List of Ice Road Truckers episodes
This is a list of TV episodes for the History Channel reality TV series Ice Road Truckers.
Contents
Series overview
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | |||
| 1 | 10 | June 17, 2007 | August 19, 2007 | |
| 2 | 13 | June 8, 2008 | September 7, 2008 | |
| 3 | 13 | May 31, 2009 | August 23, 2009 | |
| 4 | 16 | June 6, 2010 | October 3, 2010 | |
| 5 | 16 | June 5, 2011 | September 25, 2011 | |
| 6 | 16 | June 3, 2012 | September 23, 2012 | |
| 7 | 12 | June 9, 2013 | August 25, 2013 | |
| 8 | 12 | July 7, 2014 | September 28, 2014 | |
| 9 | 10 | August 2, 2015 | October 18, 2015 | |
Episodes
Season 1 (2007)
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At the top of the world, there's an outpost like no other…and a job only a few would dare. The mission: To haul critical supplies across 350 miles of frozen lakes to Canada's remote billion-dollar diamond mines. The challenge: to transport 10,000 loads in 60 days—before the road disappears. The rewards are great; the risks even greater. These are the men who make their living on thin ice.
— Thom Beers, opening of the show, season 1
| No. | Title | Original air date |
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| 1 | "Ready to Roll" | June 17, 2007 |
| Six ice road truckers are introduced, and ice road truckers are described as men driving eighteen wheelers who haul equipment and supplies from Yellowknife, Canada, across a temporary road composed of portages and frozen lakes, the destination being one of three diamond mines northeast of Yellowknife. Nuna Logistics construction crews began by defining and strengthening a 350-mile (560 km) highway that crosses permafrost and frozen lakes. When the ice over the frozen lakes reaches a thickness considered to be safe, the road is officially opened, and the truckers (beginning with Alex, who as stated above hauls the first load as a "good-luck charm") begin carrying loads across what is considered to be the most dangerous road in the world. Highlights include: Drew going into a ditch (although that was not his truck pictured and he did not, in fact, go into a ditch; rather he put a tire off in a snowbank), Alex having to nurse his truck to its destination due to brake trouble, and T.J. making his first ice road run in whiteout conditions. | ||
| 2 | "Diamond Mine" | June 24, 2007 |
| The road is stopped due to a traffic jam. Jay hauls a 17-ton water tank, while Hugh and Rick begin a season-long competition to see who can achieve the highest load count. Hugh and Rick deal with mechanical issues and T.J. loses the heat in his truck. At the end of the episode, the load count was shown, now with a tally of cash earned. | ||
| 3 | "Dash for the Cash" | July 1, 2007 |
| The road is closed due to a strong Arctic storm. Also, Alex transports a desperately needed piece of equipment to the mine; a 44,000-pound (20,000 kg) diamond-ore crusher. | ||
| 4 | "The Big Chill" | July 8, 2007 |
| On the 18th day of the season a 50-ton fuel tanker flips over at the start of the ice road. Jay hauls three giant water purifiers to the De Beers diamond mine. Drew gets back out from the garage, while fellow rookie T.J. weatherproofs his truck with duct tape. A fuel tanker flip on the Ingraham Trail not only blocks traffic but also threatens the Yellowknife River with fuel spillage. | ||
| 5 | "Midseason Mayhem" | July 15, 2007 |
| The season is half way over, with 4,000 loads taken but with 6,000 to go. Reckless speeding has led to blowouts on the ice road. More than one driver faces harsh repercussions after being caught speeding - Todd is banned from the ice road after he is clocked going 23 km/h (about 14 mph) over the speed limit. A fuel tanker overturns, blocking traffic and posing a threat to the environment if the fuel contaminates a river that supplies water to an outpost. T.J. leaves the yard with a new rig, and almost immediately has an accident when, after he left the yard, his trailer service line (blue) gladhand was knocked off by a loose box on the catwalk, leaving him with no trailer brakes. Drew ends up in the shop again, due to breakdowns. | ||
| 6 | "Driving on Thin Ice" | July 22, 2007 |
| Jay takes a 95,000-pound (43,000 kg) diamond ore scrubber to the De Beers mine, the scrubber had to be delivered or else the mine couldn't go into operation in the fall. T.J.'s accident from the last episode was investigated, and emergency crews responded to a truck that partially went through the ice. | ||
| 7 | "The Rookie Challenge" | July 29, 2007 |
| Alex makes a run over a new road to return a mobile housing unit to Yellowknife, and is temporarily stranded when his truck loses traction on loose snow while trying to climb a hill. Drew faces more challenges when his truck runs out of diesel fuel. Despite being refueled, the lines freeze and Drew is forced to wait in his hotel room while they thaw in the garage. After being convinced by his wife to keep trying, he attempts to make another run, but the brakes on his trailer lock up. Drew switches to another trailer, but the brakes on the new one fail too, costing him another day. The final straw is a coolant leak from the radiator. After being told it would take 1–2 days for repairs due to no room in the shop, Drew makes the decision to return home. He receives his pay from Hugh and turns in his driver number. Hugh, on the other hand, nearly misses a run due to a flat tire discovered during an oil change, but is able to get a replacement and hits the road. T.J. requests medical assistance when a previous on-the-job injury flares up, requiring him to be flown from the Dome Lake Camp back to Yellowknife for treatment. Following his release from the hospital, T.J. passes a physical to allow him back on the roads. | ||
| 8 | "Into the Whiteout" | August 5, 2007 |
| There are still thousands of loads to be delivered to the various mines, but the end of the season is in sight. Complicating matters is the fact that an Arctic storm is bearing down on northwestern Canada. Because of storm, special permission is granted allowing five trucks to head to the mines instead of the usual four. Drivers Alex, Jay, Rick, T.J., and newcomer Cody form up in this special convoy. At a rest stop, T.J. oversleeps and the convoy continues on without him. T.J. later leaves with another driver from the company he was driving for. The four remaining drivers head north to the mines, arriving just as the storm comes in, and are forced to stay at the mines because the ice roads have been closed down. During the storm, three drivers - including T.J. - go missing. It is later learned that T.J. had stopped at a portage and waited out the storm there. Meanwhile, Hugh brings his friend Danny to drive Drew's truck after Drew quit. Danny does not get very far before the truck has further problems, including very little turbo power and an overheating engine. Although Drew made the decision to leave, Hugh claims repeatedly that he was fired. | ||
| 9 | "The Big Melt" | August 12, 2007 |
| In The Big Melt, the season is starting to wind down as spring inches nearer and the ice covering the lakes begins to melt. There is a push to get vital loads up to the mines before the ice roads melt. Alex takes a housing unit over an ice road to a closed mine in the process of being cleaned up. Jay participates in a special convoy, led by Mike Kimball, to the remote village of Deline with vital supplies - facing a number of challenges throughout the trip. After the first trailer he takes causes him to be overweight, he switches loads with another driver (Kimball) with a lighter truck. Then one of the trucks in the convoy has a fuel tank that comes loose, gets stuck underneath the truck, and is punctured when it hits the ground. This forces the convoy to stop to clean up the spill as best they can, and to remove the tank from underneath his truck. Rick confronts Hugh about the issues he is having with his rig - specifically the non-functional heaters, and decides that the time has come for him to leave the ice road as well. Rick hopes that he can continue being friends with Hugh, but states that he would never work for the man again. A new leader in the "dash for the cash" appears, Hugh has overtaken Alex in the money count. | ||
| 10 | "The Final Run" | August 19, 2007 |
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The ice covering the lakes continues to melt as warmer weather finally arrives, and the ice road season winds down. Hugh is involved in an accident when he is sideswiped by another truck. Not only is his truck crippled by the accident, but one of the bags of ammonium nitrate he was carrying begins leaking on to the ice - which melts the ice at an even faster rate. Hugh and ice road maintenance crews work to contain the spill and clean the ammonium nitrate off the road. Another truck takes the load north while Hugh returns to Yellowknife (Hugh got credit for this load although he failed to take it all the way to its destination). Jay takes an underground rock truck north to the Fortune mine. Trying to climb a steep hill, he becomes stuck, due to the way the load sits on his truck, but fortunately there is a bulldozer on site to pull him the rest of the way. After reaching the mine and unloading the rock truck, Jay heads home for the season. Hugh manages to get one of his other trucks working, and takes a final load north. Alex convinces officials to allow him to take a light load north on his own; it turns out to be his final load of the season, as the road is closed soon afterwards. And a raven, sacred to the north, flies by T.J. for a second time as he takes his final load north, capping a remarkable rookie season. The season turns out to be one of the most successful seasons so far, with 10,922 loads totaling 331,000 tonnes (730 million pounds, or 365,000 U.S. tons) delivered. (Note: The total shown on screen is 662,000,000 pounds, corresponding to 331,000 US tons.) Total hauls for the season:
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Season 2 (2008)
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At the top of the world, there's an outpost like no other…and a job only a few would dare. The ice men return: two titans of the southern ice roads, and two contenders. Last season they drove loaded semis on frozen lakes…this year, the Arctic Ocean. Deeper into the deep freeze. Further out on thinner ice. The new mission: to haul the heavy metal of natural gas drilling rigs up a frozen river and across ice-choked seas. Ice road truckers have come to the edge of the earth. These are the men who make their living on thin ice.
— Thom Beers, opening of the show, season 2
| No. | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Edge of the Earth" | June 8, 2008 |
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As the ice road from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk is completed, drivers converge on Inuvik for the start of the year's transport season. Alex, Hugh, Rick, and Drew find themselves lumped in with the other "highway maggots" - the local drivers' term for rookies on this road - and must adapt to new rules and conditions. The road takes them up the Mackenzie River and over parts of the Arctic Ocean, with long stretches in which drivers are out of radio contact. Alex is delayed by the late arrival of Rick, who gets into an accident on his way up the Dempster Highway while bringing a truck to Alex. They are both dispatched to Mallik, a site of ongoing research into gas hydrate fields. As they take their first loads out (a boiler house and a drilling mud tank), Alex gets used to this ice road's higher speed limits (50 km/h or 31 mph and up), while Rick keeps driving at 25 kilometres per hour (16 mph) as he did in Yellowknife. Eric Dufresne, a 26-year veteran of the road, is unable to start work right away because his truck needs transmission fluid and he must wait for the repair shop's supply to thaw out. His load (a shelter building) instead goes to Hugh, who makes his first delivery to Mallik while coping with malfunctioning brakes. Once Eric gets his truck back in service, he transports a derrick to the site. Meanwhile, Drew's departure is repeatedly delayed - first because he did not bring the proper cold-weather gear, then because there are no working trucks available. He ultimately quits without taking a single load onto the ice, but soon he is wondering aloud if that decision was a mistake. |
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| 2 | "Mechanical Mayhem" | June 15, 2008 |
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Word of Drew’s quitting spreads rapidly among the other truckers, but instead of going home, he finds work at a local moving company - driving a forklift at first, then a box truck. Eric is assigned the job of hauling a much-needed vacuum truck to Mallik; emergency repairs on its suspension and a frozen bolt threaten to ruin this plan, but he does eventually leave in time. Hugh takes a boiler to Mallik as Rick returns to Inuvik with a load of classified equipment from a Cold War-era military post. Six-year veteran Bear Swensen takes a load of rig mats to Mallik as Alex hauls a load to Tuktoyaktuk. On the way back to Inuvik, transporting contaminated soil, Alex spots emergency personnel attending to a flipped-over box truck whose driver is nowhere in sight. (Word later comes that this person made it back to Inuvik safely, while the truck is towed in.) Both Drew and Rick become ill; Drew calls in sick while Rick keeps driving. The ice-locked barge Wurmlinger, a base for ice road crews and research work, needs a vacuum tanker to offload its wastewater. Called on to repair a mothballed rig in the freight yard, Hugh gets it running after a night’s work and takes it up. Meanwhile, Rick suddenly stops on the ice road while taking some truck parts to Tuktoyaktuk. The problem is revealed to be a loss of engine oil, caused by hitting a bump that tore the oil pan open. He explains to Bear that the structure of his truck leaves the pan vulnerable to accidents such as this. The hole cannot be repaired, according to Tuktoyaktuk mechanic Shaun Lundrigan, and Rick will have to wait for a new pan to be flown in before he can get back to work. |
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| 3 | "The Big Blizzard" | June 22, 2008 |
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As the season’s first major blizzard closes in on the region, drivers scramble to deliver their loads before the ice road becomes impassable. With the help of a student trucker, Hugh takes his refurbished vacuum tanker to Aput, a natural gas exploration site, to haul away a load of wastewater. Drew makes his first ice road run of the year, bound for Tuktoyaktuk with a load of construction materials for a hockey rink, but his illness flares up and Kelly Brown (the senior trucker riding with him) has to finish the run. Rick is still off the road, waiting for a new oil pan to be flown in, as Bear hauls a drilling mud tank to Mallik. A snowplow gets stuck on the ice, but a repair crew quickly takes care of it. In Tuktoyaktuk, Alex discovers a flat tire (low on air) and must reinflate it quickly so he can drive to Aput for his next load – a pump house that must be taken back to Tuktoyaktuk. However, its size and weight force him to drive at low speeds as the storm moves closer. He is still on the road when the call comes in to close it, and he reaches his destination with minutes to spare before visibility drops to zero. In Inuvik, crew foreman Davey Lennie looks after the fleet and responds to a call of a truck that has run into a ditch, digging it out so it can be driven safely back. Trucking company owner Kurt Wainman assists by patrolling the area to watch for any other stranded vehicles. Once the storm breaks, the snowplows get to work clearing the road; as soon as they finish, Hugh is first to move out, taking the vacuum tanker back to Aput and spotting a pickup truck abandoned in the drifts. Rick borrows a truck to haul a load of industrial waste to Inuvik, but has to stop on the still-rough road to re-secure the cargo, as Drew is again out sick. |
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| 4 | "Arctic Whiteout" | June 29, 2008 |
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The gas drilling wells at Aput have come up dry [1], so the entire operation is to be shut down and moved 50 miles (80 km) to a new site at Langley. Nearly seven million pounds of equipment must be hauled along the ice road as quickly as possible, in order to keep the company from losing any more money than necessary. Eric hauls a heat exchanger and a generator for the new site’s truck shop, while Hugh brings a load of rig mats up from Inuvik and later takes his vacuum tanker to Aput. Meanwhile, Alex takes a water tank and some boards from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk and Drew completes his first solo run over the ocean, hauling groceries to the same destination. Rick is once again off the ice, waiting on both an oil pan for his original truck and assorted repairs to the one he borrowed; Shaun and the other mechanics blame these problems on his rough handling of the trucks. Once Eric has unloaded his cargo at Langley, he picks up a survival shack bound for Inuvik. When he reaches the edge of town at nightfall, though, he finds that the load will not fit underneath the power lines, so he finds a safe spot to park and spends the night in his truck. The next morning, he and Davey unload the shack and deliver it to the freight yard. In Aput, the truck shop and an expensive derrick drive unit are taken to Langley in one trip, after which the 135-foot (41 m) derrick itself is pulled down and prepared for transport. The weather begins to worsen as a storm closes in on the area, and supervisor Jerry Dusdal has a discussion with the senior truckers concerning the safety of both loads and personnel. Ultimately, the move is called off for the day and the road from Aput to Langley is closed until the storm passes. |
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| 5 | "Lost on the Ice" | July 6, 2008 |
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With the storm over and the road cleared and reopened, the truckers are ready to get back to work hauling equipment from Aput to Langley. To save time, rather than break the derrick down into pieces, Jerry loads the entire unit onto two trucks, hooked back to back with the derrick's ends resting on their trailers. Oncoming traffic is warned to yield the right of way to these two truckers; one convoy barely gets off the road in time, but the derrick still arrives safely. Eric hauls a cherry picker to the new site, once he and a supervisor get its frozen engine running again so he can drive it onto his trailer. Bear picks up an electric power station and carefully drives it to Langley due to its weight distribution. In Inuvik, Drew spends the day driving a box truck around town and a forklift at his employer’s loading dock, but he gets the latter’s wheels stuck in a rut and calls for Kelly to pull him out. Meanwhile, Hugh finds himself without a load since the senior truckers have taken them all for the moment; he is put onto miscellaneous work in the freight yard. In Tuktoyaktuk, Rick has begun to believe that load supervisor Doug Saunders and the other truckers are singling him out to treat him disrespectfully, and he calls Hugh for advice before getting word that his borrowed truck has been repaired. He takes a load of garbage to Inuvik but is not happy about it, refusing to get out of his truck and help clear a problem with the dumping. Alex is dispatched from Inuvik to Aput, a route unfamiliar to him, and he takes a wrong turn without realizing it. Long after nightfall, six hours overdue, he finally discovers his mistake and backtracks to Aput. |
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| 6 | "Hundred Ton Haul" | July 13, 2008 |
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Even though the derrick has been successfully moved from Aput to Langley, the crews cannot erect it until its 80-ton substructure is put in place. This equipment is split into two 40-ton loads and assigned to Alex and Bear. Alex has been battling problems with his health – hemorrhoids, shortness of breath, general fatigue – and Jerry holds him back for a while, sending Bear out first. The two loaded trucks have a combined weight of over 100 tons; Alex's load is the heaviest of his career. Both truckers stay below 25 km/h to avoid over-stressing the ice, and once they reach Langley, they must maneuver very carefully in order to unload the substructure halves in exactly the right position. Alex's half gets briefly tangled in the lines of one of the auxiliary trucks helping with the operation, but it is set down safely and the derrick goes up. Returning to Aput late in the day, he picks up a load of rig mats and crates, but Jerry keeps him there for the night out of concern for his welfare. Eric begins his day driving to Aput, ready to work on the rig move, but he is diverted to pick up a broken-down bulldozer stuck on the ice; the bulldozer can move slowly but not powerfully enough to do work. With the help of nearby mechanics, he loads it onto his trailer, drives it to the Wurmlinger for repairs, then heads for Aput again. Both Hugh and Rick draw waste-hauling jobs; Hugh takes his vacuum tanker up from Inuvik to offload sewage at Langley, while Rick brings another load of garbage from Tuktoyaktuk to Inuvik. After Rick finishes his round trip, he pays a visit to his company’s safety officer and voices his frustrations about the perceived lack of respect from Doug and his coworkers. |
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| 7 | "Man Down" | July 20, 2008 |
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As the rig move enters its third day, there are still many loads to haul from Aput to Langley. While pulling a gas flare stack, Eric hears of a polar bear sighting near the road and makes plans to stay clear of the area, since several people have died in bear attacks over the years. The news quickly spreads among the truckers, and local wildlife experts equipped with snowmobiles and rifles are dispatched to ward off the threat. Bear takes a boiler onto the ice road, whose surface is now so rough that he makes a risky stop to check that his load is secure before proceeding to Langley. In Tuktoyaktuk, Rick is scheduled to make a run to Fort Nelson, British Columbia – a five-day round trip, most of it on highways. Making it clear that he would rather quit, he is reassigned to haul garbage to Inuvik; before he can leave, though, his truck’s alternator has to be replaced. Once he has dumped the load, he stops at a bar in Inuvik and voices his displeasure to other truckers. Hugh takes his vacuum tanker from Inuvik to Langley for another sewage haul-away, during which he is surprised to learn of Alex’s deteriorating health. Alex has taken some pipes and a storage container from Aput to Langley, but his breathing has gotten worse and he is now suffering from severe coughing fits that sometimes bring up blood. After delivering the load and driving to Inuvik in preparation the next one, he checks himself into the hospital and is diagnosed with a possible pulmonary embolism. In order to confirm this, he must be flown to Yellowknife for a CT scan. Alex calls his wife to break the news and gets a visit from Hugh before boarding the plane. |
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| 8 | "A Trucker's Farewell" | July 27, 2008 |
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With only a few loads left in the rig move, the pressure is on Jerry to finish the whole operation by the end of the day. He sends Eric out with a drilling mud pump and gives the last load to Bear—a tank for isolating and measuring the gas brought up from the drilling wells. Both truckers have to handle their loads carefully, and Eric’s low speed briefly causes a traffic jam that puts extra stress on the road. Once Bear pulls in at Langley, the rig move is complete and the crews hurry to get all the equipment assembled so they can start drilling. Elsewhere, Hugh takes his vacuum tanker from Inuvik to Langley so he can drain the sewage tank again, while Rick hauls garbage from Tuktoyaktuk to Inuvik. Hugh has to be careful on the return trip; the battered road is becoming slippery due to the lengthening days, and the liquid in his tanker threatens to slosh around and cause him to lose control of the truck. Rick complains about both his truck’s condition and his own aches and pains, planning to see a chiropractor in Inuvik even though Doug wants him back in Tuktoyaktuk that night. He instead returns to the freight yard, intent on confronting Doug, and is surprised to be given time off for a checkup. In Yellowknife, Alex’s wife visits him in the hospital, accompanied by his priest and two of the couple’s sons, to pray for his recovery. His test results show a blood clot in his left lung, as well as evidence that he may have had a clot in his right lung that has broken loose. Warned that he could have a heart attack if he goes back to work, Alex reluctantly decides to end his ice road season early. |
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| 9 | "A Rookie Fumbles" | August 3, 2008 |
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The time has come to dismantle the Mallik site, even as crews are close to a breakthrough on harnessing the region’s gas hydrate fields. When springtime comes, there must be no traces of any human presence on the site. Eric picks up a camp shack bound for Inuvik, with the goal of completing two hauls in one day. In Tuktoyaktuk, Rick and second-year trucker Bill Thorbourne are sent to Mallik together. Bill’s truck soon develops problems with its heater, and the two men have to nurse their trucks along so he does not suffer hypothermia or frostbite. Upon reaching the site, Rick picks up a load of dirty snow and Bill takes on an electrical generator and three lighting plants. They reach Tuktoyaktuk safely; before Rick can clock out for the night, though, he is put on loader duty and must unload Bill’s cargo. At Mallik, the crews succeed in extracting natural gas from the fields. Elsewhere, Drew makes a run from Inuvik to the hamlet of Aklavik to deliver groceries. He briefly loses traction on the slick ice when his wheels lock up, but he is able to regain control with some careful maneuvering. Rookie Mike Flynn takes a load of diesel fuel from Tuktoyaktuk to Mallik and has to deal with his own road hazards along the way. Hugh and another rookie, Davey's cousin Isaac Lennie, set out from Inuvik for the Wurmlinger, taking the vacuum tanker to drain the wastewater tank. As he tries his hand at driving an ice road truck, Isaac has a rough beginning but soon improves under Hugh’s encouragement. Eric transports two shacks to Inuvik by day’s end, topping Hugh’s load count. Hugh, Rick, Bear, and Drew gather in the local bar to talk about Alex's absence, and Hugh calls him in the Yellowknife hospital to get the latest news. Alex tells everyone that he is off the ice for the rest of the season and will probably be out of work for at least six months. The next morning, Isaac takes the written exam for his truck driver’s license but does not pass – a failure Hugh takes personally. |
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| 10 | "Highway Maggots" | August 10, 2008 |
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With less than two weeks to go in the season, the ice road is badly worn and getting thinner by the day, and every available trucker is called in to move loads. Eric and Hugh drive up from Inuvik, the former headed for the Wurmlinger to pick up a load of drill casings, the latter to Langley with his vacuum tanker to pump out the wastewater. As they return to Inuvik, Kurt climbs into an available truck and drives up to help in the effort, hauling back a snowcat and a survival shack used by the road crews. At the ice-locked Arctic Star barge, a headquarters for natural gas exploration crews, veteran trucker Jim Gattie picks up a three-trailer load to save time: two pairs of full fuel tanks and related supplies, all on sleigh runners. The strategy makes his drive especially hazardous, but he reaches the edge of Inuvik safely and stops to unload the sleighs so they can be dragged in one by one. In Tuktoyaktuk, Rick starts out for Mallik to collect a load of dirty snow. Bill heads for Langley with a generator whose fuel tank begins to leak onto the ice, forcing him to turn around; Rick doubles back and helps plug the hole so that the environment will not be further damaged. As Bill goes to the shop, Rick speeds to Mallik in order to make up for lost time. He picks up the snow and dumps it in Tuktoyaktuk, but shortly into his second run, he hits a bump that damages his truck's hydraulics. The incident puts him back in the shop, fuming over this turn of events. Meanwhile, Bear is sent to help a snowplow truck that has broken through the ice, but another trucker takes care of the emergency even before he can get moving. A convoy of gravel trucks comes north — temporary southern drivers, unfamiliar with the ice roads, who have to be escorted to Aput so they can haul off drilling debris. Kurt makes his disdain for these drivers quite clear as they pass him and take their loads down toward Fort Nelson. At Langley, the crews’ testing confirms the presence of a sizable natural gas deposit. |
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| 11 | "Man vs. Ice" | August 17, 2008 |
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Now that natural gas deposits have been found at Langley, the top priority is to cap the well and move all the equipment out before the ice melts. However, the truckers must contend with both the thinning road and the water that has begun to flow up through the cracks. Rookie Devon Neff, making his first ice road run, and Hugh are dispatched from Inuvik to help with the job. Hugh picks up a load of rig mats and several large spools of cable, an unstable load whose weight distribution makes it difficult for him to keep traction on the wet, slick road. Meanwhile, just after Devon takes on two diesel fuel tanks and starts back, he is alerted to a severe water flow on the road directly ahead of him; he stops to re-secure his load, then proceeds slowly through the hazard. He and Hugh both make it back to Inuvik safely. Elsewhere, Bear and Eric each pick up a camp shack and haul them back to Inuvik – Bear’s from the Arctic Star, Eric’s from Langley. Just outside town, Rick gets the most expensive load of his season, a million-dollar off-road vehicle that must be taken 30 miles up the road to the 2D natural gas exploration site. Once he returns to Tuktoyaktuk, his truck has to go into the shop for repairs, idling him for the rest of the day; after he tells Doug about the problem and leaves, Doug expresses his displeasure at Rick’s rough driving and truck-handling habits. At Langley, Jerry coordinates the dismantling of the derrick and its associated equipment as Hugh brings his vacuum tanker up to offload the wastewater, completing two runs in one day and tying Eric for the lead in the load count. |
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| 12 | "The Big Thaw" | August 24, 2008 |
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As daily temperatures continue to rise and the ice road keeps melting, Jerry works at full speed to clear all the equipment from the Langley site. Every available trucker reports in for the job, including Devon and Hugh; the former gets a camp shack, the latter a load of crates and pallets, and both start out for Inuvik. The site’s derrick is loaded onto two trucks, just as in the move from Aput, but the drivers encounter a serious break in the road and must wait for a pilot car to escort them around the hazard. They reach Inuvik safely, as does Devon, who runs across some severe overflows of his own. Eric and Hugh are still battling for the highest load count. While Hugh hauls his load at full speed, Eric has taken one half of the Langley derrick’s substructure, whose 40-ton weight forces him to stay below 15 mph. Meanwhile, Bear picks up two large tanks whose weight and physical size pose a threat to both the road and his own safety. Reaching the outskirts of Inuvik, he loses traction and has to be pulled up the last hill, after which the tanks are unloaded so that they can fit under the power lines. Rick hauls a load of dirty snow from Mallik to Tuktoyaktuk, speeding ahead even though the rough road makes driving difficult. By the time Hugh and Eric finish for the day, they are once again tied for the most loads. |
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| 13 | "The World Crumbles" | September 7, 2008 |
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On the final day of the season, there are still hundreds of tons of equipment to move within 12 hours. However, the road is now awash in water and literally crumbling away beneath the truckers’ wheels. In Inuvik, Rick seizes a chance to take one last load, a loader that is to be stored at Tuktoyaktuk until next year. Since he does not know how to run a winch, he builds an improvised ramp out of boards and tries to drive the loader up it and onto his trailer, without success. Rick’s supervisor, irritated by what he sees as Rick’s season-long lack of professionalism, fires him and threatens to have him arrested if he shows up again. The incident ends up with the supervisor swinging one of the boards at the cameraman filming the scene - narrowly missing him. At Langley, Bear picks up a camp shack and takes it to Inuvik as his last load. Drew delivers a load of groceries and a couch to Aklavik, then heads home for the year, while Devon brings a camp shack back to Inuvik. He leaves with a measure of respect from the senior truckers for successfully navigating the late-season hazards. The rivalry between Hugh and Eric continues as both roll toward Langley. Eric is slowed down by a surprise whiteout and a lull in the action on site, but eventually picks up some rig mats and storage containers and heads back to Inuvik. Meanwhile, Hugh brings his vacuum tanker up to offload some wastewater; once he has emptied the load in Inuvik, he sets out again to drain the last full tank. Both he and Eric had planned to pull two loads today, but the road is officially closed before Eric can pick up his second, leaving Hugh at the top of the load count. Jerry confirms that Langley is completely clear and clean, and Hugh — the last driver to come in off the road — goes home with Kurt’s respect for a season of hard work. Final load counts:
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Season 3 (2009)
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At the top of the world, there's a job only a few would dare. Last season, the dash for the cash was fought on the smooth playing field of Canada's Arctic ice. This season, two old pros join four of America's bravest truckers to tackle the tundra's deadliest ice passage. Just when you thought extreme trucking couldn't get more dangerous, ice road truckers take on Alaska. These are the truckers who make their living on thin ice.
— Thom Beers, opening of the show, season 3
| No. | Title | Original air date |
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| 1 | "Deadliest Ice Road" | May 31, 2009 |
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The Dalton Highway (Alaska Route 11) serves as a major ice road to bring supplies nearly 500 miles from Fairbanks to the Prudhoe Bay oil fields and offshore rigs. However, the combination of avalanches, strong Arctic winds leading to whiteouts, and unforgiving terrain has led to hundreds of accidents in past years. Six thousand loads must be moved up the road within 12 weeks before the ice melts. At Carlile Transportation in Fairbanks, "heavy hauler" Jack Jessee is assigned an oversized modular building unit to take to Prudhoe Bay. A squad of pilot cars accompanies him to warn other drivers of his approach, but he must still contend with the other road hazards on his own. Passing a spun-out truck, he nearly suffers the same fate; a recent avalanche and sudden whiteout close the road for some time, but he does meet his delivery deadline. Along the way, word comes in that a truck has gone off the road, but the driver (a rookie on his first run) was not seriously injured and made it back to town. Thirty-year veteran George Spears and rookie Tim Freeman, Jr. set out together for Prudhoe Bay, hauling steel housing panels and canned food, respectively. Shortly after the start of the run, Tim feels himself losing control of his truck, and he decides to abandon his load and return to Fairbanks so he can have the truck checked out. Soon afterward, though, he begins to wonder if he let his nerves get to him. Arriving in Fairbanks, Hugh and Alex report to the Carlile headquarters for an evaluation of their driving skills in the company's trucking simulator. Hugh passes, but barely; Alex gets off to a rough start, but quickly improves and earns a passing grade as well. |
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| 2 | "Rookie Run" | June 9, 2009 |
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Second-year driver Lisa Kelly takes a load of construction equipment, her first of the season, and sets out with the goal of reaching Deadhorse in one day. Pulling in 14 hours later, she must then negotiate the final stretch of the road over the Arctic Ocean in order to deliver her cargo to the oil fields where it is needed. Jack picks up the longest load of his career - a set of 130-foot-long pipes, which pose special difficulties in both loading and hauling. An inspection at a weigh station on the road reveals that the load is overweight and unbalanced, and he is fined $1,000 and sent back to Fairbanks to take care of these problems. The delay puts him one day behind when he heads north again. The Fairbanks mechanics check out Tim's truck but find nothing wrong, suggesting that his inexperience was the cause of the problems he encountered on his first run attempt. He and George go north, each with a load of construction supplies; this time, he is better able to navigate the road's hazards. The flipped truck seen in the previous episode contains a load of batteries, which must be salvaged to prevent damage to the environment; after a six-hour road closure, the truck is towed back to Fairbanks and the load goes to Deadhorse. Snow and wind slow Tim and George for a while, but they deliver their loads safely. Meanwhile in Fairbanks, Hugh and Alex undergo Carlile's week-long training program for new employees, including a drug test and a practice drive around Fairbanks, and are cleared to start making runs. |
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| 3 | "Canadian Invasion" | June 14, 2009 |
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Now back on the road after correcting his truck's weight problem, Jack finds a pickup truck in the ditch on a steep, slick hill. A risky maneuver allows him to tow the vehicle back onto the road, and he takes his load of pipes to Deadhorse and returns to Fairbanks for his next load, an oversized pipe rack. He loses three hours waiting for a spun-out truck to move, then finds himself in the middle of a fierce Arctic storm with no choice but to keep rolling. In Fairbanks, Lisa picks up a set of truck tires (her first oversize load) and finds that the combination of its bulk and steep, slick curves poses serious risks. As she approaches the edge of the storm, she stops to re-secure the load but is knocked over when one of the strap tensioners gives way; she then decides to wait at Coldfoot until the weather clears. Tim and George briefly lose track of each other in a blizzard, but are soon able to re-connect and keep heading north with fresh loads of construction supplies. Hugh and Alex start their first runs up the ice, hauling loads of pipes and accompanied by Carlile safety instructors. After Hugh ignores suggestions to watch his speed on the curves, his instructor (Tony Molesky) takes the wheel for the rest of the run. Alex, meanwhile, has trouble getting used to his truck's transmission; this difficulty and the brewing storm prompt his instructor (Phil Kromm) to drive instead. Both of them see a flipped truck as they go through the avalanche zone and reach Deadhorse. |
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| 4 | "Blinding Whiteout" | June 21, 2009 |
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Tim, George, and Lisa have gathered at Coldfoot to wait out the snowstorm, but Jack - the only driver on the road for the moment - pushes through it to cover the last 50 miles to Deadhorse. The weather begins to clear as he reaches town to deliver his pipe rack, but a second whiteout leaves him stuck in town for some time; after it breaks, he takes a load of 80-foot pipes out to an ocean oil rig. Lisa's pilot car breaks down, leaving her to negotiate the final stretches of snowy tundra alone at night, but she brings her load of truck tires to Deadhorse safely. Tim and George find that Atigun Pass, the highest-altitude stretch of the road, is down to one lane due to the storm, and they are 12 hours behind schedule when they deliver their loads. During their drives, all three spot trucks that have gone off the road and fallen victim to the harsh road and weather conditions. In Fairbanks, Hugh and Alex begin their first solo runs, delivering loads of pipes and driving behind Carlile veterans; Alex is delayed for some time by a broken trailer spring. Hugh nearly rear-ends his escort due to miscalculating his speed on slick downhill runs, but gets to Deadhorse safely. The delay in starting out leads Alex and his escort to stop at Coldfoot for the night. |
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| 5 | "Accident Alley" | June 28, 2009 |
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A storm has stranded several truckers at Coldfoot overnight, and Jack and Lisa go south the next morning even before the snowplows have had a chance to clear the road. Another truck has gone off the road in the bad weather; its driver was thrown free but managed to flag someone down, and he was subsequently airlifted back to Anchorage, Alaska for treatment. Lisa briefly loses her brakes and almost sideswipes a northbound truck, but she and Jack both reach Fairbanks to pick up their next loads. A recovery crew hurries in to get both the rolled truck and its load of pipes back to town without breaking a nearby natural gas line it had almost hit. Once Jack has his next load (a pipe rack), he sets out only to encounter moose on the road - one live, one dead that has to be hauled off the road by his pilot car driver. Hugh heads south from Deadhorse, hauling an empty trailer and joking about having his lightest load ever: a three-pound bundle of paperwork. He fights a sudden whiteout, strong winds that threaten to blow him into the ditch, and rough road patches caused by buckling of the frozen earth, and rolls on toward Fairbanks. Alex starts north again from Coldfoot, but stalls out on the icy mountain stretches as he did before. When he reaches Deadhorse, he discovers a flat tire on his truck and must wait for it to be fixed before he can go south again. |
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| 6 | "Arctic Ice" | July 5, 2009 |
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Lisa takes on her longest load ever, a set of 80-foot pipes meant for an ocean oil rig, in an effort to prove herself as a potential heavy hauler. She barely makes it out of Fairbanks ahead of the afternoon curfew for oversized loads, and must then work her way carefully along the road's turns and slopes due to the size of her trailer. After reaching Deadhorse at night, she covers the final stretch over the ocean the next day and delivers the pipes. Meanwhile, Tim's truck has broken down on the way back to Fairbanks; he left it by the road and got a ride, and now he and a mechanic are bringing up parts for a repair job. They get the truck working, but Tim discovers that someone has stolen his tire chains and he must drive to Fairbanks without them - skidding everywhere on the road as he goes. The truck is later found to have problems with its starter, and repairs take so long that George may have to start his next run without Tim. However, both men get rolling just in time, each hauling a load of petroleum products, then run into bad weather that night and stop at Coldfoot after learning that the road has been closed. In Fairbanks, Hugh and Alex each take on a load of pipes; Alex gets a head start on Hugh, who is delayed two hours after his escort gets into an accident. Alex successfully gets over the hill on which he stalled out in past runs, but at Coldfoot he finds that one of his tires has gone flat and peeled off its treads. With no spares on hand, he has to keep moving in order to stay on schedule, even though driving on the flat poses great risks even at low speed. Hugh passes him as a result and is the first to reach Deadhorse, with Alex arriving 35 miles behind. |
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| 7 | "Wicked Weather" | July 12, 2009 |
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As more storms close in on the area and the road crews race to minimize the danger of avalanches, Lisa picks up her next oversized load in Fairbanks: rig mats, a steel framework, and a pickup truck. Fresh snow buildup on the road makes the turns and slopes very slick, and as she reaches Coldfoot, she learns that the north lane has been closed due to the storm and must wait there for the night. Tim and George start out from Coldfoot, intent on getting through the mountains before the storm closes the road, and pass a wrecked truck in the ditch. They make it through Atigun Pass, but find themselves facing a 20-mile stretch of deep, fresh snowdrifts standing between them and Deadhorse; punching their way through, they deliver their loads safely. In Deadhorse, Hugh and Alex head south, hauling a load of toxic waste and an empty trailer, respectively. Hugh hits the fog at the edge of the storm and witnesses a near-collision between a northbound snowplow and a southbound trucker trying to overtake him. At the top of Atigun, he is delayed while waiting for a spun-out wreck to be towed off the road; he and his escort occupy themselves by setting up a camp stove and cooking dinner outside, then race toward Coldfoot. Alex reaches Atigun at night and must stop to chain his tires, but his slowness with the chains prompts his escort to leave him and he has to drive Atigun alone in a near-whiteout. He does clear the area and cover the remaining 70 miles to Coldfoot safely. |
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| 8 | "Killer Pass" | July 19, 2009 |
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Even though the Alaska Department of Transportation is working long hours to keep the road open, snowfall from the recent storms has made it very slick. In Fairbanks, Jack and fellow heavy hauler Carey Hall team up to transport a pair of huge storage tanks that must get to Deadhorse that night. Simply loading them up poses a challenge; they drop one tank in the process, but it is not damaged and they are able to head north. Encountering steep downhill runs and thick fog, and fighting fatigue on the last stretch, they bring the tanks in on time and then drive into a whiteout on the way back to Fairbanks. In Deadhorse, Lisa picks up some flatbed trailers to take to Fairbanks. As she goes through Atigun Pass, she encounters two northbound trucks (with the right of way) skidding all over the road and barely avoids going over the side as she lets them pass. Later in the day, she has to fight her way up a steep, icy slope before delivering her trailers to the Carlile yard. After looking over his truck in the Fairbanks garage, Alex gets a satisfactory mid-season evaluation of his driving performance, then picks up a load of construction supplies and sets off (with a new escort) for Deadhorse. In Coldfoot, he jokes about load counts with Hugh, who is going north with a light load of pipe fittings left there after the last storm. Alex gets through Atigun while a tanker with a heavy load passes him at a dangerous corner; Hugh decides not to chain his tires in this stretch, but is delayed by the crash of a tanker that did not use its chains. Both reach Deadhorse safely and Alex starts back with an empty trailer, while Hugh waits for his escort to get ready so he can bring back some flatbeds. |
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| 9 | "Turn and Burn" | July 26, 2009 |
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With only a few weeks left in the ice road season, the pressure is on to move critical supplies up to the oil fields. Tim and George continue to push south toward Fairbanks and pull in after four more hours of driving through whiteouts. As George waits for repairs on his truck, Tim gets a load of cable spools and prepares to ride in front, practice for eventually making solo runs. Once the two get on the road, Tim finds that his taillights are out and is unable to get them working; he is thus forced to return to Fairbanks, leaving George to go north alone. Jack and Lisa form a convoy of their own and start for Deadhorse, he with a three-tanker load of diesel fuel, she with some containers and rig mats. He shows her a new technique for shifting gears on the ice, but she has some trouble getting used to it and decides to practice it later. Lisa's taillights also malfunction, but an impromptu repair suggested by Jack allows her to continue on for the time being. They stop at Coldfoot for the night and find sheep on the road the next day before reaching Deadhorse and delivering their loads. A report comes in of an overturned tanker at the south end of the road, and recovery crews hurry to drain its fuel cargo and get the wreck off the road before traffic backs up. Meanwhile, as Hugh brings a cargo container south from Deadhorse, he stops for a truck weighing and log book inspection. The log is out of compliance, and he receives a citation with a $200 fine and a one-day suspension. Alex is momentarily stuck in Coldfoot, with a load of drill pipes and without an escort, but George soon arrives and offers to ride with him. The trip takes longer than Alex would like due George's relatively slow driving speed, and Alex nearly runs into a pickup truck that suddenly stops dead on the road for some time before starting off again. When the two drivers reach Deadhorse and unload, Alex is ready to start back right away, but George overrules him and says they will stay for the night. |
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| 10 | "Ocean Run" | August 2, 2009 |
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In Fairbanks, Jack gets an early start to haul a critical load of oil additive to a pipeline pumping station 250 miles up the road by noon. The liquid sloshes back and forth in its tanker, making it hard for him to stay in control on the slopes, and upon reaching the station, he has to adjust his suspension so that his truck will not tear up the unloading platform. The additive goes into the pipeline just in time and he heads south again. Lisa, Tim, and George set up a convoy - Lisa taking rig mats and a pickup truck to an ocean oil rig, Tim and George hauling Styrofoam insulation panels to Deadhorse. Lisa's preference for faster driving leads Tim and George to put her in front; she soon gets in trouble, stops dead on an uphill run, and has to restart from the bottom as trucks back up behind her. Once they reach Deadhorse, Tim and George unload and start back to Fairbanks, while Lisa crosses the ocean to deliver her cargo. Reaching Deadhorse, Alex picks up a loader and grinder bound for Fairbanks, but encounters buckled spots in the road which shake his trailer so badly that the straps on his load loosen and break. After tying it down again, he approaches the weigh station where Hugh was cited and stops to check his own log book and the height of his load. It is too tall to drive through town, so he decides to stay here until the next day and get a lower trailer. Hugh, in Coldfoot, picks up a load of drill pipe and makes a fast start north, but a slow-moving caribou in the road slows him down for a while. As he reaches Atigun Pass, his escort allows him to ride in front and send back warnings of oncoming traffic, after which he reaches Deadhorse safely. |
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| 11 | "Busted Parts & Breakdowns" | August 9, 2009 |
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With perhaps two weeks left in the season and 300 loads left to move, the truckers face a new challenge: the volcanic eruption of Mount Redoubt, which has grounded all air traffic and shut down Alaska's oil refineries. The Dalton Highway is left as the North Slope's only supply route for the time being. Jack prepares to take a load of badly needed diesel fuel from Fairbanks to Deadhorse, but he and a mechanic must first free a frozen axle on the trailer. The thawing road has become very rough and slippery; he barely clears a dangerous hairpin turn and an oncoming truck at the same time. Driving well into the night and battling fatigue, he brings the fuel into town safely. In Deadhorse, Lisa picks up some used batteries and an airline passenger who found herself stranded in town when the flights stopped running. She starts out for Fairbanks, but soon discovers a serious fuel leak and is forced to stop in an area out of radio contact. Several other truckers stop to help and get her rig running by changing out a broken fuel line. Though the cab is now full of nausea-inducing diesel fuel evaporation fumes due to the leak, Lisa completes her run to Fairbanks. Hugh and Alex are both briefly sidelined by mechanical problems. Hugh, in Fairbanks, must wait until his exhaust system is fixed before he can haul a load of pipes. In Deadhorse, Alex has to get a flat tire repaired, then has to drain the antifreeze from the disabled truck cab he must take to Fairbanks. As both approach Atigun Pass, Hugh struggles to chain his tires on the wet, muddy road, but Alex gets the job done much more quickly than in the past. Hugh's brakes fail on a steep downhill stretch, and he gets them to work just in time to avoid going over the cliffs. He delivers the pipes to Deadhorse, but finds no new loads waiting and must stay for the night. Alex loses engine power on a hill near Fairbanks; his escort finds a clogged air filter and does a rough repair job that allows him to make it into town. |
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| 12 | "Race for the Finish" | August 29, 2009 |
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A spring storm brings wind and snow, making the rapidly thawing road even more dangerous in the final days of the season. In Fairbanks, Lisa picks up a load of construction supplies, but a problem with the trailer's air brakes forces her to leave it and take a trailer full of explosives instead. Reaching the hill where she spun out two episodes ago, she tries a new strategy that allows her to climb it successfully; after clearing the windy Atigun Pass, she arrives in Deadhorse with her load intact. While hauling his empty fuel trailer back from Deadhorse, Jack loses traction on Atigun and is briefly stranded until a snowplow stops to tow him up to the summit. He has further trouble sliding on the bridge over the Yukon River, but gets to Fairbanks safely. Tim and George haul trailers of their own out of Deadhorse and push ahead so as not to get caught in the approaching storm. They reach Fairbanks the following day, and George believes that Tim is almost ready to start doing runs on his own. Alex, heading north toward Coldfoot with a load of pipes bound for Deadhorse, hears that his escort has an oil leak and stops to check it out. The truck has a broken line and cannot be driven, so they leave it by the road and stay in Coldfoot for the night. The next day, they replace the line and return to Coldfoot to wait out the storm with Hugh, who is taking construction supplies to Fairbanks. Each runs into challenges - snow and fog on Atigun for Alex, sleet and a slick, steep uphill run for Hugh - and makes it to his destination safely. |
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| 13 | "Arctic Thaw" | August 23, 2009 |
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The season finale; with two days left in the season, the truckers rush to take their last loads before the road disintegrates completely. Tim picks up a load of pipes and sets out from Fairbanks on his first solo run, while Lisa heads south from Deadhorse with a load of hazardous waste. Her trip becomes extremely dangerous due to an air leak that disables her trailer brakes. She and Tim meet in Coldfoot, and he stops the leak well enough for her to reach Fairbanks and close out the season. Tim crosses Atigun Pass, now dotted with patches of black ice, and finishes his run to Deadhorse. George and Alex head north with a load of construction supplies and three pickup trucks, respectively. George's slow pace continues to frustrate Alex, who still wants to get ahead of Hugh's load count, and George eventually lets Alex drive in front so he can complete his last run as soon as possible. Hugh develops major brake trouble on the way to Fairbanks, but he and his escort are able to patch up the truck and nurse it back to town for an overnight repair job. The next day, Hugh takes on construction supplies and is almost to Deadhorse before running into a traffic jam caused by trucks stuck in the snowdrifts. Once the backlog is cleared, he brings in his load and goes home with the respect of his superiors at Carlile for mastering the road's challenges in his first year on it. Upon reaching Deadhorse and delivering his load, George decides to end his ice road career, though other truckers wonder aloud if he is serious about that decision. Jack picks up a tanker of diesel fuel in Fairbanks and makes it as far as Coldfoot that day. The next morning, he continues north toward a remote island oil rig, only to be stopped by the presence of polar bears on the ocean ice road; they move off just in time for him to deliver the fuel and get off the road, the last driver to do so. Final load counts:
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Season 4 (2010)
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At the top of the world, there's a job only a few would dare. The ice road truckers are back. Last year, they chased their fortunes over the frozen gauntlet of the Dalton. But this season, Alaska's most fearsome road is just the beginning, as the new riders of the last frontier head off the Dalton and over the frozen rivers of Alaska's outback. This year, the ice road truckers finally break through.
— Thom Beers, opening of the show, season 4
| No. | Title | Original air date |
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| 1 | "Breaking Through" | June 6, 2010 |
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The truckers on the Dalton Highway must move 2500 loads totaling nearly 50 million pounds within 90 days. This year, though, they have to make runs to the isolated towns of Bettles and Nuiqsut, crossing frozen rivers and swamps to deliver vital supplies. Jack is the first to start out of Fairbanks, taking a 100-foot pipe rack that has been needed at Prudhoe Bay since last year. Accompanied by a fleet of pilot cars, he eases his truck out of town and starts north. Even before Lisa gets moving, she hears of an accident at the north end of the road that has traffic blocked in both directions. She takes on a car carrier loaded with pickup trucks, but her convoy partner is unhappy with her slow speed and trades loads with her, much to her dissatisfaction. The accident is cleared in time for her to reach Prudhoe without any more delay. Two newer drivers, Greg Boadwine and Ray Veilleux, each take a load of pipes north from Fairbanks. Greg tries to beat Jack to Prudhoe but comes up just short at the end, while Ray tries to go over Atigun Pass at night without tire chains. Sliding to a stop, he realizes his mistake and chains up before starting again and finishing the trip. Other truckers make a first attempt to reach Bettles and break their tires partway through the river ice, but they manage to ease across and finish the supply run. After checking in at Fairbanks and receiving a priest's blessing for both himself and his truck, Alex sets out with a load of pipes. He runs into a thermal inversion on Atigun that affects his tires' traction and threatens to set off an avalanche, but comes over the top safely and is the first trucker to reach Prudhoe Bay. The next morning, he makes a side trip over the Colville River to Nuiqsut, delivering tires and lumber as Hugh arrives in Fairbanks to start work. |
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| 2 | "The Polar Bear Returns" | June 13, 2010 |
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A whiteout south of Prudhoe presents a hazard for both Jack and Greg, heading south with a damaged fuel storage tank and a load of lumber, respectively. As Greg gets clear of it, he learns of a fuel tanker that has gone off the road and must be pumped out; seeing the wreck makes him rethink his need to outrun Jack, and he stops at Coldfoot for the night. Jack drives on through the night to bring the tank to Fairbanks for urgent repairs. Lisa goes north with a load of odds and ends - lumber, steel, a pickup truck - and develops brake trouble soon after starting out. After trying unsuccessfully to fix the problem herself, she starts back toward town only to come across her previous convoy partner, who quickly gets her running again. Though her self-esteem suffers at the need to have someone help her twice in a row, she soon comes to the rescue of a trucker stuck in the snowdrifts. As Ray takes a load of pipes north, he develops an antifreeze leak that becomes a severe problem just short of Prudhoe. Once he nurses his truck into town, he learns at the repair shop that he will either have to wait for parts to be delivered or get the truck towed back to Fairbanks. After Hugh checks in and takes some pipes from Fairbanks, well behind Alex and his own cargo of pipes, a pickup passes him and almost skids off the road. Alex hits the whiteout near Prudhoe and goes over a hill too fast, knocking over some road markers, but reaches Prudhoe safely. Hugh, meanwhile, tries to climb a steep grade without tire chains and ends up sliding to a stop; traffic backs up behind him as he struggles to chain up, and he eventually gets moving and arrives at Prudhoe just behind Alex. |
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| 3 | "Facing Down the Blow" | June 20, 2010 |
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The first major storm of the season brings dangerous wind chills and severely reduced visibility on the road. In Fairbanks, Greg and Ray roll into town with their loads; the problem with Ray's truck proved to be easily fixable in Prudhoe Bay. Greg waits out the storm and takes his truck in for inspection, but learns that he needs new tires. Ray heads out with a load of pipes. Twice during the trip, he slides to a stop while trying to climb hills without his tire chains; embarrassed, he puts them on as traffic backs up behind him. Dashboard warnings of engine trouble prompt him to consider quitting. Lisa, still eager to prove herself as a potential heavy hauler, gets a load of pipes that is her heaviest one of the season to date. She heads out from Fairbanks into the storm and develops mechanical trouble, which turns out to be a bad speed sensor, but decides to push on. Before reaching Atigun, she stops to chain up and makes it safely through the second spot that brought Ray to a standstill. Jack picks up two CONEX containers and heads south from Prudhoe with Hugh and Alex, both hauling trailer flatbeds. As they hit the storm, Jack's air line becomes clogged with snow and he makes a risky stop to change the filter, starting up again just before his battery completely drains from the cold. At Coldfoot, Hugh stops for the night while Jack receives orders to drop his load and take a full fuel tanker up to Prudhoe - back into the storm. Along the way, he helps to get a stranded pilot car moving again. At the weigh station near Fairbanks, Hugh learns that his log book is out of compliance but is let off with a warning. Alex has to go in for a performance review and medical exam in Fairbanks due to knocking over the road markers, and is soon cleared to return to work. |
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| 4 | "Monster Storm Over Atigun" | June 27, 2010 |
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In Fairbanks, Lisa picks up a load of oil pipeline supports and must get them to Prudhoe within 48 hours as a huge storm settles in near Atigun. She spends the night at Coldfoot and heads out with several other truckers; eventually they pull off the road and wait for the weather to clear, then punch through the fresh snowdrifts to get over Atigun and finish their run. In Prudhoe, Ray loses some time chaining down a pair of flatbeds, then has to wait until the next day to start his run with a convoy. They pass a new wreck while fighting through the drifts, and soon get off the road to wait out the worst of the storm before making it to Fairbanks safely. Greg takes a load of pipes north from Fairbanks, intending to drop it off at Coldfoot and go back down for a second load; he skids out briefly on a steep downhill stretch, but gets control again and completes the first run. In Prudhoe, Alex goes south with a flatbed and eases through the poor visibility at Atigun before stopping briefly at Coldfoot, where one of the road markers he knocked over has been left for him as a joke. Hugh is told to take a load of pipes and follow Jack north from Fairbanks, but sets out on his own after waiting three hours for Jack to show up. Jack later starts north with a vacuum truck, intending to reach Prudhoe that night. They both end up at Coldfoot that night; the next morning, Hugh again becomes impatient, leaves his load there, and returns to Fairbanks for another one. Jack goes on ahead and gets to Prudhoe one day later than he planned. Meanwhile, Bettles needs 12 loads of supplies within 30 days, but the ice over the Jim River is in poor shape and must be tested before every run. A pickup truck breaks partway through, so the latest shipment must be delayed. |
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| 5 | "Trapped on Thin Ice" | July 11, 2010 |
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In Fairbanks, Hugh and Alex each pick up a load of pipes bound for Prudhoe; Alex rolls out well ahead of Hugh, who is still determined to outdo him in loads delivered. That night, Alex arrives in Coldfoot first, but Hugh parks his own truck so as to keep Alex's blocked in and unable to leave. Alex gets an early start, breaking a pickup truck's side view mirror as he noses out, but Hugh soon catches up and brings his load in first when Alex takes a wrong turn at the end of the road. Jack takes on a load of fuel that is urgently needed in Nuiqsut. The sloshing contents threaten to pitch him off the road as he climbs Atigun Pass, but he comes over the peak safely and turns off onto the slick ice of the Colville River. A windstorm kicks up, reducing visibility to near-zero and forcing him to make a long, risky stop on the ice before moving on to his destination. Lisa gets her first oversize load, a pipe rack meant for Prudhoe, and eases out of Fairbanks with the help of a pilot car. The combination of fresh snowdrifts and the wide cargo force her into close calls as southbound trucks pass her. Crossing Atigun, she drives through a long patch of ice fog and then is almost pulled over by the North Slope police before delivering the rack. In Fairbanks, Ray gets an overnight rush job: deliver oil pipeline supports to Prudhoe by the next morning. Shortly into this night run, he stops to check his brakes and finds that one of them appears to have caught fire. He cannot smell any smoke, so he guesses that the problem is a buildup of snow, melting and vaporizing from the friction heat. He moves on without stopping at Coldfoot and fights to stay awake through the late hours; a momentary lack of attention nearly sends him off the road, but he recovers and rolls on to Prudhoe. |
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| 6 | "Danger at 55 Below" | July 18, 2010 |
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As extreme cold strikes the state, Alex - northbound from Fairbanks with a load of pipes - stops to pick up a hitchhiker. After putting up with the man's incessant talking, Alex drops him off at the Yukon River Bridge and soon develops steering wheel trouble. He switches loads at Coldfoot with a southbound driver and takes on flatbeds, so he can get his truck to the shop, but has to free up that trailer's brakes before he can go. Once he gets to Fairbanks, he learns that his steering column needs repair. As Hugh goes north with his own pipes, he finds them not strapped down to his liking, and later trades barbs with a driver who is annoyed at his presence on the road. He later brings flatbeds south from Prudhoe, still smarting over the exchange. Lisa, eager to make up for time lost due to storm delays, stops at the weigh station on her way to Fairbanks. A truck inspection reveals missing emergency equipment and leads to a $160 fine; after paying this, she goes in for a medical exam to keep her certification up to date. Jack picks up his next load, a pipe rack, and starts for Prudhoe with a rookie pilot car driver. Miscommunication leads to close calls along the way, involving blind corners and a flock of white-tailed ptarmigan on the road, but their teamwork improves and Jack has an encouraging word for the driver at Prudhoe. Ray, coming north toward Atigun with a load of pipes, decides not to chain his tires in order to save time; he spins out close to the edge of the road, but comes over the peak and delivers his cargo. He then gets a load of groceries bound for Nuiqsut and must take his time on the slick ice of the Colville River to bring it in safely. A convoy of fuel tankers makes a side run to Bettles, first making sure that the Jim River ice will support the weight, and avalanche control crews go to work clearing out trouble spots on the slopes overlooking Atigun |
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| 7 | "Avalanche!" | July 25, 2010 |
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Truckers in Fairbanks are scrambling to get on the road and stay ahead of an approaching storm, as the heavy snowfall near Atigun increases the danger of avalanches. Hugh, Greg, and Ray each take a load of pipes toward Prudhoe; Greg tries unsuccessfully to get a different load, while Hugh has to knock his trailer brakes loose before he can go. Many drivers stop at Coldfoot for the night, but Ray pushes on and brings his cargo in safely. Not long after he clears Atigun Pass, an avalanche closes the road. Traffic backs up in both directions as a heavy-duty snowblower is brought in to clear the slide. The next morning, Greg - having stopped at Coldfoot - eases his way past the danger zones and goes on to Prudhoe. Jack, coming north with structural steel panels, finds himself stopped dead south of Atigun when a second avalanche occurs. He soon gets a clear road and continues to Prudhoe, as does Hugh, who risks a head-on collision by moving into the southbound lane to stay out of the snowdrifts. Once he delivers his load, he picks up trailer flatbeds to take back to Fairbanks. Meanwhile, Lisa takes her truck to the Fairbanks shop to have the speed sensor replaced, expecting to get back on the road quickly. However, the mechanic finds a more serious problem: an oil leak from her differential. Once the repairs are done, it is too late for her to start a run that day. |
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| 8 | "Lisa's Monster Megahaul" | August 1, 2010 |
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Jack and Lisa are sent down to Anchorage to help veteran driver Carey Hall transport the season's heaviest load to date: a modular building weighing 209,450 pounds. It is too heavy for a single truck to handle, so Carey plans to steer it in front while Jack and Lisa push from behind. The three must carefully coordinate their maneuvering, engine speed, and gear selection in order to get the building to Prudhoe. After a rough start that fails to impress Carey and Jack, Lisa gets a better feel for this type of trucking and helps deliver the power needed to move the load over Atigun. After three days and 850 miles, the trio brings it to Prudhoe safely. Ray spins out on a hill while hauling a refrigerated van toward Prudhoe. Once he chains his tires, he finds that his trailer brakes are now stuck due to a frozen air line. It takes him four hours to free them, during which he voices his frustration to the camera crew riding with him. Meanwhile, Greg and Alex are each taking pipes north; Alex eases past the spot where Ray spun out, while Greg hears his pipes rattling and shifting and stops to strap them down more securely. Once he delivers his load, he heads toward Fairbanks with a load of lumber only to come across a stopped northbound fuel tanker, which he offers to haul the rest of the way. It is his first such load and poses risks due to sloshing liquid, but he gets it to Prudhoe without incident. |
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| 9 | "Blood on the Dalton" | August 8, 2010 |
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Alex takes a load of lumber north from Fairbanks, trying to beat a deadline of 5:00 the next afternoon. Shortly after starting out, he encounters a pickup truck that has rolled off the road. Stopping to give first aid to the two passengers, he learns that a third one has apparently gone missing. As paramedics arrive to take the victims to the hospital, Alex gives the police as much information as he can and then goes on his way. He stops at Coldfoot for the night and reaches Prudhoe the next day, with minutes to spare before the deadline. At the Prudhoe outskirts, Lisa swerves to avoid a plow truck and ends up sliding into a ditch. Though the plow pulls her out and there is no damage to her truck, she worries about getting fired. After pulling in and filing a report on herself, she is told that the incident was minor and will not affect her record; however, her pride is wounded and she fears that her reputation will be damaged. In Fairbanks, Ray picks up a pipe sleigh that needs to be in Prudhoe that night, but his truck has frozen up due to being shut off overnight; it takes six hours for him to get it thawed out. He drives late into the night, not stopping at Coldfoot, but eventually pulls over to get a little sleep. He wakes up to find that his arm has gone numb, then has himself checked out at the hospital once he reaches Prudhoe. The problem turns out to be a pinched nerve caused by his sleeping position, and he is soon back on the road. Greg stops at the Fairbanks shop to check on the repairs to his truck, and is called in to talk with the boss because its onboard computer indicates that he has been speeding. He is eventually let off with a warning, but wonders if he is running out of second chances at Carlile. Hugh gets an early start out of Fairbanks with a load of pipes, but the glare of the morning sun creates visibility hazards and nearly leads him into a collision. He takes a risk by trying to climb a steep run without chains and starts to slide, but makes it over the top and on to Prudhoe, 50 miles ahead of Alex. By the time Alex comes in, Hugh has taken a flatbed intended for him and headed south. |
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| 10 | "The Ace vs. the Ice" | August 15, 2010 |
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In Fairbanks, Jack gets a late-afternoon call to haul a load of pipes to Bettles, only the third such run of his ice road career. Once he gets to the start of the side road, he stops for the night; the next morning, he negotiates animal and driving hazards until coming to the Jim River. After carefully scouting the weakened ice, he pushes ahead and starts to break through before reaching the other side. Once he gets to Bettles and finds someone to accept the cargo, he injures his head while unloading it and gets bandaged up, then starts back to Fairbanks. Coming south from Prudhoe, Greg stops to pick up a manlift, abandoned by another driver, and take it to Fairbanks. It is his first oversized load, and he has a few close calls with oncoming trucks before continuing on toward his destination. Lisa tries for an early start to take pipes north from Fairbanks, but her truck's door locks have frozen up and she loses some time thawing them out. After driving long stretches of slick roads, she pulls into Prudhoe but runs into trouble again, this time with frozen landing gear on her trailer; a freight yard worker helps her unload and get on her way. In Fairbanks, Alex starts north with a load of pipes before Hugh reports in; Hugh picks up two huge reels of electrical cable, his heaviest load to date at 90,000 pounds, and moves out as well. The same slick uphill run brings both men to a brief stop, causing Alex to briefly slide backwards down the slope and Hugh to spin out without his tire chains. Alex gets to Prudhoe ten minutes ahead and takes a load of motors south, while Hugh picks up a refrigerated van for the return trip and passes Alex when the latter stops to check the straps on his load. |
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| 11 | "A Rookie's Nightmare" | August 22, 2010 |
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In Prudhoe, Alex looks for a load to take back to Fairbanks, but there are none, as Ray got the last one (a set of flatbeds) just before he came in. Trying to stay ahead of Alex, Ray skids into the ditch and ends up burying his truck's wheels deep in the loose snow. Other drivers try to pull him loose, but the tow chains break and they resort to digging him out. Alex stops to help with the effort; after four hours of digging, the group is able to pull him back up onto the road. After calling in at Coldfoot to report the incident, he has to go in for a drug test and driving review once he arrives in Fairbanks. The meeting ends without any penalty against him, though he must take his truck to the shop to be checked out before he can resume work. In Fairbanks, Hugh picks up a load of heaters, noting that they are not securely strapped down but starting off quickly to save time. He passes his trainer from the previous season, who notices part of the load coming loose, and both pull over to secure it. They then see that one of the heaters has become damaged due to scraping against another one. When Hugh reaches Prudhoe, he quickly unloads and heads south; however, word of the damaged load soon reaches Fairbanks and he is called in to discuss the matter. Hugh claims that the straps were always tight and is let off with a caution, but the dispatchers take the matter far more seriously and plan to watch him more closely in the future, mentioning that Hugh may be charged for the damage. Lisa goes north from Fairbanks with a reel of electrical cable and a cage intended to keep bears from entering the oil fields. The sheer size of the cage gives her trouble with straps and chains coming loose on the road, and she even finds one of her straps breaking along the way. After repeated stops to secure the load, she delivers it to Prudhoe safely. |
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| 12 | "The Dalton Strikes Back" | August 29, 2010 |
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Carey comes up from Anchorage with a 114,000-pound "pig launcher" module, used for cleaning and inspecting oil pipelines. The load requires two additional trucks to help push it, but one of them - Jack - is late reporting in and the run starts without him. While Carey is stopped to help fix a flat tire on the other push truck, Jack turns up and the team starts into the first big uphill runs. Jack comes loose from the rear bumper, having missed a gear, and rushes to get back in place so Carey can make it over the hill. After a night's stay at Coldfoot, Jack is again late to get started, but he catches up in time for the run to Atigun. Once the load is at the summit, he moves in front to slow its descent on the other side, and the team reaches Prudhoe safely. Hugh starts north from Fairbanks with a load of pipes, early enough to pass the not-yet-open weigh station, and soon catches up to Ray, who is taking his own pipes north. They race each other to Coldfoot - an activity frowned upon by their superiors - and Ray briefly spins out in the southbound lane while trying to pull ahead. Hugh wins the race and continues on through the night to reach Prudhoe; Ray stops at Coldfoot, buys a meal gift certificate for Hugh as a prize, and continues to Prudhoe the next morning. He then picks up a drill rig and two explosives containers for the trip south. Coming north with a load of pipes, Alex hears of a state Department of Transportation inspection up ahead and worries about getting a ticket for a burned-out headlight. His truck passes, though, and he stops in Coldfoot to replace the bulb. Lisa, bringing her own pipes north, worries about encountering wildlife on the road after dark and spends the night in Coldfoot; once she reaches Prudhoe, she picks up a van of flammable materials for the return trip. Greg finds that his truck has sat in the shop all weekend without having its antifreeze leak checked. This is soon fixed and he takes some pipes north, but before long he smells burning oil. The problem is a bad wheel bearing that can cause the wheel to seize up if left untreated, so he drops his load and returns to Fairbanks. |
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| 13 | "Convoy to Hell" | September 12, 2010 |
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With spring approaching and temperatures rising, the ice road to Nuiqsut will soon disintegrate, cutting its only supply line. All six truckers are assigned to bring the village its last loads for the season; four of them have to drop off cargo at Prudhoe first. Shortly after the convoy sets out from Fairbanks, Lisa learns that she has been given the wrong load and must return to the Carlile yard to get the right one - a snowmobile bound for Nuiqsut. Jack is hauling a load of fuel that is needed there as well. With Greg in front, hauling structural steel members, the rest of the convoy inches past the site of a truck that has rolled off the road. Alex becomes impatient at Greg's slow pace and starts to speed up toward him, while Hugh tries to get ahead of Alex and Greg becomes annoyed with the latter's CB banter. By midday, they have passed Coldfoot and Lisa has caught up with them in time to hear of a storm up ahead. Eventually Alex drops to the rear of the group as visibility falls to almost zero in the blowing snow, and everyone slows down as night falls. They reach Prudhoe and Alex, Hugh, Greg, and Ray pick up their Nuiqsut loads, but the bad weather forces everyone to wait 36 hours until they can start off again. They have a rare meal together, passing time as best they can, and Jack teaches Lisa how to change out an air filter. Once the storm breaks, the truckers ease onto the Colville River for the last stretch - an ice road that reminds Alex and Hugh of the ones they drove in Canada. As they reach Nuiqsut and deliver their loads, they get a chance to look around town, including Greg's visit to the school whose classroom supplies he has just hauled in. Alex has transported paint and furniture for a church; Hugh, a riverboat and some lumber; Ray, a boat motor and some furniture. Jack and Lisa head back to Fairbanks while the other four participate in a potlatch ceremony thrown by the village, sharing a meal and traditional dances. |
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| 14 | "A Legend Meets His End" | September 19, 2010 |
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As Lisa sets up for a push-trucking job to move a 100-ton modular building from Fairbanks to Prudhoe, a bad air valve puts her several hours behind schedule getting out of town. As soon as she starts up the road, another malfunction occurs, but she quickly finds the problem - a loose air hose - and fixes it so she can keep moving. Once she catches up to the other two drivers on the job, one of them has to stop briefly for suspected engine trouble; it turns out to be only vaporizing snow and they continue on. Slush and flying snow dust on Atigun pose hazards for the trio, but they bring the load in safely and the other two express their respect for Lisa's developing skill as a push trucker. Headed north to Prudhoe with a load of pipes, Jack is escorting Doug, a trucker who wants to scatter the ashes of his father - himself a veteran of the haul road - up on Atigun. Doug has not driven the road in 20 years, and he makes a risky stop on a hill to check his own pipes. As they stop on Atigun so that Doug can spread the ashes, Greg rolls past with a large reel of plastic pipe, not knowing about the reason for the stop. Ray sees Greg's behavior as disrespectful, sparking an argument as all three truckers move on to Prudhoe. Meanwhile, Alex stops at Finger Mountain while bringing a set of flatbeds south to Fairbanks, and collects a rock sample that appears to contain some gold. At the weigh station outside of town, his truck and logbook are inspected, leading to a citation but no fine. |
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| 15 | "Deadly Melt" | September 26, 2010 |
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With the season in its final week, truckers are rushing to move loads as the ice on the Dalton melts away. A bridge over the Dietrich River is threatened by a buildup of water pressure behind the remaining ice; crews are dispatched to bore tunnels through that layer to relieve the stress. Elsewhere, the thawing of the Yukon River puts homes near its banks at risk of flooding. As Jack and Lisa head north with jet fuel and pipes, respectively, they hear of a truck that slid into a ditch and stop to chain up so they can better approach the slick roads. They reach Prudhoe that night, but not before Jack receives a citation for not having the proper hazardous-materials paperwork on his load. Once Hugh starts out of Fairbanks with a load of pipes, he stops at the weigh station and is told that his log book is out of compliance and shows evidence of speeding. He denies the latter, is let off with a warning, and continues to Prudhoe at his usual fast pace. Greg picks up a load of groceries, left by another trucker, and heads north to follow Ray, who has pipes and nitrogen containers. Crossing Atigun, they face water overflows and an oncoming convoy that refuses to give up the right of way. After reaching Prudhoe, they join Jack, Lisa, and Alex for a drink and start a friendly wager over who can haul the most loads by season's end. |
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| 16 | "New King of the Dalton" | October 3, 2010 |
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On the final day of the ice road season, Ray and Greg are each hauling a pair of cement powder tanks south from Prudhoe. Only Ray stops to chain his tires as they approach Atigun; Greg tries to pass him during the climb, but cannot due to Ray's maneuvering in order to maintain traction. Eventually Greg spins out and stops to chain up, and the incident later leads to animosity between the two when the boss sides with Ray after they both reach Fairbanks. Jack brings a load of jet fuel south toward Fairbanks, passing a snowplow stuck in the ditch, and struggles to reach the top of Atigun on the wet, slick roads. Once he is over and down, he and Ray laugh about Greg's mishap; later he gets a flat tire and changes it before finishing the run. Lisa comes south with a pair of flatbeds, and stops at Coldfoot to buy a meal gift certificate for the plow driver who pulled her out of the ditch in "Blood on the Dalton." Once she finishes the run, she heads home with enough money to buy back a horse she had once owned as a pet. Hugh takes a reel of cable and a pickup truck north from Fairbanks and hurries to Prudhoe, intent on picking up one last load. However, the boss - who has disapproved of his driving habits all season long - refuses to give him one and comments that he may not have a future on the Dalton. Alex hauls a pickup and assorted building materials from Prudhoe to Coldfoot, his last load, then visits one of the victims from the accident he saw in "Blood on the Dalton." He learns that the third passenger, whom no one was able to find at the time, fled the scene only to be arrested some time later. Final load counts:
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Season 5 (2011)
| No. | Title | Original air date |
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| 1 and 2 | "Pushing the Edge/Ice Road Rage" | June 5, 2011 |
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The two-hour season premiere. With Carlile needing to move 1500 loads up the Dalton in 90 days, Lisa reports in and take a load of pipes up from Fairbanks. She leads a convoy of heavy haulers, including Carey Hall, who needs her help to pull his own freight up a steep incline. After a problem with tow hooks snapping in the cold, they continue on to Prudhoe, the first drivers of the season to arrive. Returning to Fairbanks, Lisa takes on a second load of pipes and pushes a spun-out truck out of the ditch on her way north. When Alabama trucker Dave Redmon arrives in Fairbanks, he is paired up with 19-year veteran Tony Molesky as an escort, to his discontent. They head out with a load of diesel fuel, Tony driving the first half and Dave the second. Dave's problem with shifting gears on the steep grades leads Tony to decide, at Prudhoe, that he needs at least one more escorted trip before doing runs on his own. This decision irritates Dave greatly; on the way back to Coldfoot, the two get into a long argument that results in Tony leaving Dave there the next morning. New York trucker Maya Sieber also reports in, takes a road test, and is cleared to start training. She rides shotgun on a fuel run, during which she sees a flipped pickup truck in a ditch, and later meets Lisa in Prudhoe. Meanwhile, Hugh, Rick, and Alex return to the Canadian ice roads, driving in Manitoba this season to re-supply local communities; Rick has gone into business for himself. In Winnipeg, Hugh and Rick sign on with Polar Industries, while Alex starts with First Nations Trucking. After watching the demolition of a beaver dam blocking the road, Hugh and Rick take on loads of emergency building supplies bound for the Cree community of Oxford House, 620 miles away. The road is rough, running over frozen swamps and rivers, and the pair negotiate thin river ice and a bent rim on Hugh's truck to bring in their loads. Alex is sent out for a 700-mile run to Red Sucker Lake with a load of groceries; he finds his own share of road hazards, including water overflows on the ice, but completes his delivery and meets Hugh on the road. |
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| 3 | "Wrong Turn & Burned" | June 12, 2011 |
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In Fairbanks, Lisa picks up a car hauler loaded with pickup trucks and remembers the trouble she had with this load the previous season. After a day-long trip and a battle with fatigue, she delivers it to Prudhoe with a sense of vindication. While taking a load of diesel fuel north, Tony stops at the site of his recent accident to pick up debris left by his truck. Dave is still in Coldfoot after being left there by Tony, so Phil Kromm, Carlile's driver trainer, drives up to get him. Dave drives on the way back to Fairbanks as Phil offers advice; once they have returned, their boss decides to consider both Phil's and Tony's opinions and figure out what is next for Dave. After passing a drug test and taking a rough run in the trucking simulator, Maya spends a night relaxing at Chena Hot Springs in preparation for the start of her driver training the next day. In Winnipeg, Hugh and Rick report in at First Nations for their next loads - Hugh with supplies to Little Grand Rapids airport (260 miles), Rick with concrete barriers to Bloodvein (155 miles). Rick misses a turn and follows Hugh for five miles before realizing his mistake and backing up on the road, with the result that he delivers his load three hours late. Hugh is briefly delayed by a plugged air valve, but reaches the airport safely. Meanwhile, Alex picks up a load of fish at Red Sucker Lake and hauls it to Winnipeg, passing one abandoned passenger truck from an earlier year and another one in a ditch. |
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| 4 | "Fire on Ice" | June 19, 2011 |
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In Winnipeg, Hugh and Rick team up with another driver to transport the three sections of an airport terminal building to St. Theresa Point, 550 miles away. Each section weighs 86,000 pounds, more than any other load on this road to date. Rick dents one of his rims on a bumpy stretch; by the time Hugh jury-rigs a repair job, the convoy has lost the whole afternoon. On the second day, they reach a long stretch of hairpin turns, which damage the side of Rick's section when he gets hung up in them. The third day of the trip brings them to a lake crossing whose weight limit is slightly less than the weight of each truck. Meanwhile, Alex picks up a forklift bound for St. Theresa Point and six boats for the village of Garden Hill. Once he drops off the forklift, he makes his way through a newly opened, 8-mile lake crossing and brings the boats in. In Fairbanks, Dave is cleared to start making solo runs and is assigned to Hugh's old truck. After a test drive, he heads north with a load of pipes and is surprised to hear Tony on the radio. This time, he successfully climbs the steep grade that stopped him before, then drives through blowing snow to reach Prudhoe. Maya hauls lumber and material hoppers with Phil riding shotgun, but a near miss with a southbound truck prompts her to trade places for a while. After a stop to check a flat tire, she drives again and completes the run to Prudhoe. |
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| 5 | "Under the Hammer" | June 26, 2011 |
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In Manitoba, the airport terminal convoy eases across the lake crossing and reaches St. Theresa Point that night. The third driver clips a power line and pulls down its pole with his trailer. By the time a utility crew cuts the line and safely removes the line, it is so late that unloading the buildings must wait until morning. After the convoy complete the delivery, the drivers relax with a curling match. In Garden Hill, Alex picks up a load of recyclable materials bound for Winnipeg and hears about the downed power line before setting out. He barely misses two oncoming passenger vehicles, nearly spins out, and has his trailer come loose at night due to snow caked in the hitch. Once he clears the buildup, he hooks up again and continues the run. In Fairbanks, Lisa meets with Carey and another driver for a push-trucking job to move a 120-ton modular building. She misses a gear on the first major hill and drops out of position, but gets back in place to help move the load over Atigun Pass and through a whiteout to reach Prudhoe. Dave prepares to haul three CONEX containers to Coldfoot, but runs into multiple problems that delay his departure, including a stuck seat belt that he knocks loose with a hammer. Once he gets on the road with his convoy partner, he makes short work of the run and hurries back to Fairbanks for another load. |
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| 6 | "The Braking Point" | July 10, 2011 |
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In Fairbanks, Dave gets a set of spool pipes as his first oversized load, but frozen trailer brakes delay his departure. He finds the Yukon River Bridge to be completely iced over and eases across, sliding badly before reaching the other side and arriving in Prudhoe that night. Maya takes a load of pipes north, with Phil riding shotgun to offer advice. She negotiates traffic and road challenges well until that evening, when she hears something rattling under the floorboard. A brief stop and under-hood check reveals nothing immediately, so Phil takes the wheel to see if he can hear it, leaving Maya disappointed at not being able to drive the entire run herself. Lisa and Tony are called down to Anchorage to move a pair of modular buildings. She learns from him that she will officially become a heavy hauler upon successful completion of this run. After easing under the freeway overpasses on their way out of town, the run proceeds without incident, with Tony leading until Lisa starts to crowd him; he then lets her take the lead. In Winnipeg, Alex, Hugh, and Rick are assigned loads of food to take on a three-day run to the settlements of Tadoule Lake and Lac Brochet, over 750 miles north. Alex is supposed to lead the group, but a brake problem (caused by an incorrectly connected air hose) delays him for an hour and allows Hugh and Rick to leave first. The police briefly pull Rick over for a logbook inspection, which he passes; late that night, he develops electrical problems on a bumpy stretch of road. He and Hugh find a broken wire that is causing a short circuit, then tape it down to continue their run. Soon afterward, Hugh has to stop and finds that his trailer is dragging on his tires, wearing them down and affecting his traction. These delays give Alex enough time to pass the two. |
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| 7 | "A Banged-Up Job" | July 17, 2011 |
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Having spent the night in Coldfoot, Lisa and Tony head north with their modular buildings. On the tundra south of Prudhoe, Lisa barely avoids an oncoming truck and slides partway off the road. The two work together to help her get going again, and Tony drives lead as they complete the delivery. In light of this incident, the question of her transfer to the heavy haul division is left up to the Carlile bosses. In Fairbanks, Maya picks up a load of cable spools and starts out with Phil riding along. An exhaust leak into the cab sends the truck to the shop; once it is repaired later that morning, she starts the run again, ignoring disparaging radio talk from Dave. She drives the entire way to Prudhoe herself without incident. In Manitoba, Hugh and Rick have stopped at night to fix the problem with Hugh's trailer suspension. Although they reinflate its air bags enough to let him keep driving, he soon gets three flat tires on the rough roads and both stop for the night. The next morning, Rick drives the last 50 miles alone to deliver his load and bring help. Hugh, meanwhile, amuses himself by shooting at some of his old food supplies with a rifle he has brought along. Rick and other truckers drive back to pick up Hugh's load and swap trailers so he can take a usable one back to Winnipeg. Once Rick has the cargo, he makes a late-night run to bring it in. Finding an overturned passenger vehicle in a ditch, Alex gives its two occupants a ride and has to put up with their constant arguing as he finishes his run. |
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| 8 | "Meltdown!" | July 24, 2011 |
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Reports of an approaching storm on the Dalton send drivers rushing to get on the road before conditions make the road impassable. In Fairbanks, Dave prepares to take a load of pipes, but a stuck trailer brake and a loose hitch delay his departure. By the time he approaches Atigun, the storm has forced several drivers to jettison their loads and turn back, and he does the same and returns to Coldfoot. Lisa learns that she will not become a heavy hauler at this time. Angry and disappointed, she goes north with a load of office supplies but ends up stopping at Coldfoot as well. Tony, hauling a load of explosives bound for Prudhoe, finds a truck in the ditch but does not stop to help due to the danger of his own cargo. As he encounters the worst of the storm, he decides to push on and brings the load in after fighting a near-total whiteout. Maya takes a load of pipes north on her first solo run, a load that must be delivered by day's end. She too has to deal with worsening visibility as the storm closes in and also reaches Prudhoe safely. The morning after reaching Lac Brochet, Rick unloads Hugh's cargo of groceries and voices his frustration over the events of this season. As he heads south, he spins out on a hill and is stranded until Hugh arrives in a snowcat to push him free. He gives Hugh a ride back to Hugh's truck, then keeps going south alone. As he, Hugh, and Alex return to Winnipeg, Rick's trailer suspension starts to malfunction as Hugh's did. Blaming the damage on rough driving by Hugh and Rick, the owner of First Nations fires both of them. |
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| 9 | "Road to Nowhere" | July 31, 2011 |
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In Fairbanks, Lisa takes a pickup truck and some structural steel members north as reports of a fresh storm come in. She deals with a stubborn trailer hitch in the yard, followed by a tarp coming loose from the pickup on the road. Pushing through near-zero visibility conditions, she brings the load to Prudhoe. Dave drives up from Coldfoot to get the load of pipes he abandoned, but his cab's heater fails and makes the drive extremely uncomfortable. Finding miles of backed-up traffic due to the storm, he has to wait four hours until crews can clear a path to let trucks through. Passing ditched trucks in the backup and another after he gets clear, he picks up his load and brings it in. When Maya starts the day in Fairbanks, she learns that she has officially been issued her own truck, which is smaller and older than the one in which she trained. It has sat idle for months and must be towed into the shop to get it running; she takes advantage of the delay to buy some equipment, including a knife for protection. In Manitoba, Hugh and Rick switch to Polar Industries and pick up fuel tanks that are needed the Ontario community of Muskrat Dam, 400 miles away. When they stop at an RV park to fuel up, Rick finds that his truck's fuel tank is coming loose and straps it up as best he can before they go on. Later in the day, Hugh discovers that they have taken a wrong turn and must double back. The next morning, now half a day behind schedule, they ease across a 7-mile lake crossing only to discover on the other side that they have again gone down the wrong road. Alex, meanwhile, drives to St. Theresa Point to get a pickup truck and bring it back to Winnipeg for repairs. That evening, he finds a broken-down pickup in the ditch and takes its passengers to Winnipeg as well. |
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| 10 | "Rookie Rebellion" | August 7, 2011 |
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After four days of winter storms, the weather clears and crews go to work reopening the road. Dave and Tony head north from Fairbanks with critical loads of groceries, and Maya goes with them to transport a pickup truck and other supplies. Tension among the three simmers as they start the run - Dave frustrated at Maya's slow pace and Tony's perception that he is disrespectful, Maya and Tony annoyed at Dave's habit of crowding them from behind. Dave eventually speeds ahead and reaches Coldfoot alone, but is ordered the next morning to regroup with them. After he again pulls away, Tony and Maya ease through the ripe avalanche conditions on Atigun. Dave reaches Prudhoe well ahead of them, picking up the only available load bound for Fairbanks (scrap material). Meanwhile, Lisa digs her truck out after spending four days stranded in Prudhoe. She gets a load destined for Anchorage, but gets a flat tire 50 miles into the trip as a result of pumping her brakes to melt built-up snow. After doubling back to Prudhoe for repairs, she makes the delivery and then takes a day off at home. In Ontario, Hugh and Rick retrace their path back from the 7-mile lake crossing and cover the last 100 miles to Muskrat Dam. Once they unload their fuel tanks and start back to Winnipeg, Rick drags his empty trailer through a ditch on the way out of the freight yard. A push from a loader puts him back on the road, but 50 miles into the return trip, he discovers that he has forgotten the paperwork for the load and must return to Muskrat Dam to get it. His truck stalls when he tries to turn around, and frustration leads him into a brief face-off with the camera crew. Hugh gives him a pull-start so he can get moving again. |
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| 11 | "Hittin' the Skids" | August 14, 2011 |
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In Winnipeg, Hugh and Rick pick up fuel tanks destined for St. Theresa Point, but find themselves battling slick roads and hairpin turns. A jackknifed tanker is blocking the road, but Hugh pulls it straight so the run can continue. After another truck begins to spin out and nearly hits Hugh, he and Rick bring their loads in safely. Alex, on the road back to Winnipeg, sideswipes a car parked in a snowbank that is being used by the camera crew following him. In Fairbanks, Lisa gets a load of pipe sections that is so long (100 feet) that it needs a special rear dolly instead of a standard trailer to support it. That dolly soon moves out of alignment with the truck and begins to swing wildly on corners, posing a hazard to oncoming truckers. She cannot get it realigned herself, but does get help in Coldfoot; later that night, she discovers that two of the dolly's tires have completely fallen off. With help from another trucker, she straps up the axle so that it will not collapse, then limps into Prudhoe to finish the run. Tony and Maya head north from Fairbanks to pick up loads that were abandoned during the storm (pipes and cable spools, respectively) and take them on to Prudhoe. Both express their low opinions of Dave and later stop on the road to share a meal of grilled moose. Meanwhile, on his backhaul run from Prudhoe, Dave finds that his truck is losing power; the problem is that the engine is only drawing fuel from one of his two tanks. He pumps fuel from the bad tank to the good one by hand and reaches Fairbanks, only to be told that his behavior on the convoy run has landed him in trouble. Ordered off the road until the Carlile boss can meet with him later in the week, he fumes over the thought that he may be fired. |
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| 12 | "No More Mr. Nice Guy" | August 21, 2011 |
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In Fairbanks, Lisa and Tony take steel building frames bound for Prudhoe; at 16 feet, Lisa's load is the widest of her career. The two truckers need a squad of pilot cars to help keep the road clear. That night, they maneuver carefully past several southbound convoys and trucks parked on both sides of the road, leaving little room for error. Lisa takes the lead the next day for the run over Atigun, and they reach Prudhoe that night; Tony expresses his satisfaction at her success on this run. Although Maya is sick, she reports in to get a load and heads for Prudhoe. She develops a fever that night, but successfully negotiates a slick, steep uphill climb. The next day, she encounters Phil and tries to pass him, but he jokingly keeps her from doing so. Impatient for something to do, Dave is dispatched to take a pickup-truckload of tires to a crew a few miles north of Fairbanks. He has several close calls with southbound trucks before making the delivery. In Manitoba, the approaching end of winter has made the roads slick and thinned the ice on river/lake crossings. Hugh and Rick head north from Winnipeg, with fuel tanks bound for Garden Hill; at a fuel station, they come across Alex, who is taking a load to St. Theresa Point. The three decide to convoy with a fourth driver for safety reasons, and find a wrecked truck and other signs of trouble caused by the deteriorating roads. Alex ends up at the back of the pack, but surprises the others by passing them during a roadside stop. After they ease across a lake and reach Garden Hill, Alex gives Hugh a present: a picture of Hugh's father in front of a cabin where his ashes are scattered. |
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| 13 | "Ice Rogue Trucker" | August 28, 2011 |
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In Fairbanks, Dave picks up a load of pipes as part of Carlile's late-season drive to get urgently needed freight to Prudhoe. Told to stay close to Phil, he has trouble hooking up his trailer and finds that he may have dented one of the pipes. The load turns out to be undamaged, but Dave is cautioned to be more careful as he and Phil head out. Irritated, Dave ignores Phil's radio calls during the last stretch of the run, leaving Phil unimpressed with his attitude. Setting up to head north with a load of cable trays, Maya finds her trailer brakes stuck. Another trucker helps her fix the problem, but her brakes soon lock up again once she is on the road. Deciding to play it safe, she drops the load and returns to Fairbanks. After stopping with Tony to scatter a trucker's ashes on the Brooks Range, Lisa goes south with a load of recyclable materials and hears about Maya's trailer problems. The two discuss Dave's attitude as they head south, but a collision between a pickup truck and a big rig delays them for more than an hour. In Winnipeg, Alex has developed coughing fits and is worried that his lung trouble from three years earlier is returning. After a clinic visit, he is diagnosed with bronchitis and prescribed antibiotics. He picks up a load of groceries bound for St. Theresa Point and hurries out, anxious to deliver it before the road closes for the season. The slick road conditions and his fever complicate the trip, but he pushes on and stops briefly to observe a skunk. After fighting his illness and a stretch of treacherous lake that night, he brings the groceries in the next morning. Hugh and Rick both take their trucks in for maintenance before the final push. To keep himself busy, Hugh takes a dump truck loaded with 15 tons of boulders across Lake Winnipeg to Victoria Beach, 60 miles away. After easing across the wet, slushy lake ice, he brings in the load and returns to Winnipeg for another one. This time, he meets an oncoming truck on the lake crossing, a situation that puts both drivers at risk; they ease past each other and he delivers the boulders safely. |
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| 14 | "The Heat Is On" | September 4, 2011 |
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In Prudhoe, Dave picks up a load and heads south. Phil, still watching his performance, has begun to think that Dave is ignoring safety rules in order to get more loads. Meanwhile, the truck Tony wrecked early in the season has been completely repaired, and he takes it up from Fairbanks with a load of diesel fuel. Once he delivers the tanker, he picks up a load of gasoline for Nuiqsut and skids badly on the slick river ice while bringing it in. As Lisa and Maya take loads north from Fairbanks, Maya is beginning to feel comfortable on the road. Stopping briefly to help a driver fix a coolant leak, they meet Tony in Coldfoot during his Prudhoe run and discuss Dave's behavior. Dave stops here, overhears some of their comments, and immediately leaves without Phil to keep himself from getting into a confrontation. He arrives in Fairbanks that night, an hour ahead of Phil; the next morning, his supervisors decide to take him off active duty until they can re-evaluate his driving. In Manitoba, Hugh and Rick take loads of fish to Winnipeg while Alex hauls road-maintenance chemicals toward Little Grand Rapids. Alex's load shifts on the trailer, breaking one of its pallets, but he brings it in and takes on a load of recyclables bound for Winnipeg. He comes to the site of a collision between a camera crew vehicle and a big rig; there are no injuries, and he moves on once the wreck is cleared. |
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| 15 | "Judgement Day" | September 18, 2011 |
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Warming temperatures give rise to wet, slick road conditions, complicating the push to move the season's last loads. In Manitoba, Hugh and Rick get an early start to move loads up to St. Theresa Point - concrete barriers and school supplies, respectively. They stop to re-secure one barrier after it slides forward and nearly crushes Hugh's cab, then bring their loads in. Alex, taking building supplies to Garden Hill, finds dangerously thin ice on a lake crossing and detours around it, adding 200 miles to his trip. A broken drive shaft delays him until another driver brings up a replacement truck so he can continue the run. In Prudhoe, polar bear sightings on the road have temporarily blocked runs to and from the oil fields. Tony picks up a load of scrap metal and goes south, passing a northbound truck as he reaches the point where he had his accident at the start of the season. The bear later moves off the road and trucks start moving as a road crew works to relieve pressure on a frozen creek, so that the ice will not destroy its bridge. In Fairbanks, Dave is fired from Carlile and goes home after meeting with his supervisor to discuss his driving performance and behavior. Maya learns of his dismissal from Phil as she heads north with a fuel tank. Heading up Atigun without chains despite his caution about the bad road conditions, she slips on the ice but comes down safely after stopping near the peak for a southbound truck. Lisa is called in to move a shack as part of a heavy-haul convoy, but her truck's computer detects problems and cuts her engine power as a precaution. Pushing on through the bad road conditions and rush of southbound trucks near Atigun, she brings her load safely to Prudhoe. |
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| 16 | "The Last Dash" | September 25, 2011 |
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In Fairbanks, Tony is not surprised to learn of Dave's dismissal. Heading north with a load of pipes, he ponders other drivers' reports of slick roads and passes a pickup truck in a ditch. In Prudhoe, Lisa and Maya are both dispatched to Nuiqsut with loads of assorted supplies and must deal with the slippery ice roads. The delivery puts Lisa at the top of the Alaska load count. Once all three are back in Fairbanks, the Carlile truckers get together for an end-of-season cookout. In Manitoba, Hugh has reached St. Theresa Point but finds no loads available that can fit on his trailer. He and Rick head back to Winnipeg empty-handed, but get stuck while trying to pass an abandoned double-wide truck in a storm. They have no success pulling loose until the driver returns with a second double-wide, providing enough traction to help move all the other trucks so Hugh and Rick can finish the trip. On the way to Garden Hill in his replacement truck, Alex stops briefly to pull a passenger car out of a ditch. He brings in his load and picks up a cargo of tools bound for Winnipeg; soon after starting back, though, he finds an antifreeze leak and must return to town. The problem is a broken radiator hose, and local mechanics splice in a new piece to get him back on the road. Completing this run puts Alex ahead of Hugh in the load count for the first time in five seasons. Final load count (Canada)
Final load count (Alaska)
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Season 6 (2012)
| No. | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Aces and Jokers" | June 3, 2012 |
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In Whitehorse, Yukon, Alex signs on with Manitoulin Transportation and is immediately dispatched to take a load of badly needed food to Inuvik. His truck stops working not long after he begins the 500-mile run up the Dempster Highway, but it soon starts again and he eases onto the river crossings to complete his delivery. In Winnipeg, an unusually warm winter has shortened the ice road season and created a backlog of loads. As soon as Hugh and Rick report in, they are sent to pick up two trailers of construction supplies, abandoned in Berens River from the previous year's season. After Hugh spins out on loose snow at a corner, Rick pulls him loose but breaks a tow chain. In Fairbanks, Carlile must transport 70 loads of rig parts up to Prudhoe Bay within 10 days to get the oil fields' exploration efforts started. Jack and rookie Austin Wheeler pick up pipe sheds as part of a convoy. Austin voices displeasure not only at Jack's cautious pace due to his oversized load, but also at his decision to stop at Coldfoot for the night when the weather worsens. Fellow rookie Ronald "Pork Chop" Mangum reports in as well to take a load of pipes north. He gets off to a rough start with trainer Phil Kromm, who sees him having trouble shifting gears on a stretch of hills and takes over driving for the rest of the run. A third rookie, Darrell Ward, bristles at having to ride with a trainer (in this case, Tony Molesky) as they head out with a load of vehicles. That evening, he loses his lights and quickly repairs a blown fuse to get them working; as he pulls in at Prudhoe, Tony warns him not to become overconfident on this road. |
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| 2 | "Sink or Swim" | June 10, 2012 |
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In Manitoba, Hugh and Rick negotiate slushy roads, a half-thawed river crossing, and a low bridge before reaching Berens Point. They find the two abandoned trailers, but must wait for a loader to arrive and plow away the snow burying the wheels. Rick has trouble hooking up to his trailer and gets briefly stuck in snow along the road as he and Hugh start back to Winnipeg. In Inuvik, Alex picks up a load of store supplies bound for Tuktoyaktuk, following a road over the Arctic Ocean. He passes a truck that fell partway through the ice and froze in place, then enters a whiteout that causes him to lose his bearings. Once he makes radio contact with the store owner, he pulls in safely and gets a batch of muktuk as a snack for the trip south. In Fairbanks, Darrell is cleared to start making solo runs and heads north with a pump motor. Running into ice fog, he nearly skids out on a corner but reaches Prudhoe safely. Based on Phil's disapproving assessment, Ronald is assigned to make another training run, this time carrying a load of pipes with Tony riding along. After he again has trouble shifting gears, Tony has him pull in at Coldfoot and discusses his driving with Phil. Jack and Austin head north from Coldfoot, waiting until all other drivers have left due to their oversize loads. As they approach Atigun pass, Austin struggles to put on his tire chains (which he failed to inspect before starting the run). In Prudhoe, he is dispatched south to pick up a broken truck in Coldfoot and Jack goes along to keep an eye on him. The next morning, Jack watches as Austin loads the truck onto his trailer, leading to resentment on the younger driver's part. |
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| 3 | "Hammer Down" | June 17, 2012 |
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With 24 hours left in the 70-load rig move, Jack and Austin head north from Fairbanks with a superstructure section and a screen house, respectively. Austin rides so far in front of Jack that neither can see the other, creating a safety hazard. Darrell takes an oversized load north, but has to slow down when it starts shifting on his trailer. Ronald is cleared for a solo run, but must follow Phil up the Dalton for now. Once all four drivers reach Prudhoe, they get ready to move the final loads out to the oil fields. At the rear of the convoy, Ronald drives too fast and too close to Darrell, disobeying the road's safety guidelines. After he causes two delays, first with a leaky air line and then by pulling his truck loose from its trailer, Phil sends him back to Fairbanks and wonders whether he is qualified to drive the Dalton. Jack hauls both his own load and Ronald's at once to finish the rig move on time. In Inuvik, Alex picks up a load of snowmobiles bound for the village of Aklavik. After negotiating fragile ice on the Mackenzie River delta, he delivers his load and hurries back to Inuvik through a storm that makes the road almost impassable. In Manitoba, Hugh nearly crashes into Rick when Rick makes a nighttime stop to relieve himself. The two bring their construction supplies to Winnipeg, their first completed deliveries of the season. |
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| 4 | "No Way Out" | June 24, 2012 |
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In Fairbanks, Austin picks up an excavator for his first solo run, while Jack voices his concerns to the Carlile bosses about the rookie's driving habits. Along the way, he helps two stranded trucks get moving, one who needs a push over a hill and another blocking the road in a fast-developing storm. When he tries to pull a third truck out of a ditch, though, he ends up stuck as well. Meanwhile, Jack goes north from Fairbanks with a load of lumber and a pickup truck. As he approaches the storm, one of his trailer wheels begins wobbling dangerously, he stops briefly to remove both wheels in that pair, then pulls in at Coldfoot for the night. Darrell hauls a load of heaters from Coldfoot to Prudhoe and picks up a stack of flatbeds to take south as the storm closes in. He, Phil, and the other drivers on the road decided to drop their loads and stop at Coldfoot. When Ronald reports in at Fairbanks, he is suspended from driving for the immediate future due to his mistakes during the Prudhoe rig move. In Winnipeg, Hugh and Rick pick up loads of water/sewage tanks bound for St. Theresa Point, 300 miles to the north. They negotiate a freshly opened road, with fragile lake ice crossings, but find it closed as they reach the final turn. After a call to the client, they dump the tanks off their trailers and head back toward Winnipeg. |
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| 5 | "Desperate Measures" | July 1, 2012 |
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In Fairbanks, Ronald returns to duty but bristles at his next assignment: delivering a load of dog food to the downtown area for the start of the Yukon Quest dogsled race. Farther up the Dalton, Austin's wheels are now buried deep in snow after a night stuck in the ditch. A road crew pulls him loose with a snowblower, allowing the traffic jam behind him to start moving, and he delivers his load to Prudhoe and heads south. As a severe storm moves in on the road, Darrell picks up his abandoned flatbeds and follows a road crew to keep moving south. Coming over Atigun Pass he learns of a collision between a truck and a pilot car. The news spreads quickly, with drivers scrambling to get updates on the second driver's condition. Darrell helps move the wreckage off the road and continues his run, only to be fined $300 during an inspection at a weigh station. Jack, meanwhile, pushes through deep snowdrifts in order to bring his load to Prudhoe. In Winnipeg, Hugh and Rick pick up cement trucks needed in Red Sucker Lake - a high-paying job, but hazardous due to the weight and road conditions. They ease over weak lake ice and hit a rough stretch of road during the night. Alex starts on a 1,000-mile round trip between Inuvik and Dawson City to bring in a load of supplies. When the storm over the Dalton moves onto the Dempster and closes the road, he is forced to return to Inuvik. |
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| 6 | "Blood, Sweat, and Gears" | July 8, 2012 |
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In Manitoba, Hugh and Rick stop to secure a loose fuel tank and continue their cement-truck delivery. As they approach Red Sucker Lake, though, they are pulled over for an inspection and learn that they are over the road's weight limit. They are forced to abandon the loads and head back to Winnipeg; along the way, Rick gets briefly stuck in a snowbank until a passing motorist pulls him loose. Meanwhile, Alex fights through a late rendezvous, bad weather, and slick uphill runs to pick up a load of groceries and deliver it to Inuvik before the road becomes impassable again. Ronald and Darrell are assigned to drive together in a convoy, taking pipes and support members from Fairbanks to Prudhoe. Darrell repeatedly bristles at Ronald's slow pace and reaches Coldfoot two hours ahead of him. Forced to stop here due to the late hour, the two argue over scheduling versus safety. The next day, Darrell is again first out, chaining up and crossing Atigun well ahead of Ronald. Austin picks up an oversized load, a cabin that must be delivered across town to its owner that night. Loading it onto his trailer and maneuvering it in the city streets is a challenge for him, but he brings it in with only minor damage from scraping an overhead road sign. Jack is irritated to learn that Austin got this load; he is given a water truck to take to Prudhoe. A close call with an oncoming truck nearly sends him off the road, leaving him badly shaken. The next day, having delivered it and returned to Fairbanks, he becomes frustrated and drives off when there are no available loads for him. |
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| 7 | "Hard Road Ahead" | July 15, 2012 |
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In Fairbanks, Carlile owner Harry McDonald and terminal manager Lane Keator head north with loads of explosives to make up for Jack's continuing absence. Darrell and Ronald continue south from Coldfoot, with Darrell warning Ronald not to crowd him due to the frost-buckled roads. They meet Harry and Lane coming north, and Lane has a brief talk with Darrell to discuss both his and Ronald's driving performance to date. Ronald spins out on a hill, forcing Darrell to wait as he chains his tires, and the two reach Fairbanks. Harry and Lane reach their destination, a gold mine north of Coldfoot, but cannot immediately find anyone to take delivery. Lane ventures into the nighttime wilderness and finds the mining crew so they can unload the cargo. Meanwhile, Austin takes a load of pickup trucks north from Fairbanks, having been cautioned not to speed, and becomes annoyed at other truckers' ribbing. However, he calms down during a talk with another trucker while waiting for a spun-out tanker to be pulled free, then pulls in at Prudhoe that night. Returning to Winnipeg, Hugh and Rick argue with their bosses over the botched cement truck delivery. Rick storms out of the office and visits the hospital to get a diagnosis for an illness that he blames on his truck. A cleanup crew finds evidence of a deer mouse infestation and possible Hanta virus contamination, forcing the truck out of service. In Inuvik, Alex picks up an excavator bound for Aklavik; the load is over the road's weight limit, but he gets a special permit for the run. His brakes start to malfunction, but he cannot risk stopping on the river ice and pushes on to finish his run. |
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| 8 | "Proving Ground" | July 22, 2012 |
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In Fairbanks, Ronald starts his first solo run with a load of supplies needed in the village of Manley Hot Springs, a new destination for Carlile deliveries. The road is rough, narrow, and slick, with a steep drop-off on one side. After easing across a bridge with almost no overhead clearance to spare, he brings his load in safely. Austin and veteran Carey Hall are called in to help with a heavy haul mission, a 100-ton modular building that must reach Prudhoe within 72 hours. The crew loses time due to maneuvering problems on the road leading to the Dalton, then again when one truck develops brake trouble. That night, Carey's truck develops engine trouble and he decides to drop the load and return to the shop in Fairbanks, rejecting Austin's offer to pull the load. Darrell picks up a load of sheet rock and heads north, making good time until he finds a jackknifed truck blocking the road. Well after nightfall, the wreck is cleared and he gets moving again. Jack checks in at Fairbanks and gets a chilly reception from Lane. Nevertheless, he is put back on duty and heads up the Dalton with a load of pipes, since there is still a large volume of cargo to move. Hauling a load of assorted shipments south from Inuvik to Dawson City, Alex finds the speed limits lowered on the Dempster river crossings. He cautiously checks the ice and drives across, keeping his door open in case he needs to jump clear. He hurries south through good weather and brings his load in that night. In Winnipeg, Rick is still too sick to drive and must wait for his test results. Hugh picks up a load of septic tanks needed in Bloodvein. The route takes him along a freshly opened crossing over Lake Winnipeg, past a ridge between two sheets of ice that cover the water. Once he gets off the lake, the finishes his run and starts back for Winnipeg. |
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| 9 | "Braking Bad" | July 29, 2012 |
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Road crews spend the day defusing potential avalanche sites on Atigun to keep the road clear. In Fairbanks, Ronald starts his first solo run up the Dalton carrying a load of sandbags. Fever, congestion, and coughing make it hard for him to concentrate all day long until he reaches Prudhoe that night. With a relief driver taking Carey's place in the lead for the heavy haul convoy, Austin makes a driving mistake that has the potential to send all three trucks into the ditch. However, he corrects it in time for the final push over Atigun and the convoy meets its deadline to arrive at Prudhoe. As Jack goes north with his load of pipes, he hears them shifting on his trailer and stops to check them. The pipes are badly off-center on his trailer, so he re-secures them with a chain as best he can and drives on. Having spent the night in Coldfoot, Darrell gets an early start to stay ahead of Jack. He slides badly on the road while crossing Atigun, but gets to Prudhoe before Jack, who loses time due to poor visibility at sunset. In Winnipeg, Rick's truck has been fully de-contaminated, but he is still too sick to drive. Hugh calls in Derek, the company mechanic, and Vlad, the dispatcher, to help move three loads of cement to Pauingassi First Nation. Derek, who has never driven on ice before, becomes very nervous as the convoy approaches Lake Winnipeg. Meanwhile, Alex must take a load of chemicals from Whitehorse to Cantung Mine within 12 hours, following another driver along a narrow road. After pushing through the dangerous mountain route and a slipping transmission, he reaches his destination with an hour to spare. |
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| 10 | "Stacking the Deck" | August 5, 2012 |
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In Prudhoe, Darrell chafes at being denied a southbound load as Jack gets one due to seniority. When he reaches Coldfoot, he finds a load of pipes waiting for him, left by a driver who had a family emergency, and starts north again. He brakes hard to avoid hitting a herd of caribou on the road. Meanwhile, Jack fights the glare of sunlight reflecting off the ice and skids nearly off the road. Both bring their loads in, and Darrell picks up a load to take south. Heading north with a light load of construction supplies, Ronald tries to keep his speed up so he can have enough momentum to get over hills. A slow fuel tanker up ahead grates on his nerves until he gets a chance to pass it. Heavy fog on the final stretch leads to a near miss with a southbound truck before he reaches Prudhoe. In Fairbanks, Austin is first to report in at the depot and picks up his first solo heavy-haul load, a snowplow. The trailer's landing gear is frozen, so he ties it off with a chain to get started on the run. On a steep uphill turn, he slides badly and spins out; an oncoming truck nearly hits him as he scrambles to chain his tires in the middle of the road. He brings the snowplow in safely, leaving himself, Jack, and Darrell tied at the top of the Alaska load count. At the Cantung Mine, Alex visits the tunnels to see the crew at work, then picks up a load of tungsten ore bound for Watson Lake. As he negotiates the narrow mine road, he misses a gear and briefly slides downhill backwards before managing to stop the truck; he later brings the load in safely. In Manitoba, Hugh and his two drivers ease over Lake Winnipeg and reach Pauingassi several hours late, finding no one to take delivery of their loads. Hugh finds a loader on the site and uses it to hoist the bags off the trailers, one at a time, so they can start back toward Winnipeg before morning. |
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| 11 | "Hurricane Alley" | August 12, 2012 |
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Alex and another driver start a two-day run from Whitehorse to Inuvik to deliver groceries and supplies. The route takes them through "Hurricane Alley," a stretch notorious for whiteouts and strong winds, and a storm closes in as they head up the Dempster. With visibility dropping to near zero, they are forced to stop and cannot find any trace of the road. A snowplow happens to come through three hours later, giving them a chance to follow it through the storm and complete their delivery. In Fairbanks, Darrell picks up a load of sheet rock, on a badly worn-out trailer. He hurries north and passes Jack, who is hauling a fuel tanker and nearly skids off the road. The next morning, Darrell hits an extremely bumpy stretch and must slow down to spare his trailer before reaching Prudhoe; he then picks up a bus for the return to Fairbanks. Jack, critical of his push to top the load count, muscles up to the top of Atigun but briefly loses control on the downhill side due to his load's weight. Austin is dispatched to drive 423 miles south from Prudhoe and pick up a water truck from a mining camp. It proves to be almost as wide as his trailer, and he has to take great care in driving it on board. Meanwhile, Ronald takes a load of gravel north toward Prudhoe and has to deal with oncoming drivers and slipping wheels as he comes over Atigun. After delivering the load, he has to return to Fairbanks empty as Jack pulls in. |
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| 12 | "Battle Lines" | August 19, 2012 |
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In Fairbanks, Austin takes a load of long pipes whose rear end must be supported on a separate dolly. As he negotiates the turns to keep the dolly from swinging around, it begins to drift out of alignment. He and his pilot car driver pull it back to center before finishing the run. Darrell, heading north with a tanker of machine oil, develops alternator trouble when he is 30 miles from Prudhoe. The truck will not start again after he shuts it off, leaving him with no heat, but he is close enough to his destination to call for help on his cell phone. A loader arrives to bring in both Darrell and the truck, and the tanker is left for another driver to pick up. The next morning, Austin meets Darrell and takes him and the truck back to Fairbanks. Ronald bristles at being assigned to drive with Jack, hauling mixed loads to Prudhoe. Part of Jack's load must be delivered to a certain point on the Dalton first, and Ronald is expected to help unload it. At the dropoff, though, Ronald goes ahead by himself and leaves Jack to do the unloading alone. The next morning, after both check in at Prudhoe, Jack sharply upbraids Ronald for leaving him alone and mentions that he will have to report the incident to Lane in Fairbanks. In Winnipeg, Hugh and the other drivers are racing to move loads. Rick returns to work, still feeling somewhat fatigued and worn down, and he and Hugh start a 300-mile run to Wasagamack First Nation with loads of septic tanks. As the trucks bounce and skid on the late-season roads, Rick sideswipes a road official's pickup; the damage is minor, but the collision costs them time. They ease over the center ridge on Lake Winnipeg, recently repaired after a trucker damaged it by driving too fast. With less than 10 miles remaining, Rick refuses to go any farther and the two pull over for the night, to Hugh's dissatisfaction as he had wanted to finish the run that same day. |
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| 13 | "Cold-Blooded" | August 26, 2012 |
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The morning after their unscheduled stop, Hugh leaves Rick sleeping and delivers his load of septic tanks to Wasagamack. He picks up a shack several feet longer than his trailer and hauls it back to Winnipeg, noting the extent to which the road is melting down. Rick fumes at being left behind as he brings in his load of tanks and starts the return trip. On the Dempster, Alex delivers a snowblower to a road camp so the crew can clear Hurricane Alley, then picks up a loader needed in Inuvik to help keep those roads open. Its increased weight forces him to take extra precautions as he crosses the Peel River before bringing it in. In Alaska, the approach of an extreme cold front threatens to shut down the Prudhoe oil fields for days. Jack and Austin head north from Fairbanks (respectively taking lumber and a pickup truck, and long overhead crane beams), trying to deliver their loads before the shutdown. The length and weight of Austin's load give him difficulty on the uphill runs when he decides not to chain his tires, causing delays for himself and the southbound drivers. Jack notices a loose chain on his load and stops to tighten it, then drives into the night. By the time he reaches Prudhoe, though, he finds that the shutdown has already begun. As Ronald starts north with a load, Phil and Lane meet to discuss his overall performance. Concerned over Ronald's leaving Jack alone on the road at night, Lane assigns Phil to keep an eye on him from a distance. Phil heads out with a tanker, tailing Ronald and noting his trouble. Ronald spots Phil and decides to pull over to let him pass, but Phil does not fall for the trick and criticizes Ronald for it. After both reach Prudhoe, Phil calls Lane to deliver his unfavorable opinion. Darrell's truck comes out of the repair shot and he starts north with a load of long pipes. Though his engine starts to lose power shortly after starting out, he decides to push on. The problem steadily worsens and leaves him struggling to climb a steep grade, so he relies on his pilot car driver to help pull him over the top. Here, he stops to drain water from his fuel filter and is able to start again with full power. |
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| 14 | "Chopping Block" | September 9, 2012 |
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With 10 days left in the Alaska ice road season and Prudhoe reopened after the cold-weather shutdown, drivers are hurrying to move all the loads they can. Darrell and Austin head north from Fairbanks with groceries and a front-end loader, respectively, while Jack comes in later and gets a load of pipes. Darrell pushes ahead and reaches Prudhoe that night, but the strain on both Jack and his truck prompts him to stop at Coldfoot. Approaching Atigun, Austin pushes a spun-out driver over the summit, then finishes his run to Prudhoe. When Ronald reports in, Lane fires him, noting the widespread opinion among the other drivers that he is not cut out for the ice road. To keep the loads moving, Carlile calls in Season 4 driver Ray Veilleux and sends him north with a large piece of pipe. After the first 100 miles, his truck loses power due to an oil leak, leaving him stranded. Well after nightfall, Phil drives by and picks him up. In Manitoba, Hugh, Rick and Vlad are hauling loads of cement to Pauingassi. Rick, still angry over being left behind by Hugh, speeds ahead and loses one bag on the bumpy roads; with no way to hoist it back onto his trailer, he drives on. After Vlad finds the dropped bag, he and Hugh use a loader on Vlad's trailer to pick it up. Rick is the first to arrive that night, and by the time the others pull in, he has already unloaded and started back to Winnipeg. In Inuvik, Alex picks up a trailer of compressed gases, including highly flammable acetylene, bound for Whitehorse. Passing a wrecked truck that overturned due to high winds, he struggles to keep from sliding on his way through Hurricane Alley and brings his load in safely. |
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| 15 | "Race the Melt" | September 16, 2012 |
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In Prudhoe, Darrell and Jack are dispatched to carry supplies to Nuiqsut - Darrell with food, supplies, and a flatbed; Jack with a tanker of fuel. The road will be closed at sundown that evening, forcing the truckers to move out quickly on the weak, slushy ice. Once they reach Nuiqsut, Jack offloads his fuel quickly; Darrell, though, must deliver his cargo around town and then load some pickup trucks onto his flatbed for the return trip. With time running out, Jack surprises Darrell by loading the flatbed himself so both of them can get out of town before the road closes. Ray takes a load of pipes up from Fairbanks and makes good time into the evening, successfully climbing an uphill stretch where he went into the ditch two years earlier. He has a close call with a southbound truck before completing the run. Austin, going north with a cube van, hears noise from his engine but cannot find anything immediately wrong when he stops to check it. When he returns to the Carlile shop, he learns that the truck's fuel injection system must be replaced, a job that will take at least a full day. In Manitoba, Hugh and Rick are making their last outbound trip of the season, hauling construction materials to Pauingassi. As they cross Lake Winnipeg, Rick finds a southbound truck speeding toward him on the thin lake ice. He and Hugh complete the crossing, but are not sure if the truck's speed may have damaged the crossing's ice. After one last, short, nearly disintegrated ice crossing, they pull into Pauingassi and unload, Hugh helping to free Rick's trailer so they can hurry back toward Winnipeg. In Whitehorse, Alex takes Manitoulin's largest trailer to haul a huge assorted load to Inuvik, possibly his last of the season. The trailer is not rated for ice road use, and it starts to shake and slide as he enters Hurricane Alley. Both it and the cargo emerge intact as he finishes the run. |
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| 16 | "The Final Showdown" | September 23, 2012 |
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In Manitoba, Hugh and Rick start back toward Winnipeg, over a route that is rapidly melting back into swampland. They reach solid ground shortly before the maintenance crew officially closes the ice-road portion for the year. Once they return to Winnipeg, Hugh voices his dissatisfaction about the season's difficulties to the Polar Industries management. He decides that he and Rick do not want to drive for the company anymore. In Inuvik, Alex picks up a load of firewood and supplies needed in Tuktoyaktuk and starts onto the cracked, weakened ice of the Arctic Ocean. Although the surface has developed major fractures that briefly cause him to skid, he decides to push on and brings the load in with the villagers' gratitude. In Fairbanks, Jack and Darrell each pick up loads that must reach Prudhoe by the end of the day: oil rig parts and pipe elbows, respectively. Although Darrell passes Jack, Jack uses his experience on the curves to retake the lead as the two race north. Jack reaches Prudhoe just ahead of Darrell, and Ray pulls in later that night, having taken a load of methanol south from Prudhoe and returned with a load of pipes. With his truck now out of the shop, Austin picks up a modular building and starts north. Shortly into the trip, though, he develops the same engine trouble that cut his last run short. He abandons the load and returns to Fairbanks, frustrated over not being able to complete the job expected of him. Sean Parnell, Governor of Alaska, arrives in Fairbanks the next morning to thank the Carlile drivers for their hard work. After an end-of-season cookout, Lane announces that Jack has topped the load count. Final load count (Alaska):
Final load count (Canada):
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Season 7 (2013)
| No. | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Collision Course" | June 9, 2013 |
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In Manitoba, Hugh and former Polar Industries dispatcher Vlad Pleskot have set up a competing trucking company, VP Express. Alex, Lisa, and Darrell sign on with Polar; Hugh voices his belief that Lisa is not suited to drive the Canadian winter roads. All three Polar drivers set out from Winnipeg with construction supplies: Alex and Lisa to Bloodvein, Darrell to Berens River. Darrell slides badly on patches of deep snow, then eases over a river crossing despite his misgivings and brings his load in. Alex and Lisa soon fall out of radio contact with each other and have trouble following the route on their maps. Alex is first to reach Bloodvein, with no sign of Lisa. She eventually arrives as well and the two deliver their cargo. Meanwhile, VP secures a $500,000 contract to haul the entire season's loads to Wasagamack. Hugh, Vlad, and new hire Art Burke (driving Hugh's truck from the first season) set out for their first run, with Art in the lead despite his unfamiliarity with the area. He misses a turn and nearly jackknifes his truck while doubling back, causing a delay in the run and earning a reprimand from Hugh and Vlad. The two veterans complete their run, but Art drops far behind and ends up stuck in a ditch as night falls. |
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| 2 | "Art Attack" | June 16, 2013 |
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A passing grader pulls Art out of the ditch so he can reach Wasagamack and unload with Hugh and Vlad. The next morning, he soon falls behind on the return trip, delaying the group, and starts to worry about his future at VP Express. That night, his truck suddenly stops working and Hugh and Vlad decide not to return for him. Tension grows on both sides as Art spends the night at a rest stop. Polar secures a $100,000 contract to supply the community of Shamattawa, 800 miles away. The road has been the site of many wrecks and breakdowns in the past, and it includes a steep uphill stretch past the crossing over the Hayes River. Darrell starts the run ahead of Alex and Lisa, all three hauling construction supplies. After Darrell crosses the Hayes, he spins out on the slope and is forced to back up onto the ice so he can try again. Once he reaches the top, he continues on and reaches Shamattawa that night. Lisa's old wrist fracture from motocross racing flares up, causing her discomfort due to frequent gear shifts. She spins out on a hill, but manages to climb it despite the pain. That night, she and Alex come to the Hayes; Alex crosses first without incident, but Lisa also spins out on the slope and puts on extra tire chains in order to get the needed traction. She and Alex then continue their run. |
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| 3 | "Fear the Crack" | June 23, 2013 |
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Darrell, coming south from Shamattawa, pulls in at the rest stop and helps Art get his truck going so he can return to Winnipeg. The next morning, Hugh and Vlad hire logging trucker Todd Dewey to help keep the loads moving. They decide to give Art one more chance to prove himself, as part of a convoy with Hugh and Todd to haul assorted supplies to Wasagamack. Todd's aggressive driving leads Hugh to believe that he will be a better convoy leader than Art as the drivers bring in their loads. Meanwhile, Alex and Lisa reach Shamattawa and deliver their loads. For the return trip, Alex picks up a forklift bound for repairs in Winnipeg. Lisa hurries south, ready for another load, and pulls in that night. Driving more slowly because of his load, a fatigued Alex arrives several hours later; the forklift delivery secures another set of Shamattawa-bound loads for Polar. As more winter roads are opened to traffic, Polar picks up a contract to supply Little Grand Rapids and Darrell gets its first load - concrete construction barriers. As he drives north, he comes across a long-abandoned pickup truck blocking the road and pulls it loose. That night, he comes to an untested lake crossing and successfully traverses it finish his run. Once all three drivers are back in Winnipeg, they pull up briefly in front of the VP yard the next morning as a show of defiance before starting up the road. |
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| 4 | "Ice Rodeo" | June 30, 2013 |
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As Hugh, Art, and Todd head back to Winnipeg, Hugh's heater and Art's truck both stop working. Todd persuades Art to leave the truck on the roadside and takes him as far as Norway House to wait for Vlad to pick him up. Art and Todd both voice their frustrations over their bosses' perceived lack of concern for their well-being, and Hugh begins to think about firing Art. Vlad takes Art back to the truck that evening; they have no success trying to repair it or pull it loose, so Vlad decides the next day to take Art to Wasagamack and fly him back to Winnipeg. Lisa sets out along the newly opened, slick, bumpy road to Oxford House, hauling a grader whose blade keeps swinging out over the side of her trailer. Reaching a narrow bridge, she ties the blade back as best she can and eases across without damage. That night, she begins to skid down a hill in high gear and finds herself at an unexpected river crossing; she gets her speed under control and crosses safely. The next morning, she discovers a leaky air valve, but changes it out so she can bring in the load and start back to Winnipeg. Heading to Pauingassi along another newly opened road, Darrell briefly gets stuck in a snowbank, but uses a nearby tree to winch himself loose. When he arrives, he finds the truck frozen in the snow and no ramp available to load it onto his trailer. He bulldozes some snow to create a makeshift ramp and winches up the truck, which nearly falls off the trailer until he pushes it back into place. He brings the truck to Winnipeg, irritated at the Pauingassi yard crew's lack of preparation to help load it. |
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| 5 | "World War Hugh" | July 7, 2013 |
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Hugh sets out early for Wasagamack with a load of bridge parts, wanting to make up for lost time on VP's contract. His brakes fail soon after starting out, and he wrestles with the steering to keep the truck from skidding off the road on turns. Pushing through a road roughened by fresh snowfall, he brings his cargo in that night. Art is back in Winnipeg, waiting on truck repairs and expressing regrets about signing on with VP. When Todd reports in, he becomes angry at being left behind by Hugh and has to start his run alone, hauling a bulldozer. He and Lisa reach an ice crossing from opposite directions at nearly the same time, and he crosses first in an attempt to catch up with Hugh. Lisa, bringing a school bus back to Winnipeg, is very nervous about crossing so soon after him due to the stress on the ice, but eases safely over the river to finish her run. Todd's heater fails, causing frost to build up on the windows, but he sets up a hair dryer to thaw them out and keeps driving to reach Wasagamack not long after Hugh. At Polar, Alex and Darrell are dispatched to start hauling the parts of a modular water treatment plant to a construction site in Gillam, 700 miles away. The final stretch of the road they must take is not maintained and has been the site of several past wrecks and fatalities. Darrell starts his run immediately, but Alex has to wait a day until his fuel tank is repaired. He hurries up the road, breaks a spring on the final stretch, and brings his module in one day after Darrell, reaching the site just before closing time. |
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| 6 | "Hail to the King!" | July 14, 2013 |
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As VP lines up more contracts, Vlad gives Art one last chance to show his ability as part of a convoy to Tadoule Lake with Todd and a free-lance driver, Derek. Todd, hauling a trailer-load of supplies, loses electrical power and calls the convoy to a stop. One of his batteries shorts out and bursts as he checks its connections. The explosion sends sulfuric acid into Todd's and Derek's faces; to get medical attention, the convoy must backtrack 80 miles to Lynn Lake. As Derek is treated for chemical burns, Todd is checked out and released, then finds that his problems were caused by a faulty alternator. Yuri, one of Polar's drivers, quits to join VP and Lisa gets his load: building supplies that must reach Bloodvein by the end of the day. On Hugh's orders, Yuri parks his truck in front of the Polar freight yard to block outgoing trucks. When he refuses to move, the police are called in to escort him off the property; the delay costs Lisa two hours and forces her to hurry up the road. She loses more time stopping at a blasting zone, but reaches the drop-off point just in time to deliver her load and pick up another one bound for Winnipeg. Alex gets a speeding ticket while hauling the last load on the Shamattawa contract, hoping to meet the following morning's deadline. That night, he develops engine trouble and finds an electrical fire behind his dashboard. Meanwhile, 800 miles north of Winnipeg, self-proclaimed "King of Obsolete" Joey Barnes has been hired to salvage a generator from an abandoned campsite. He and his assistant Jonathan use old, modified Caterpillar tractors to drive the off-road terrain, and his daughter Xena travels with them on a snowmobile. The group crosses a lake with 60 tons of combined vehicle weight, cracking the ice on the far side, and picks up the generator for the return trip. |
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| 7 | "Load Rules" | July 21, 2013 |
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On the way to Shamattawa, Alex finds that his electrical fire has gone out, but it has melted an air line behind the dashboard. He clamps off the leak and spends the night in the smoky truck, then continues on the next day and brings in his load to close out the contract. Darrell hauls a load of cement to Oxford House, his trailer skidding badly behind him. When he arrives, though, he discovers that an expected return load is not there, greatly lowering his opinion of Polar's management. Lisa is on her way to Pauingassi to pick up a load, following a road that includes the first lake crossing of her career, over Fishing Lake. She begins to wonder if she is following the correct path on the ice, only to become more confused when she stops to check the area. She gets safely off the ice and reaches town, but has to dig out the snow around the trailer she needs to haul back. After several hours of work, she successfully drags it out and starts back to Winnipeg. With Todd's truck fixed, he, Art, and Todd resume their trip to Tadoule Lake. All three find their return loads (a cement truck for Todd, trailers for Art and Derek) stuck in deep snow. Art and Todd hitch up to their trailers and pull them loose after digging out the wheels, while Todd borrows a tractor to help load up the cement truck. As they head toward Winnipeg, Art's dissatisfaction with VP intensifies. Joey brings an old Ford big rig out of storage to haul lumber to Lac Brochet, 200 miles away, with Jonathan taking a load of his own. The road has many weak spots where water flows up onto the ice, and the two break partway through one of them on a slushy stretch. Maneuvering to take advantage of loose snow and keep traction on slick hills, they finish the run safely. |
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| 8 | "Art of War" | July 28, 2013 |
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Lisa heads toward Pauingassi to pick up a second trailer that has been stuck there since the previous year. Arriving that night, she finds the trailer's latch frozen solid and the tires stuck in ice, but it comes free after some effort. The ice over Fishing Lake has weakened due to higher-than-normal temperatures, putting her nerves on edge as she crosses it on the return trip to reach Winnipeg. Hugh is on the way back to Winnipeg after delivering a load. Art, not far behind him, is still very irritated over the difficulties he has encountered. At the VP office, he meets with Hugh and Vlad to express his dissatisfaction, a talk that ends with the two owners firing him. He stops by the Polar office and is immediately hired. As Darrell waits for a broken axle to be repaired on his truck, he gets into an argument with the Polar mechanic. He then meets with company owner Mark Kohaykewych to talk about his workload and expectations, and calms down when Mark tells him about upcoming high-value loads. Soon afterward, he is dispatched to pull a jackknifed truck out of a ditch so that it no longer blocks the road. Alex travels the newly opened Lake Winnipeg ice crossing in order to pick up a cement plant. On the return trip, he becomes the season's first driver to haul a load over the ice. He gets his wheels caught on the pressure ridge in the middle, where two ice sheets join, but manages to push over it and complete his drive to Winnipeg. |
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| 9 | "Haul of the Wild" | August 4, 2013 |
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Polar picks up a contract to haul 10 loads of construction supplies 680 miles to Utik Lake, over a road that is not monitored by government crews. Darrell is first to start out, but his engine begins to overheat and he must shut down his truck to check his cooling fan. He manages to get the truck restarted despite the falling temperature and continues his run. The final stretch includes a risky lake crossing for which his truck is too heavy, so he lightens his load in order to cross safely. Alex and Art are dispatched to follow Darrell, with Alex taking a camping trailer to Oxford House first. Once they arrive, he drops off the camper and picks up a loader bucket, attaching several heavy tires to his trailer in order to drag over the road and smooth the surface. They get stuck in a dead end with no room to turn around, but Art calls in a nearby loader to clear the area so they can double back and keep driving. That night, word reaches them about the thin lake ice; with no one to help, they have to take their full loads onto the crossing. The ice holds and they deliver their cargo, with Alex expressing his approval of Art's driving. Hugh and Todd are hauling construction supplies to St. Theresa Point; Hugh gets his truck briefly stuck in a ditch and needs Todd to pull him free. Once they bring their loads in, Todd picks up a gravel truck bound for Winnipeg and the two start back. Lisa, driving the same route to deliver a fire engine, twice comes across jackknifed trucks blocking the road and helps to pull them loose. Hugh and Todd get caught in the traffic backup during the second incident, and Hugh suggests that Lisa think about working for VP instead of Polar in the future. She finishes the run the following morning and begins to ponder the offer. |
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| 10 | "Jagged Little Hill" | August 11, 2013 |
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As spring approaches in Manitoba, both VP and Polar scramble to move needed freight before the ice roads melt. Lisa picks up a rock truck needed in Utik lake, her heaviest load of the season. The sound of shifting ice sets her nerves on edge as she crosses the lake late that night to make the delivery. In Oxford House, Alex heads out to pick up his next load, leaving Art to take a snowcat to Utik Lake alone. Art's truck will not start, but he manages to get it going by cleaning out a blocked filter. He loses power on a hill the next day, but another cleanout allows him to complete the run. Todd takes on an excavator bound for Wasagamack, his heaviest load of the season. Before he reaches the ice road, though, its weight causes two tires on one trailer axle to blow out; he chains the axle so he can backtrack to the nearest repair shop, 100 miles away. He loses one day waiting for new tires and drives late into the night to make up time, making a risky ice crossing to bring in his load. Darrell is dispatched on a night run to free a jackknifed Polar truck that is blocking the road. The task proves very dangerous, since the other driver has been taken to the hospital and he must manipulate both trucks and his winch by himself. He pulls the truck free after several maneuvers, then takes on its load (a rock truck) and delivers it to Utik Late late that night. The next morning, he wakes up feeling ill and finds several broken tire chains, complicating the start of his return to Winnipeg. Hauling a stack of two empty trailers, he loses traction and power on a hill but manages to pull them over the top. He limps back to Winnipeg, believing that his season may be over if repairs take too long. Meanwhile, Joey and Jonathan start a 200-mile run to deliver building supplies to Lac Brochet. Water holes under the thinning ice force Joey to drive carefully, and the weight of his passage cracks one spot badly enough to make Jonathan's wheels sink into it. Joey pulls the truck clear of the break, and they bring their loads in on schedule. |
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| 11 | "The Wrecking Crew" | August 18, 2013 |
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Hugh takes a firetruck north toward Wasagamack, but not before he and Vlad park it in front of the Polar depot with sirens blaring to annoy Mark. He decides to drive the truck instead of hauling it on a trailer. That night, he pulls Todd over as a prank; Todd is hauling a light load back to Winnipeg, fighting for traction and pulling a truck out of a ditch along the way. Hugh and Todd both bring in their cargo. Polar secures a contract to haul a wide-load modular building from Red Sucker Lake to Thompson. Darrell's truck is back in service, and he is dispatched to move it, with Lisa taking support scaffolding and a pilot car to guide them along the narrow road. A bent wheel rim leads to a flat tire for Darrell, but he hammers it back into shape and reinflates the tire to keep going. He damages the building's air conditioning unit on a bridge barely wide enough for the load. Later, when his truck suffers a partial power loss, he and Lisa trade loads so he can haul the lighter one. The next day, they bring the loads in and use the pilot car to help unload the building, completing the delivery. Art, also on his way back to Winnipeg, develops engine trouble again as he eases onto a weakened lake crossing. He is soon forced to stop, putting himself at great risk of breaking through, but an emergency fuel filter repair allows him to get moving again. When the engine again struggles and dies, he finds that an electrical cable has broken. Unable to drive, he starts a fire to keep warm and waits for help from a passing driver. After nearly a full day with no luck, he improvises a repair job and reaches Oxford House so he can have it properly fixed. Meanwhile, Alex is bringing a construction trailer back to Winnipeg. Coming off a slick downhill run, he hits a sharp curve and slides into a snowbank, blocking the road. Another driver in the area pulls him free so he can finish his run. |
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| 12 | "Winter Takes All" | August 25, 2013 |
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The road to the village of God's Lake is opened for 48 hours to allow drivers to bring in supplies. Both VP and Polar pick up loads--appliances (Art), building materials (Alex), cement (Darrell and Lisa), cement trucks (Hugh and Todd). Once Hugh and Todd finish the season's last runs to Wasagamack, they load up and start for God's Lake, driving into the night to save time. Both struggle to get over a slick hill and must then carefully cross Island Lake with their heavy loads. They reach God's Lake the next morning and head south, intending to get off the roads before they close. Art, the first to bring in his cargo, picks up the only load bound for Winnipeg: canisters of flammable propane gas. Darrell and Lisa find many melting patches on the road as they drive and skid badly on corners, but reach God's Lake at night. All three hurry back down the road, with Art trying not to jostle the canisters. After Alex finishes his run, he skids badly on the return trip and ends up jackknifing and damaging his truck. A passing driver helps him pull the truck and trailer separately back onto the road so he can hook them back up and limp back to Winnipeg. Back in Winnipeg, Darrell meets with Mark, who offers him an opportunity to return to Polar next season and pays him a bonus for his work. Alex's truck proves to be so badly damaged that it must be written off as a total loss, but Mark is relieved that no one was hurt and the loads were delivered. Art's final delivery gives Polar the edge in the final load count, topping VP 181-180, and the employees gather for a celebratory meal in the garage. The VP employees have a party of their own at a snowmobile racetrack, with Hugh commenting that the company has already begun to line up contracts for the next season. |
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Season 8 (2014)
| No. | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Gathering Storm" | July 7, 2014 |
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In Winnipeg, Polar and VP renew their rivalry as the 2013-14 North American cold wave closes in on Canada. Art, Darrell, and Lisa, all driving for Polar again, start out with construction supplies bound for Garden Hill. Darrell and Lisa get an early start, seeing "thin ice" warning signs on the first ice crossing they encounter, while Art is later to set out and hurries to catch up. A wrong turn takes him 12 hours out of his way. That night, Darrell and Lisa find a jackknifed truck blocking the road; Darrell berates the inexperienced driver for his mistake, then pulls him free with Lisa's help so they can keep moving. They reach Garden Hill the next morning, and Art follows their path after backtracking through the night. Todd has left VP to work for Polar, and he sets out with a grader needed in the village of North Haven Lodge, 500 miles away at the north end of the winter roads. The newly opened crossing over Split Lake unnerves him due to vibrations in his load; he reaches land safely, only to find a bumpy road that shakes his truck just as badly. He slides off the road and into a snowbank, leaving him stranded for the night, and he is unable to call for help on his satellite phone. Meanwhile, Alex has joined VP, which has secured a contract to haul construction supplies needed for an arena to be built in St. Theresa Point. He and Hugh take the first loads, with Hugh being the first to deliver that night. At the last ice crossing before his destination, Alex pauses to reflect on the danger facing him due to his truck's weight, then eases across to bring in his load. |
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| 2 | "Rushin' Roulette" | July 14, 2014 |
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Todd remains stuck in the ditch until late in the day, when a passing road crew spends several hours pulling him loose. He makes his delivery to North Haven Lodge that night, 36 hours behind schedule; once he returns to Winnipeg, Mark sends him and Darrell on a new run to Utik Lake. Darrell, hauling a snowcat, bristles at being told to follow Todd, taking a grader, and the two begin to needle each other as they drive. At the drop-off site, there is no equipment to use for unloading and Todd decides to drive the equipment off the trailers himself, nearly crashing the snowcat in the process. Having made his delivery in Garden Hill, Art is hurrying back to Winnipeg when he loses electrical power. Finding that snow buildup has shorted out his batteries, he covers them with a piece of cardboard and is able to get moving again. Once he returns to Winnipeg, Mark reprimands him for his dangerous wrong turn but sends him to Deer Lake, Ontario with a load of construction supplies. He is following Lisa along this route as she hauls a load of her own. During a 6-mile lake crossing, Lisa's engine begins to struggle; she barely makes it across before her truck shuts down completely to clean its air filter. At Deer Lake, Lisa takes charge of a loader and, despite her lack of experience, unloads both trailers so she and Art can head back. Bringing a firetruck back from St. Theresa Point, Alex stops at an ice crossing to read from his Bible before easing onto it. He spots several danger flags planted on the ice to either side of the path and must watch his speed in order to safely climb the hill on the far side. He reaches Winnipeg just ahead of the season's first major storm. |
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| 3 | "Into the Vortex" | July 21, 2014 |
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As the storm hits central Canada, Lisa is hauling construction supplies to Big Trout Lake, Ontario. Despite hearing of other drivers' decisions to stop and wait it out, she pushes on and soon finds herself the only one still on the road. Missing the final turn off the road, she tries to turn around but gets stuck in the snow; chaining her tires allows her to break loose and backtrack 100 miles to her destination. Art is taking his own load of supplies to Deer Lake; he breaks one set of tire chains while climbing a hill, but decides to keep going despite the reduced traction. Partway through an ice crossing thickly covered with snow, he finds water seeping up through weak spots caused by the snow's weight. He crosses safely and brings his load in. On the return trip, he and Lisa both get stuck on uphill runs, no longer having the weight of a load on their trailers to help provide traction. On the road to Winnipeg, Todd finds himself facing near-zero visibility and a stubborn cargo hatch as he makes a dangerous lake crossing. In Winnipeg, VP is hired to repossess a trailer that Polar rented but never returned the previous year. Alex is dispatched to Red Sucker Lake to pick it up, but Mark learns of the attempt and calls associates in the area. As a result, the village police stop Alex that night and order him to leave. Finding that his truck will not start, Darrell sends it to the shop and voices his frustration to Mark. |
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| 4 | "Snow Bound" | July 28, 2014 |
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As the storm begins to subside, Vlad learns of Alex's thwarted effort to repossess the Polar trailer, while Alex has stopped on the road outside Red Sucker Lake to await instructions. He eventually gets clearance from VP and makes the pickup, annoying Mark greatly, but must now face a low fuel supply and a rough, slick road as he drives back to Winnipeg. Meanwhile, Todd is making a 600-mile run to bring lumber to Muskrat Dam, Ontario. The load is stacked high enough on his trailer to put him at risk of toppling due to wind forces. On a steep downhill run, he is forced to accelerate in order to cross a narrow bridge and climb the hill beyond it; he briefly loses traction in the deep snow, but muscles his truck over the peak. A collapsed lake crossing forces him to follow an unused detour trail around the shore, with a crossing of its own, and he delivers his cargo that night. Taking construction supplies to Big Trout Lake, Darrell encounters a poorly maintained ice crossing with a thick layer of snow. He eases onto the ice, knowing the potential danger, and reaches the other side to face the rough road of the final stretch. He spots Lisa, who has now been stuck for nearly 24 hours, and pulls her loose before completing his run. Later that night, a passing truck tries to free Art, only to have its bumper ripped half off; however, a grader in the area quickly pulls him back onto the road. |
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| 5 | "The Storm Troopers" | August 3, 2014 |
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A passing driver pulls Alex out of the snow so he can continue his drive back from Red Sucker Lake. Low on fuel and with the next town 20 miles ahead, he nurses his truck across a nighttime ice crossing only to run dry shortly afterward. A passing driver tows him into town so he can refuel and make it back to Winnipeg. Todd, also returning to Winnipeg, gets stuck in the deep snowdrifts that have covered an ice crossing. He hurries to dig out his tires and put on chains so he can get moving again, but later comes across three trucks that are stuck and blocking the road. Not wanting to wait several hours for a road crew to free them, Todd first tries unsuccessfully to pull them loose, then veers around them off the road and continues on. On the way to Muskrat Dam with construction supplies, Lisa cautiously navigates an ice crossing that has just been reopened after the storm. That night, she finds that one of her suspension straps has broken, leaving her air bags vulnerable on a steep hill. However, she reaches the top without incident and brings her load in. As Art returns to Winnipeg, he is forced to make a dangerous ice crossing in near-total whiteout conditions. At an inspection station, he is fined $490 and suspended for three days as a result of violations in his logbook; he cannot drive back to Winnipeg and must wait for someone to come and pick up both him and his truck. In Winnipeg, Darrell quits Polar after arguing with Mark over how few loads he has pulled this season. A phone call to his son persuades him to stay in the area and look for other trucking opportunities. |
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| 6 | "The Lone Wolf" | August 10, 2014 |
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Deciding to go into business for himself, Darrell rents a truck and cargo bay from a local trucker in hopes of competing with Polar. His first load, from one of Mark's clients, consists of culvert sections bound for Wasagamack, and he flaunts it in front of Mark on his way out of Winnipeg. He decides to take his chances on an untested lake crossing rather than take a long detour around it, and he delivers the load that night. Lisa is hauling construction supplies to Cat Lake, Ontario, 500 miles from Winnipeg. Many trucks have wrecked on this road's twists and turns, and she passes one that has been abandoned since the previous year. Easing over a rickety bridge barely wide enough for her truck, she is relieved to reach her destination safely that night. A set of broken tire chains complicates Todd's run to deliver groceries to Big Trout Lake, but he brings it in on time to resupply the village for the coming year. Taking a load of structural steel to St. Theresa Point, Alex finds that the scrap wood pieces he has used to stabilize the cargo (dunnage) are giving way, but decides to push on. He must speed up on a lake crossing in order to climb the hill on the far side. Hugh starts out for St. Theresa Point with a car crusher, but its weight and low ground clearance pose a challenge on the rough road ahead. Once both drivers bring in their loads, they meet with the local First Nations chief and give him several gifts to thank him for letting them drive through his tribe's land. |
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| 7 | "Blazing the Trail" | August 17, 2014 |
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In Winnipeg, Darrell arranges to haul a generator to Wasagamack, but Mark tracks him down at his shop and angrily confronts him before he can get moving. The slick road and tight corners cause his trailer to skid in several places, but he successfully delivers the cargo. VP secures a contract to haul 150 loads to Oxford House, a job that had gone to Polar the previous season. Alex takes the first load of the contract, a set of septic tanks, and brings it in after navigating the tight corners of the final stretch. With his suspension now over, Art reports in to see Mark, who cautions him against making any further mistakes that could hurt Polar's record or finances. He takes a load to Cat Lake and delivers it without trouble, but the road back has been shut down and he must take a different route with several narrow, rickety bridges. At his final fuel stop, he discovers that he has lost one of his new tire chains; once back in the Polar yard, he sneaks a chain from the shop onto his truck to cover up the loss. Lisa and Todd are taking building materials to Poplar Hill, Ontario. The route includes an ice crossing over 2 miles wide, and it is already weakened by the rising late-season temperatures. That night, Lisa discovers a leak in her engine's cylinders that is robbing her truck of power; after she and Todd deliver their loads, she calls Mark and gets instructions to bring it back to Winnipeg. A steep uphill slope brings her to a halt, but Todd finds a grader parked at the roadside and uses it to tow her over the top so she can limp to the Polar shop. She, Art, and Todd later meet at a bar to relax and talk about recent events, including Darrell's exit from Polar. |
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| 8 | "Highway to Hell" | August 24, 2014 |
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On his way to Deer Lake, Art stops at North Spirit Lake, Ontario to deliver part of a load of lumber. However, bad directions to the drop-off point send him in circles until his map sets him straight. With that cargo delivered, he drives on and braves a late-night ice crossing to complete the second half of the delivery. Darrell also heads toward Deer Lake with a load of building supplies, but the fresh snowfall causes him to skid badly on the corners. He brings it in ahead of schedule the next morning and comes across Art, and the two talk briefly about Darrell's new business. Lisa and Todd head for Utik Lake with pontoon boats and building supplies, respectively, and must force their way through the soft snow without losing control. They venture onto a newly opened river crossing, even though the fast currents have led to uneven and possibly incomplete freezing; at the other side, Lisa fails to climb a steep hill and has to back onto the ice for another attempt. Her third try is a success, with risky speed and a bit of advice from Todd, and they finish their run. The car crusher Hugh delivered to St. Theresa Point is now being used to compact abandoned vehicles on the winter roads, and Alex takes on a load of them to haul back to Winnipeg. That night, he skids on a corner and runs into a snowbank; he tries to dig out, but soon becomes tired and spends six hours waiting for a passing truck to pull him free. He reaches Winnipeg just before sunrise. |
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| 9 | "Flirtin' with Disaster" | September 7, 2014 |
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In Winnipeg, Darrell hires his son Reno and takes him on a delivery run to Big Trout Lake to get him accustomed to the winter roads. Once they reach the end of the road's pavement section, Darrell lets Reno drive, cautioning him about the ice crossings and other hazards. They bring the load in on time the next morning. Returning to Winnipeg from Deer Lake, Art gets stuck on the same hill that cost him over one full day earlier in the season. This time, though, he climbs it on his second try with the help of his tire chains. That night, he jackknifes briefly at a corner, damaging his truck's bodywork; once he reaches Winnipeg and tells Mark the next morning, he is sent home for the day so Mark can decide whether or not to fire him. Meanwhile, Hugh is taking a load of home supplies to Pauingassi, along a road that has already started to melt back into swampland. He swerves and slides into a snowbank to avoid an oncoming truck; the other driver quickly pulls him loose so he can drive on. After completing a melting ice crossing, he successfully makes the delivery. Lisa and Todd make another run to Utik Lake, carrying a pontoon boat and construction supplies, and must face the fragile ice crossing again. This time, both drivers make it over the hill on the far side in one try and deliver their loads to the site of an airport under construction the next day. At the crew foreman's invitation, they set off a string of explosive charges to help clear land for one of the runways. |
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| 10 | "Icing on the Lake" | September 14, 2014 |
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In Winnipeg, Mark decides to keep Art on the job in order to keep loads moving during the final days of the season. He sends Art on a run to Lac Brochet, with Joey Barnes escorting him on the final, most dangerous leg - a plan that rankles him greatly at first. However, he changes his opinion once he meets Joey in person, and the two help each other through the rough roads to finish their delivery. Darrell and Reno are hauling building supplies and a work truck to Big Trout Lake, with Reno driving. A trailing convoy blames them for scattering fresh snow across the road, leading to a heated confrontation between those drivers and the Wards. Tempers flare briefly between father and son afterward, but the mood quickly improves and they bring in the load. Alex starts for St. Theresa Point with a load of concrete, despite an electrical problem with his truck. The trouble worsens just before he reaches an ice crossing that night, but he manages to reach the other side and limp to his destination. Hauling school buses to Utik Lake, Lisa and Todd ease across the ice crossing, whose condition has become even more unpredictable due to rising temperatures. They fall behind schedule on the slick road and find a long traffic jam caused by a spun-out truck. It takes several hours to clear the blockage, and Lisa and Todd drive all night to reach Utik Lake on time the next morning. |
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| 11 | "Journey to the End of the Earth" | September 21, 2014 |
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Art, Lisa, and Todd are dispatched to Fort Severn, Ontario, following a 500-mile winter road whose length qualifies it for the Guinness Book of World Records. They are carrying building materials and equipment, as well as extra fuel and emergency supplies. On the third day of the trip, after dealing with slick corners and a rapidly melting 5-mile river crossing, a check of the loader on Lisa's truck reveals that its batteries are dead. Even though the three now have no means of pulling themselves free if they get stuck, they push on. Later that day, Todd devises a scheme to jump-start the loader, and the three continue on with the machine now running. Darrell and Reno start out for Fort Severn as well, driving separate trucks so that Reno can make his first solo run. Reno ignores Darrell's advice to slow down; as the two cross the river, Darrell notices a loose strap on Reno's trailer that is at risk of snagging on his axles. Once on the other side, they stop so Reno can secure it. Reno's speed causes his load to shift on the trailer, leaving it at risk of overbalancing, but he insists on fixing the problem himself and succeeds. The two catch up to Art, Lisa, and Todd on the final stretch of the trip, the morning of the fourth day, and all five reach Fort Severn safely. All but Darrell deliver their loads; Art, Todd, and Reno head for Winnipeg, while Darrell asks Lisa to follow him another 150 miles to Peawanuck First Nation so he can deliver the groceries he has been hauling. On the other hand, VP is trying to complete as many short-haul deliveries as possible near the season's end. Hugh delivers home supplies to Pauingassi, while Alex reaches Red Sucker Lake with construction supplies. |
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| 12 | "World's End" | September 28, 2014 |
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In Fort Severn, Lisa agrees to accompany Darrell to Peawanuck, risking her job. Todd disagrees with her decision, since Darrell no longer works for Polar and Lisa has the convoy's emergency equipment. Her toolbox falls off her trailer, but they retrieve it and reach Peawanuck that evening to find a celebration waiting for them. On the return trip, Lisa's truck begins to break through an ice crossing. She and Darrell quickly get the equipment off her trailer, and Darrell then pushes her truck free of the break so they can load up and resume their trip. Once the two are back in Winnipeg, Mark tells Lisa that he was originally angry with her for driving with Darrell, but now understands that she did the right thing. As Art, Reno, and Todd start the return trip to Winnipeg, they find stretches of slush and water on the road and Reno has trouble keeping pace with the others. They stop for the night after covering 400 miles that leave him sore and battered, then finish the drive the next evening to close out their season. Hauling water/sewer plant equipment to Tadoule Lake, Alex comes across an ice crossing with no posted weight limit. After negotiating it safely, he brings his load in the next morning and hurries to return to Winnipeg before the road closes. All three companies hold season-ending celebrations for their employees; Polar has topped the load count, with 171 loads to VP's 170. Lisa finds herself wondering whether to work for Polar again in the future or accept Darrell's offer of a job at his company. |
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Season 9 (2015)
| No. | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Crossing Enemy Lines" | August 2, 2015 |
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Mark gets Polar off to a quick start as the season opens, sending Alex and Todd onto the ice roads early. Alex notes cracks and holes in the ice as he crosses the Hayes River, hauling a camp shack to Shamattawa. The next morning, he brings the load in. While taking an emergency load of heating supplies to Wasagamack, Todd skids badly on the slick road and slides into a snowbank. By looping a strap around a tree and one axle, he improvises a winch and pulls himself free so he can continue his run and make the delivery by day's end. Still in business for himself, Darrell quickly secures two emergency loads of building supplies needed in Garden Hill. He takes Lisa on as a partner, offering her partial ownership of the company, and the two set out. Shortly into the run, though, Lisa's truck loses power and she is forced to return to Winnipeg for repairs. She loses half a day waiting on it to be fixed, then hurries to make up for lost time. Darrell reaches Garden Hill the next morning, and Lisa comes in just in time to meet the deadline. Finding himself shorthanded by Lisa's departure, Mark calls in Art and sends him to Shamattawa with lumber and a shack. Pulled over by the Department of Transportation for a paperwork check, Art finds that he does not have his truck registration on hand; however, he is let off with only a warning. Stopping to check his load, he finds that the shack has shifted on the trailer and is in danger of falling off. He re-secures it as best he can, eases his way over the final three miles, and reaches Shamattawa to finish the run. |
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| 2 | "Icy Grave" | August 9, 2015 |
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Mark sends Todd out with a load of heating supplies that must reach Wasagamack by the following morning. After spinning out on a hill that night, he spends several hours digging his wheels free so he can complete the delivery on time. Meanwhile, Alex delivers a load of groceries donated by Polar to a food drive in St. Theresa Point. At his destination, the village chief gives him a painting as a token of appreciation. Carrying lumber to Garden Hill, Art must negotiate a rough road that is frozen solid and dotted with flags that mark dangerous spots. The final obstacle is a 10-mile ice crossing whose weight limit is barely high enough to accommodate his truck, but he completes the run safely after nearly an hour on the ice. Darrell takes a load of construction supplies to the community of Pikangikum, whose road has just been reopened after a major fracture in its ice crossing. He sees several trucks by the roadside, wrecked and abandoned in previous years, and eases over the ice to bring in the cargo. Hauling construction supplies to the village of Brochet along a poorly maintained road, Lisa pushes through several stretches of open water that threaten to bog down her truck. That evening, she discovers that she has mistakenly followed the road to Lac Brochet and must backtrack three hours. Spinning out briefly on the uphill slopes, she relies on momentum to get rolling again and finishes the run to secure a long-term delivery contract. |
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| 3 | "Trail Blazers" | August 16, 2015 |
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Mark sends Todd to Pikangikum with a crane weighing 130,000 pounds, the heaviest load moved by Polar to date. Despite Mark's assurances that the road's ice crossing will be kept clear for Todd, he encounters an oncoming truck on the ice. It quickly turns around and retreats onto the shore, and he delivers the crane safely. Art hurries to St. Theresa Point to pick up a trailer abandoned from the previous year; it is needed in Winnipeg for a haul the next morning. After skidding his way through the final 50 miles of the trip, he finds the trailer stuck in deep frozen snow. He uses a loader parked in the yard to dig out the tires, but they are still frozen to the ground and he must shovel them off by hand. After working for a total of 14 hours, he pulls the trailer free that night and starts the return trip to Winnipeg. Learning about some building supplies that Polar is to haul out in three days, Darrell offers to take them immediately. The load is due in the village of Kingfisher First Nation, 500 miles away. While on the road, Darrell gets an irate phone call from Mark over his decision to commandeer the run. After pushing through a rocky stretch, he begins to hear strange noises from his truck; the cause is an air leak due to a broken hose clamp. An improvised repair job with plastic zip ties stops the leak and allows him to finish the run ahead of Polar's schedule. As part of a new contract, Lisa takes a load of building supplies to Poplar Hill, fighting to keep moving through the road's deep ruts. That night, she comes to an unmarked ice crossing without knowing its length or weight limit, and spots a snowcat half-frozen in the ice while driving across. She brings her load in safely to secure the contract. |
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| 4 | "New Cold Blood" | August 23, 2015 |
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Mark hires a new driver, Mike Simmons, and sends him out with Art for his first run. The two are hauling building supplies and pontoon boats to the fishing resort of Elk Island Lodge, 400 miles away. Both Mark and Art express concerns over Mike's cocky attitude and lack of ice road experience. Art's speed challenges Mike to keep pace on the rough roads; that evening, they come to a 10-mile ice crossing that is not maintained by public road crews. Night falls as they make their way across the ice, and Art tries to calm a jittery Mike with an impromptu poetry recital. Once they reach their destination, Art congratulates Mike for his first successful ice road run. Todd takes building supplies to Muskrat Dam, whose ice road has just opened, and must fight through bumps and ruts that threaten to shake his load off the trailer. A hard jolt knocks the plug out of his compressed air tank, causing a leak that locks his brakes, and he finds himself stranded with no way to repair the leak or call for help. As Alex heads to Big Trout Lake with a load of building supplies, he encounters several unmarked forks and intersections in the road. Choosing the paths with the most signs of use, he successfully delivers his cargo the following morning. Since the ice crossing on the road to Pikangikum has become damaged by truck traffic, it will be closed for the season within 24 hours. Lisa, hauling cement to the village, sees the ice cracking as she eases across and jumps out of the truck for fear of breaking through. However, she completes the run safely and ahead of the road closure. Meanwhile, Darrell starts for Muskrat Dam with his own load of building supplies, well behind Todd. As the day goes on, he fights for traction and spins out on a slick, steep uphill run; he reaches the top on his second try, then hurries to make up for lost time. He catches up to Todd and gives him a replacement plug for the air tank, and both complete their runs that night. |
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| 5 | "Power Trip" | August 30, 2015 |
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With temperatures rising several weeks earlier than in past years, roads and ice crossings are rapidly deteriorating. Darrell and Lisa secure their biggest contract to date: two electrical transformers that must reach Deer Lake by the following morning. They start out with the equipment, as well as a loader to move it, but must contend with slush and water flows that riddle the path. As they traverse a 7-mile ice crossing, Lisa hits a rough patch that causes her to skid briefly. They cross the lake and drive into the night, but a road crew working on an ice bridge will not let them through until repairs are finished. As part of a government contract, Mark sends Todd to Tadoule Lake with a load of grader blades needed at the local airport. Following a long, poorly maintained road, he eventually finds that the rough conditions have shaken the blades off his trailer. After loading them up by hand, he pours water over them to freeze them in place and starts out again. The load reaches the airport on time, opening the possibility of further government work for Polar. Art heads for the city of Thompson, intending to pick up a load of medical supplies and haul it to Garden Hill. However, he is forced to pull over after his engine develops oil pressure trouble and then cuts out. Finding the oil reservoir to be nearly empty, he calls Mark for a tow into Thompson and passes time in a bowling alley while waiting on repairs. Mark begins to think that Art's problems are due to his driving style. Mike takes an excavator to Shamattawa for his first solo run, dealing with buckled earth that makes for a rough, dangerous ride. He gets the bottom of his trailer stuck on the top of a large hump and cannot move, but careful use of the excavator's bucket allows him to push himself free. After filling in the holes caused by the bucket digging into the road surface, he continues on and reaches Shamattawa safely. |
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| 6 | "Break On Through" | September 13, 2015 |
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Although the ice bridge on the road to Deer Lake will not officially reopen until dawn, Darrell and Lisa take a risk by sneaking ahead after the work crew has finished for the night. They both cross safely and deliver their transformers on time. During the return trip, with Lisa bringing back a load of scrap metal, a broken fan belt causes Darrell's engine to overheat and forces him to stop. Lisa draws on her Alaska push trucking experience to keep them both moving and avoid an expensive towing bill. They cover a total of 70 miles in this fashion until reaching a town where Darrell can have repairs done. Mark informs Todd that the load of grader blades he hauled to Tadoule Lake was short by three when he delivered it, jeopardizing Polar's government contract. Todd is assigned to take a load of lumber and pick up the missing blades in Lynn Lake along the way. That night, with the blades secured, he stops on the roadside to eat dinner over a campfire and sleep in his truck; he reaches Tadoule Lake the next morning and delivers his cargo. Meanwhile, Mike is taking a load of cement to Shamattawa, braving a road roughened by a cold snap. He slides into a snowbank and is unable to free himself by chaining his tires, but a passing trucker pulls him loose so he can finish the run. With Art's truck now fixed, Mark sends him to Sachigo Lake First Nation in Ontario, 500 miles away, with a load of construction supplies. Both the road and its lake crossing are rapidly thawing, and Art hurries to complete the round trip before the end-of-season shutdown. He makes a 5-mile lake crossing to bring in the load, then follows a different route back to Winnipeg that brings him to an unmarked ice crossing awash in water. His front wheels get caught in a collapsing patch, leaving him unable to move. |
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| 7 | "The Art of Survival" | September 20, 2015 |
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As the lake ice starts to give way beneath Art's wheels, he returns to the shore and calls Mark for instructions to find a safer route back to Winnipeg. He reaches the Polar yard safely, to his and Mark's relief. Meanwhile, Alex is taking cement to Pikangikum. Although the road was closed several days earlier, it has been reopened to allow the season's last loads in. After bogging down in the muck on a steep hill, he chains his tires and manages to reach the top so he can complete the run. Darrell and Lisa have secured a contract to haul two loads to Deer Lake, and Lisa takes building supplies as the first load. However, high temperatures have turned the road into a muddy, slushy mess and left its ice crossing awash in water. In Winnipeg, Darrell learns that Polar has undercut his rates in order to secure the second load of the contract. Offering to reduce his price even farther, he hurries to the Polar yard to hook up the load and get moving, despite Mark's attempt to intercept him. Both make their deliveries in Deer Lake, but during the return trip, Lisa spins out on an uphill run and slides backwards into a ditch. A road crew pulls her loose with their snowcat, and she successfully tops the hill and drives on through the night. A patch of soft snow causes her to get stuck again, and Darrell finds himself unable to move as well. |
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| 8 | "Mother Nature Scorned" | October 4, 2015 |
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Darrell improvises a winch, hooking tow straps to an axle and a tree, and pulls himself loose so he can get moving again. He catches up to Lisa the next morning and pulls her free, and the two resume their drive to Winnipeg. After one final, fragile ice crossing, they pull into town to face the likely prospect of extensive repair work due to the deteriorating road conditions. Art is hauling a double-trailer load of wood fuel pellets to Brochet. Since loads this heavy are not allowed on the final stretch road so late in the season, he recruits Joey Barnes to take half of it. Joey slides into a snowbank on a sharp turn; he manages to free himself, but his maneuvering tears up the road surface and makes the turn more difficult for Art. Both drivers reach Brochet and deliver their loads. Taking a load of supplies to Big Trout Lake, Alex finds himself facing an ice crossing with no way to tell if it can support his truck's weight. Open water flows on the ice cause him to briefly lose traction and jackknife, but he straightens out and completes the crossing safely. That evening, he finds that the road has been closed and must haul the load back to Winnipeg. While delivering a loader to South Indian Lake, Todd pulls his truck onto a ferry boat in order to cross a lake whose ice has already melted. |
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| 9 | "Hell Freezes Over" | October 11, 2015 |
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Mark gets a call from a client at a lodge on the Seal River, needing an excavator and a load of building supplies. With no one but Todd immediately available, he offers Darrell and Lisa a chance to split the job with Polar. Lisa volunteers for the run, and she and Todd fly to Churchill, Manitoba to get ready for it. Once there, they must put the loads on sledges and haul them 35 miles across the frozen Hudson Bay to reach their destination. Since trucks are not allowed on the ice, they must use caterpillar track machines instead. Todd starts first, taking the excavator and a backup driver, but Lisa has trouble getting used to her machine on the rough, jagged ice as she takes the supplies. When Todd gets stuck on a peninsula's snowy hill, the backup driver uses the excavator to push him and the load over the top. As they move away from the shore, they find that the snow layer is so thick that they cannot accurately measure the ice thickness, but they push on regardless. As the sun sets, they encounter large water flows on the ice and Todd finds himself in danger of breaking through. Mike and Art are taking Polar's last loads of the season to Utik Lake - pontoon boats and building supplies, respectively. A fall of wet snow has covered the road's potholes and melting surfaces, and Art's fast pace adds a further challenge for Mike. Once they make their deliveries, Mike picks up an excavator bucket as a return haul; the lack of weight on his trailer causes it to swing wide on corners, and he slides into a ditch. After several attempts, he winches his truck out using his tow straps and reaches Winnipeg. Darrell fights his way through mud and slush, hauling building supplies to Big Trout Lake. A water-covered ice crossing cracks under his wheels, but he completes the delivery safely. |
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| 10 | "Icy Alliance" | October 18, 2015 |
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On the Hudson Bay, Todd and his backup driver work together to pull his load onto sturdier ice. He and Lisa reach the Seal River and deliver their cargo shortly before sunrise. Darrell races over a muddy trail to deliver a load of sheet rock to Pikangikum before the offload site closes at 4:00 that afternoon. Relying on momentum to carry him over the last, steepest hill, he arrives in time and starts back to Winnipeg. Taking a last-minute load of building supplies to Poplar Hill, Art must contend with a road full of potholes, mud, and slush due to the spring thaw. Remembering his near-breakthrough earlier in the season, he hesitantly ventures onto the season's last open ice crossing. Rough spots and water-filled holes plague him throughout, but he completes the run to close out his season. While hauling cement and a wood-fired boiler to Kingfisher, Alex encounters an oncoming tanker truck at a slippery corner. As the two drivers swerve to avoid a head-on collision, the tanker sideswipes Alex; neither man is injured, and Alex's truck suffers minor damage. His load still secure, he pushes on and finishes the run late that night. Once all the drivers are back in Winnipeg, Mark hosts an end-of-season party for the Polar drivers and Darrell gives Lisa a jacket with their company's name: "Team Lisa & Darrell." |
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Home and International Releases
| Ice Road Truckers: The Complete Season 1 | ||||
| Set details[1] | Additional Info | |||
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| DVD release dates | ||||
| Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | ||
| June 17, 2007 | May 26, 2008 | N/A | ||
| Ice Road Truckers: The Complete Season 2 | ||||
| Set details[2] | Additional Details | |||
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| DVD release dates | ||||
| Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | ||
| December 16, 2008 | November 23, 2009 | N/A | ||
| Ice Road Truckers: The Complete Season 3 | ||||
| Set details[3] | Additional Details | |||
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| DVD release dates | ||||
| Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | ||
| December 15, 2009 | April 26, 2010 | N/A | ||
| Ice Road Truckers: The Complete Season 4 | ||||
| Set details[4] | Additional Details | |||
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| DVD release dates | ||||
| Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | ||
| February 22, 2011 | May 23, 2011 | N/A | ||
| Ice Road Truckers: The Complete Season 5 | ||||
| Set details[5] | Additional Details | |||
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| DVD release dates | ||||
| Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | ||
| April 17, 2012 | May 7, 2012 | N/A | ||
See also
References
- ↑ Ice Road Truckers: The Complete Season 1 DVD Set. History Shop. accessed December 30, 2011.
- ↑ Ice Road Truckers Season 2 DVD Set. History Shop. Accessed December 30, 2011.
- ↑ Ice Road Truckers The Complete Season 3 DVD Set. History Shop. accessed December 30, 2011.
- ↑ Ice Road Truckers The Complete Season 4 DVD Set. History Shop. accessed January 3, 2012.
- ↑ Ice Road Truckers The Complete Season 5 DVD Set. Amazon. accessed January 3, 2012.
