Ice Road Truckers (2007) s05e05 Episode Script
Under the Hammer
Tonight, on Ice Road Truckers A haul road newbie puts the hammer down.
[Beep.]
bastard! How am I supposed to drive on the most dangerous road in the world with no seat belt! Canadian veterans Holy mackerel.
Get pushed to the limit.
The largest load of the Manitoba season Road would be challenging enough with just a regular load.
Sparks big-time trouble.
He can't get out of his truck.
Don't back up.
And Lisa's dream job is in sight Push trucking, it's everything I've worked for.
Until it isn't.
Dang it.
Deep in the wilderness north of winnipeg Hugh Rowland, Rick Yemm, and convoy partner Vlad Pleskot are on day three of the biggest haul ever to hit the Canadian ice roads.
I'll still be happy when this [Beep.]
load's over and done with.
3 massive have put the veteran drivers through hell on ice.
Aww, man.
Watch out, Hugh! [Beep.]
sick of this [Beep.]
, dude.
God willing we get it up there, everything in one piece.
It's gonna be great for the success of our company.
I mean, we're a growing company and this is huge for us.
I mean, if we fail, it's gonna be a big hit to our business.
Delivering an entire airport terminal will be a reputation maker for Hugh and Rick.
But they're not out of the woods yet.
Now, boys, uh, just keep your eyes and your feet planted.
We got an ice crossing coming up here.
We're a little bit heavier than what we're supposed to be here.
Each loaded tractor trailer weighs 43 tons.
But the lake's weight limit is only 40 tons.
All right, put your life jacket on, Rick.
Mark eases out in the pilot car to test the waters.
Nice and smooth here, guys.
Nice and smooth.
The ice holds for the 3-ton Ford But the truckers' loads weigh 7 times that.
So we got to go really slow and Make sure we get our [Beep.]
spacing here Or somebody could drown.
Now this is ice road trucking.
One of the reasons why I got into trucking on ice roads was the danger.
There's something unknown out there.
You never know what can happen.
It just keeps me pumping, listening to the ice cracking underneath my truck.
That crack there, when I went by it, opened up at least a half an inch.
Believe it or not, but we're traveling on this ice and whenever we're traveling, the lake would go-- The ice is going down a foot.
Come up.
As Hugh's truck bears down on the ice, it creates a wave in the water below.
And the heavier the load The bigger the wave.
We're making a bigger wake.
We're going down farther like this and we just got to go that much slower.
You have a bunch of water right up through them cracks right there.
Come on.
Come on, baby.
We're pulled over on the east side of the lake here, so you guys are free and clear to come.
We made it.
Hey, Hugh, how's it going back there? I'm just coming off the lake.
Not too bad.
We were getting closer and closer.
Hat's off to you guys too.
That was-- That was phenomenal.
Thank you.
Ten-four, and we'll see you in dodge.
The caravan hopes to reach it's destination in just a few hours.
But on these roads, nothing is certain.
The load isn't delivered yet, so I'm not gonna count my blessings, but when it's off my trailer and everything's done, then it's delivered.
While Rick and Hugh hit the home stretch In Alaska, Lisa Kelly is at the start of her own mega haul.
Hi.
What's up, Lisa? Not much.
Man, you're 12-feet wide.
We're grossing about 240.
Definitely gonna need your help today.
And the next day.
Okay.
With a 120-ton modular building on his trailer, veteran Carey hall will be relying on Lisa and fellow driver Scott Swanson to push him up and over the Dalton's steepest slopes.
Scott will be right here on the booster and you'll be pushing against Scott.
We'll pull the hill all together.
Okay.
You'll be fine.
You gon' do a good job, so.
First time since last year.
Yeah, so, you'll catch right back on again.
Okay.
All right.
Last season, Lisa earned a reputation as a reliable push truck driver.
Big boy bumper cars.
This is her chance to show she's still got what it takes.
The moment has come.
Hey, there's rowdy.
No cuts, rowdy.
No cuts.
Hey, baby, we're on the road.
Right now, we're getting ready to go on to the taps.
The steep twisting hills of the taps will immediately put the convoy's teamwork to the test.
I haven't done this in a year.
I really don't want to screw it up and die.
Scott, don't ever be afraid to yell at me if I'm doing it wrong.
Let's go ahead and hook up.
Here comes our first push, our first hill where we need to hook up.
Scott moves into position directly behind Carey.
Hooked up? Yeah, I'm all in.
Now it's up to Lisa to help power the building over the hill.
Let's see if I can do this.
Come on, catch him.
Catch him.
Catch him, Lisa.
Catch him.
Bad part about being in the middle here, you get knocked around pretty good.
Hey, Lisa, I'm hooked up here.
Me too.
Nice job.
Nice job.
My job is to make sure he doesn't stop.
Lisa's job is to make sure that I stay glued to him.
Without us, he'd be parked on the hill waiting for someone to rescue him.
As the convoy approaches the top of the hill I can't tell if we're gonna, like, go faster or if we're gonna slow it down.
Damn.
Dang it.
Lisa! Fairbanks, Alaska, pushing a massive load up the hill, Lisa misses a gear and stalls out.
Damn.
Dang it.
Lisa, where you at? Lisa! Damn it.
Lisa! Shoot! If Lisa can't catch up to push the convoy, Carey will lose his momentum to get up the hill.
Screwed that one up.
You lost me.
Had to pick up all the slack there and Lisa got messed up and, uh, ended up dropping back.
Way back.
So I had to grab about three gears to keep it from stalling out right there on the hill.
Push trucking, some people it comes easy, some people it's hard.
Please.
Can't catch him.
Lisa.
Yes, Carey? Did you decide to stop on the hill? If you got any questions or anything, don't be afraid to ask.
Okay.
Despite Lisa's problems, the convoy pushes north toward Coldfoot.
But with steeper grades to come, the rest of the haul road won't be so forgiving.
Back in Canada, 300 miles up the winter road Hugh, Rick, and fellow ice road trucker Vlad Pleskot have finally hauled their mega loads to the remote village of St.
Theresa point.
It's been a bit of a frustrating one for me.
Painful.
Yes, sir, it is.
The road would be challenging enough with just a regular load, never mind a wide and long one.
I don't mind getting up, like, 5:00 a.
M.
And going, because if we leave at 5:00 A.
M.
, we should be able to-- Oh, [Beep.]
! Oh, [Beep.]
! Vlad caught one.
Where? Yeah, all the power went out.
Vlad's rig has snagged the town's 33,000-volt power line.
See that line's dropped here and another one across from there.
Is it caught right on it? Okay, well, what happens if he backs up or do we just-- All I know is we got to find out if that power's live, man.
We don't want any xxxx ,-- No, it is live.
I wouldn't [Beep.]
do nothing yet.
Hey, don't back up.
The front truck there caught the wire that goes across and drove with it.
That corner-- Wrapped around the corner of a building there.
The corner of the container grabbed the wire, wrapped around the corner and ripped the hydro pole down with it, and the weight of the pole is keeping tension on the wires and we can't get it lifted off the corner of the shack to get the truck loose.
Oh, man.
He's wrapped up there, man.
It's tight and he can't get out of his truck, 'cause if he gets out of his truck and that line is hot to his truck, he'll break the ground and Vlad will get zapped.
Power company workers arrive on the scene.
They're trying to figure out what to do exactly, so I just got to stay put.
Finally Vlad is free.
Isn't that something? But delivering the mega haul will have to wait until daylight.
[Beep.]
Vlad the impaler.
Just east in the town of garden hill Alex Debogorski is loading up a backhaul.
I'm not looking for any adventure, excitement, or experience.
'Cause at my age, if I get adventure, excitement, experience, it means that something went wrong.
As Alex makes the final adjustments on his another driver stops by with news.
Somebody go in the ditch and hit it or-- No.
One of the truck drivers.
Hooked the power line? Yeah.
Broke it in half, eh.
Yeah.
Holy mackerel.
How much trouble can a guy get into? The fella that fueled us up claimed that this wide load that Hugh brought up to the airport, that he broke a power pole and pulled down some wires.
Every time I hear something about Hugh and Rick, it's not good things that I want to hear.
They're not very patient fellows, so, you know, maybe the lack of patience is showing through.
We get into the back country here.
This is-- We're back in the woods.
Beautiful day.
I wouldn't be-- Want to be out there in my swimming trunks, but, uh-- Go through all these corners blind and then you really don't know if anybody's coming around that corner.
We always have some civilian traffic on the winter roads or ice roads.
You know, we can't slow down as fast, so they catch us by surprise and they're going too fast, especially in the corner or something, then we can get pretty close.
Every curve here or every second curve, you see the tracks where somebody's gone off the curb with a civilian vehicle.
Right on, baby.
Turn, turn, turn.
Come on, come on a little bit more, yeah.
That was pretty close.
If I hit that, they're gonna take that out of my paycheck.
The whole trip gets thrown out the window.
Holy mackerel! Easy, easy.
Whoa! There goes your smooth ride.
When [Beep.]
hits the fan, all you want to do-- Your brain wants to do is go "ahh!" and jump.
Easy, easy.
I haven't seen a flying saucer try to land on the road yet.
That'll be next.
Back in Fairbanks, the mercury has hit 30 below.
But Dave redmond hopes his ice road season is about to heat up.
I've had a real rough start to this season, but still gonna beat 'em in the load count.
I'm gonna run 'em under the [Beep.]
table and that's just the way it's gonna be.
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
Damn it! You know, it's just like they're really just trying to piss me off deliberately.
Hugh's old truck won't start.
I'll get Dale to go out and give you a jumpstart, put the battery charger on it, put the heater on it, and then, uh, get it fired up.
All right, yeah.
Thanks.
You bet.
Yeah, I got to deal with them guys in the shop today.
Now they're gonna drag their feet and not want to come out here.
Dave's dash for the cash is stuck in neutral.
Said they gonna come back in about a half an hour to check on it and see if it'll start.
So all we do is wait.
They don't seem very enthusiastic at all to be over here, uh, you know, helping me try to get this thing started.
You know, they're-- It's almost like they just don't even want me here.
I'm the new guy.
You know, "let's mess with this guy.
" You know, "let's screw with his truck so it won't run.
" It's not a conspiracy.
It's just cold out.
They die, ain't nothing you can do about it.
Ain't nothing he can do to prevent it.
Half an hour later, the truck is up and running.
With only one haul under his belt this season, he hopes to make up for lost time.
All right, Dave.
What you got is 3 20-foot conexes on a 53-foot flatbed.
Okay, you're gonna take this load to Coldfoot.
Okay.
Get that up there as soon as you can.
A driver will be switching with you there.
Does this add to my load count? We're gonna count that as a full load, so that's number two.
Okay, appreciate it.
All right, Dave, you have a safe trip.
All right, thanks.
Finally, Dave's ready to hitch onto his load and hit the road.
Somebody has red-tagged it.
It's got a marker light out, which it's this one right here.
I'll get the trailer shop to look it over.
It's gonna be another long [Beep.]
day.
This was on the trailer I was picking up.
You're gonna have to bring it to the front of the building.
Okay.
But before Dave can even bring his trailer to the shop, he discovers yet another problem.
This thing here is hitting-- Hitting the trailer and I don't know how I'm gonna get this mother out now.
A metal hanger designed to keep air hoses in position has wedged between the tractor and the trailer.
I can't go anywhere until I fix that.
That's just gonna get tore up, bust the son of a bitch off, and I'm not gonna be responsible for tearing the damn thing up.
I'm the new guy.
I'm the outsider.
They just want to [Beep.]
with me.
That's all.
I don't give a [Beep.]
.
That mudflap hanger they got, you know, sticking out over the top to hold the [Beep.]
air hoses and [Beep.]
? Yeah.
It's up against the trailer.
You know, it's just been nothing but trouble, and it's now 9:00 in the morning and it's just been a wasted morning.
There we go.
Yeah, if it's like this the whole season, I'm just gonna be screwed as far as load count goes and I'm just totally discouraged.
Just not a good start to the season.
Coming up Lisa struggles Holy crap.
And Dave takes matters into his own hands.
How am I supposed to drive on the most dangerous road in the world with no damn seat belt? Do you copy that, Lisa? Turn direct.
Ten-four.
Lisa Kelly and her heavy haul convoy approach the deadly slopes of the Brooks Mountain range.
These are the longest hills.
Four miles.
Two miles up, two miles down.
First, they'll face the long, steep climb of Chandalar shelf.
Okay, Lisa, I'm on.
We're hooked up at the bottom of this [Beep.]
hill.
It takes the muscle of 2 470-horsepower push trucks to power this 120-ton modular building up and over the steep terrain.
But so far this trip Oh! Damn.
Lisa has been off her game.
Dang it.
Every little practice that I can get makes me better at this.
So I'm taking any chance every time I get it If I want to be good at it.
That's one down.
But just ahead We're going up Atigun Pass, so I'm just gonna switch back.
The heart-stopping cliffs of Atigun Pass.
We're in third direct.
A 4,800-foot climb along sheer cliffs and through unpredictable avalanche zones.
A mistake on Atigun could cost Lisa more than just her career.
Why am I slipping at all? How are you doing back there, Lisa? Wonderful.
How's everything going up there? So far, so good.
We're almost to the top.
Finally, the monster load makes it through the pass.
Hey, Lisa, just keep it up.
You're doing good.
You're doing a good job.
You know, we're still moving, so we're doing good.
With the biggest hills behind them, lead push truck driver Scott Swanson will turn back South to grab another load.
You did good.
Thank you very much.
Thanks.
Appreciate you putting up with me.
Have a good one.
All right, Lisa, it's all up to you now.
But there's still 160 miles of frozen tundra left to go.
At the Carlile truck yard in Fairbanks Dave redmond is off to a slow start.
Yeah, I'm ready to get load number two delivered.
I only have to go to Coldfoot.
I mean, that's a good thing, but it'd be nice to just be able to get going.
With his truck finally ready to roll, Dave meets with today's convoy partner, David "double d" Dickard.
Hey, Dave! Ready to go? Where you been, Dave? They said to be here at 8:00 this morning.
The truck wouldn't start this morning.
Yeah.
[Beep.]
lights were out.
Right.
Somebody had tagged it, but nobody saw the tag.
Oh, okay, yeah.
I guess they just leave it for the next guy.
Right.
So it just-- Things are stacking up against already.
Well, that's all right.
We'll get going sooner or later.
We'll make it.
All right.
We'll make it happen.
Let's go to Coldfoot.
All right, man, let's get out of here.
Okay.
You know, [Beep.]
I got to [Beep.]
around with it for three hours just to get the damn thing on the trailer and get moving.
So if anybody wants to give me any [Beep.]
about taking the credit for one load on the load count and it's only going to Coldfoot, I don't care.
They can kiss my ass.
I'm gonna take the credit and move on.
It's finally time for Dave to hit the road.
But there's a problem.
[Beep.]
[Beep.]
seat belt don't work.
I can't get my seat belt pulled out.
At this point, Dave's through with asking mechanics for help.
You got a hammer? Got a claw hammer.
I got-- Claw hammer.
Give me that claw hammer.
Yeah, I can swing that [Beep.]
thing.
Bastard! How am I supposed to drive on the most dangerous road in the world with no damn seat belt? This thing has a damn brake on it and the brake is stuck.
If I need to get [Beep.]
done around here, I got to do it myself.
Oh, come on.
Never just drive.
Always got to be [Beep.]
with this truck.
[Beep.]
trash.
Okay, here we go.
I have a seat belt.
It's just for looks.
It don't work, but at least I got something to put on when I go across the scale.
It doesn't do nothing.
It just sits here.
ButYou know? What else you gonna do when you're working with substandard equipment? I guess you got to [Beep.]
deal with it.
I don't know if Hugh broke this.
You know, he had to stretch it across his big gut.
I don't know.
Coming up Alex runs into trouble I just dropped the trailer.
And Lisa rolls into a whiteout.
You're gone.
You're officially gone.
Deep in northern Canada Hugh, Rick, and Vlad took on the wilderness, hauling an entire airport terminal.
And after 54 hours, 4 blown tires Aww, man.
And one downed power line Oh, [Beep.]
! The mega haul has come to an end.
We just made history here.
I mean, we just hauled the biggest loads that have ever been hauled on the Manitoba ice roads.
Beauty! Now they're just trying to get this unloaded and move on to the next one and then move on to the next one.
Everybody said, "you guys will never make it in there with them shocks.
" Nope.
And here we are.
We've done real well.
And that's everybody.
Everybody, all the companies, they laughed, saying, "you're crazy to take them loads.
"They'd never make it here.
" For Rick, the challenge of measuring up to his mentor Hugh has been difficult.
It's a bit of a discouraging run.
I had a little bit of issues there.
Tough thing when you get going wrong on you and you got to keep yourself-- Got to keep your mind going in the right direction.
He worries too much.
That's my-- That's my little hug for the month.
Yeah, that's his hug of the month right there.
Next time you're in St.
Theresa and there's the airport, I hauled it.
So that's pretty cool.
That's part of history right there.
You want me to take that off and sign it for you? South of Prudhoe Bay Yeah, looks like we're gonna start getting into a little bit of a breeze here.
Here we go.
Lisa Kelly's push truck run has made it through the Dalton's steepest hills.
Tell you what, we just got to hold it right about 35 miles per hour here.
But the haul road isn't finished with them yet.
I can still see them on.
Haven't lost it yet.
You're gone.
You're officially gone.
Holy crap.
gusts pile drifting snow on the road and obliterate Lisa's view.
Holy crap.
Uh, Carey, I can't see anything at all.
Now just stay right there.
You're good.
Lisa and Carey must trust each other completely to make it through.
While she gives him the push he needs, the tight connection between the trucks lets Carey steer for both of them.
Supposed to hang on really lightly.
He's steering for me and he can see.
But I can't see and my life pretty much depends on it, you know? Staying hooked up and, uh, trusting him.
Can you slow down? Stay up to me and you'll be okay.
Okay, I'll stay up to you.
Somebody might panic and come off the booster and then once you come off, then you can't see where to go.
But if she stay on that booster, I'll bring her right around through it.
If I let off during the drifts, I could go completely off the road 'cause I can't see anything at all.
I could just go out in the tundra somewhere.
Just keep pushing.
We've got a truck on the left here.
We'll just drop our speed down a little bit and, uh, just stay hooked up.
Okay, I'll try to stay on you.
It's gonna get really drifty right here.
We've got to move over a little bit.
We'll be good.
Just got a truck on the left here.
My eyes are open and they're not seeing anything.
See anything? Nothing! He's gone.
Carey's gone.
Freaking nuts.
Holy crap, that scarier than just talking about it.
I know what you mean.
That's why I love this job.
Lisa finally pushes Carey through the drifts and toward the lights of Prudhoe Bay.
Good job, good job.
Glad you got to see what it's like.
That was just scary.
I couldn't see anything at all.
Good job.
It was a good trip.
Thanks for letting me come along.
You fell off a couple times, you know, but you got to keep doing it until you get the hang of it.
Practice makes perfect.
Alex Debogorski is on the road back to winnipeg With 20,000 pounds of recycling.
I'm more worried about the sasquatches and the flying saucers.
I'd hate to run over my first sasquatch.
Or a bush monster.
I don't know.
But just 30 miles into the trip Is that my trailer back there? Something is seriously wrong.
Whoa, baby.
In the remote northwest corner of Manitoba [Beep.]
was that my trailer back there? Alex's backhaul has turned into a 10-ton headache.
Whoa, baby.
I just dropped the trailer.
But it didn't fall off.
The trailer's disconnected.
Usually when that happens, you lose the trailer and the trailer's bouncing down the highway behind you.
The interesting thing is it didn't come off the truck.
For whatever reason, the good lord decided I didn't need that much excitement.
Don't have time for [Beep.]
around here if you're blocking the road, eh.
In 25 below on a blind curve Alex has to diagnose and repair his trailer.
For some reason, the jaws on my fifth wheel opened up.
I checked the bolt was all the way in.
I checked it before I left.
So this thing here is called the horse cock, and that goes inside of those jaws, and those jaws are supposed to lock on that.
This is probably what was going on there.
See, this looks like a piece of metal, but all this is a piece of snow.
Obviously it wasn't properly locked, and it unlocked itself.
Alex's truck has a fifth wheel hitch where spring-loaded jaws on the tractor clamp onto the knob from the trailer.
Snow caked onto the knob and prevented the jaws from making a secure connection.
Somehow, gravity alone kept the trailer in contact with the tractor.
Without it, the trailer would have detached and careened out of control.
Alex pulls away from the trailer to try pinning up again.
There's not too many guys could say they lost a trailer at that speed and have the brakes dynamite and the trailer still stayed on the truck.
So somebody's still looking after me.
See those jaws are closed there.
Now are they gonna stay closed? There's another experience.
Oh, lord.
A good time was had by all.
Thank you, lord.
Back in Alaska After a rough start to the day, Dave is rolling on his second run of the season.
Still following double d.
We're about 50 miles outside of Coldfoot.
Gonna drop these trailers here in about an hour and a half.
Yeah, I've had bad luck from the start.
Couple of setbacks.
Hopefully, the bad luck monkey will go away, go climb on somebody else's back for a while, and I can make a little progress on this road.
It's sure been bleak the last couple of days though.
But we'll get ahead somehow, someway.
I'm gonna go ahead and hook up to this trailer.
I'm hooking this stuff up as fast as I can so we can turn and burn and get the hell out of here.
Get back to Fairbanks.
Try and get us another load maybe.
This run will give Dave two loads on the board, four behind the leader Lisa.
But Dave has no intention of staying at the back of the pack for long.
It's not the nicest truck on the block, but I don't need the nicest truck on the block to do the job and get ahead.
I work well under pressure, so we'll see.
After successfully delivering the biggest loads ever to cross the winter roads, the mega haul team is looking to unwind Canadian-style.
Welcome to the curling rink.
This is a different form of ice for you, buddy.
Can't drive on this one.
I've been curling since I was six years old.
I saw it once on tv.
I turned it off because it is boring.
I even brought my curling gloves.
So you got to place your rock to the middle? This round thing? Right in the center.
Do you ever play shuffleboard? Why do they clean it so many times? It's clean.
'Cause you got to have it nice and slick.
Ready to throw some rocks.
There you go.
Let's rock and roll.
Man down.
Oh, man down! Man down.
Man down! That worked good, didn't it? Rick and I versus you two.
No, [Beep.]
that, man.
I'm gonna lose.
I can't even [Beep.]
do this [Beep.]
.
Well, winner buys the beers.
Okay, that works.
Look at that.
Look at that! Perfect shot.
Well, I get one point.
He missed.
Bouncing over.
Yes! Come on! Get it in there.
Get it in there.
Nice.
I'm curling like a pro.
He's taking you out! What the-- Man, what the-- Huh? I got it.
Last rock, guys! Oh, he missed.
Still no points for him.
That's why I don't curl.
Well, good game.
Yep, good game.
We got some beers bought for us, that's the main thing.
We suck.
Next, on ice road truckers Oh! Slippery roads wreak havoc for the rookies.
I don't know if we're gon' make it down this way.
The pressure is on as Lisa Kelly gets called up to the big leagues.
I've been working for five years to do this.
And Hugh, Rick, and Alex team up We're giving the Springs a workout, that's for [Beep.]
damn sure.
To roll deeper into the Canadian wilderness than ever before.
[Beep.]
bastard! How am I supposed to drive on the most dangerous road in the world with no seat belt! Canadian veterans Holy mackerel.
Get pushed to the limit.
The largest load of the Manitoba season Road would be challenging enough with just a regular load.
Sparks big-time trouble.
He can't get out of his truck.
Don't back up.
And Lisa's dream job is in sight Push trucking, it's everything I've worked for.
Until it isn't.
Dang it.
Deep in the wilderness north of winnipeg Hugh Rowland, Rick Yemm, and convoy partner Vlad Pleskot are on day three of the biggest haul ever to hit the Canadian ice roads.
I'll still be happy when this [Beep.]
load's over and done with.
3 massive have put the veteran drivers through hell on ice.
Aww, man.
Watch out, Hugh! [Beep.]
sick of this [Beep.]
, dude.
God willing we get it up there, everything in one piece.
It's gonna be great for the success of our company.
I mean, we're a growing company and this is huge for us.
I mean, if we fail, it's gonna be a big hit to our business.
Delivering an entire airport terminal will be a reputation maker for Hugh and Rick.
But they're not out of the woods yet.
Now, boys, uh, just keep your eyes and your feet planted.
We got an ice crossing coming up here.
We're a little bit heavier than what we're supposed to be here.
Each loaded tractor trailer weighs 43 tons.
But the lake's weight limit is only 40 tons.
All right, put your life jacket on, Rick.
Mark eases out in the pilot car to test the waters.
Nice and smooth here, guys.
Nice and smooth.
The ice holds for the 3-ton Ford But the truckers' loads weigh 7 times that.
So we got to go really slow and Make sure we get our [Beep.]
spacing here Or somebody could drown.
Now this is ice road trucking.
One of the reasons why I got into trucking on ice roads was the danger.
There's something unknown out there.
You never know what can happen.
It just keeps me pumping, listening to the ice cracking underneath my truck.
That crack there, when I went by it, opened up at least a half an inch.
Believe it or not, but we're traveling on this ice and whenever we're traveling, the lake would go-- The ice is going down a foot.
Come up.
As Hugh's truck bears down on the ice, it creates a wave in the water below.
And the heavier the load The bigger the wave.
We're making a bigger wake.
We're going down farther like this and we just got to go that much slower.
You have a bunch of water right up through them cracks right there.
Come on.
Come on, baby.
We're pulled over on the east side of the lake here, so you guys are free and clear to come.
We made it.
Hey, Hugh, how's it going back there? I'm just coming off the lake.
Not too bad.
We were getting closer and closer.
Hat's off to you guys too.
That was-- That was phenomenal.
Thank you.
Ten-four, and we'll see you in dodge.
The caravan hopes to reach it's destination in just a few hours.
But on these roads, nothing is certain.
The load isn't delivered yet, so I'm not gonna count my blessings, but when it's off my trailer and everything's done, then it's delivered.
While Rick and Hugh hit the home stretch In Alaska, Lisa Kelly is at the start of her own mega haul.
Hi.
What's up, Lisa? Not much.
Man, you're 12-feet wide.
We're grossing about 240.
Definitely gonna need your help today.
And the next day.
Okay.
With a 120-ton modular building on his trailer, veteran Carey hall will be relying on Lisa and fellow driver Scott Swanson to push him up and over the Dalton's steepest slopes.
Scott will be right here on the booster and you'll be pushing against Scott.
We'll pull the hill all together.
Okay.
You'll be fine.
You gon' do a good job, so.
First time since last year.
Yeah, so, you'll catch right back on again.
Okay.
All right.
Last season, Lisa earned a reputation as a reliable push truck driver.
Big boy bumper cars.
This is her chance to show she's still got what it takes.
The moment has come.
Hey, there's rowdy.
No cuts, rowdy.
No cuts.
Hey, baby, we're on the road.
Right now, we're getting ready to go on to the taps.
The steep twisting hills of the taps will immediately put the convoy's teamwork to the test.
I haven't done this in a year.
I really don't want to screw it up and die.
Scott, don't ever be afraid to yell at me if I'm doing it wrong.
Let's go ahead and hook up.
Here comes our first push, our first hill where we need to hook up.
Scott moves into position directly behind Carey.
Hooked up? Yeah, I'm all in.
Now it's up to Lisa to help power the building over the hill.
Let's see if I can do this.
Come on, catch him.
Catch him.
Catch him, Lisa.
Catch him.
Bad part about being in the middle here, you get knocked around pretty good.
Hey, Lisa, I'm hooked up here.
Me too.
Nice job.
Nice job.
My job is to make sure he doesn't stop.
Lisa's job is to make sure that I stay glued to him.
Without us, he'd be parked on the hill waiting for someone to rescue him.
As the convoy approaches the top of the hill I can't tell if we're gonna, like, go faster or if we're gonna slow it down.
Damn.
Dang it.
Lisa! Fairbanks, Alaska, pushing a massive load up the hill, Lisa misses a gear and stalls out.
Damn.
Dang it.
Lisa, where you at? Lisa! Damn it.
Lisa! Shoot! If Lisa can't catch up to push the convoy, Carey will lose his momentum to get up the hill.
Screwed that one up.
You lost me.
Had to pick up all the slack there and Lisa got messed up and, uh, ended up dropping back.
Way back.
So I had to grab about three gears to keep it from stalling out right there on the hill.
Push trucking, some people it comes easy, some people it's hard.
Please.
Can't catch him.
Lisa.
Yes, Carey? Did you decide to stop on the hill? If you got any questions or anything, don't be afraid to ask.
Okay.
Despite Lisa's problems, the convoy pushes north toward Coldfoot.
But with steeper grades to come, the rest of the haul road won't be so forgiving.
Back in Canada, 300 miles up the winter road Hugh, Rick, and fellow ice road trucker Vlad Pleskot have finally hauled their mega loads to the remote village of St.
Theresa point.
It's been a bit of a frustrating one for me.
Painful.
Yes, sir, it is.
The road would be challenging enough with just a regular load, never mind a wide and long one.
I don't mind getting up, like, 5:00 a.
M.
And going, because if we leave at 5:00 A.
M.
, we should be able to-- Oh, [Beep.]
! Oh, [Beep.]
! Vlad caught one.
Where? Yeah, all the power went out.
Vlad's rig has snagged the town's 33,000-volt power line.
See that line's dropped here and another one across from there.
Is it caught right on it? Okay, well, what happens if he backs up or do we just-- All I know is we got to find out if that power's live, man.
We don't want any xxxx ,-- No, it is live.
I wouldn't [Beep.]
do nothing yet.
Hey, don't back up.
The front truck there caught the wire that goes across and drove with it.
That corner-- Wrapped around the corner of a building there.
The corner of the container grabbed the wire, wrapped around the corner and ripped the hydro pole down with it, and the weight of the pole is keeping tension on the wires and we can't get it lifted off the corner of the shack to get the truck loose.
Oh, man.
He's wrapped up there, man.
It's tight and he can't get out of his truck, 'cause if he gets out of his truck and that line is hot to his truck, he'll break the ground and Vlad will get zapped.
Power company workers arrive on the scene.
They're trying to figure out what to do exactly, so I just got to stay put.
Finally Vlad is free.
Isn't that something? But delivering the mega haul will have to wait until daylight.
[Beep.]
Vlad the impaler.
Just east in the town of garden hill Alex Debogorski is loading up a backhaul.
I'm not looking for any adventure, excitement, or experience.
'Cause at my age, if I get adventure, excitement, experience, it means that something went wrong.
As Alex makes the final adjustments on his another driver stops by with news.
Somebody go in the ditch and hit it or-- No.
One of the truck drivers.
Hooked the power line? Yeah.
Broke it in half, eh.
Yeah.
Holy mackerel.
How much trouble can a guy get into? The fella that fueled us up claimed that this wide load that Hugh brought up to the airport, that he broke a power pole and pulled down some wires.
Every time I hear something about Hugh and Rick, it's not good things that I want to hear.
They're not very patient fellows, so, you know, maybe the lack of patience is showing through.
We get into the back country here.
This is-- We're back in the woods.
Beautiful day.
I wouldn't be-- Want to be out there in my swimming trunks, but, uh-- Go through all these corners blind and then you really don't know if anybody's coming around that corner.
We always have some civilian traffic on the winter roads or ice roads.
You know, we can't slow down as fast, so they catch us by surprise and they're going too fast, especially in the corner or something, then we can get pretty close.
Every curve here or every second curve, you see the tracks where somebody's gone off the curb with a civilian vehicle.
Right on, baby.
Turn, turn, turn.
Come on, come on a little bit more, yeah.
That was pretty close.
If I hit that, they're gonna take that out of my paycheck.
The whole trip gets thrown out the window.
Holy mackerel! Easy, easy.
Whoa! There goes your smooth ride.
When [Beep.]
hits the fan, all you want to do-- Your brain wants to do is go "ahh!" and jump.
Easy, easy.
I haven't seen a flying saucer try to land on the road yet.
That'll be next.
Back in Fairbanks, the mercury has hit 30 below.
But Dave redmond hopes his ice road season is about to heat up.
I've had a real rough start to this season, but still gonna beat 'em in the load count.
I'm gonna run 'em under the [Beep.]
table and that's just the way it's gonna be.
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
Damn it! You know, it's just like they're really just trying to piss me off deliberately.
Hugh's old truck won't start.
I'll get Dale to go out and give you a jumpstart, put the battery charger on it, put the heater on it, and then, uh, get it fired up.
All right, yeah.
Thanks.
You bet.
Yeah, I got to deal with them guys in the shop today.
Now they're gonna drag their feet and not want to come out here.
Dave's dash for the cash is stuck in neutral.
Said they gonna come back in about a half an hour to check on it and see if it'll start.
So all we do is wait.
They don't seem very enthusiastic at all to be over here, uh, you know, helping me try to get this thing started.
You know, they're-- It's almost like they just don't even want me here.
I'm the new guy.
You know, "let's mess with this guy.
" You know, "let's screw with his truck so it won't run.
" It's not a conspiracy.
It's just cold out.
They die, ain't nothing you can do about it.
Ain't nothing he can do to prevent it.
Half an hour later, the truck is up and running.
With only one haul under his belt this season, he hopes to make up for lost time.
All right, Dave.
What you got is 3 20-foot conexes on a 53-foot flatbed.
Okay, you're gonna take this load to Coldfoot.
Okay.
Get that up there as soon as you can.
A driver will be switching with you there.
Does this add to my load count? We're gonna count that as a full load, so that's number two.
Okay, appreciate it.
All right, Dave, you have a safe trip.
All right, thanks.
Finally, Dave's ready to hitch onto his load and hit the road.
Somebody has red-tagged it.
It's got a marker light out, which it's this one right here.
I'll get the trailer shop to look it over.
It's gonna be another long [Beep.]
day.
This was on the trailer I was picking up.
You're gonna have to bring it to the front of the building.
Okay.
But before Dave can even bring his trailer to the shop, he discovers yet another problem.
This thing here is hitting-- Hitting the trailer and I don't know how I'm gonna get this mother out now.
A metal hanger designed to keep air hoses in position has wedged between the tractor and the trailer.
I can't go anywhere until I fix that.
That's just gonna get tore up, bust the son of a bitch off, and I'm not gonna be responsible for tearing the damn thing up.
I'm the new guy.
I'm the outsider.
They just want to [Beep.]
with me.
That's all.
I don't give a [Beep.]
.
That mudflap hanger they got, you know, sticking out over the top to hold the [Beep.]
air hoses and [Beep.]
? Yeah.
It's up against the trailer.
You know, it's just been nothing but trouble, and it's now 9:00 in the morning and it's just been a wasted morning.
There we go.
Yeah, if it's like this the whole season, I'm just gonna be screwed as far as load count goes and I'm just totally discouraged.
Just not a good start to the season.
Coming up Lisa struggles Holy crap.
And Dave takes matters into his own hands.
How am I supposed to drive on the most dangerous road in the world with no damn seat belt? Do you copy that, Lisa? Turn direct.
Ten-four.
Lisa Kelly and her heavy haul convoy approach the deadly slopes of the Brooks Mountain range.
These are the longest hills.
Four miles.
Two miles up, two miles down.
First, they'll face the long, steep climb of Chandalar shelf.
Okay, Lisa, I'm on.
We're hooked up at the bottom of this [Beep.]
hill.
It takes the muscle of 2 470-horsepower push trucks to power this 120-ton modular building up and over the steep terrain.
But so far this trip Oh! Damn.
Lisa has been off her game.
Dang it.
Every little practice that I can get makes me better at this.
So I'm taking any chance every time I get it If I want to be good at it.
That's one down.
But just ahead We're going up Atigun Pass, so I'm just gonna switch back.
The heart-stopping cliffs of Atigun Pass.
We're in third direct.
A 4,800-foot climb along sheer cliffs and through unpredictable avalanche zones.
A mistake on Atigun could cost Lisa more than just her career.
Why am I slipping at all? How are you doing back there, Lisa? Wonderful.
How's everything going up there? So far, so good.
We're almost to the top.
Finally, the monster load makes it through the pass.
Hey, Lisa, just keep it up.
You're doing good.
You're doing a good job.
You know, we're still moving, so we're doing good.
With the biggest hills behind them, lead push truck driver Scott Swanson will turn back South to grab another load.
You did good.
Thank you very much.
Thanks.
Appreciate you putting up with me.
Have a good one.
All right, Lisa, it's all up to you now.
But there's still 160 miles of frozen tundra left to go.
At the Carlile truck yard in Fairbanks Dave redmond is off to a slow start.
Yeah, I'm ready to get load number two delivered.
I only have to go to Coldfoot.
I mean, that's a good thing, but it'd be nice to just be able to get going.
With his truck finally ready to roll, Dave meets with today's convoy partner, David "double d" Dickard.
Hey, Dave! Ready to go? Where you been, Dave? They said to be here at 8:00 this morning.
The truck wouldn't start this morning.
Yeah.
[Beep.]
lights were out.
Right.
Somebody had tagged it, but nobody saw the tag.
Oh, okay, yeah.
I guess they just leave it for the next guy.
Right.
So it just-- Things are stacking up against already.
Well, that's all right.
We'll get going sooner or later.
We'll make it.
All right.
We'll make it happen.
Let's go to Coldfoot.
All right, man, let's get out of here.
Okay.
You know, [Beep.]
I got to [Beep.]
around with it for three hours just to get the damn thing on the trailer and get moving.
So if anybody wants to give me any [Beep.]
about taking the credit for one load on the load count and it's only going to Coldfoot, I don't care.
They can kiss my ass.
I'm gonna take the credit and move on.
It's finally time for Dave to hit the road.
But there's a problem.
[Beep.]
[Beep.]
seat belt don't work.
I can't get my seat belt pulled out.
At this point, Dave's through with asking mechanics for help.
You got a hammer? Got a claw hammer.
I got-- Claw hammer.
Give me that claw hammer.
Yeah, I can swing that [Beep.]
thing.
Bastard! How am I supposed to drive on the most dangerous road in the world with no damn seat belt? This thing has a damn brake on it and the brake is stuck.
If I need to get [Beep.]
done around here, I got to do it myself.
Oh, come on.
Never just drive.
Always got to be [Beep.]
with this truck.
[Beep.]
trash.
Okay, here we go.
I have a seat belt.
It's just for looks.
It don't work, but at least I got something to put on when I go across the scale.
It doesn't do nothing.
It just sits here.
ButYou know? What else you gonna do when you're working with substandard equipment? I guess you got to [Beep.]
deal with it.
I don't know if Hugh broke this.
You know, he had to stretch it across his big gut.
I don't know.
Coming up Alex runs into trouble I just dropped the trailer.
And Lisa rolls into a whiteout.
You're gone.
You're officially gone.
Deep in northern Canada Hugh, Rick, and Vlad took on the wilderness, hauling an entire airport terminal.
And after 54 hours, 4 blown tires Aww, man.
And one downed power line Oh, [Beep.]
! The mega haul has come to an end.
We just made history here.
I mean, we just hauled the biggest loads that have ever been hauled on the Manitoba ice roads.
Beauty! Now they're just trying to get this unloaded and move on to the next one and then move on to the next one.
Everybody said, "you guys will never make it in there with them shocks.
" Nope.
And here we are.
We've done real well.
And that's everybody.
Everybody, all the companies, they laughed, saying, "you're crazy to take them loads.
"They'd never make it here.
" For Rick, the challenge of measuring up to his mentor Hugh has been difficult.
It's a bit of a discouraging run.
I had a little bit of issues there.
Tough thing when you get going wrong on you and you got to keep yourself-- Got to keep your mind going in the right direction.
He worries too much.
That's my-- That's my little hug for the month.
Yeah, that's his hug of the month right there.
Next time you're in St.
Theresa and there's the airport, I hauled it.
So that's pretty cool.
That's part of history right there.
You want me to take that off and sign it for you? South of Prudhoe Bay Yeah, looks like we're gonna start getting into a little bit of a breeze here.
Here we go.
Lisa Kelly's push truck run has made it through the Dalton's steepest hills.
Tell you what, we just got to hold it right about 35 miles per hour here.
But the haul road isn't finished with them yet.
I can still see them on.
Haven't lost it yet.
You're gone.
You're officially gone.
Holy crap.
gusts pile drifting snow on the road and obliterate Lisa's view.
Holy crap.
Uh, Carey, I can't see anything at all.
Now just stay right there.
You're good.
Lisa and Carey must trust each other completely to make it through.
While she gives him the push he needs, the tight connection between the trucks lets Carey steer for both of them.
Supposed to hang on really lightly.
He's steering for me and he can see.
But I can't see and my life pretty much depends on it, you know? Staying hooked up and, uh, trusting him.
Can you slow down? Stay up to me and you'll be okay.
Okay, I'll stay up to you.
Somebody might panic and come off the booster and then once you come off, then you can't see where to go.
But if she stay on that booster, I'll bring her right around through it.
If I let off during the drifts, I could go completely off the road 'cause I can't see anything at all.
I could just go out in the tundra somewhere.
Just keep pushing.
We've got a truck on the left here.
We'll just drop our speed down a little bit and, uh, just stay hooked up.
Okay, I'll try to stay on you.
It's gonna get really drifty right here.
We've got to move over a little bit.
We'll be good.
Just got a truck on the left here.
My eyes are open and they're not seeing anything.
See anything? Nothing! He's gone.
Carey's gone.
Freaking nuts.
Holy crap, that scarier than just talking about it.
I know what you mean.
That's why I love this job.
Lisa finally pushes Carey through the drifts and toward the lights of Prudhoe Bay.
Good job, good job.
Glad you got to see what it's like.
That was just scary.
I couldn't see anything at all.
Good job.
It was a good trip.
Thanks for letting me come along.
You fell off a couple times, you know, but you got to keep doing it until you get the hang of it.
Practice makes perfect.
Alex Debogorski is on the road back to winnipeg With 20,000 pounds of recycling.
I'm more worried about the sasquatches and the flying saucers.
I'd hate to run over my first sasquatch.
Or a bush monster.
I don't know.
But just 30 miles into the trip Is that my trailer back there? Something is seriously wrong.
Whoa, baby.
In the remote northwest corner of Manitoba [Beep.]
was that my trailer back there? Alex's backhaul has turned into a 10-ton headache.
Whoa, baby.
I just dropped the trailer.
But it didn't fall off.
The trailer's disconnected.
Usually when that happens, you lose the trailer and the trailer's bouncing down the highway behind you.
The interesting thing is it didn't come off the truck.
For whatever reason, the good lord decided I didn't need that much excitement.
Don't have time for [Beep.]
around here if you're blocking the road, eh.
In 25 below on a blind curve Alex has to diagnose and repair his trailer.
For some reason, the jaws on my fifth wheel opened up.
I checked the bolt was all the way in.
I checked it before I left.
So this thing here is called the horse cock, and that goes inside of those jaws, and those jaws are supposed to lock on that.
This is probably what was going on there.
See, this looks like a piece of metal, but all this is a piece of snow.
Obviously it wasn't properly locked, and it unlocked itself.
Alex's truck has a fifth wheel hitch where spring-loaded jaws on the tractor clamp onto the knob from the trailer.
Snow caked onto the knob and prevented the jaws from making a secure connection.
Somehow, gravity alone kept the trailer in contact with the tractor.
Without it, the trailer would have detached and careened out of control.
Alex pulls away from the trailer to try pinning up again.
There's not too many guys could say they lost a trailer at that speed and have the brakes dynamite and the trailer still stayed on the truck.
So somebody's still looking after me.
See those jaws are closed there.
Now are they gonna stay closed? There's another experience.
Oh, lord.
A good time was had by all.
Thank you, lord.
Back in Alaska After a rough start to the day, Dave is rolling on his second run of the season.
Still following double d.
We're about 50 miles outside of Coldfoot.
Gonna drop these trailers here in about an hour and a half.
Yeah, I've had bad luck from the start.
Couple of setbacks.
Hopefully, the bad luck monkey will go away, go climb on somebody else's back for a while, and I can make a little progress on this road.
It's sure been bleak the last couple of days though.
But we'll get ahead somehow, someway.
I'm gonna go ahead and hook up to this trailer.
I'm hooking this stuff up as fast as I can so we can turn and burn and get the hell out of here.
Get back to Fairbanks.
Try and get us another load maybe.
This run will give Dave two loads on the board, four behind the leader Lisa.
But Dave has no intention of staying at the back of the pack for long.
It's not the nicest truck on the block, but I don't need the nicest truck on the block to do the job and get ahead.
I work well under pressure, so we'll see.
After successfully delivering the biggest loads ever to cross the winter roads, the mega haul team is looking to unwind Canadian-style.
Welcome to the curling rink.
This is a different form of ice for you, buddy.
Can't drive on this one.
I've been curling since I was six years old.
I saw it once on tv.
I turned it off because it is boring.
I even brought my curling gloves.
So you got to place your rock to the middle? This round thing? Right in the center.
Do you ever play shuffleboard? Why do they clean it so many times? It's clean.
'Cause you got to have it nice and slick.
Ready to throw some rocks.
There you go.
Let's rock and roll.
Man down.
Oh, man down! Man down.
Man down! That worked good, didn't it? Rick and I versus you two.
No, [Beep.]
that, man.
I'm gonna lose.
I can't even [Beep.]
do this [Beep.]
.
Well, winner buys the beers.
Okay, that works.
Look at that.
Look at that! Perfect shot.
Well, I get one point.
He missed.
Bouncing over.
Yes! Come on! Get it in there.
Get it in there.
Nice.
I'm curling like a pro.
He's taking you out! What the-- Man, what the-- Huh? I got it.
Last rock, guys! Oh, he missed.
Still no points for him.
That's why I don't curl.
Well, good game.
Yep, good game.
We got some beers bought for us, that's the main thing.
We suck.
Next, on ice road truckers Oh! Slippery roads wreak havoc for the rookies.
I don't know if we're gon' make it down this way.
The pressure is on as Lisa Kelly gets called up to the big leagues.
I've been working for five years to do this.
And Hugh, Rick, and Alex team up We're giving the Springs a workout, that's for [Beep.]
damn sure.
To roll deeper into the Canadian wilderness than ever before.