Ice Road Truckers

(laughing)

Narrator: The ice road truckers have battled arctic conditions

Whoa! Get back, go back!

Narrator: Extreme terrain...

Woo-hoo!

Stop! Stop!

Narrator: And deadly ice crossings...

We are on the ocean right now.

Art: We broke through the ice, man.

Whoa!

Narrator: To re-supply remote communities

At the end of the earth.

We are building our own road.

Unbelievable!

Narrator: Along the way polar industries

Became a winter road juggernaut.

- I've dominated this area. I've beaten my rivals.

Narrator: While a team of renegades...

Mark: You're on my (bleep) turf here, bud. My (bleep) turf.

Darrell: It used to be yours.

Narrator: Dared to go it alone.

- We're just about to cross enemy lines.

Narrator: Now for the ice road warriors,

It's all led up to this...

Whoa!

Whoa!

Narrator: A season ten years in the making.

Ohhh.

Hang on. Uhhhh.

Narrator: An unprecedented heat wave

Turns the winter roads upside down.

Mark: This is gonna be the shortest season ever.

Ice is literally melting.

Narrator: Forcing the drivers to risk it all...

Lisa: Keep the truck moving.

Narrator: In record time.

Trucker: Yeah.

Narrator: Over disintegrating roads and rapidly thinning ice.

- We're off to run the alberta death roads.

Narrator: To keep the companies and communities alive.

Lisa: Oh no! Ahhh.

Narrator: The truckers may have finally...

(bleep)!

Narrator: ...Met their match.

Pretty rough.

Mark: Holy (bleep). We just lost the (bleep) truck.

Narrator: This season...

...A weather event called el nino

Has thrown the industry into chaos.

Mark: There's a serious threat that these communities

Aren't gonna get all their supplies

And all the goods they need.

We're looking at total devastation.

Narrator: El nino is a band of warm water

That develops in the pacific ocean

That disrupts weather patterns throughout the globe.

Causing crop decimating droughts

And violent typhoons.

And in the north warm temperatures spell disaster

For the ice road truckers.

At polar headquarters in winnipeg...

Mark: It's like spring out here.

Hard to believe in February

You're standing in a puddle of water fixing trailers, eh.

Narrator: Owner, mark kohaykewych

Is already feeling the heat from the warm season.

Mark: We would normally, at this time last year,

Had probably close to a hundred loads out.

I've got loads piling up in my yard.

Customers are freaking, they're yelling.

Narrator: The ice roads aren't freezing

And hundreds of vital loads could go undelivered.

Mark: Hey, I'm just checking up on that winter road.

Yep.

Still not for awhile.

Okay, no, I got a lot to get in there

So we're, we're starting to panic.

This is one of the first times

That I'm faced with a situation

Where we may not get all the loads into the communities.

Building supplies may not get in,

Fuel may not get in, food may not get in.

May not open at all.

Oh man.

They rely on us to get these essential goods in.

They need us and then we need them to survive too.

If you hear anything let me know.

Thanks. Bye-bye.

Right now if you were to ask me how we're going to do it

I don't have a plan.

Narrator: The company is gearing up

For a battle against mother nature.

And down the road...

Polar's rivals, darrell ward and lisa kelly,

Are also feeling el nino's wrath.

Darrell: I think most of these roads over here are closed.

We're gonna have to hunt down some loads this season.

- Do they have a lot of loads going out there though?

They're just not open?

- Well, I think there's a lot of loads to go but no roads.

Narrator: Last year,

The former rocky mountain log hauler...

Darrell: This is a deadly job,

Deadly job.

Narrator: And alaskan trucking icon,

Ugh. Yeah!

Narrator: Formed their own business.

- Partners. - Nice.

Narrator: And despite challenge...

ahh! Oh my gosh!

Narrator: After challenge...

Oh, what am I doing out here.

Have I lost my (bleep) mind?

Narrator: ...In the end they made their mark.

We have the power.

Oh, we do. (laughing)

We have the power.

Narrator: But this season the weather's already threatening

To sink their new company.

- I don't know what it's like up here.

I haven't had any report on it.

That one's closed.

That one's closed?

With this being a really short season

That's going to limit how many loads

We're gonna be able to haul.

That could break a company.

We need to keep this company afloat,

And scavenge all the loads that we can find.

Lisa: We might not end up coming out ahead

Or even breaking even,

And then there would be no more company.

Narrator: As trucks sit idle...

...A welcome cold front finally moves in.

Todd: This is what it's all about right here, baby.

Oh, yeah boy.

Narrator: And polar's the first to strike,

Unleashing their top dog,

Todd dewey.

Todd: There's just so many factors I love about ice road trucking.

You know, you can feel the ice flexing as you get on there.

How far the cracks spreading apart.

Is there water coming up?

Is this it?

It's like a roller-coaster ride of emotions.

Mark: Hey todd, man, what's happening?

Mark, what's up, bud?

- Going up to pikangikum, ontario.

That road literally just opened ten minutes ago.

Oh wow.

- Take uh, take a load of construction supplies.

It's got a lot of concrete on it so she is gonna be heavy.

You're gonna get some challenges out there for sure

Cause she just opened up. - Oh yeah.

- That ice is gonna pop for sure.

- We got a window, we're not sure how big it is.

I mean, the weather is good for us today

But she's supposed to get warm again

So let's get whatever we can in right now

While the weather's like this, okay?

- All right I'll push straight through

Till I get in there, buddy. - Thanks, man.

All right, mark.

Here we go.

Narrator: Polar's maiden voyage is a 200 mile trek

To remote pikangikum.

A brief cold spell has provided a short window

For todd to reach the community.

But the ten mile lake crossing,

One of the longest and most dangerous in ontario,

Has just frozen.

Hauling over 25 tons of construction supplies,

Todd will be the first to test it.

Todd: This is the first time ever

Out of all these years of coming up here

That I've ever seen open running water

All over the place.

I have never seen that ever at the beginning of the season.

So I'm a little nervous.

It feels like it's the end of the season

With the warm temperatures we're having.

It's just crazy.

It's very vital to get these loads in the communities

So they can survive,

But we're putting our lives at risk

Trying to get these loads into the community

And with the temperatures fluctuating like they have been,

I don't want to think about what would happen

If one of us went through.

A lot of stress, man, a lot of stress this year.

There is the ice.

I'm definitely gonna get out of the truck.

I wanna go down walk on the ice,

I want to check it out,

Just visually get to see it,

Mentally prepare myself.

Okay.