IRT Deadliest Roads

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 his 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.