeev, those of us who are riding in this truck, the people around this truck, so nobody gets hurt.
- What do you think of nicknames? Do you want a nickname? I'll give you a Canadian one.
- Ahh.
- Call you "boyo".
You're my boyo.
- Boyo? Boyo.
Now you got to give me a nickname.
You think of one.
People call me a parrot, 'cause of my hair.
Okay.
- You like the parrot? We got boyo and the parrot.
- Boyo and the parrot.
- Boyo and the parrot.
- Boyo and the parrot.
- There you go.
We're gonna have some fun.
Wow.
Okay.
- Watch out.
Woman driver coming through.
Go, go, go, go.
Go.
- Going into the heart of hell right now.
So the streets of Delhi ain't for any sane person.
Before they hit the mountains, the foreign truckers have to get out of Delhi, a city overflowing with 19 million people, just as many animals, and every kind of vehicle imaginable.
Oh, yeah, my biggest concern is driving on the opposite side of the road.
And these North American truckers must steer through the chaos from the wrong side of the truck.
- Trying to shift with this hand.
Look at that.
That's hilarious.
I'm gonna hit somebody.
Ooh.
BLEEP.
Boy, that was close, man.
That was really close.
That guy was just flying.
Inches.
Inches on either side of the truck.
Speed limit 40.
- 40? I'm going I'm going 40.
Keep horning? - Yeah.
- No, no.
- Horn.
- Horning.
- This place is just it's utter chaos.
Like, no one obeys street laws or even the lines on the road.
Bus is weaving through traffic.
Crazy.
But I think with boyo here, we're gonna get her there.
Parrot.
Parrot is okay.
- I spend most of my time bush driving because I don't like driving in the city, and I picked one of the most crowded cities in the world to drive in.
Stop.
Stop.
Stop.
No photographing.
Go, go, go.
- I can't.
What the hell? 15 miles into the run Oh.
What? People are noticing the only female driver in a country of 1.
2 billion.
Yeah, I got to go now.
So I'm gonna take a picture of them staring at me.
There.
Get 'em back.
Look at this.
They're running next to me.
That entire group that was back there is walking down the middle to keep up.
There are gonna be more accidents because people are too busy looking and they're gonna get in my way, and I'm gonna run 'em over.
- You basically drive six inches apart here, so you have very little leeway for a mistake.
In a Delhi suburb, a huge jam engulfs Alex's truck.
- You want me to go that way over there? Right, then take a left.
- You want me to go on that side? Oh, okay.
Whoa.
In the crowded streets of Delhi, India, King of the Ice Road, Alex Debogorski, rips off a car door before he's even made it to the mountains.
Whoa.
Whoa.
They said, "Let's go".
- I didn't have an accident.
Somebody else did.
I think they opened the door and I turned their door around to 'em.
Alex wasn't at fault and his truck's in one piece, so he's back on the road.
- We did a bunch of damage.
It's not funny.
I mean, we could have hurt somebody.
That's you know, that's not a good thing.
I mean, it was a close call for those guys.
I mean, I would have felt bad if I'd ripped that guy's arm off or ran him over.
15 miles ahead of Alex Rick's finally out of Delhi.
- Can't understand him right now.
- Sorry.
I'm nervous.
I'm having trouble understanding you, so my brain's going like this.
Communication is everything, 'cause I'm completely lost.
I'm just trying to stay where he wants me to in my lane and if I don't understand him, we could get into a whole load of BLEEP right away.
Either in the street in India, it's not allowed.
- BLEEP losing it here, man.
I can't understand him.
Where's my water? Now 20 miles behind Rick - Well, I've had an interesting day so far.
Alex crawls through the outskirts of Delhi.
And at this point here, I'm not sure where Rick and Lisa are.
I haven't seen them for quite a while.
Really slow.
Over! Hopefully they're gonna stop.
What the heck? Get to the right.
No.
- Well, I'll let Sanjeev handle it.
Go back, keep left.
In minutes, a crowd surrounds the truck.
This is not good.
I don't know what kind of territory I'm in here.
You know, it could be the kind of thing that gets pretty bad.
Alex's spotter, Sanjeev, is all that stands between the driver and a mob.
- When they get really upset here, they tend to burn the truck down and kill the people.
So I mean, that wouldn't be good.
That wouldn't feel very good.
- The crowd's getting bigger, I can just see.
Lock the door.
40 miles to the north Uh so flipping hot.
Lisa's out of Delhi and driving through the plains.
But without air conditioning, a record heat wave's baking her inside the 115-degree cab.
- I'm not feeling so good, though.
I need to get out of the heat.
This Alaskan native's still having trouble adjusting.
- Yeah, the heat just kicks your ass.
Just makes you sick constantly.
Nauseated, headache, dizzy, lightheaded, can't see right.
Back in Delhi - It's definitely getting a little stressful here.
Alex isn't going anywhere.
- Well, I'm really concerned, you know.
I mean, time for a little prayer here.
Doesn't matter if you're right or wrong, you know.
As far as they're concerned, I'm a rich American, and they're gonna skin me.
Goodness knows what's gonna happen next.
I don't really want anything to do with the police.
Here they are.
I got Sanjeev there talking to the police.
He actually hit me in the middle of the truck.
I mean, I didn't hit him.
I mean, I was in the middle lane and he was coming from the left-hand side.
You'd think that I was in the right.
But that's at home, so maybe I mean, I seen him coming.
I thought he'd give me the right of way.
- Let's go.
Slow.
In the chaos of the accident, the police can't tell who's at fault and decide it's safest to just send away the foreign driver.
- I don't mind running over the odd car, but I'm really not very excited about getting lynched.
I got a heavenly guardian angel, I've got an Indian Hindi guardian angel now.
Two.
I guess if I got beat to death, my wife would really be pissed off at me.
As Alex falls further behind, Rick's hitting the Himalayan foothills - Today I see what the Himalayas are all about.
Headed for the mountain city of Shimla, India's summer capital during British rule.
The route's been around almost 3,000 years, and was once part of the legendary Silk Road, a series of trading routes extending over 4,000 miles and connecting the ancient civilizations of China, Tibet, India, Persia, and the Roman Empire, literally laying the foundations of the modern world.
- A truck that's way underpowered.
So it's just gonna be a long day pulling up these BLEEP hills.
The 16-ton truck's loaded with ten tons of cement and already struggling in the steep Himalayan foothills.
- This has got five more horsepower than my snowmobile.
Back on the ice roads, the typical 18-wheeler has a 500-horsepower engine and ten gears.
But these trucks have only a third of the horsepower running through just five gears.
- If I was in one of my trucks at home, I'd be doing 110 up this hill.
Here we go, look at this.
Everybody in an impatient hurry.
Almost a head-on right there.
In the underpowered wooden truck, traffic streams around Rick, risking head-on collisions right in front of him.
- And here comes an impatient bus.
Look at this.
Look at this! Damn near head-on! You see this BLEEP you send us to? What the BLEEP is skill in that? Here comes a bus now.
Blind corner again.
He can't see BLEEP all, but he's going anyways.
This country is full of retarded drivers.
I'm not grooving on this at all, man.
I don't know; they told me it was dangerous roads.
I didn't think it was like this.
Go, go, go, go.
Look at this.
BLEEP hate this country.
Bunch of BLEEP no minds! BLEEP pigs.
Castrate the BLEEP off with a BLEEP.
As the roads climb higher, it only gets steeper and more challenging for Rick.
Just about a head-on with a bike and a car.
Unsafe.
Completely unsafe.
Unsafe.
- I got a bus behind me honking his horn 'cause I am not driving like he would.
Yeah, that's okay, everybody go.
Don't worry about safety.
See, look at this.
It doesn't even seem real how stupid people drive here.
This is absolutely ridiculous, because there's no skill, absolutely no skill whatsoever.
Well, there's a smacked-up car.
It's just a matter of time, man.
That's what we're gonna have underneath us.
I just can't get it in my head to just pass people on blind corners.
Look at this BLEEP.
Mother chode.
Mother chode.
A driver mother chode punk.
Idiots.
Yes, idiots.
Idiots.
Whoa.
Well, I gotta thank God that I do have fast reflexes.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Every corner, it's almost an accident.
Am I stressed? To the BLEEP max.
Ooh! In the Himalayan foothills, maverick trucker Rick Yemm's on a narrow mountain road facing head-on collisions at every turn.
BLEEP.
Mother chode.
BLEEP bus driver.
- I thought we were getting hit there, man.
Ooh.
They'll risk their life to pass a truck that's going a little bit slow.
Well, the problem is is when they risk their life, they risk my life too.
Not like the truck can take much of an impact.
Let's make a suit of armor out of chopsticks.
I really don't wanna have 2x4 sized splinters being pulled out of my body.
Now I know for sure I ain't winning the lottery.
I'm using up my whole life's worth of luck in this run.
Look at this.
Look at this! Ah-oh! BLEEP, BLEEP, BLEEP, BLEEP! And there's no way I'll let my wife know what the BLEEP is going on here.
Get that guy's license plate number.
I wanna send him a bouquet of flowers 'cause he waited till a straight stretch to pass.
Yep, come on around.
Hey, everybody have a good old time.
Oh, yeah, you might as well come too.
You can't see either.
BLEEP.
BLEEP.
God, I would so love driving back in Canada after this BLEEP BLEEPhole.
40 miles behind Rick is Lisa Kelly.
- Well, I'm definitely getting better, like, now that we're up in cooler temperatures.
I feel better, and I'm getting more used to the trucks.
And she's finally in the mountains.
- I don't know why I can't even get second.
- Yeah.
- It's like, fourth.
- Yes no, no, no, no.
- Where is second? Where is second? - Yeah.
There is no second.
Back in Alaska, Lisa uses a modern, semi-automatic transmission, but the Tata 1613 uses an old-school manual transmission, where pressing the clutch pedal and changing gears requires precise timing.
- Why can I not get it in second? Without second gear, Lisa will burn up the engine in first or stall out in third.
Where is BLEEP second? It's not second.
It's first.
Second doesn't exist.
It won't go in second.
- Slow down.
This is reverse.
I told you, this is not first.
Slowly.
To make matters worse, from first gear, second's a dog leg right, located next to reverse.
- How about I don't go into second? And traffic keeps building up behind Lisa.
- Where is it? - Yes, yes, yes.
- How do you know? You can tell before I can.
Yes, done it, done it! Pick it up, go.
Geez.
I don't wanna downshift again.
Still way ahead, Rick's approaching Shimla - Ho, that was a rough BLEEP go, man.
Where he'll overnight before pushing on to the dam site tomorrow.
- Well, I'm just going to get to where I'm going, I'm going to drink a BLEEPload of beer, and forget this day ever happened.
Couldn't cut her any closer.
I'm in Shimla, and it's just getting dark now.
This place is a trip.
- Oh, yeah, way different than Delhi.
Alex isn't behind us right now.
I wonder what's going on.
He must have fallen behind or something.
I lost Lisa awhile back.
It doesn't look like she's gonna be lucky enough to drive some of that road without being in the dark.
This is so stupid.
I'm scared out of my mind.
I've never been so scared in my life.
- I've never been so scared in my life.
In the Himalayan night, Lisa shut down while negotiating a narrow, cliffside road.
Holy crap.
This beats everything.
- There's just as much going on; I just can't see it now.
Like, they built this road knowing exactly where you were gonna have to go off of it.
Earlier in the day, her shifting problem set her way behind.
Now, she's just trying to survive the drive to Shimla another 20 miles to the north.
- This is very, extremely scary right now.
Holy crap.
Keep it outside.
- I'm, like, kind of shaking a little right now.
Yeah, you pretty much can't see anything until you're, like, right on top of it.
Geez.
This has been the scariest part of the trip, right here when I cannot see how far down it is.
We're getting close to Shimla.
Where's town? Finally, Lisa's safe in Shimla, where she'll spend the night.
- Good job! - That was horrible.
That was pretty much the scariest thing I've ever done in my life.
I'm gonna go to bed, and hopefully I'll sleep and not have nightmares.
100 miles to the south - Crap, I should have turned there.
I should have turned left there, shouldn't I? Alex Debogorski hasn't even hit the mountains yet.
- Thinking about today, it wasn't a great day.
I don't think a guy should put himself at risk of getting lynched just for carrying a fender off a car.
I gotta give it a little more thought, but I'm kind of having second thoughts about this job.
The next morning, Lisa and Rick are back at the Shimla truck depot.
- I don't know if Alex will be back.
I think he got a little freaked out.
I think it was a little more than what he thought it was gonna be.
Me, it's pretty much exactly what I thought it was gonna be: utter chaos.
- Yeah, might as well get blessed.
We need all the help we can get on these roads.
Hinduism is known as the world's oldest living religion, tracing its roots back over 7,000 years.
There are countless temples and almost a billion Hindus in India.
And on these deadly mountain roads, drivers make sure to ask the gods for safe passage.
Each driver receives a tilaka, a mark on the forehead symbolizing the mind's eye.
Gifts of holy water and sweets complete the ceremony.
I've heard the roads are extremely dangerous where we're going.
Like, lots of accidents happen and stuff, so I did the blessing thing.
From Shimla, they'll hit the notorious Freefall Freeway and the Cutouts before arriving at the J.
P.
Corporation hydroelectric project, a route so dangerous, even the trucks get blessed.
- I've christened a truck with beer before, but I don't think that's really a blessing.
- I don't know if he put a voodoo curse on me or what.
You take this, stick it anywhere you want.
That's how I get luck.
Keep on trucking.
Okay.
Let's go.
- We're just heading out of Shimla, heading for the J.
P.
hydroelectric dam project with our cement.
And the madness begins.
170 miles to the south, Alex is back in Delhi.
- Today, I've decided to take a break and reset.
The commonsense, logical option is for me to go home.
Alex Debogorski, the battle-scarred veteran with 38 years on the ice roads is headed home after just one day of driving.
This is not good.
Looking over what's happened yesterday, the whole thing with the mob.
The smart guys would put the money and go home.
It'd probably give me a few more years of life.
170 miles to the north, Rick and Lisa are headed deeper into the Himalayas.
These mountains were born around 65 million years ago, when the Indian subcontinent slammed into Asia, and they're still growing faster than any mountains on Earth over two inches a year resulting in deep canyons that can be deadly.
- We're pretty much on a road trail right now, and I just noticed a nasty little bridge, it looks like.
I don't trust nothing in this country.
Bridges? BLEEP, no.
They got no building code here whatsoever.
So am I nervous? Yeah.
These are old bridges.
Let's get out and take a look at it.
I don't know, boyo.
It's an old piece of BLEEP for sure.
This bridge I know for a fact wouldn't pass code.
That's death if I hit the bottom of that thing.
Even right here, at the start of the bridge, there's a structural bolt that's supposed to be bolted underneath this I beam here.
And it holds the two I beams together, and it's gone.
I don't really have a choice.
It's the only way across this BLEEP.
Okay, well, you spot make sure.
Ah.
I'm not I don't like.
- Slow, slow, slow, slow, slow, slow, slow.
Right, right.
Left.
Yes, yes.
Go.
Oh, yes, yes, yes.
Drive straight.
Boyo guides Rick to where the steel looks strongest and capable of supporting the fully loaded truck.
Go slow, slow, go.
Oh, BLEEP.
- Left, left, left.
- Oh! In the world's highest mountains, trucker Rick Yemm's on a decaying bridge hundreds of feet above a canyon.
Oh, it's making noise.
Slow, slow, slow.
With Rick driving, the spotter's guiding the truck over the steel plates that look strong enough to hold the 26-ton load.
- Oh, this bridge is making so much noise, it's not funny.
Right, right, right.
Left, left, left.
Straight.
- I can't really hear him, but he's using hand signals.
That's all I'm watching for.
And I'm I'm BLEEP straight down here.
I'm right at the edge of this stupid bridge.
If the wheels break through, the truck could take out the bridge, plummeting into the canyon below.
Slow, slow, slow.
- I got 9,000 KGs on top of my vehicle weight.
- Slow.
Slow.
Straight, straight.
- Oh, man, two feet.
Hey, hey! Yes! BLEEP, I did not like that.
Okay.
I did not like that one bit.
I don't like that.
It's, uh, not my idea of a good time.
But the next section of the Freefall Freeway's even worse: miles of cliff-hugging roads carved from solid rock.
This is amazing.
Just carved a hole right through the mountain.
Little piece left holding it all up.
I only got a couple of feet of clearance on this truck to the top of where they carved this out.
You even get daydreaming for a second here you're gonna BLEEP up something bad.
Here, there's barely enough room for one truck, much less for oncoming traffic.
- Every corner, you gotta look as far ahead as you can see to see if someone's coming.
You go around the corner not paying attention, don't look, well, then all of a sudden, you're surprised by a truck.
Just gonna go out and check this out.
There's a giant crack that's right here.
This whole section could come down, take the whole road out.
If you're underneath it, you're dead.
And if you look here right there, look.
It's it's actually cut back in.
You go right down to that river.
You wouldn't hit the bottom till about 2,000 feet down.
That's pretty tight right there.
So it always makes you think.
Like, what's actually gonna be there? Are you gonna make it or not? Ten miles behind Rick and 300 feet above the gorge, Lisa's spotter is guiding her over the aging bridge.
Halt.
Go back over.
Go back? What? BLEEP, you mean this stuff isn't attached? We're just falling apart.
He says come this way.
That'd be bad if one of these pieces flipped up under the tire and then hit the other tire or knocked it off-center and fell through.
There.
We're done with that piece.
- I been driving for ten kilometers with 100% straight vertical drops.
Those buses drive like madmen on this BLEEP.
Ridiculous.
I'll put a million dollars on it I end up tying up with one of them.
Truck drivers are paid for safely delivering the load.
But bus drivers make more cash for a quicker trip, pushing them to take excessive risks on the deadly roads.
Green bus.
See? Look at the BLEEP.
I thought once we got up here, we'd see less of them.
There's just as many up here.
Yeah, they don't give a flying BLEEP, them bus drivers, if they push you off a big cliff or not.
There's a huge cliff right here.
Just bulls his way through.
On the Freefall Freeway, death can be just a blind corner away.
Green bus.
Look at this clown.
MotherBLEEP.
I see a bus driver stopped, I'm gonna punch him.
Punch.
- BLEEP idiots.
- Idiots.
Didn't slow down a bit.
White-knuckled on the BLEEP wheel just to Every corner you get into there, it's a head-on collision almost happening.
There's a prime example of a BLEEP-up.
Just got stopped just in time before he plummeted off the cliff.
I'm going home at the end of this trip.
No bus driver's BLEEP me up.
Load's important, and it's gotta get there quick, but I ain't BLEEP dying for it.
Ten miles back, Lisa's hitting the Cutouts.
It's pretty scary.
There's, like, a mountain below us.
As Lisa pushes forward, oncoming traffic pushes her closer to the edge.
- They have lots of place here.
Don't worry.
I'm with you.
So keep left.
Slow down.
Give him way.
Keep left.
Keep left.
Keep left.
He'll go.
- I don't wanna bump off the edge of this.
Go, go, go, go.
Keep left.
Lots of place here.
Keep left.
Keep left.
I do not wanna go left there.
Going to be walls and walls.
Ahead, we get more walls.
Go, go.
You're scaring me.
Right between the rocks.
- I'm so sick of hearing the horn, but on these corners, I'm more than happy to use it.
Whoa, we are way up here.
It's a long way down.
I wanna go home to the Dalton where it's safe.
- Oh, I respect this road completely.
Like, anything can happen to you here.
There's no guardrails.
It's sheer drop-offs.
Most of the road is only built for one truck.
You get cocky, start driving BLEEP-up here, you're gonna pay the price big time.
We're just pulled into the construction site.
Looks like a great big thing going on up here.
Go, go, go, go.
At the J.
P.
Corporation's Tapri facility, Rick's completing his first run alive.
And yes! The A-Team is here first.
Boyo and the Parrot get the load here first.
I did not blow my first load, and I'm feeling pretty good about it.
What? And just behind Rick, Lisa's also made it.
The two veteran ice road truckers were tested on one of deadliest roads in the world And got the job done.
Looks like they got it.
I just had to do the driving part.
You heard anything from Alex or what? No.
I'm going to the airport.
Well, I've decided to leave because we had a pretty stressful day there.
I think it's the logical thing to do.
It's a lot more relaxed sitting behind the driver than it is sitting up there in the truck going down the road.
He's gonna have to worry about getting run over or run into or runnin' into stuff.
I've got my stories here that I can take home with me, and I've survived the day.
At this point, I think that I need a bit of break.
I guess you could say India's got the best of me at this point.
Up in the Himalayas, with their load safely delivered, Lisa and Rick are officially done with their first run.
Pop the top off a cold beer, and then that's it for today, and then back to her tomorrow.
Tomorrow, they'll push deeper into the mountains and off the Freefall Freeway up a narrow set of switchbacks named "the Ledge" That's got to be 3,000 feet.
Where Lisa reaches her breaking point.
Go, go, go.
- I don't wanna go anywhere.
I'm done.
And a new driver arrives to take on the world's deadliest roads.
- Oh, look at this.
A head-on collision.
Mass confusion.
But by the end of the season, only one trucker will make it through the final load.
- The possibility of getting killed on this job is very good.
It's a whole new challenge for the top ice road truckers.
What did I get myself into? They're taking on the world's deadliest roads to prove there's no route they can't conquer.
I came here to prove a point: that it doesn't matter how bad the road is you throw at me, I'll adapt and overcome and do the job.
And no load they can't haul.
I came here for a reason.
I want to try this road because everyone says it hard.
I'm all about that.
But this road was terrifying.
But these roads average a death every 41/2 minutes, and one trucker won't make it through the first day.
These are the truckers who make their living on thin ice.
- Oh, I respect this road completely.
Like, anything can happen to you here.
There's no guardrails.
It's sheer drop-offs.
Most of the road is only built for one truck.
You get cocky, you're gonna pay the price big time.
For thousands of years, goods have traveled these trading routes, but the journey's never been deadlier.
Last year, over 180,000 people were killed on India's roads.
- Everything around here is chaos.
Now, Alex, Rick, and Lisa have signed contracts to deliver 150 tons of material to supply massive hydroelectric projects located halfway around the world in northern India.
From the city of Shimla, they'll head up the Freefall Freeway, facing cliffs Well, my heart's pounding.
Blind corners, and crumbling infrastructure There's a structural bolt that holds the two I beams together, and it's gone.
Through a section carved from solid rock called the Cutouts - There's a giant crack that's right here.
This whole section could come down, take the whole road out.
And up a narrow side road dubbed "the Ledge".
- Kind of having second thoughts about this job.
If they survive, they'll push higher into the Himalayas.
From Manali, they'll climb over the 13,000-foot Rohtang Pass, facing landslides - A landslide could come off the side and swipe you right into the river.
We're running over rocks.
It's coming down right now.
And countless switchbacks to deliver essential goods to a city that's been cut off all winter.
I'm scared out of my mind.
These truckers are risking everything - He's dead? Oh, my gosh.
In trucks unlike anything they're ever driven.
You get hit in this thing, you got no protection whatsoever.
In North America, trucks are constructed with a steel frame that protects the driver in a crash.
The Tata 1613's just an engine and wheels on a chassis with a wood frame.
And in a collision, there's rarely anything left.
- You get hit, it's gonna be like driving around with a Matchbox on wheels.
It's just gonna be sticks everywhere.
Three truckers - I want to go home to the Dalton where it's safe.
Two months - This is survival of the fittest at its best.
A race at the top of the world.
At a small trucking company on the outskirts of the capital city Lisa, Rick, and Alex inspect the rigs they'll drive for the next two months.
- Decorations are definitely gaudy.
They like everything pretty bright.
Steering wheel's on the opposite side of the truck.
It's gonna be interesting dealing with that.
- I just want these fans to work.
This one's good.
It's got highlights in blue just like my hair.
We're looking for the boss.
What's a spotter? Every trucker in the country rides with a spotter.
In the city, they help negotiate the grueling traffic.
And in the mountains, they're often the only reason the truck stays on the road and a trucker stays alive.
Hameed.
Rick.
He will go with you.
- Nice to meet you.
- Tashi.
- Hi.
Yeah, he's Tashi.
And, Sanjeev, you spot Alex, okay? So please be careful, okay? - We're gonna try.
- Yeah, yeah.
- That's good this way? That's balanced good? - No problem.
- No problem.
Oh, BLEEP.
I just realized there's no BLEEP air conditioning.
- Thank you, Lord dear God, for all your blessings and help.
Please bless me and Sanjeev, those of us who are riding in this truck, the people around this truck, so nobody gets hurt.
- What do you think of nicknames? Do you want a nickname? I'll give you a Canadian one.
- Ahh.
- Call you "boyo".
You're my boyo.
- Boyo? Boyo.
Now you got to give me a nickname.
You think of one.
People call me a parrot, 'cause of my hair.
Okay.
- You like the parrot? We got boyo and the parrot.
- Boyo and the parrot.
- Boyo and the parrot.
- Boyo and the parrot.
- There you go.
We're gonna have some fun.
Wow.
Okay.
- Watch out.
Woman driver coming through.
Go, go, go, go.
Go.
- Going into the heart of hell right now.
So the streets of Delhi ain't for any sane person.
Before they hit the mountains, the foreign truckers have to get out of Delhi, a city overflowing with 19 million people, just as many animals, and every kind of vehicle imaginable.
Oh, yeah, my biggest concern is driving on the opposite side of the road.
And these North American truckers must steer through the chaos from the wrong side of the truck.
- Trying to shift with this hand.
Look at that.
That's hilarious.
I'm gonna hit somebody.
Ooh.
BLEEP.
Boy, that was close, man.
That was really close.
That guy was just flying.
Inches.
Inches on either side of the truck.
Speed limit 40.
- 40? I'm going I'm going 40.
Keep horning? - Yeah.
- No, no.
- Horn.
- Horning.
- This place is just it's utter chaos.
Like, no one obeys street laws or even the lines on the road.
Bus is weaving through traffic.
Crazy.
But I think with boyo here, we're gonna get her there.
Parrot.
Parrot is okay.
- I spend most of my time bush driving because I don't like driving in the city, and I picked one of the most crowded cities in the world to drive in.
Stop.
Stop.
Stop.
No photographing.
Go, go, go.
- I can't.
What the hell? 15 miles into the run Oh.
What? People are noticing the only female driver in a country of 1.
2 billion.
Yeah, I got to go now.
So I'm gonna take a picture of them staring at me.
There.
Get 'em back.
Look at this.
They're running next to me.
That entire group that was back there is walking down the middle to keep up.
There are gonna be more accidents because people are too busy looking and they're gonna get in my way, and I'm gonna run 'em over.
- You basically drive six inches apart here, so you have very little leeway for a mistake.
In a Delhi suburb, a huge jam engulfs Alex's truck.
- You want me to go that way over there? Right, then take a left.
- You want me to go on that side? Oh, okay.
Whoa.
In the crowded streets of Delhi, India, King of the Ice Road, Alex Debogorski, rips off a car door before he's even made it to the mountains.
Whoa.
Whoa.
They said, "Let's go".
- I didn't have an accident.
Somebody else did.
I think they opened the door and I turned their door around to 'em.
Alex wasn't at fault and his truck's in one piece, so he's back on the road.
- We did a bunch of damage.
It's not funny.
I mean, we could have hurt somebody.
That's you know, that's not a good thing.
I mean, it was a close call for those guys.
I mean, I would have felt bad if I'd ripped that guy's arm off or ran him over.
15 miles ahead of Alex Rick's finally out of Delhi.
- Can't understand him right now.
- Sorry.
I'm nervous.
I'm having trouble understanding you, so my brain's going like this.
Communication is everything, 'cause I'm completely lost.
I'm just trying to stay where he wants me to in my lane and if I don't understand him, we could get into a whole load of BLEEP right away.
Either in the street in India, it's not allowed.
- BLEEP losing it here, man.
I can't understand him.
Where's my water? Now 20 miles behind Rick - Well, I've had an interesting day so far.
Alex crawls through the outskirts of Delhi.
And at this point here, I'm not sure where Rick and Lisa are.
I haven't seen them for quite a while.
Really slow.
Over! Hopefully they're gonna stop.
What the heck? Get to the right.
No.
- Well, I'll let Sanjeev handle it.
Go back, keep left.
In minutes, a crowd surrounds the truck.
This is not good.
I don't know what kind of territory I'm in here.
You know, it could be the kind of thing that gets pretty bad.
Alex's spotter, Sanjeev, is all that stands between the driver and a mob.
- When they get really upset here, they tend to burn the truck down and kill the people.
So I mean, that wouldn't be good.
That wouldn't feel very good.
- The crowd's getting bigger, I can just see.
Lock the door.
40 miles to the north Uh so flipping hot.
Lisa's out of Delhi and driving through the plains.
But without air conditioning, a record heat wave's baking her inside the 115-degree cab.
- I'm not feeling so good, though.
I need to get out of the heat.
This Alaskan native's still having trouble adjusting.
- Yeah, the heat just kicks your ass.
Just makes you sick constantly.
Nauseated, headache, dizzy, lightheaded, can't see right.
Back in Delhi - It's definitely getting a little stressful here.
Alex isn't going anywhere.
- Well, I'm really concerned, you know.
I mean, time for a little prayer here.
Doesn't matter if you're right or wrong, you know.
As far as they're concerned, I'm a rich American, and they're gonna skin me.
Goodness knows what's gonna happen next.
I don't really want anything to do with the police.
Here they are.
I got Sanjeev there talking to the police.
He actually hit me in the middle of the truck.
I mean, I didn't hit him.
I mean, I was in the middle lane and he was coming from the left-hand side.
You'd think that I was in the right.
But that's at home, so maybe I mean, I seen him coming.
I thought he'd give me the right of way.
- Let's go.
Slow.
In the chaos of the accident, the police can't tell who's at fault and decide it's safest to just send away the foreign driver.
- I don't mind running over the odd car, but I'm really not very excited about getting lynched.
I got a heavenly guardian angel, I've got an Indian Hindi guardian angel now.
Two.
I guess if I got beat to death, my wife would really be pissed off at me.
As Alex falls further behind, Rick's hitting the Himalayan foothills - Today I see what the Himalayas are all about.
Headed for the mountain city of Shimla, India's summer capital during British rule.
The route's been around almost 3,000 years, and was once part of the legendary Silk Road, a series of trading routes extending over 4,000 miles and connecting the ancient civilizations of China, Tibet, India, Persia, and the Roman Empire, literally laying the foundations of the modern world.
- A truck that's way underpowered.
So it's just gonna be a long day pulling up these BLEEP hills.
The 16-ton truck's loaded with ten tons of cement and already struggling in the steep Himalayan foothills.
- This has got five more horsepower than my snowmobile.
Back on the ice roads, the typical 18-wheeler has a 500-horsepower engine and ten gears.
But these trucks have only a third of the horsepower running through just five gears.
- If I was in one of my trucks at home, I'd be doing 110 up this hill.
Here we go, look at this.
Everybody in an impatient hurry.
Almost a head-on right there.
In the underpowered wooden truck, traffic streams around Rick, risking head-on collisions right in front of him.
- And here comes an impatient bus.
Look at this.
Look at this! Damn near head-on! You see this BLEEP you send us to? What the BLEEP is skill in that? Here comes a bus now.
Blind corner again.
He can't see BLEEP all, but he's going anyways.
This country is full of retarded drivers.
I'm not grooving on this at all, man.
I don't know; they told me it was dangerous roads.
I didn't think it was like this.
Go, go, go, go.
Look at this.
BLEEP hate this country.
Bunch of BLEEP no minds! BLEEP pigs.
Castrate the BLEEP off with a BLEEP.
As the roads climb higher, it only gets steeper and more challenging for Rick.
Just about a head-on with a bike and a car.
Unsafe.
Completely unsafe.
Unsafe.
- I got a bus behind me honking his horn 'cause I am not driving like he would.
Yeah, that's okay, everybody go.
Don't worry about safety.
See, look at this.
It doesn't even seem real how stupid people drive here.
This is absolutely ridiculous, because there's no skill, absolutely no skill whatsoever.
Well, there's a smacked-up car.
It's just a matter of time, man.
That's what we're gonna have underneath us.
I just can't get it in my head to just pass people on blind corners.
Look at this BLEEP.
Mother chode.
Mother chode.
A driver mother chode punk.
Idiots.
Yes, idiots.
Idiots.
Whoa.
Well, I gotta thank God that I do have fast reflexes.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Every corner, it's almost an accident.
Am I stressed? To the BLEEP max.
Ooh! In the Himalayan foothills, maverick trucker Rick Yemm's on a narrow mountain road facing head-on collisions at every turn.
BLEEP.
Mother chode.
BLEEP bus driver.
- I thought we were getting hit there, man.
Ooh.
They'll risk their life to pass a truck that's going a little bit slow.
Well, the problem is is when they risk their life, they risk my life too.
Not like the truck can take much of an impact.
Let's make a suit of armor out of chopsticks.
I really don't wanna have 2x4 sized splinters being pulled out of my body.
Now I know for sure I ain't winning the lottery.
I'm using up my whole life's worth of luck in this run.
Look at this.
Look at this! Ah-oh! BLEEP, BLEEP, BLEEP, BLEEP! And there's no way I'll let my wife know what the BLEEP is going on here.
Get that guy's license plate number.
I wanna send him a bouquet of flowers 'cause he waited till a straight stretch to pass.
Yep, come on around.
Hey, everybody have a good old time.
Oh, yeah, you might as well come too.
You can't see either.
BLEEP.
BLEEP.
God, I would so love driving back in Canada after this BLEEP BLEEPhole.
40 miles behind Rick is Lisa Kelly.
- Well, I'm definitely getting better, like, now that we're up in cooler temperatures.
I feel better, and I'm getting more used to the trucks.
And she's finally in the mountains.
- I don't know why I can't even get second.
- Yeah.
- It's like, fourth.
- Yes no, no, no, no.
- Where is second? Where is second? - Yeah.
There is no second.
Back in Alaska, Lisa uses a modern, semi-automatic transmission, but the Tata 1613 uses an old-school manual transmission, where pressing the clutch pedal and changing gears requires precise timing.
- Why can I not get it in second? Without second gear, Lisa will burn up the engine in first or stall out in third.
Where is BLEEP second? It's not second.
It's first.
Second doesn't exist.
It won't go in second.
- Slow down.
This is reverse.
I told you, this is not first.
Slowly.
To make matters worse, from first gear, second's a dog leg right, located next to reverse.
- How about I don't go into second? And traffic keeps building up behind Lisa.
- Where is it? - Yes, yes, yes.
- How do you know? You can tell before I can.
Yes, done it, done it! Pick it up, go.
Geez.
I don't wanna downshift again.
Still way ahead, Rick's approaching Shimla - Ho, that was a rough BLEEP go, man.
Where he'll overnight before pushing on to the dam site tomorrow.
- Well, I'm just going to get to where I'm going, I'm going to drink a BLEEPload of beer, and forget this day ever happened.
Couldn't cut her any closer.
I'm in Shimla, and it's just getting dark now.
This place is a trip.
- Oh, yeah, way different than Delhi.
Alex isn't behind us right now.
I wonder what's going on.
He must have fallen behind or something.
I lost Lisa awhile back.
It doesn't look like she's gonna be lucky enough to drive some of that road without being in the dark.
This is so stupid.
I'm scared out of my mind.
I've never been so scared in my life.
- I've never been so scared in my life.
In the Himalayan night, Lisa shut down while negotiating a narrow, cliffside road.
Holy crap.
This beats everything.
- There's just as much going on; I just can't see it now.
Like, they built this road knowing exactly where you were gonna have to go off of it.
Earlier in the day, her shifting problem set her way behind.
Now, she's just trying to survive the drive to Shimla another 20 miles to the north.
- This is very, extremely scary right now.
Holy crap.
Keep it outside.
- I'm, like, kind of shaking a little right now.
Yeah, you pretty much can't see anything until you're, like, right on top of it.
Geez.
This has been the scariest part of the trip, right here when I cannot see how far down it is.
We're getting close to Shimla.
Where's town? Finally, Lisa's safe in Shimla, where she'll spend the night.
- Good job! - That was horrible.
That was pretty much the scariest thing I've ever done in my life.
I'm gonna go to bed, and hopefully I'll sleep and not have nightmares.
100 miles to the south - Crap, I should have turned there.
I should have turned left there, shouldn't I? Alex Debogorski hasn't even hit the mountains yet.
- Thinking about today, it wasn't a great day.
I don't think a guy should put himself at risk of getting lynched just for carrying a fender off a car.
I gotta give it a little more thought, but I'm kind of having second thoughts about this job.
The next morning, Lisa and Rick are back at the Shimla truck depot.
- I don't know if Alex will be back.
I think he got a little freaked out.
I think it was a little more than what he thought it was gonna be.
Me, it's pretty much exactly what I thought it was gonna be: utter chaos.
- Yeah, might as well get blessed.
We need all the help we can get on these roads.
Hinduism is known as the world's oldest living religion, tracing its roots back over 7,000 years.
There are countless temples and almost a billion Hindus in India.
And on these deadly mountain roads, drivers make sure to ask the gods for safe passage.
Each driver receives a tilaka, a mark on the forehead symbolizing the mind's eye.
Gifts of holy water and sweets complete the ceremony.
I've heard the roads are extremely dangerous where we're going.
Like, lots of accidents happen and stuff, so I did the blessing thing.
From Shimla, they'll hit the notorious Freefall Freeway and the Cutouts before arriving at the J.
P.
Corporation hydroelectric project, a route so dangerous, even the trucks get blessed.
- I've christened a truck with beer before, but I don't think that's really a blessing.
- I don't know if he put a voodoo curse on me or what.
You take this, stick it anywhere you want.
That's how I get luck.
Keep on trucking.
Okay.
Let's go.
- We're just heading out of Shimla, heading for the J.
P.
hydroelectric dam project with our cement.
And the madness begins.
170 miles to the south, Alex is back in Delhi.
- Today, I've decided to take a break and reset.
The commonsense, logical option is for me to go home.
Alex Debogorski, the battle-scarred veteran with 38 years on the ice roads is headed home after just one day of driving.
This is not good.
Looking over what's happened yesterday, the whole thing with the mob.
The smart guys would put the money and go home.
It'd probably give me a few more years of life.
170 miles to the north, Rick and Lisa are headed deeper into the Himalayas.
These mountains were born around 65 million years ago, when the Indian subcontinent slammed into Asia, and they're still growing faster than any mountains on Earth over two inches a year resulting in deep canyons that can be deadly.
- We're pretty much on a road trail right now, and I just noticed a nasty little bridge, it looks like.
I don't trust nothing in this country.
Bridges? BLEEP, no.
They got no building code here whatsoever.
So am I nervous? Yeah.
These are old bridges.
Let's get out and take a look at it.
I don't know, boyo.
It's an old piece of BLEEP for sure.
This bridge I know for a fact wouldn't pass code.
That's death if I hit the bottom of that thing.
Even right here, at the start of the bridge, there's a structural bolt that's supposed to be bolted underneath this I beam here.
And it holds the two I beams together, and it's gone.
I don't really have a choice.
It's the only way across this BLEEP.
Okay, well, you spot make sure.
Ah.
I'm not I don't like.
- Slow, slow, slow, slow, slow, slow, slow.
Right, right.
Left.
Yes, yes.
Go.
Oh, yes, yes, yes.
Drive straight.
Boyo guides Rick to where the steel looks strongest and capable of supporting the fully loaded truck.
Go slow, slow, go.
Oh, BLEEP.
- Left, left, left.
- Oh! In the world's highest mountains, trucker Rick Yemm's on a decaying bridge hundreds of feet above a canyon.
Oh, it's making noise.
Slow, slow, slow.
With Rick driving, the spotter's guiding the truck over the steel plates that look strong enough to hold the 26-ton load.
- Oh, this bridge is making so much noise, it's not funny.
Right, right, right.
Left, left, left.
Straight.
- I can't really hear him, but he's using hand signals.
That's all I'm watching for.
And I'm I'm BLEEP straight down here.
I'm right at the edge of this stupid bridge.
If the wheels break through, the truck could take out the bridge, plummeting into the canyon below.
Slow, slow, slow.
- I got 9,000 KGs on top of my vehicle weight.
- Slow.
Slow.
Straight, straight.
- Oh, man, two feet.
Hey, hey! Yes! BLEEP, I did not like that.
Okay.
I did not like that one bit.
I don't like that.
It's, uh, not my idea of a good time.
But the next section of the Freefall Freeway's even worse: miles of cliff-hugging roads carved from solid rock.
This is amazing.
Just carved a hole right through the mountain.
Little piece left holding it all up.
I only got a couple of feet of clearance on this truck to the top of where they carved this out.
You even get daydreaming for a second here you're gonna BLEEP up something bad.
Here, there's barely enough room for one truck, much less for oncoming traffic.
- Every corner, you gotta look as far ahead as you can see to see if someone's coming.
You go around the corner not paying attention, don't look, well, then all of a sudden, you're surprised by a truck.
Just gonna go out and check this out.
There's a giant crack that's right here.
This whole section could come down, take the whole road out.
If you're underneath it, you're dead.
And if you look here right there, look.
It's it's actually cut back in.
You go right down to that river.
You wouldn't hit the bottom till about 2,000 feet down.
That's pretty tight right there.
So it always makes you think.
Like, what's actually gonna be there? Are you gonna make it or not? Ten miles behind Rick and 300 feet above the gorge, Lisa's spotter is guiding her over the aging bridge.
Halt.
Go back over.
Go back? What? BLEEP, you mean this stuff isn't attached? We're just falling apart.
He says come this way.
That'd be bad if one of these pieces flipped up under the tire and then hit the other tire or knocked it off-center and fell through.
There.
We're done with that piece.
- I been driving for ten kilometers with 100% straight vertical drops.
Those buses drive like madmen on this BLEEP.
Ridiculous.
I'll put a million dollars on it I end up tying up with one of them.
Truck drivers are paid for safely delivering the load.
But bus drivers make more cash for a quicker trip, pushing them to take excessive risks on the deadly roads.
Green bus.
See? Look at the BLEEP.
I thought once we got up here, we'd see less of them.
There's just as many up here.
Yeah, they don't give a flying BLEEP, them bus drivers, if they push you off a big cliff or not.
There's a huge cliff right here.
Just bulls his way through.
On the Freefall Freeway, death can be just a blind corner away.
Green bus.
Look at this clown.
MotherBLEEP.
I see a bus driver stopped, I'm gonna punch him.
Punch.
- BLEEP idiots.
- Idiots.
Didn't slow down a bit.
White-knuckled on the BLEEP wheel just to Every corner you get into there, it's a head-on collision almost happening.
There's a prime example of a BLEEP-up.
Just got stopped just in time before he plummeted off the cliff.
I'm going home at the end of this trip.
No bus driver's BLEEP me up.
Load's important, and it's gotta get there quick, but I ain't BLEEP dying for it.
Ten miles back, Lisa's hitting the Cutouts.
It's pretty scary.
There's, like, a mountain below us.
As Lisa pushes forward, oncoming traffic pushes her closer to the edge.
- They have lots of place here.
Don't worry.
I'm with you.
So keep left.
Slow down.
Give him way.
Keep left.
Keep left.
Keep left.
He'll go.
- I don't wanna bump off the edge of this.
Go, go, go, go.
Keep left.
Lots of place here.
Keep left.
Keep left.
I do not wanna go left there.
Going to be walls and walls.
Ahead, we get more walls.
Go, go.
You're scaring me.
Right between the rocks.
- I'm so sick of hearing the horn, but on these corners, I'm more than happy to use it.
Whoa, we are way up here.
It's a long way down.
I wanna go home to the Dalton where it's safe.
- Oh, I respect this road completely.
Like, anything can happen to you here.
There's no guardrails.
It's sheer drop-offs.
Most of the road is only built for one truck.
You get cocky, start driving BLEEP-up here, you're gonna pay the price big time.
We're just pulled into the construction site.
Looks like a great big thing going on up here.
Go, go, go, go.
At the J.
P.
Corporation's Tapri facility, Rick's completing his first run alive.
And yes! The A-Team is here first.
Boyo and the Parrot get the load here first.
I did not blow my first load, and I'm feeling pretty good about it.
What? And just behind Rick, Lisa's also made it.
The two veteran ice road truckers were tested on one of deadliest roads in the world And got the job done.
Looks like they got it.
I just had to do the driving part.
You heard anything from Alex or what? No.
I'm going to the airport.
Well, I've decided to leave because we had a pretty stressful day there.
I think it's the logical thing to do.
It's a lot more relaxed sitting behind the driver than it is sitting up there in the truck going down the road.
He's gonna have to worry about getting run over or run into or runnin' into stuff.
I've got my stories here that I can take home with me, and I've survived the day.
At this point, I think that I need a bit of break.
I guess you could say India's got the best of me at this point.
Up in the Himalayas, with their load safely delivered, Lisa and Rick are officially done with their first run.
Pop the top off a cold beer, and then that's it for today, and then back to her tomorrow.
Tomorrow, they'll push deeper into the mountains and off the Freefall Freeway up a narrow set of switchbacks named "the Ledge" That's got to be 3,000 feet.
Where Lisa reaches her breaking point.
Go, go, go.
- I don't wanna go anywhere.
I'm done.
And a new driver arrives to take on the world's deadliest roads.
- Oh, look at this.
A head-on collision.
Mass confusion.
But by the end of the season, only one trucker will make it through the final load.