Ice Road Truckers (2007) s07e03 Episode Script

Last time on Ice Road Truckers We're already making money.
No winner's been declared in the war between VP Express and Polar Industries.
Mark from Polar, you can kiss our lily white asses.
And there's no easy money on the winter roads.
Whoo, rodeo! You got to be kidding.
I'm terrified.
Lisa and Alex are 800 miles into the Canadian wilderness Lord, give us a hand.
and still haven't delivered for Polar Industries.
I'm doing a lot of worrying, and I just want to get my worrying part over with.
I've been misled since I got here, if you want to know the truth.
And the bosses at VP Express Whoa! left Art Burke behind.
Well, this is is a fucking damn dandy fucked situation, now, ain't it? At a fuel stop four hours north of Winnipeg, in 40 below I'm just about at my wit's fucking end, boy.
The fucking truck won't start.
VP Express driver Art Burke is stranded with a broken-down rig after being left behind by his new bosses Hugh Rowland and Vlad Pleskot.
I don't know if that's the fucking fumes or what the fuck it is.
I got to figure out a way to get that fucking box, boy.
There's no one here to bum a fucking wrench off of, eh? I haven't got a fucking wrench, and no one here got a fucking wrench.
What the fuck you gonna do? And with no one around to help, he's running out of options.
I'm not quite sure what the fuck to do here.
Everything is froze solid, eh? It might be fucked.
Is that guy pulling out, or is he coming in? Maybe those guys got a wrench, boy.
I wonder if I got room to get in here.
Surely I do.
Polar Industries driver Darrell Ward pulls in on his way back to Winnipeg.
Good day, boy.
What's going on, huh? I've been so lucky.
I found myself in a fucking jam.
Fucking starter's froze.
Yeah.
Now I can't get it fucking started again.
Have you tried crossing the solenoid on the starter? Tried it.
It just turns I'll pull up there.
You know, I've never left anybody stranded.
If I can help him out, I'm gonna help him out.
Think we can get her going? I'm gonna hook a chain to him so we can pull start him.
Darrell's got a plan.
Try to pull start Art's truck and hope the engine fires up once the rig is rolling.
All right, turn the key on.
Try to get him going so he don't freeze to death out here tonight.
Show these boys how it's done, Montana style.
Use a higher gear if you need to.
We got her, buddy.
She's running.
I knew we'd get her goin'.
Thank you very much, my friend.
You betcha.
You betcha, Art, anytime.
I owe you a big one.
I owe you big on that one, killer.
All right.
That's what you do, anywhere you go, when somebody's broke down, especially negative 40.
Art's back in the saddle, thanks to the competition.
Hugh and Vlad left one of their own trucks behind out here.
I would never leave one of my drivers in a situation like that.
I mean, did you see the other guy help us there? When he fucking came, he towed us there, I didn't know him from fuck.
That's just what you do.
It's not in this fucking outfit, and that's one of the fucking reasons that this outfit is gonna have a hard fucking time keeping up.
If you're not pleased with the guy you're working for, you're not gonna work to the best of your ability, eh? You can put that in your little fucking show.
While Art heads back to VP headquarters Pulling into Shamattawa.
I held my breath that whole time.
Team Polar is about to score again.
After a long couple of days, we finally made it here to Shamattawa.
Shamattawa, Manitoba.
- Lisa Kelly - Made it.
and Alex Debogorski have survived a 36-hour trip over one of the most rugged roads in Manitoba.
This terribly rough road here is 200 kilometers.
Most of the way, we're going ten miles an hour, because it's so rough.
This delivery is part of Polar's $100,000 Shamattawa contract and gives them a healthy lead over rival VP Express.
I'm really glad I got up here, and got this stuff delivered, got the first-time jitters out of the way.
Thank you very much.
Okay.
Thanks.
I'm excited to be trucking, okay? I love trucking.
I just do.
But for Lisa, the trip's only half over.
There's 800 miles between Shamattawa and Winnipeg, and each mile without a load gives VP Express a chance to catch up in the load count.
I'm glad I made it there, but I've still got to make it back.
- Back at the offload site - You're gonna take back the zoom boom.
Alex scores a bonus back haul.
This is the equivalent of getting a birthday present, a Christmas present.
You know what I mean, jelly bean? Now he's got to head back down the winter road with a 32,000-pound zoom boom forklift headed for the repair shop.
Anyway, let's drive this thing out of here.
Load is secure.
We're ready to go back.
All them potholes are waiting for me.
This is the last haul in the first round of loads for Shamattawa, and if Alex can get it delivered, he'll trigger another round of high-dollar loads for Polar Industries.
And the fun starts right here.
At VP Express, Art's finally made it back to town.
I thought I'd bring you in here and tell you the scoop on where your next trip is.
All right.
And to keep freight moving, Hugh's giving the struggling newcomer another shot.
We've got bore-holes to the Wasagamack that we have to get in there.
So try to do your best.
Oh, we're gonna handle it.
If I know you're trying, we might keep you.
We might keep you.
Hugh and Vlad fucking took off and left me to fend for myself, eh, but I let it go, kind of.
It's frustrating a little bit, but we're just starting out here, so we all had to cool our jets and just, uh, you know, take it as the time comes.
We don't need cowboys.
We just need somebody that will take that load and deliver that - load, comes back-- - Well, and that's the thing.
We got three going out today, right? Yeah, yeah.
But with dozens of loads waiting to be hauled north, Hugh's hedging his bet by bringing in another winter road hopeful.
I'm way out of my element, driving on the ice roads.
The stories I have heard is that it's real dangerous.
I'm gonna be nervous, and if you make a wrong move up here, it's not just gonna be a wrong move.
It's gonna be a dead wrong move.
People say, "Why would you want to go do that?" And it's a pretty simple answer.
I have a family to take care of.
If I got to put my life on the line to make sure my girls have a good life, then so be it.
That's what's gonna happen.
If the ice roads don't kill me, then being away from my family will.
Hey, Todd.
Hey, how's it going? Good.
How are you guys? Right on.
Good to see you.
Todd Dewey's got plenty of experience moving massive logging equipment through the mountains of the Pacific Northwest, but he's never driven on the ice.
Nobody likes new guys, you know, so that's where all the responsibility's gonna come on my shoulders, to prove to these guys that I got what it takes.
He's never been on an ice road before, so I mean, uh, he can truck-- I don't care if you've trucked 50 years, if you never drove on the ice, I'm not gonna let you up there by yourself yet.
Today, Hugh's got to get his ragtag team up the road and hope at least one of them figures it out.
We got three fucking loads of freight here, and we got everything from roofing materials to plastic blotter tags.
We got lumber.
And they're all right on the nuts for weight, so we got to be careful here.
Okay, let's get hooked up.
Art.
He's got to get one more kick at the cab here.
I told him what's behind us is behind us, so if he can fucking pull her off, well, maybe he can stay, but we can't put up with the shit that went on last time.
This is our first year together, me and Vlad, so we don't need, uh, a bunch of horse shit going on with a bad name for VP going up and down the road.
We don't need to end up like Polar.
For Todd, this will be his first shot at driving the Manitoba ice roads.
Holy shit, boy.
While for Art, it could be his last.
Let's make the best of her, and let's get going.
We should have been on the road 3 1/2 hours ago.
All the fiddle farting around.
It's a good thing we thought we'd leave at 7:00 today.
I think Art was thinking PM there, Hugh, not AM.
That's okay.
I'm not giving up.
I come here to do this, man.
This is part of the gig.
You got to just ride the rough spots.
If he's trying to break me, he's gonna have to fucking work at it.
- Coming up - You've got to put on your rodeo hat now.
A rude awakening on the winter roads.
Oh, lord! Sweet fuck! In the Canadian wilderness, on a closed section of the road We're on our way up to check the ice to make sure that the roads are safe so that we can get them open to get the freight moving.
Winter roads manager Tim Smyrski is checking every inch of the ice to see if it's safe for big rig travel.
This is not easy terrain to travel in.
There's an awful lot of obstacles to overcome.
This is total wilderness.
We're using our ground-penetrating radar to electronically measure the ice thickness as we travel along.
It's telling us so far on this run, we've got a maximum of 75 centimeters of ice.
The ice here is over a half a mile long but less than 30 inches thick.
And so far, it's looking pretty uniform.
We're gonna open it.
Every new road that opens means more money for the company that lands the contract.
Polar Industries.
Hey, how are you? Great.
Excellent.
So how many loads you got for us? Excellent.
Thank you.
Bye-bye.
And today, Polar Industry's owner Mark Kohaykewych beats out VP Express, scoring a new contract to the town of Little Grand Rapids.
There's another couple loads for us.
It's gonna be awesome.
And Darrell Ward jumps at the challenge of the newly opened road.
All right, what do you got for me? I got 12 concrete blocks going up to Little Grand Rapids, and then we'll have another load for you probably tomorrow or the day after.
I was told when I had come up here that I'd have a back haul every trip.
Fuck, you guys ain't given me one back haul yet.
Still early in the season.
I might have to go down the road down here and get a back haul from VP.
You know, I came up here to try to make enough money to get started over again and reunite with my son and my daughter, Reno and Tara.
I have to get the loads in.
This is where my life depends on it.
Their life depends on it.
Can't even get my window down.
Now I go out across the water, and I can't get my window down, can't get doors open, you got to kick the window down.
With money on the line Darrell's not gonna let a broken window stand in his way.
I'm just gonna lay a hammer beside my seat.
And that way, when I go down, I'm just gonna smack the window.
He'll face the ice with 50,000 pounds of concrete barriers and a hammer.
All righty.
I got to bust a window out if I go through.
While Darrell takes a new job for Polar, trying to get his team to the winter roads.
We were about four hours late leaving, but we've gained a little bit of time here.
And the fate of the company is in the hands of struggling driver Art Burke and ice road rookie Todd Dewey.
This is new to me up here.
You know, I'm way out of my element.
I must be doing something right here.
I've had the boss behind me pretty much all afternoon here since we got rolling.
I haven't heard any complaints yet, so it looks like I'm doing what it takes to lead the pack here.
You're doing a fine job, buddy.
After ten hours on the highway, Todd's already earning the praise that's eluded Art all season.
Todd's up ahead.
I'm in the middle this time instead of the front.
The boss.
You got 550 horses there, Art.
Please hold your drift a little.
See? He doesn't like the speed I'm going.
He's never happy, eh? Brain-fart here, he wanted to follow.
Well, he's got a chance to follow, and he still can't keep up.
This is how I drive.
If he doesn't like it, fucking put somebody ese in the truck.
I'm not out here to really win a fucking race.
The convoy's about to hit the Wasagamack winter road, 150 miles of brutal Manitoba back country.
Yeah, just right straight here, right? Yeah.
Go nuts.
It'll be rookie Todd Dewey's chance to show he's got what it takes and a shot at redemption for Art Burke.
This is definitely a whole new life experience right here.
It's negative 40 degrees outside.
Can't keep the truck-- Shit! Sweet fuck! Oh, lord! The road's definitely starting to get a little more, uh, a little more rough.
Rookie, you got to put on your rodeo hat now.
Everything is frozen so fricking hard up here, and there's so much ice and snow on the road that you get them big ice drifts or whatever they are, and they'll bounce you right out of your fricking seat.
Hold on there, guys.
The ice road's picking up here on the bumps.
We got some big holes in the road.
I just went over them.
You guys are gonna be hitting them here any second.
Fucking shit! It's like four-wheel driving with a big rig.
Uh-oh.
Supposed to be doing fucking 40 through here.
I don't know why we're going so fucking fast, man.
A guy definitely wants to, you know, slow down and try to handle the bumps, but at the same time, you know, a guy wants to keep his momentum going.
You know, you hit a little bit of a hill or whatnot, you don't want to be going too slow.
I don't know what Todd is trying to prove here at this speed, but he's not really impressing me.
There's a reason why the speed limit is 40 miles an hour.
You know, a guy really needs to keep on his load.
These roads are bumpy as hell, absolutely just beating me up, beating the truck up.
Like that, right there.
Ouch, that one hurt.
Hugh, what kind of speed do you usually run on these roads up here, buddy? Well, whatever you're comfortable with.
Yeah, just when it gets rough, slow down, drive accordingly.
Yeah, I'll do that, buddy.
I might have to slow her down a little notch here or two.
I'm not-- I don't want to fricking break down out here.
This is not the spot to be breaking down.
- Coming up - That's a nerve-racking sound right there.
The rookie hits the ice.
This thing starts to go, I'm gone.
- 30 miles west of Shamattawa - Just got done delivering.
I'm empty, I'm chained, and I'm gonna hit the river.
Lisa Kelly's hammering down to get off the winter road and get back in the race with VP Express.
The river is kind of our entrance and exit to Shamattawa.
But first, she'll have to retrace her steps over the Hayes River crossing and navigate the shifting islands of river ice.
People ask me what it's like to drive on ice, and I just tell them, that's what I do, that's what I've always done, so that's all I know.
So it's normal to me.
So when people are like, "Oh, you're crazy for driving those ice roads," it's like, "Maybe we're all crazy.
" That's it, we're all crazy.
All right.
Holy-- I just saw it, like, move.
Yeah, I'm, like, driving all over.
This is cracking.
It's, like, moving.
Wow.
Oh, shit, that scared me.
I totally saw the ice move.
Yippee-ki-yay, we're out of here.
Off the ice, Lisa gets back up to speed, hoping to make it off the winter road by nightfall.
I'm gonna go on through and get to Gillam tonight.
Ten miles back This zoom boom shouldn't move.
I'll have to check the chain, then just keep an eye on it.
I'll be able to see the tires are moving and all.
Teammate Alex Debogorski's hauling a forklift that'll trigger another round of loads for Polar Industries I guess the biggest concern is that we're gonna go onto the lake now.
If he can get across the shifting ice Lisa just crossed.
Open at 37,500.
I think the zoom boom's all right, but I'm hoping it's below the, uh, what the weight restriction is on this ice crossing here.
But he'll have to do it hauling 32,000 pounds.
I see there's a few cracks in the ice.
You can hear a little bit of cracking.
Whoa.
Well, we're back on the road.
We made it across safely again.
Thank you, dear Lord God, for getting Lisa and I to Shamattawa safely, and help us to make it safely back to look after our families in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, in Jesus name, Amen.
Alex still has over 100 miles to go before he brings in this load for Polar.
- But 300 miles south - I don't know why they just opened this road up if they're still working on it.
Teammate Darrell Ward's just heading out onto the newly opened road to Little Grand Rapids, and the trail is littered with wreckage that sank into the ice when the road was built.
Being the first one out here, you never know when you're gonna run into those problems.
This pickup's frozen down.
A pickup truck that got stuck in the ice last season - has the road down to one lane - Kind of makes for tight quarters for me to get by.
And there's not enough room to get his loaded trailer through.
Look at that.
Looks like you're stuck in the mud.
Yeah, we're stuck in the mud, man.
Yeah, this thing has been there since last spring, so Man, that thing is glued tight, isn't it? Looks to me like you'd be better off to light it on fire.
How about we hook her on the frame here, and just winch it out of there? You think that's gonna work? If not, it's gonna fuck it up good.
With a load to deliver, Darrell is taking matters into his own hands.
When I give it a pull, something's gonna break.
All right.
See what happens.
There it came.
That shit came apart, man.
I ripped that pickup right in half.
Let's get out of here and go get rid of this load.
Darrell's cleared a path for himself and fellow truckers, but rivals VP Express are also charging forward We've had a pretty good day today.
The road's been going pretty smooth.
With ice road rookie Todd Dewey at the head of the three-man convoy.
We've still got a little ways to go on the ice road here.
We're kind of hoping to get to our destination and get these loads unloaded off.
But now Todd's facing the first ice crossing of his career.
So this is my first big lake.
Do we got a copy, Todd? Roger.
Go ahead.
Yeah, just, uh, hang tough up there.
Don't go over, like, 15K on there with the load you've got, because we're heavy.
Whatever you do, don't soften the ice.
Copy that.
Well, you hear people saying, "Well, did you see, about the trucks? That it broke through the ice, and people have drowned?" And they're like, "Why would you want to go do that?" I don't know if it's balls of steel or if it's just flat stupidity, but I always get it done one way or another.
I got a little bit of build-up inside of me.
You know, I'm a little nervous, you know.
I'm just gonna kind of take her slow here, get the feeling of it.
Okay.
You know, my truck is loaded right to the maximum weight limit that these roads are open for right now, so 40 times the weight sitting over just a shitload of water.
That's a-- that's a-- that's-- that's a nerve-racking sound right there.
Definitely a whole different little ballpark here.
It's kind of scary here.
You start hearing that ice crack, you know, your natural instinct is to just put the pedal down.
You know, you just want to haul ass, and you can't.
That's a scary feeling.
This thing starts to go, I'm gone.
I'm out the fricking door quicker than you can snap your fricking fingers.
Oh, sweet lord.
Okay, I'm across safely, guys.
That's quite the sound, hearing that ice crack underneath your tires there, Hugh.
Ah, you do it like nothing.
Well, I don't know how keen I am of crossing this with max weight.
Oh, I don't know what the fuck his problem is.
What the fuck is the holdup up here? Let's fucking go! - On the road to Wasagamack - Well, I don't know how keen I am of crossing this with max weight.
Art Burke has brought the VP Express convoy to a standstill.
What the fuck is the holdup up here? Let's fucking go! Okay! I think he was a bit of a fucking asshole.
Who the fuck wants to work for a person like that, you know? He never even fucking called me to tell me when we're going to fucking go.
I'll just say fuck it and just take my time.
He'll wait for me.
What the fuck is going on now? I can hear cracking big-time.
Okay, up this hill.
- As Art reaches the other side - Uh-oh.
Veteran Hugh Rowland makes quick work of the ice How's she going up there, Todd? Are you having a blast yet? And keeps pressing his team toward their goal.
Now we're just cooking right along.
You betcha, Hugh.
This is great.
It looks like I'm coming up on our Wasagamack sign here, Hugh.
When you get there, just hang a left and, uh, when you get into town there, just stop at the top of the hill there and see who is gonna come and unload us.
Roger that.
Hang a left.
At the end of the day, Hugh has managed to get his team over the winter road, and VP Express racks up three more loads in their $1/2 million Wasagamack contract, bringing them closer to their rivals at Polar.
I think Hugh was actually pretty impressed with me today, driving the truck.
You know, I was able to hold my own, lead the pack all the way up here, not have any big complications or any problems, so, you know, I think the boss is pretty happy.
I think-- uh, I think it's gonna work out pretty good for me.
When we pulled into Wasagamack here, I was a little bit pissed off, but overall, man, this has been a pretty good fucking trip, but don't brag or shoot your mouth off, because right over the hill might be your turn, eh? Todd led the group all the way up here.
We figured out that, uh, Art's not a leader.
He's a follower.
Art won't be leading the pack anywhere anytime soon.
Todd definitely knows what he's doing, so that's a good thing for us.
And for the first time this season, things are looking up for VP Express.
- As night falls - I'm empty and heading back to Gillam and see what Mark wants me to do from there.
Lisa Kelly's the first Polar driver to make it off the winter road.
It's been a long day, yeah.
She's driven nearly 1,000 miles and delivered one load to Shamattawa.
I feel like I just aged ten years.
And now she's geared up to take another haul in the morning.
I'm tired, but I-- um, definitely, I feel like I survived it.
I made it.
I did it.
So I'm gonna go to bed and get some sleep.
Darrell's still got a chance to bring in a load for Polar.
That little holdup back there with that pickup kind of cost me a little bit of time.
He's got 50,000 pounds of concrete barriers to take across the newly opened Family Lake ice crossing and a window that he can't roll down.
It looks like the last ice crossing I got, and then I'm in Little Grand Rapids, I guess.
I think that's where I'm at, so I'll get my hammer and get on across the ice.
I got my hammer.
I'm gonna ride on across the ice here.
If I have any problems, at least I can bust a window out since my window doesn't roll down.
There ain't a school out there that'll teach you how to do this.
It's all done by the seat of your pants, the school of hard knocks.
You do not get a diploma.
You get a tombstone.
On a newly frozen lake, If I have any problems, at least I can bust a window out since my window doesn't roll down.
Darrell Ward's the first to test the ice with a loaded big rig.
It sounds something like in a horror movie.
Middle of the night, ice cracking, loaded semi out on a frozen lake.
How frozen? I don't know.
We're the first ones across it.
In the daytime, you can see off in the distance, you see pressure ridges and see cracks.
Pushing the weight limit right to the limit too.
I'm almost there.
I can see the lights.
I can see the island.
Thank God I didn't have to use the hammer.
Darrell's made it to Little Grand Rapids and brings in the first haul on the new road for Polar Industries.
Call her a night.
I'm gonna unload it in the morning and go from there.
- 300 miles north - Well, we might as well be a million miles from the nearest town.
Alex Debogorski is also trying to bring in a load for Team Polar.
I'm going as fast as I can go for the road.
Not very fast.
A successful delivery will trigger another round of loads for Polar's lucrative Shamattawa contract.
But after 14 hours behind the wheel, he's tempting fate with every mile.
Just keep my eyes open and I just keep going that way.
I'll go till I quit or go till the truck quits, one or the other.
kilometers to go.
Just going, going, and going.
I think I'm just gonna close one eye, let that one eye sleep while the other one keeps watch.
Okay, they're charging up the flying saucers for another night of flying.
They're getting slightly cooked by the microwaves that are interfering with the radio.
In my other truck there, I got a sandwich that lives under the passenger seat that comes out at 3:00 in the morning and discusses politics.
He's a left-wing sandwich.
Does your sandwich have a name? Who's gonna name a sandwich? I'm not that crazy.
I take it the road's going this way.
We're getting Ah-ah We've got dancing cucumbers on the hood.
I better pay attention.
I'll be laughing all the way to the snow bank.
Almost there, but I could have went slower, but if I go too much slower, I'll be going backwards.
Well, I'm happy we're here.
I didn't think I was gonna make it.
Alex delivers his forklift, securing more loads for Polar Industries and putting the pressure on VP Express.
Well, our zoom boom is still there, which is a good thing.
I'll go get some sleep, and then in the morning, gonna drop off the zoom boom and get another load.
- The next morning, at Polar headquarters - Check.
Boss Mark Kohaykewych is quick to capitalize on his team's success, and he's making sure the competition feels the heat.
We're sending our eight trucks up to Shamattawa.
What I've instructed the guys to do is to park outside of VP's shop and do all their, uh, pre-trip inspections.
We want to make sure that our competition down the road knows that they're not gonna fuck with us this year.
These guys are gonna open up shop down the road from me, put up a big sign, so when I'm sitting in my office, I can look at his sign.
All it's doing is motivating me to work that much harder to make him look like an ass.
It's gonna be a long season for you, boys.
It's not-- uh, I'm not taking this lightly.
I'm going to-- uh, I'm gonna make sure that this is their first and last season.
The goal here is not to beat Hugh in the load count.
The goal here is to shut 'em down before he starts.
You know, he's a salesman.
Mark's got a lot of loads, I know that.
But we'll see in the end who's got more loads delivered.
Next time on Ice Road Truckers I'm tired of the fucking around and I'm gonna do it myself! VP Express is riding high.
This is our strip.
But what goes up the winter road We got to get the fuck out of dodge before I freeze to death.
must come down.
This is fucking ridiculous.
I'm working for fucking clowns.
- And for the drivers at Polar - Whoa! This thing's about to go off the edge! There's no shortcut to victory.
Yeah! Whoa! Holy shit!