Original subtitles

Hang onto your teeth and buckle up your straps.

Let's get 'er done.

Hang on.

You're going to get a little rough.

Faster, Todd.

Faster.

We're in trouble.

Oh-oh.

Hey, Dad, you got a copy?

This road eats equipment alive.

Rescuing those trucks is not going to be an easy job.

Get them unstuck and pulled out of there.

Scooter over there took the easiest job.

Todd Dewey needs to dial his back.

I just gotta get warm.

What a day.

We did a lot of work for nothing.

Kind of a piss off.

Right when you think you've been challenged with everything

possible in a truck and a road, all of a sudden,

something just frickin' slams your ass.

You're like, are you freaking kidding me?

How is this even possible?

This trip that you guys are going next is a long one.

It's going to Fort Severn way up north.

You guys are gonna be gone for a while.

We have a very small window to get all the freight in there.

That's why there are six of you guys going.

Three loads are going to the water treatment plant,

critical material.

We don't get it in there, they can't finish the water

treatment plant, giving clean drinking

water to the community.

The other three loads are building materials,

helps them build homes.

This is at the very tail end of the season.

If there's warm weather and they decide to shut

down the roads, that's it.

Lyndon was up there last year.

Wayne, he's driving the picker truck with the crane on it.

You're gonna need it.

And you guys know Todd.

He's driving the winch truck.

You're also going to be needing that, too.

So what you're trying to tell us, Bill,

is you're sending a bunch of babysitters with us?

Oh, I-- I see what you're saying.

Yes, yes.

I want you guys to convoy in.

You're stronger in numbers, and it's going to take all six

of you and the trucks to dig out those back holes.

There's not a damn thing I can do to help you guys up there.

On your way in there, you're going to see a few trucks

that have been buried in snow.

That's your backhaul.

You need to get the two trucks unstuck

and out of the snow on your way in when you guys are together.

Because after you guys offload, you're splitting up.

Scooter, you're heading deeper into the bush

to Peawanuck to go pick up your backhaul.

OK.

Lisa and Todd, you're loading up the stuck trucks

and hauling them back to Muskie Creek.

But if those trucks don't make it back,

we don't get paid, right?

So you would like us to actually get them out

and not add to the pile?

Yes.

Can't make no promises on that.

It's the last run of the season,

and I need you guys to focus and be serious.

I don't care about the bet you guys got.

Let's throw a $100 bet down and see who can run the most

miles this winter road.

But let's work as a team, right?

I don't-- forget about the cameras.

I'm being serious.

Can I trust you guys? - Yes.

Yep.

Yeah, absolutely.

Any questions? Any concerns?

- No, we're ready to roll. - Let's do it.

OK, let's make it happen.

The thing about a convoy is teamwork.

When you're all there together,

when everybody's working together,

things get done a hell of a lot quicker.

It's always a good idea to designate

somebody in the convoy to be the main shot caller.

That's a position I'm used to taking on,

because that's the job I do at home.

Fueling up their survival fuel tank

for the trip to Fort Severn.

Going to Fort Severn, get this building material there.

Get the sewer tanks there.

The community needs it.

There's only a short window of time to get it up there.

We're gonna be running hard.

We're gonna be tired.

Hopefully, everything goes right.

Convoys are good on a rare occasion,

because you got lots of people, and you

got more tools between you.

But generally, my idea toward convoys

are, there's a lot of needs, so there's a lot of stopping.

And it takes a lot more time, because everybody's waiting.

We got it filled up?

Good to go.

I don't know what to expect.

But I'm hoping that we can all work together as a team

and get these loads in as quick as possible.

Next stop, Fort Severn.

narrator: The Muskie Creek convoy is taking

on the world's longest winter road

on 1,000-mile odyssey to rescue two frozen trucks,

before offloading in Fort Severn and splitting

up to grab their backhauls.

800 miles to the northwest--

You gonna stop and chain up, Riley, or...

No, I'm gonna raw dog it.

10-4.

narrator: Riley and Zach are blasting

north to meet up with Shaun in Fond Du Lac

so Team Harris can convoy into the Uranium City ghost town.

Just turned on to the Fond Du Lac road.

This is the end of the season now.

Just try and get these last couple loads across.

narrator: Riley's hauling an oversized steel culvert

that hangs off the back of his trailer,

so Zach's got to follow behind in his pilot truck.

Yeah, I've lost it in Uranium City today,

so we really need to boogie.

Sounds good.

Be prepared to stop.

It keeps getting warmer, so it's

very sketchy on the ice roads.

Yeah, it's slippery there.

I can feel it.

It is slick.

compounded .

.

Ho-ho-ho.

Anything broken?

Oh, my God, that was rough.

I just want to prove to my dad

that I can handle the rough country.

I can control my nerves in the sticky spots

and just to be able to do the job, basically.

It's kind of a badge of honor to get trusted with this

haul to Uranium City.

narrator: As the frigid darkness

blankets the northern frontier--

Lisa, how you making out?

Fighting the battle.

narrator: - the Muskie convoy is

fighting their way up the world's longest winter road.

Hang on.

Oh, oh, oh, come on.

That looks like a pretty good hole there.

narrator: And they're just getting started.

The old Mother Nature is kicking a little more ass

than we thought it was.

It's like you can barely tell there's a road here.

narrator: Muskie Todd leads the charge

followed by Todd, Scooter, and Lisa with Wayne

and Lyndon batting cleanup.

Oh my gosh, this road is just kicking Rowdy's, and I'm just

struggling, driving on it.

narrator: As the ice road warms,

it breaks up during the day.

narrator: Then holes, bumps, and ruts refreeze at night

and conspire to beat up the drivers.

We're gonna have to push really hard through the night

to put some miles behind us, and hopefully

get out of here before this road falls completely apart

and we can't get out of here.

We've got a crossing coming up called Hayes River.

Here we are.

I'm going to just park right in--

right in the middle of the road here.

Oh, jeez.

We gotta stop right here until we

get to where I can see Todd.

He's on the ice now, and I gotta-- we gotta wait

a second till he gets across.

narrator: At the river, everyone

stops so Muskie Todd can check out the ice crossing first.

You don't want to dare try getting two trucks on there

at one time.

You'll really be pushing the luck on that.

Yeah, pulling off there, Todd.

You can come on over if you need to.

Sounds good there, Todd.

One truck at a time, and we'll get across this.

And the real challenge is gonna be the hill after.

On my way, here I come.

I've always thought it was spooky

getting onto the ice at night, nothing else around, just you

and your truck and the ice.

You know, this isn't a normal ice crossing.

This is a river crossing.

And you can tell by the texture.

You can tell by the way it's frozen

with the moving water that it's

not just straight and flat.

Ice crossings at night are a lot more sketchy.

You can't see the cracks in the ice.

You can't see where the little pressure ridges are.

You can't see the color of the ice.

OK, Scooter. Looking good, buddy.

Just rolled off.

Go ahead and hit her.

Hang on to your teeth, and buckle up your straps.

Let's get 'er done.

Feels good.

Trying to listen.

Hey, Lisa, bring her on.

All right, here I come.

You hear all those cracks?

Oh, that was a good one.

All right.

This is a nasty hill called Hayes Hill,

and it takes everything you got to get up it.

At the end of this long, straight stretch right here,

that's where the hill starts.

So we've got this whole runway to get

a run for that hill.

And I'm taking every inch of that runway.

10-4, OK.

narrator: Hayes Hill is a half mile

8% grade battlefield paved with refrozen holes and ruts.

Faster, Todd.

Faster. - Hang on.

It's gonna get a little rough.

Come on, you son of a bitch.

Let's go.

There's the hillside.

Here comes the bumps.

I don't want to slow up at all, or we ain't makin' her.

Oh, come on.

We're right there.

Tell me this don't get your heart pumping.

Come on.

narrator: At the ragged edge of the northern frontier--

Hang on.

Hoo-hoo.

narrator:--the Muskie Creek convoy

faces the opening salvo in their battle

against the world's longest winter road--

This is a long-ass hill.

narrator:--Hayes Hill.

Tell me this don't get your heart pumping.

Oh, come on.

We're right there.

That's it.

We're at the top. Yes!

Million-dollar baby makes it again.

Scooter, bring her on up.

On my way.

Me and hills have not gotten along this year.

Hey, puppy, you can do it.

Come on, baby.

Oh, oh, oh, come on.

Not today.

Not today.

Can I come up yet?

Bring it on up, Princess.

It's all yours.

Rowdy can do it.

Rowdy's rowdy.

All right, you're good.

Me and Rowdy beat the hill.

We all made it up the hill.

We still got a long way to go.

narrator: 600 miles east--

I'm gonna park out here, Zach.

Yeah, go.

narrator: Riley and Zach Harris

are meeting Shaun outside of Fond Du Lac

after he spent the night on the ice with his load.

Well, this is the big one.

We're headed to Uranium City, about 55 miles, give or take.

Right now, we're closer to the Arctic Circle

than we are to the nearest major city.

That's pretty cool.

Like, this is the end of the road here.

There's a high seam that's broken through,

and it's flooding onto the ice.

So make sure you guys got a lot of distance between you

when you go through, because there is gonna be flood

water come up through there.

- OK. - Just be careful.

Don't let it scare you.

narrator: Zach and Riley's final test is the deadly

55-mile ice crossing over one of North

America's largest lakes.

This is the boys' first trip up here,

so that's pretty exciting.

I'm glad I'm here to see it.

I kinda think maybe they're a little bit nervous today,

because this is a huge crossing.

Not a lot of people have been up here.

A lot of people are scared to come this far.

It's rockin'.

The pops is popping.

We're coming up to a heave that has broken open.

It's pretty dangerous up here.

Watch your speed.

Just can't stop paying attention to the road.

Yee-haw.

narrator: Across the northern wilderness--

Temperatures have dropped dramatically.

We're down to -23.

There ain't nothing like the smell of diesel,

cold air, and the wheels turning.

narrator:--the Muskie Creek crew is realizing

they're not on a road.

He's in there, eh?

narrator: They're in a graveyard.

Look at that, another snowcat.

This road eats equipment alive.

The ground swallowed them up.

If our trucks are in that deep, we're so screwed.

If we can't get the trucks out, they don't get paid.

So it's important because it's a big chunk of money.

Yeah, just a little rough.

So you definitely want to give her

as soon as you get across that little light bridge.

narrator: Muskie Todd's leading the convoy

and telling the other drivers what to expect.

OK there, Todd, I'm up top.

narrator: Followed by Todd--

Headed your way.

narrator:--Lisa and Scooter, with the other two

Muskie drivers behind them.

Pretty good hill there, Scoot, soon as you

come across that ice bridge.

Give her, buddy.

Roger that.

A tight ice bridge, and then a hill.

All right, Lisa, it's all yours.

Holy moly, that is narrow.

I haven't really recovered from it, going in the ditch

off the ice bridge, and--

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Oh. I'm right on the edge.

Oh, gosh.

I'm across the ice bridge.

Hey, it looks like we got a little ice

crossing coming up here.

Oh, this is gonna be fun.

narrator: A half-frozen lake is

the final obstacle between the Muskie convoy

and their frozen backhauls.

We definitely have had a couple of warm days,

so that's kind of an issue that,

you know, we want to get out and look at the ice

and make sure that it looks decent enough to run on.

It should be froze enough.

What about the last two days that have been warm?

It doesn't have an effect on this at all?

You'll find out.

That is not the kind of confidence

I'm looking for here.

I believe strongly in teamwork

and getting along with each other.

No one's above each other.

I don't think we got much of a choice here.

We're gonna just have to roll on it.

These loads have got to get in today.

Good luck, buttercup.

I believe in you.

Good luck, super Todd.

You can fly out of it if you fall.

Todd, you're good to go.

Oh, yeah.

She's cracking. She's popping, making noise.

Whoo-hoo.

Go ahead, you're good.

Rolling, rolling, rolling.

Here I come, a-rolling.

All right, here we go.

When it's snow covered like this,

you can almost deceive yourself into thinking that you're

just on a winter road.

But when you're looking down through the ice?

Holy moly.

It's a pretty in-your-face reminder that you're

actually on a lake.

All right, I think I'm on the shore here.

Headed to Fort Severn on the longest winter road.

Hell yeah.

The most dangerous ice crossing we'll make all winter

is on this lake.

narrator: Halfway into their 55-mile lake crossing--

There's a frost heave that has cracked significantly.

narrator:--the Harris convoy has hit the heave, splitting

the massive sheet of ice.

So that's a concern, especially with heavier loads.

You know, we're gonna have to play that one by ear,

just go really slow.

We can't really stop and assess it.

We'll just kinda have to assess it on the go.

They're very significant heaves,

where the heave has pushed it up,

and then you can't get across.

And when you get to that heave,

if you can't get across,

then you've just traveled 14 hours for nothing.

narrator: Here, precision is essential.

Too close together, and the truck's combined weight

could split open the heave.

And if they stop, the static pressure

at the edge of the ice sheet could do the same.

There's been many pieces of equipment lost

and some lives lost on this stretch here, for sure.

This Lake Athabasca is a deep, deep, cold lake.

This is the last place you want to fall.

You never want to fall into the water anywhere,

but this is the absolute last place you want to do that.

Zach, right where you are right now, on that point,

back in the mid-'70s, wherever these

pressure ridges are, your uncle,

he was running the grader.

And he clipped off the top of one of those pressure ridges,

and he went through.

Right in here is where he died.

Oh, my God.

So this is the place, eh?

Yeah, right in here.

So the grader's still there.

You know, you work in these dangerous places,

and your family never wants to get that call.

But sometimes, it happens.

I do my best to try and be safe and careful

and so I can come home to my wife and daughter.

And I don't want to leave my family without me.

It's a pretty good reminder that it's not a joke out here.

Well, that's why you be careful

around those pressure ridges.

Slow right down. They're not to be with.

This ice crossing and haul into Uranium City,

it's not for the faint of heart.

It's a challenging one.

It looks serene, and anybody can do it.

But just like that.

What the was that?

I've got an issue with my hood.

We need to rectify on the fly.

I'm gonna hop out and do my hood latch up on the go.

Watch you don't slip.

I'm always very in awe of my dad.

I mean, he's almost superhuman, in some ways.

He's willing to put himself in pretty risky situations.

It's a little bit scary.

My hood latch has come undone.

I don't know if it's broke or just popped open,

and it's rattling.

And we can't come to a dead stop on the ice,

so I'm just gonna slow 'er down and hop out, and do it up.

To run these ice roads, you kind of

gotta be a little bit crazy.

My dad is not scared of anything.

He goes harder than 90% of the people I know.

It's absolutely dangerous to get out of the cab

while you're moving, but it's even more

dangerous to stop on the ice.

Hey, Dad, you got a copy?

narrator: On one of the world's

longest lake crossings--

Hey, Dad, you got a copy?

My dad likes doing sketchy .

narrator:--Shaun Harris is fixing his hood,

and gambling that running on the ice

beside his truck is safer than stopping

next to the ice heave.

Not my first rodeo.

Yeah, I guess this would be Beaver Lodge.

We just pulled up to Beaver Lodge Portage.

Yeah, copy that.

narrator: At the north shore of Lake Athabasca--

The Overland Portage is pretty rough in some spots.

You gotta be careful.

Yes, sir.

narrator:--a portage

separates the Harris convoy

from the final ice crossing

into Uranium City.

Oh, lordy.

Oh.

That sounded very destructive when

I went through those holes.

It didn't look a lot better.

It's a portage.

Like, we basically just went over top of a hill.

Hey, Dad, when you come on to the ice there,

the holes on the ice, they don't look deep, but they are.

Copy that.

We got some core boxes that are just walking their way out,

so I'm hoping to hang on.

We're almost there.

There are so many holes to try and navigate here.

And there is water flooding the ice.

That's scary.

We're getting through the worst of it, but holy .

That was sketchy incorporated, that one.

Well, we made 'er.

Way to go, guys.

Way to go.

That was awesome.

This town is frozen in time.

It hasn't advanced since 1982.

There's a uranium rush in the new settlement.

In no time at all, the place has become a uranium capital.

Uranium City is one of my favorite places

to go, just the history there.

The output here is 35,000 tons of ore per day.

So the new settlement is boomtown

on a scale never seen before.

They had upwards of 40 or 50 mines.

In the early '80s, when the uranium prices dropped,

it became a ghost town.

It just absolutely decimated the community.

It's like it's frozen in time.

It's like it's perpetually 1984 there,

and that's what's really cool about that town.

This place is beautiful.

It's like time stopped, and it never changed.

It's pretty cool.

This is the boys' first trip up here,

so that's pretty exciting.

This truly is one of my proudest moments

with these two.

When they were growing up, there's

been years where I just wasn't around as much as I

probably should have been.

It gives me pride that we're doing something together.

That's where my load is going is right there.

And we have arrived.

It feels good we made it.

Feel better when we get all this off here.

We need to get back to Stony Rapids.

It's a long ways, but we gotta get

back there, because we got a load tomorrow

morning for another client.

Awesome.

Deadly, deadly.

OK, we gotta take a picture.

There we go. yeah.

We're done.

narrator: 600 miles to the east--

Where are the trucks? Are they here?

We're here, buddy.

narrator:--the Muskie convoy has arrived

at their buried paychecks.

They are buried in the snow.

Oh, my God.

On your way in there, you're gonna see a few

trucks that have been buried in snow.

That's your backhaul.

Get them unstuck and pulled out of there.

Unbelieve-- oh, we got one truck that's even still

connected to the trailer.

How do you even dig through that snow bank

to even get to them things?

That is unbelievable.

narrator: Their mission is to extricate

the stuck trucks before they offload and split up.

The snow bank looks solid.

narrator: It'll take all six of them

and their machinery for any chance at success.

There's no way.

With all of us even digging, it would take us four hours

to even dig a path just to get to the back axle on this one,

to maybe start pulling it out.

This is .

narrator: In the wild northern wilderness--

the Harris convoy is fighting their way out.

Augh.

Got so many holes to try and navigate here.

The conditions of the ice change so much.

It's at the end of the year, and the ice

is sagging a little bit.

It's been traveled on, cracked, and re-cracked.

And then all of a sudden, there's

going to be one big crack, and it's going to be too late.

A little rough.

Ooh. Oh, .

me.

bottomed out here.

This hole fell out from underneath.

Even in four-wheel drive, eh? She won't come up?

No, I'm like, sitting on the bumper, I think.

You're stuck?

Oh, yeah, you-- you went through.

Holy .

narrator: Back with the Muskie convoy--

We might be able to dig this one here.

Get them-- get it wedged on the front.

We might have to start pulling it

straight forward with the trailer

and everything on there.

narrator: - Todd Dewey's jumping

in to lead the recovery.

But I'm just wondering if Wayne can put his picker truck

and try to pick the ass end of this truck up first.

I'm sending Todd, Wayne, and Lyndon

to help you guys up there.

No lifting with the picker truck.

No pulling with it.

If I can hook around here, I can try

to break it with the winch. - Yeah.

- Then he can lift it. - Yeah.

Be nice to the equipment, you guys.

If one of our units are dead on the road,

it's a $20,000 tow bill.

We're gonna have to get your trailer unhooked,

and get your truck in position on where

you think you can pull.

Get your cables hooked up, get this figured out.

Well, let's get geared up.

Get the shovels, and let's start digging these trucks out.

They're in there.

What are we doing?

A lot of digging.

Wow.

This is going to be fun.

We're gonna dig this frame out.

We're going to try to get the winch truck on this back side,

get the whole cable wrapped around this frame,

see if we can't pull it up and maybe twist the sides,

start breaking these back tires free.

narrator: Todd's plan is for the team

to dig out the snow, then use Muskie Todd's winch truck

to pull out the stuck rig.

Run that chain through that,

then you hook the cable, then hook back to the cable.

I hope this works.

Be careful where you're at.

Everyone, back out of the way.

Yeah.

It's gonna slide his truck around.

- Yeah. - Just going to push it.

It ain't getting busted out of there.

It's not even moving it.

I think it's a little more frozen in there

than we think she is, guys.

Yeah, but I think it should be close to the rear ends,

not around where it's at.

Let's wrap around the tire on that side.

Try to pop it loose this way.

I guess we'll try this and see if we can get it to bust.

This is-- this thing's in there.

So we're trying to wrap this around the axle.

See if we can pop one axle free at a time,

and pull it sideways.

Everybody, clear.

All right, second try.

Hopefully, we don't gotta do this a third time.

Come on, baby, pop.

Oh, my gosh.

Hey, easy, easy, easy.

Work it loose.

It's kinda goin' like this.

You're flexing that frame every time you do it.

It's not really breaking it loose, is it?

It's wiggling it.

It's trying.

Why didn't we just put it around one part of one frame

in between these duals, right here,

try to yank one piece out?

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah, but just yanking on that one just

gonna try to slide it all sideways.

We're trying to lift up.

The frame, not the tires. The frame.

Well, that's what we just did right here,

and it wouldn't do nothing.

Yeah, but we took the whole frame.

I'm taking one piece of the frame.

I'm a team player.

You can't just go in like a bull in a china shop,

and try to do something.

This has to be set up properly to get through here.

So we're trying to hook a cable one by one to each tire

and rip one part of the tire out of the muskegs

and maybe twist the front end out.

I mean, I guess we could shovel until it's down level,

but that would be a pain and take hours.

Hold on.

This tire is exposed here.

I know, but we gotta break them one by one out.

I'm just saying--

You wanna dig this one out?

Because I've dug the other three out, Scooter.

I'm just saying, it could pop out.

Feel free to start digging, buddy.

You can bust this wheel out right

here, this'll come right out.

But if you pulls on that angle,

that'll bend this fender right down to his tire.

Right here is your backup.

If he gets the bank, it'll pop these out.

You want me to back up that way?

We already tried to pop them out,

and it wasn't working like that.

It's not gonna work that way.

Do I have to feud?

I swear to God.

Drop it with the attitude.

I've had four ways it's gonna be done.

He overtalked me, did it opposite,

and then back to the same way I said to be done.

Look at Scooter over there, took the easiest job.

Todd Dewey needs to dial his back.

Yeah, I know how those go.

There you go.

is pushing other people away.

Two oldest guys over here getting it done.

I have no patience for and bullies.

I don't put up with that.

When someone starts talking down to me, look out.

I'm just saying--

You wanna dig this one out?

Because I've dug the other three out, Scooter.

I'm just saying, it could pop out.

I'm just saying, feel free to start digging, buddy.

I have no patience for and bullies.

narrator: On the world's longest winter road--

And I'll clock him right here.

narrator:--an impossible mission is tearing

apart the Muskie Creek convoy.

Don't ever talk down to me.

Hey, Scooter.

Are you mad at me?

Oh, my gosh.

Don't worry about it.

Let's get this thing done, get going.

Hey, what are you upset with me about?

Talking down to me.

How'd I do that?

Over there.

Sometimes it's hard for me to step back

and just say, Todd, take a breath.

Just keep your mouth shut, Todd.

Which is obviously really hard for me to do.

Todd, you gotta pass the shovel over once in a

while, then.

You think I can tell him what to do?

I like both of them a lot.

They're both good people.

It's just a lot of misunderstandings

and just big personalities.

Hey, don't be mad at me.

If I hurt your feelings, I'm sorry.

I don't like being talked down to.

And if that's how you feel-- - You know I love you.

Don't you dare try to kiss me.

I've been lonely from my wife.

Hold him, Lisa.

.

narrator: On the north shore of Lake Athabasca--

Apparently, Zach has fallen through the ice.

narrator:--Zach is dropping through the ice.

Even in four-wheel drive, eh? She won't come up?

No.

I'm like, sitting on the bumper, I think.

Holy .

OK, I'm coming.

Looks like Zach just went through here,

so I'm gonna pull him out.

We have an absolute time-sensitive load.

If we don't get them on the truck and headed out on the ice

tomorrow, I get penalized for that.

Son of a bitch.

You're stuck.

You ready?

All right, go.

Give her.

Yo, that's gnarly.

Oh, yeah.

Riley and Zach are both new to these roads.

I've tried to teach them everything I can.

But I am a firm believer of learn to do by doing.

And sometimes you have to fall on your ass

and learn the hard way.

Well, we had another Zach-cident.

Hey, now.

Don't be hurtful.

Driving into Uranium City with the two boys

truly is one of my proudest moments with these two.

Truly feels like yesterday that they

were both standing on the seat at four or five years old.

And now, to this?

It's-- life's good today.

Happy place.

We've been out here for four hours digging on these trucks.

They're a lot more buried than what I think any of us

expected to actually run into.

Tighten her up.

narrator: As daylight ticks away,

the Muskie convoy is doubling down on power.

She's flexing.

Look at that.

- Yeah. - Yeah.

Oh, the back's moving, but the front's not.

It wants to come.

It wants to come.

Hold on.

- All four of them are free. - Yeah.

- Oh, that rear is freed up? - Yeah.

So we can pull the whole ass over.

We got the ass end broke free,

so all the tires and axles are broke from the muskeg now,

but we're gonna reposition these trucks.

We're going to actually bring the picker truck around now,

see if we can't lift it up a little bit

slowly but surely, maybe break the kegs free.

A lot more work than we thought it was gonna be,

that's for sure.

narrator: Out of options--

This doesn't work, we might be stuck.

narrator:--they're gambling that they've

weakened the frozen north's chokehold enough for the crane

to pull the truck free.

She's all you, buddy.

There you go, suck her in.

- Whoa. - Did you see that?

Almost.

That's a little more stuck than we thought.

That's all the pressure you can lift.

He's maxed.

Suck her back in. It's not gonna lift the weight.

We don't want to break your crane.

Picker truck's not tough enough to do it.

That isn't designed to pull this much weight.

Look, I've done a lot of towing in my life.

And this is-- this is something else.

I think it's a lost cause.

If we had an excavator, that'd be great.

That's the proper gear we need.

No one can say we didn't try.

Hey.

Just trying to get this truck unstuck.

Yeah. Hey.

Bill wants to talk to you three.

What's going on, Bill?

The last thing that you really want to have

is customers asking me in regards to when their freight

is gonna get delivered.

Well, we're trying to.

But-- - We're trying to.

They're buried, Bill.

We needed more gear.

We needed a loader or an excavator here

digging this out.

It's upsetting when you send a convoy up there with

your most valuable equipment-- a picker truck,

a winch truck-- and we still can't get the job done?

I know we're like, never die kind of people,

but it's not working.

It's big money.

I actually make no money if they don't

get these trucks unstuck.

It's disappointing we didn't get it out,

because we all just worked our asses off.

But you know what?

We gave it everything we had.

Now it's time to bag it up and hit the road.

Hello?

Awesome.

narrator: As the sun sets on the northern frontier--

We're gonna go to bed for the night

and offload in the morning.

narrator:--darkness has caught up

to the exhausted Muskie Creek convoy.

Hey, I can feel some heat.

Yeah.

Finally.

It's nice.

What a day.

You know, your long hours, it does take a toll on your body.

By the end of the season, you're tired.

You're burnt out, physically and mentally.

But I will never quit.

I will just keep pushing.

I will just pull off whatever I can get

done to make the job complete.

So we are really on the world's longest ice road.

That is so incredible.

Did a lot of work for nothing.

Kind of a piss off.

What a season, huh?

It's been so up and down this year.

Right when you think you've been challenged with everything

possible in a truck-- in a road, all of a sudden,

something just frickin' slams your ass.

You're like, are you freaking kidding me?

And then, it's the challenge of your imagination

and pushing yourself to your limits

on trying to figure out, what can

I do to get myself out of this situation?

There's nobody else around.

- You're roughing it. - You're roughing it.

It's not like highway driving, where you got a truck

stop and a warm place to stop and--

No.

go in for a shower and relax.

We're on our own out here, not easy.

Yeah, it's been five days with no shower now

as we speak. - Yeah.

- You know? - That's why we're wearing

lots of clothes.

Yeah.

For me, it's, I don't like being cold.

So then, when my heat went out in my truck, that was like,

I can't even get in here and get warm.

And that's why it's not a way of life for everybody else.

There's a lot of people that could never do this job.

The best way to sum up ice road trucking is,

imagine every emotion that you have.

Shove them all into one big ball,

and let them all out at the same time.

That's what it's like driving the ice roads.

You know, it's hard being away from home,

being away from the families, being away from your family,

your horses.

Scooter's a long way from home

and his wife and his daughters.

But I just love the challenges of being out here.

I also, like you, I like the challenge.

Because I feel like unless you're challenging yourself

that you can get complacent.

And then you're not really learning new things.

It's so different of a life out here.

I know I do it just to get my mind clear.

There are a lot of hours that you're going, and you just--

you can do a lot of thinking without the interruption

of the phone ringing and the hustle and bustle of life.

Absolutely.

I've been doing it for 15 years up there.

It's-- it gets in me.

Like, I have to do it. It's like--

- It just gets in your blood. - Yeah.

It's like it just starts coursing through your veins.

Yeah.

I don't know how you guys feel about it,

but I'm overly proud and honored to be running

with some great truck drivers.

Even though we're struggling and we're frustrated

and we get upset at each other once in a while--

- No- - because we're just very

frustrated with everything that's happening, and--

Todd's an . No, I'm just joking.

Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

And after all the rewards and delivering

the loads to the communities--

That's more rewarding for me.

then you get home, and you get that big paycheck.

And that's really rewarding. - Yeah.

Let's be honest.

Yeah.

Sounds like we're gonna all work together in the morning.

We'll get these loads off here and

get this community, at least, the goods

that they needed before this road goes to absolute crap.

So I found you guys a dozer.

We're gonna get these suckers outta here.

One way or another, we're going to get them loaded.

Oh, wow.

It is solid.

I don't know if we're gonna be able to get this.

It's hard to get used to watching your mirrors

and seeing a crack follow you down the road.

We were to stray either side, we'd go through.

Hang on, baby. Here we go.

Come on, Big Bird.

Give her.

Ah, .