Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Tonight on "Ice Road Truckers--"

Uh-oh.

NARRATOR: Dave is on thin ice.

Shut up!

[bleep]

NARRATOR: And Alex is on his last legs.

You have to embrace dying before you can live life.

Because you're gonna die.

NARRATOR: Hugh faces disaster.

Whoa.

NARRATOR: And the worst wreck of the season--

Oh my god.

NARRATOR: Shuts down the Dalton.

That is horrible.

[theme music]

NARRATOR: On Alaska's Dalton Highway,

Lisa Kelly and Tony Molesky are on a special mission.

So this is a good spot. What do you think?

Yes.

I think so.

[honking]

It says "Wayne died in October of cancer.

He drove the haul road.

He asked me if some ice road trucker would take these ashes

up the ice road and dust them in the wind.

His mother would have loved it.

Carol Lincoln, Talkeetna, Alaska.

NARRATOR: Trucker Wayne Richardson drove this road

for almost 30 years, and now thefrozen tundra of Alaska's north

slope will be Wayne's last stop.

This is a first for me.

I didn't know the guy.

This is family, man.

If he was a haul road trucker, it's family.

I wanna do something, a little bit.

All right.

You got the rest.

Yes, Wayne, rest in peace.

You're where you wanted to be.

In the wind in the Brooks Rangeon the north side of the pass.

Bury me up here, too.

I wanna be next to Wayne.

Yeah, out of an F15?

Well, I don't care.

If that can't happen, then do it out of a truck.

You ready to rock and roll, bud?

Yeah, go for it.

All right, Wayne.

It's all done.

My condolences to Wayne's family.

We're a family up here.

And so he's part of that family,even if I never knew him.

It's an honor to be able to spread his ashes.

Pretty crazy, man.

Pretty crazy.

I've only done anything like that one other time,

and it was with my grandpa in the Kenai River.

And it's a place that he loved.

It's a place that he taught me where to fish and how to fish.

It reminds me of that day.

To be able to put Wayne in a place

that he truly would love to be, this

is the best I could do for him.

And man, rest in peace.

Not any better place I could give you than this right here.

NARRATOR: In Winnipeg, Canada--

[coughing]

I had a chest cold.

Figured I'd come and see the doctor.

NARRATOR: --Weeks of around the clock

driving and brutal conditions have finally caught up

with Alex.

Because of all this baloney with heart problems

and the blood clots and everything else

I've had in my lungs, I'm getting a little bit of pain.

NARRATOR: Three years ago--

I'm coughing a little bit of blood, yep.

NARRATOR: --A trip to the doctor revealed a life

threatening condition.

I am worried that there may be a blood clot in your lungs.

NARRATOR: Now Alex isn't taking any chances.

I'm in better shape than you are, right?

[laughter]

OK, sir.

OK, I wish you all the best.

Thank you very much.

OK.

You too, sir.

NARRATOR: The flu may slow him down,

but with just a few weeks left in the season,

there's no time for a sick day.

ALEX: I don't know if I'm supposed to be hot.

I was always told--

I like to roll down the window right now and cool down,

but I'm supposed to drink hot, stay in bed, and sweat.

So I'm drinking lots, and I'm sweating.

So what's happening?

You got a load?

Yeah.

St. Theresa Point.

You gotta get her in gear and get moving.

The only thing holding me up is you.

[laughter]

Thanks.

Baby, one more trip before falling apart.

[coughing]

Trying to get there before they close the road.

That's the plan.

Coming down in the rain, and that rain lands in the snow,

guess what happens to the snow?

It turns the snow into one great, big slushy.

You can see the water on the road right here.

I'm driving through a puddle right in front of us.

Let's see what it's like in the bush.

[coughing]

God have mercy.

Ugh.

NARRATOR: While Alex hits the ice, back in Winnipeg,

Rick Yemm hits the repair shop.

Trucking, it's a tough, tough business.

And then these things aren't cheap.

You get repairs, fuel costs, insurance.

NARRATOR: All season, Rick and Hugh

have punished their rigs, running hard

over the rugged terrain.

Felt that one in my fillings.

Big truck repairs are big money repairs.

NARRATOR: Now Rick's headed in for a tune

up before the big push to the end of the season.

Good enough, yeah.

It ain't making me no money sitting in here.

It's just costing me a bunch.

MAN: Yeah, yeah.

Well, I'll give you a call a little later,

and we'll see how it's coming along.

OK, all right.

See you later.

NARRATOR: While Rick is stuck waiting for repairs,

across town--

Filler job again.

It's good.

Keep you busy.

NARRATOR: --Hugh also has his rig in for service.

But that's not gonna keep the polar bear off his game.

I'm doing some filler worker here, just

driving for some cash.

Keep busy while my truck's getting fixed,

and tomorrow, we'll be back on the road.

So no use just sitting there and twiddling my thumbs

if I can make a little money while I'm here.

They had a little gravel job here today,

so that's what I'm doing.

NARRATOR: Instead of his big rig,

Hugh is behind the wheel of a dump truck.

The job is hauling 15 tons of boulders across Lake Winnipeg

to a construction site at Victoria Beach.

Like I said, I'll do anything it takes to keep making money.

However, that's all right.

We'll get along.

Can't make money sitting.

Wanna just jump out for a second?

OK.

And I'm gonna give you a little bit of a safety

treatment. - OK.

If that's all right?

Yeah, sure.

So basically, what we wanna make sure

is that the driver are alone on the ice.

Right.

We're driving about two miles of ice road here today

and hauling rock on it.

We're traveling on about 2 and 1/2, 3 feet of ice.

OK.

NARRATOR: The ice on Lake Winnipeg is less than half

as thick as the ice on the winter roads.

And you wave that here.

Yeah, we just dropped onto the ice here.

Big cracks.

You get about 15 ton on here.

The ice is pretty brittle today.

The biggest thing about drivingon ice, you gotta respect it.

It doesn't have any respect for you.

It'll drop you in a heartbeat.

Holy [bleep].

NARRATOR: Outside of Winnipeg, Canada--

It'll drop you in a heartbeat.

Holy [bleep]

NARRATOR: --Hugh Rowland is on thin ice.

There's the pressure in.

Right there.

You can tell when you're going too fast.

The ice starts popping, and thenyou know you better slow down

a little bit.

NARRATOR: Finally--

Here I am.

NARRATOR: --Hugh reaches the drop-off.

Money in the bank.

Ready to rock and roll.

NARRATOR: And one good run.

- One more load after this one.- OK.

- Is that all right? - Yeah, you betcha.

OK.

NARRATOR: Earns Hugh a second load.

Back on the road again.

One left.

NARRATOR: While Hugh's businessis booming, 2,600 miles west,

Dave Redmon is busting.

Come on, Dave.

What you got for me today?

Another happy day in paradise here.

NARRATOR: Last week, Dave got called out for ditching

his convoy partner.

I don't care if they think I'm a team player or not.

NARRATOR: But now, with hot loads piling up in the yard,

the Carlile bosses are giving the Alabama Slammer one more

shot.

It's all I needed.

I gave you a nice type spool of--

NARRATOR: There's just one catch.

I spoke with Lane late last night,

and he'd like you to just hang out with Phil.

NARRATOR: Trainer Phil Kromm will keep an eye on him.

And any mistake could make this Dave's last run.

This 20-ton load of pipe will make or break Dave's season.

Damn it!

Damn it.

Ah, [bleep].

How the [bleep] did I miss it all together?

I just missed the fifth wheel all again, went right over

the top of it.

NARRATOR: It's not the first time Dave has had problems

hooking up to a load.

Oh, I hate my job.

Now I gotta try and get out from underneath it now.

You line the trailer up with the side of the--

[bleep] damn it.

The tractor.

Yeah, I'm at that point right now,

where enough is just enough.

Bingo.

Now I'm hooked up.

My back, yeah.

I just touched that one side, broke that piece of plastic.

That gonna be a big problem?

Yeah, but we'd better have them look at it.

NARRATOR: In the wilds of Manitoba--

[honking]

[singing]

NARRATOR: --Alex is under the weather but still on the job.

Got a little bit of a--

got a flu.

I could have went to work without seeing the doctor,

but I've had a heart--

I've had a microvalve operation.

I've had a fatty embolism.

And I've had a whatever.

Blood clots and whatnot.

Had to take it easy, so nobody notices I'm stumbling around.

Uh-oh.

Whoa.

I can't believe this.

In the name of the Father, theSon, and the Holy Spirit, amen.

Thank you, dear God, for another day.

NARRATOR: With a 103 degree fever,

he's struggling to keep it together.

Mercy on all those who are less fortunate than I. Look,

look, look, look There's a skunkout there I can't believe it.

I've never seen a skunk out in a snow bank.

I've never really seen a skunk.

[coughing]

I'm gonna end up catching pneumonia out here,

chasing skunks.

Here comes a big mouse.

Goodness-- I'm gonna run out of air chasing the guy.

Come here.

[whistling]

I can smell him already.

I think-- I think I'm almost getting close enough.

Eh?

Why am I doing this?

Enough exercise for me today.

Took the skunk for a walk.

NARRATOR: Back in Fairbanks--

So I got a flatbed of cable trays.

I'm gonna go hook up this load.

Gonna get going.

Maya's ready to roll, but her truck isn't.

Are you serious?

Sucks!

There's no ice.

There's no snow.

There might be something wrong with a valve.

There's not air getting to them, for some reason.

There might be ice in the lines themselves.

That's what I think's going on.

What's going on?

So they're not frozen?

Oh, yeah.

There's no ice or anything, so.

NARRATOR: Fellow driver LeahThiele stops by to lend a hand.

Just trying to break apart the brakes there.

I'll give you some alcohol for you to dump in the air lines.

All right, cool.

We're gonna try throwing some alcohol down the airlines.

It's to break up any ice that's in them.

Go ahead and hook them up.

NARRATOR: The alcohol will unfreeze the lines for now.

But if moisture seeps in as she's driving,

Maya's brakes could lock up on the road.

Well, thanks a bunch for helping me.

No problem.

So you heading out?

- Yup. - All right, yeah, cool.

So I guess we'll go together.

I'm gonna go hook up to my load,

and then I'll meet you up at Hill Top.

NARRATOR: All right, sounds good.

Cool.

All righty, here we go.

We're leaving at the same time,

so we're gonna roll together, which is really cool.

It's gonna be girl time.

It's gonna be girl time trucking, you know?

It'll be cool.

Not a problem.

Maya's really nice.

Sexy load, Leah.

10-4.

Hauling cable trays, it's a really light load.

It's like aluminum casings.

And it's for construction.

It looks real bad ass, but it's really, really light.

[bleep]

My brakes just locked up.

Oh, my god.

NARRATOR: Just 20 miles outside of Fairbanks--

[bleep].

My brakes just locked up.

Oh, my god!

I gotta pull over right away.

NARRATOR: Maya's brake lines have frozen up

for the second time today.

Hey, Leah, I'm gonna pull overin this next rest stop up here.

My trailer brakes are locked up again.

All right.

Well, I gotta get this pipe to Prudhoe.

It's a hot shipment, so--

It was fun riding with you.

I don't know what's going on with my trailer.

I had problems with it this morning.

The airlines were iced up.

And I don't wanna have my brakes lock up

and jackknife sideways, so--

NARRATOR: Maya plays it safe, leaving her load

for the mechanic and heading back to Fairbanks empty.

I think it's best I just leave it here.

And I just don't feel safe bringing it up north.

I just don't feel comfortable.

NARRATOR: While Maya rolls south, Dave is going nowhere.

See the little scratch right there?

We had a high hitcher, basically.

What happened is, the fifth wheel, the kingpin

got on top of the fifth wheelinstead of going into the jaws,

got up on top.

The pipe hit the back of the truck.

We got a couple dings there in the bevel end.

Could be a big deal.

Depends on how much damage there is, something like that.

A high hitch is a rookie mistake.

We don't expect a rookie mistake from a guy like Dave.

And when I see a rookie mistake here,

it's not a rookie to the ice roads or the haul road.

This is a rookie mistake driving.

This is something you don't look for with a guy that's got

25 years driving experience.

NARRATOR: This time, Dave was lucky.

It doesn't look like there's anything wrong.

NARRATOR: Each precisioncalibrated pipe costs 50 grand,

but the only damage was to the plastic caps.

All right, well, let's--

hey, I want you to work.

I want you to get with--

if you're gonna run with Phil, make it work.

Let's not have any problems.

Enough drama.

I mean, I wasn't nervous about it.

We just had to go get it looked at real quick.

No harm, no foul.

They threw a couple of caps on it, and down the road we went.

Yep, yep.

Well, I'm back to following Phil again.

Looks like I'm back to square one again.

I got in trouble.

I got my hand spanked.

NARRATOR: Dave's make or break run is off to a rocky start.

Making my life miserable is what it is.

But either way you look at it, I'm in trouble.

And I'm back to following again, so technically,

I should be in front of him, but--

A poor attitude, the wrong attitude out here

just creates a dangerous situation for everybody.

And we don't need it as a company,

and we don't need it as an industry out here.

So I'm trying to do an evaluation with Dave

on this trip, and then I'll go back to town

and discuss it with Lane, and we'll figure out where we go

after this trip.

NARRATOR: 85 miles up the road, Lisa Kelly

is headed south with a load of recycling.

What's up?

She ran up with you?

On the trailer or her truck?

Ah, 10-4.

Leah said that Maya is droppingher trailer at No Name Creek,

and I'm almost to No Name.

I'm gonna see if she's all right.

Maya, I heard you were dropping your trailer.

What's up?

MAYA: Yeah, I've had problems with my trailer all day.

My air-lines are frozen.

Anything go wrong beside your airlines and tires locking up?

The biggest problem for me is getting in this truck

after driving a 10 speed and trying to get used to it.

A 10 speed on mountain driving just totally sucks.

It's actually good, because it teaches you a lot.

There's a lot of tricks you canlearn from doing the super 10

in a 10, and then you get in here

and then you know a couple of tricks, you know?

I've learned a lot.

It's completely different.

I mean, there'd be accidents up here all the time

if people weren't trained.

Yeah, you'll be able to go back

and you'll just be like "I ain't scared of snow.

What are you guys stopped for?"

Yeah, it's good to experience it all around.

Have you heard anything from Dave at all lately?

The last time I saw Dave was my last trip down right

about in this area.

But that was I don't know how many days ago.

Yeah, I haven't seen him for quite a few days either.

Wonder if he's just incognito or if he's hiding somewhere.

Oh, God knows.

I don't know.

We were convoying.

It was him, me, and Tony.

And as soon as we got on the road,

he just wanted to take off.

And he passed me on 25 miles while there was a four-wheeler

coming.

Pretty impressive.

He was on my ass the whole time.

So I don't know.

He went out in front and then just separated.

And then he's been out on his own, I guess.

I don't know.

It's definitely not for everyone.

And that's what makes this roadhard, trying to fit in and have

the right attitude.

NARRATOR: Just outside Winnipeg, the Polar Bear

has hustled up a job while his rig is in the shop.

I could stand to be fishing for a day.

That would be cool.

It's just I'm here to work, not here to fish.

Earning my keep today.

NARRATOR: With another load of boulders on board--

I got a big load this time.

14.6 stone.

Must have put an extra bucket on.

NARRATOR: --Hugh heads back out to the thin ice

of Lake Winnipeg.

Look at this opening up.

This is staying open.

Now I'm in them cracks.

[laughter] Drive your tire right in there,

it'll throw you right in the seat.

Blowing holes all over the [bleep] ice here right now.

NARRATOR: A job like this takescareful planning to keep trucks

from meeting on the thin ice.

We wanna make sure is that thedrivers are alone on the ice.

Right.

NARRATOR: A DOT study showedthat when the ice is overloaded

an entire truck can be pulled under in less than five

seconds.

But halfway through the crossing--

[bleep] he's gotta get out of the way.

What the hell are you doing?

[honking]

NARRATOR: In the middle of Lake Winnipeg [honking]

on less than three feet of ice, Hugh Rowland

is facing oncoming traffic.

What the hell are you doing?

Get the [bleep] over, you [bleep] Come on, get going.

You [bleep] up the road, you're gonna kill yourself.

That's the difference between the [bleep] ice

roads and the Dalton.

You pop a [bleep] hole in the ice and you're dead.

NARRATOR: With the close call behind him,

Hugh heads in for his second delivery.

You're done.

Well, anyway, thanks again for coming out and helping us.

Take care. No problem.

Just dropped my last load of boulders there.

Made a few bucks.

That's what it's all about.

Polar Bear does it again.

NARRATOR: While Hugh rolls off the thin ice,

back on the Dalton, Dave's right in the middle of it.

I'm the alleged rookie.

But technically in the trucking industry,

you're a rookie until they're throwing dirt on your body

or on the coffin that you're laying in.

NARRATOR: It's up to trainerPhil Kromm to decide if Dave is

up to the job.

Dave's a little bit on the hot seat right now,

and I'm out here with him this trip

to get a feel for his general attitude out here.

NARRATOR: But convincing Phil he deserves another shot is

the last thing on Dave's mind.

I mean, we just can't get going.

I mean, I just want somebody to say "here's a load.

[bleep] go to work."

But we can't get there.

It's always something every day.

People in a broken down truck all the time,

and the [bleep] you gotta go through up here.

I've just about had it.

It doesn't matter if you've got two years or 25 years

experience.

When you're new on this road,you're a rookie all over again.

If you're the new driver, if you're the new guy,

you gotta earn the respect fromthe other people on this road.

And it's not just given to you.

You have to earn it.

It's not the hardest job I've ever had to do.

It's probably the biggest pain in the ass I've ever

dealt with.

NARRATOR: 2,600 miles east, a high fever and rough road

are pushing Alex to the edge.

I'm basically in for an all night drive.

Um.

I'm hoping to-- hoping to get into St. Theresa

Point at daylight.

[coughing]

Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi.

We're gonna be coming up to a lake here.

I understand there might be water on it.

[coughing]

The lake ice is softer when the weather is warmer, which

tends to make it more pliable.

Generally, if the ice is rotted and we drive out on it,

we'll sink.

So we're gonna do a little splish-splash across the lake.

And if we sink, I'm gonna bail out and leave the cameraman

in here.

And if you're lucky, you'll catch the screams.

I'll haul this load to St. Theresa Point.

It doesn't matter if we sink or we don't sink.

I just came on to Round Lake northbound.

There's quite a bit of water on the lake.

I guess overflow.

Not sure if it's coming from the thawing or the lake

sinking from all the snow.

Hopefully, there isn't any more water on this end.

You have to embrace dying before you can live life.

Because you're gonna die.

I'd like to sell people on the idea of building

their own coffin and putting it by their front door.

Every day, giving it a little pat

like that to bring your day into perspective.

You'll have a better day that way.

Oh, that's awful close.

Sorry, guys.

Didn't drown me on that one, did you?

I've spent enough time in my life worrying about surviving.

There's a time to worry and the rest of the time,

we just tell dumb jokes.

NARRATOR: Back on the haul road--

An interesting trip.

NARRATOR: --Lisa and Maya are rolling south to Fairbanks.

Maya's still fairly new to trucking,

and she's definitely new to this road.

But she has a willing and learning attitude and spirit,

and that's what you need up here.

Well, trucking, it's my dream career.

I love it.

I wouldn't wanna do anything else.

I mean, I could go back to New York tomorrow,

and I can get married and neverwork another day in my life,

but I refuse.

I'm not gonna give up this job.

Oh, all of a sudden, we're going really slow.

WOMAN: Hey there, south siders, you got a copy?

There's an accident about 23 miles, pretty bad.

Slow down when you get there.

OK, thank you.

[bleep]

Just heard on the radio that there is a very nasty accident

just with a rig.

OK, here's some lights here.

We're stopping.

He's stopping us.

10-4.

He's getting out.

Hey, listen.

One of the trucks is wrecked down here.

They're trying to pull it out now.

It's gonna be about an hour.

An hour?

Yeah, it's a tractor-trailer, and it's gonna be a while.

We're stopped right now.

I'm feeling for the people that got in an accident.

Hopefully, they're OK.

I hope.

NARRATOR: 20 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska--

So we're stopped right now for at least

an hour while they clean up the wreck.

NARRATOR: --A massive accident has shut down the haul road.

After more than an hour of waiting--

Go ahead and just ease on through here.

Well, now we're moving.

We just heard from the troopersthat it's OK to go on by.

It's one lane right now, so.

Oh, man.

Dang, look at that trailer.

MAN: You'll have to stay in thenorthbound lane here for a bit.

Oh, my god.

That is horrible.

Wow.

Yeah, this is what happens when you go against

an 18-wheeler.

He was a little bigger than I was, so.

NARRATOR: The northbound pickup truck's trailer

swung into the southbound lane and collided with the big rig.

His pickup's pretty trashed.

Trailer's totalled.

Lot of tore up rig.

Nobody's hurt.

That was a bad wreck, but it looks like everybody's OK.

I, for sure, have never--

and I don't think I will ever--

take for granted what this road can do.

There's no way that anybody can just

come up here and drive this road and think

they're gonna survive.

When I say my day's over is when I'm

walking through my front door in my house.

That's when my day's over.

Until then, you don't what's gonna happen.

This very moment into the Carlile yard,

they'll be happy to have their trailer back.

Finally here.

Well, the trip was pretty fun today.

Got to run with Maya for the first time.

She's doing a good job.

She's very professional, and she's very willing to learn,

and that's what makes a professional.

And I appreciate that very much.

NARRATOR: 400 miles north--

Come in, Dave.

Copy back there, Dave.

Got his radio turned off.

That doesn't help.

[bleep]

NARRATOR: Weeks of rookie mistakes and bad attitude

have Dave Redmon on his last legs.

If he wants to keep his job, he'll

have to show trainer Phil Krommthat he can keep his cool.

PHIL: Copy back there, Dave.

Shut up!

NARRATOR: But the Alabama Slammer

has no interest in playing nice.

Dave knows I'm running with him to see how he's doing,

and what I'm gathering is, Dave's

not fitting in real well, and he's not really

making an effort to fit in.

Yeah, I'm at the end of my last nerve.

I want this day to be over.

I want this trip to be over.

These guys that have this routine down,

they don't have to go through all this [bleep]..

They go and they get a trailer and they drive.

They wanna stop and take a nap, they take a nap.

They don't have to follow people or keep track of people

like we do, as you can hear on the damn radio nonstop.

And it just gets to be a real pain in the ass.

Well, here's the yard.

We're going here to drop this damn trailer.

NARRATOR: Dave's delivered his load.

To hell with it.

I'm dealing.

Done dealing with everybody.

[bleep]

I'm not even gonna mess with it.

NARRATOR: But this run may not be the only thing that's

finished.

Dave's abilities to drive up and down the road

aren't entirely in question, but his attitude

that he's taking with him up and down the road

is what's in question.

And that's something I'm gonna have to take back to town

and hand it to Lane and let himknow what I'm seeing out here.

NARRATOR: 2,600 miles east, Alex Debogorski

has fought through 30 hours of sickness and brutal roads

to deliver critical food supplies to the remote village

of St. Theresa Point.

[honking]

I thought my cold might do me in on the trip, but it didn't.

I survived it.

Tired, so I wasn't sure I was gonna pull it off.

I don't I really much choice.

Either get stuck or pull it off, because otherwise you

have to ask somebody--

ask somebody else to do it forme, and I wasn't gonna do that.

NARRATOR: Two tough days of driving

have earned Alex his 15th load of the season,

while Dave hangs on to his place at the top of the board.

Next on "Ice Road Truckers," the winter roads are melting.

Sort of in a swamp here.

Hang on there.

I mean, it is as slick as slick can get.

NARRATOR: Tony hits a roadblock.

Doing a little bit of slipping.

NARRATOR: And for one haul road rookie--

I'm not here to make a bunch of [bleep] friends.

I don't know what to do.

NARRATOR: It's judgment day.

Something's gotta be done.

Oh, my god!

[chuckling]