Ice Road Truckers

Narrator: Now...

Todd: Hold on.

Narrator: on "Ice Road Truckers"...

Todd: Whoa!

Narrator: the roads break apart...

Alex: Saint Theresa Point closed.

.

Narrator: and so does the ice.

Darrell: Look at the ice cracking right there.

We'll go swimming with the fish.

Narrator: As the season takes a turn...

Art: Whoa!

There's a (bleep) truck.

Narrator: ...for the worst.

Art: Hang on.

¶ ¶

¶ ¶

Narrator: In remote northern Manitoba...

Todd: The ice crossing into Shamattawa is closed.

We are not getting across the ice.

Uh, no way.

Todd: They have barricaded it as unsafe.

Narrator: A Polar convoy is stuck dead in its tracks.

- We're too far up the winter road

to turn around and go back.

Narrator: Rookie, Steph Custance,

headed out with veteran, Todd Dewey,

for her first trip on the ice roads.

Holy (bleep).

Welcome to the ice road, baby.

Narrator: A 500 mile journey to distant Shamattawa

to retrieve two abandoned trailers.

Yeah, I'm nervous.

You can hear the ice flexing

and I wanna get off.

Narrator: Along the way...

- I just made it to land, I think.

Narrator: she conquered her first ice crossing.

Steph: I'm so excited.

Thank you so much.

Todd: I'm proud of ya. Good job, junior.

Steph: Oh, I'm so proud of myself.

Narrator: But now only 50 miles from their destination

the final crossing's been shut down

after a truck broke through the ice.

- There's no turning around and going back now.

If it stays cold as it is right now all night long

they should open it in it the morning.

We're just gonna have to bunker down for the night

and then try it in the morning.

Narrator: The convoy's got no choice but to wait

as crews attempt to flood the crossing

in an effort to refreeze it.

As dawn breaks...

Todd: So obviously they've opened it.

So you can see where this barricade is

this is where whoever went in fell through right here.

Right in the middle of the ice crossing.

We're taking a chance on, on getting across it.

It's just, it's just dangerous.

I want to get our load's and try to get out of here

before this ends up getting barricaded again

and we get locked in here for who knows how long again.

Steph: We can get locked in there?

Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

If they barricade it off then we're stuck on that side.

Then we ain't going anywhere again.

There's only one thing left to do.

Hammer down.

Todd: That's to suck it up and get across it.

Narrator: With the threat of another shut down looming

and an important mission at hand,

the team rolls the dice.

¶ ¶

- Remember, we go 15, 15K max speed.

Sounds good.

I'll make sure I uh, make sure I watch your tracks

and know, know which route you're taking

and then I'll, I'll follow suit when you're ready.

Yep, 10-4.

I still get nervous to this day crossing the ice.

A little worried about what the ice conditions are gonna be like

and if it's strong enough to hold a truck up.

So here we go.

¶ ¶

So far so good.

Coming across now.

Narrator: With Todd at least a football field out in front,

Steph cautiously adds more weight

onto the newly frozen ice.

Todd: (on radio) Pay attention, keep your window rolled down.

Stay right, on my same tracks.

Just kind of building a path there for Steph.

I want her to take the exact path

that I'm taking across the ice.

¶ ¶

- Definitely hear some fresh cracking in there though

on that fresh ice they flooded it with.

It's just spooky going across something

that someone just fell through with about 12 hours

before you're crossing it.

Steph: It's dodgy for sure.

There's weak spots all over this ice

and you can even see it.

.

Narrator: The morning sun beats down on the crossing

and it's quickly taking a toll.

Well, that was a loud crack.

Pretty damn spooky.

Todd?

Todd: (on radio) Yeah, what's up?

Steph: (on radio) Just this little break in the ice here.

Todd: (on radio) Yep, just follow my path.

You'll hear cracking and you're gonna hear it popping.

That's just part of crossing the ice, Steph.

Just stay right on my path.

Keep your speed steady and keep your window down.

- I wanna just hurry up and get the (bleep) off the ice, man.

¶ ¶

Okay, I'm off the ice.

Narrator: Todd makes it across...

- Just keep it steady and follow my path.

Narrator: ...leaving the rookie all alone on the ice.

¶ ¶

Come on, Steph.

¶ ¶

- Woo! Number two baby, I got number two down.

I'm coming up, Papa Todd.

Thatta girl, junior. Good job.

Steph: (on radio) Thank you.

I feel great.

¶ ¶

- That's how you make money up here is by taking chances.

If you don't take chances and just ain't getting the job done

you ain't makin' a paycheck.

I feel great. I feel good.

Okay, girl here we go!

Narrator: With the convoy safely to the other side...

Todd: We got a lot of miles to put on today.

Narrator: ...it's time to bear down the final stretch,

get the trailers and head back as fast as they can.

Just got to follow Papa Todd.

¶ ¶

Narrator: 200 miles to the south...

Darrell: This is the start of the adventure.

But it's rough starting out.

Narrator: a renegade business owner

is facing his toughest test of the season.

¶ ¶

Oh (bleep).

Hang on, it's the (bleep) rodeo.

Narrator: Darrell Ward's hauling a massive

37 ton load of heating oil...

300 miles along the newly opened route

to remote Elk Island Lodge.

But this trail is private

and completely un-maintained by road crews.

So truckers must drive at their own risk.

- I don't even know what I'm up against.

This road I have never been on before.

Narrator: Any ordinary winter

the narrow and rocky road would be a challenge...

But the road's awfully narrow.

I keep dragging my trailer through the corners.

They didn't make it for semis.

Narrator: ...but in this record warm season

it's an outright disaster.

Oogh. Oogh. Oogh.

This road is not maintained by MIT.

It's been warm all day.

Incoming.

Whoa!

That is rough as (bleep).

Narrator: As Darrell blazes his own trail,

back at Polar headquarters in Winnipeg...

Mark: Hey, guys.

Okay, let's kick this one out and get Alex on the road.

We're in crunch time here.

Narrator: The competition's got a time sensitive mission

and they're entrusting it to an ice roads legend...

Alex: Good morning.

Mark: Alex, how you doing?

Narrator: Alex Debogorski.

- We got uh, I think we got everything all ready to go.

Perfect.

- The weather right now is really uh,