Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Tonight on "Ice Road Truckers."

Fire!

NARRATOR: As the season hits the halfway point--

Get the hell out the way.

Here comes the Chop.

Whoa, crap.

NARRATOR: The competition heats up when the ace returns

to the haul road.

Oh [bleep].

This is really dangerous.

NARRATOR: Hugh gambles on a rookie--

And he's never even been on the [bleep] ice before.

NARRATOR: To save his season.

This is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy.

NARRATOR: And Alex faces off--

You go over that cliff, you're dead.

NARRATOR: With the Yukon's deadliest road.

Jesus, I trust in you.

Save us from the fires of hell.

[music playing]

[theme music]

NARRATOR: In northern Canada.

ALEX: I'm like Columbus with wheels.

NARRATOR: Alex Debogorski is on a mission

to help the people of the north survive another Arctic winter.

ALEX: Whoa, baby.

NARRATOR: All season.

That's a reminder to all those people

that say that trucks never go through the ice.

There you are.

There's another one that never went through.

NARRATOR: He's fought the deadly Dempster.

ALEX: O Lord, give me a hand.

NARRATOR: Surviving blinding whiteouts and thin ice.

It's cracking.

NARRATOR: To keep the supplies flowing.

ALEX: We bring food, we bring groceries, we bring everything.

Sometimes we bring whole houses.

Whoa!

NARRATOR: But today.

- How are you? - Pretty good.

WOMAN: Are you ready for your big day?

Yes ma'am.

NARRATOR: He's outside of Whitehorse, Yukon

on our special assignment.

WOMAN: You are going to be taking a load of reagents

to Cantung.

And what are those?

WOMAN: Those are chemicals to run the mill at the mine.

You have to get it there fast, Alex.

If they don't get it today they're

going to have to shut that mine down.

They've got enough to last for 12 hours.

Alex, this road is no joke.

It's very serious.

I can't stress that enough.

NARRATOR: Alex is headed to the Cantung tungsten mine

with a load of chemicals vital to keeping the mine running.

But getting there means facing the one-lane mine road that's

barely wider than a big rig.

To help navigate--

WOMAN: This is Alex.

Alex, Brento Labonte.

Pleased to meet you.

NARRATOR: Alex is running with a wing man.

What's the plan?

BRENTO: The plan is just stay back like a kilometer or two,

just so that if I get into trouble,

I got time to warn you.

We got quite a dump.

It was snowing pretty good when we came in last night.

So it could be whiteout today.

There's a couple of one-way bridges

that are a little hard to get on to.

OK.

So let's get rolling.

[music playing]

OK I'm on my way.

Didn't sleep well.

I kept waking up.

All this how horrible a road it is is getting on my nerves.

I was on edge.

I'd wake up and check the clock every 20 minutes

or half an hour, it seemed like.

Man, I'll be shortly turning on to the mine road.

NARRATOR: Once he enters the one-lane road,

there's no turning back.

Jesus, I trust in you.

Save us from the fires of hell.

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us

on this day of battle, especially

most in need of thy mercy.

What do we got?

We are a safeguard against the evils and snares of the devil.

Help us through this day and glory to you.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Spirit, in Jesus's

name.

Amen.

Jesus, I trust in you.

Jesus, I trust in you.

NARRATOR: In Alaska.

The rookies better watch out, because I'm back.

NARRATOR: The haul road ace and a crop of newcomers

are resupplying the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay.

Now she's blowing hard up here.

NARRATOR: Battling extreme weather patterns

that have temperatures reaching negative triple digits.

AUSTIN: I'm stuck here.

NARRATOR: But halfway through the season--

I'm after the load count, and this ain't working for me.

NARRATOR: The load count is still up for grabs.

In Fairbanks.

It's time to go to work.

NARRATOR: Ronald "Porkchop" Mangum is up early.

PORKCHOP: Man, it's a big day.

We got to get this thing on the ball.

Let's go.

NARRATOR: He's been trying to prove

he belongs in Alaska with a bunch of deliveries

off the Dalton.

PORKCHOP: I told Lane I was going to do it their way.

And I went slow and steady like I said I was going to.

Stayed by the book.

Starting to feel good, kind of proud of myself,

and starting to do things-- you know,

getting it done the right way.

NARRATOR: And he's about to see if it's enough to get him back

on the haul road.

PORKCHOP: What's up, Marky Mark?

MARK: Basically got you just whatever was in today.

Nice little easy load.

So it's your first solo trip.

PORKCHOP: Not a problem.

That's how we do it southern style.

Yeah, absolutely.

Well, I'm going to get out of here

so I can shag my wagon on up the road.

MARK: There you go.

Appreciate it.

All right, be safe.

PORKCHOP: This is a big shot for me.

I can prove myself up here.

I've been trying to prove myself all my life.

Well, looks like a good load.

Got some weight on the front.

NARRATOR: This 32,000 pound load of sandbags

is Porkchop's first solo run to Prudhoe Bay.

PORKCHOP: Well, everything seems to be going a little bit

better.

Got my own load finally.

Heading up to Prudhoe.

By myself, thank God.

I'm getting out of here.

[horn honking]

PORKCHOP: [coughing]

As happy as I should be, I feel like crap, so.

I don't really feel too good right now.

I feel like I got a fever, a little bit of congestion.

Well, I wish I felt a little bit better.

Big step finally.

Damn, I don't feel good.

NARRATOR: Even at his best, he's struggled in Alaska.

And at less than 100%, he'll have

to dig deep to get through the next 500 miles.

PORKCHOP: This could get rough.

NARRATOR: 100 miles up the road.

I'm back on the road doing what I love to do.

NARRATOR: Haul road ace Jack Jessee

is back from a brief hiatus.

JACK: I needed some time.

I probably should have asked for it, but circumstances the way

they were, it just--

it's the way it went down.

NARRATOR: And this load is not letting him ease back

into the job.

JACK: We've got about 48,000 pounds of pipe on here

right now.

24 inch heavy wall pipe.

NARRATOR: Used to feed the Alaskan pipeline,

long pipe keeps the oil flowing from Prudhoe Bay.

This load is important.

You know, there's guys waiting to put this pipe together up

there.

And I got get it there.

NARRATOR: But a stack of long pipe

is also one of the toughest loads to haul up the Dalton.

The hell was that noise?

I think the load just shifted on me.

Well, this is not good.

This is-- no, this is bad.

I'm going to have to fix this.

All right, we're at the pull out.

Let's get out and fix this.

Wow.

Question is what to do with this.

I'm supposed to have about this much hanging over the trailer.

I don't have anything.

And if this whole unit split over any farther,

then these straps probably would have broke,

and somebody would have been in a world of hurt.

NARRATOR: There's no way to recenter the 48,000 pound

load without heavy machinery.

JACK: Get my ratchet binder out.

I'm going to hook it to the chain.

NARRATOR: So Jack's got to improvise.

JACK: Well, I got no other alternatives.

I'm not going back to town.

It's too far away to go back to town and get this fixed right.

NARRATOR: Chained down, the load is still off center.

I've got to get this load up there.

NARRATOR: But it's better than nothing.

JACK: I thought I was going to have a great day.

But it hasn't worked out too well so far.

[inaudible],, can't get a break today.

Tomorrow will be a new day.

But I got 12 hours to go before that's going to happen.

NARRATOR: 150 miles to the north.

This is my first time on the Dalton [inaudible]..

[horn honking]

NARRATOR: Austin Wheeler's in the middle

of a career-making heavy haul convoy.

The second truck is definitely the hardest position,

the second push truck.

The third truck total.

NARRATOR: The three rig team has just 24 hours

to push a 100-ton modular building to Prudhoe Bay.

Today's a new day.

Hopefully we can make up for lost time.

NARRATOR: Last night--

CAREY: Damn it.

The engine is cutting out.

NARRATOR: The convoy was nearly canceled when engine trouble

forced teammate Carey Hall back to town.

It's just been a really bad day.

Stuff like that happens.

It's just frustrating because we had so many stops

during the day already.

It just got frustrating.

NARRATOR: Today they're back underway with relief driver

Neil Locke and Greg Vance.

AUSTIN: Well, as you can see, it snowed a couple inches

last night.

It's really [bleep] for what we're

doing right now, because you got 30-some wheels in front

of you that are just throwing snow dust.

Can't see [bleep] so you just got to trust the guy in front

of you.

NARRATOR: When two trucks are pushing the load,

timing is crucial.

The middle track has to hook up first before the third truck

moves in.

If Austin connects to early, they'll create a domino effect

that could end in disaster.

AUSTIN: Like now, how I can't see anything,

this is ridiculous.

This is dangerous.

This is really dangerous.

NARRATOR: As the team reaches the next hill,

they line up for the push.

Hey Greg, can you see at all back there?

GREG: Nope.

NARRATOR: But in the blinding snow,

Greg can't hook up to the lead truck.

AUSTIN: Let's go.

Oh [bleep].

NARRATOR: 250 miles north of Fairbanks.

Here I go.

NARRATOR: Austin Wheeler is driving blind.

Oh [bleep].

Sorry about that hit, Greg.

I didn't [inaudible].

NEIL: Austin hooked up before Greg was hooked up.

So Austin hooked into Greg and he wasn't hooked into me.

That's why we got that nudge.

With Austin right behind me, I think

I'd head off into the ditch.

This is not a good situation.

Greg loses the road, he can go off the road.

Austin is shoving him, Austin goes right off behind him.

That's bad.

It's really bad.

AUSTIN: Since Greg is the lead push truck, he kind of knows

what's going on, because he can see the load,

kind of see what Neil's doing.

Neil, on the other hand, it's hard,

because you're not sure what gear those guys are in.

You're just kind of trying to guess.

NARRATOR: The delivery deadline is only 20 hours away.

And Austin's last chance to prove

he can handle Dalton heavy haul will be the convoy's biggest

challenge.

They're approaching Atigun Pass, where recent snowfall has

the mountains primed for an avalanche.

If the snowpack breaks loose--

Whoa!

Get back!

Go back!

NARRATOR: The result could be fatal.

[dramatic music playing]

NARRATOR: At the DOT Chandalar camp--

REID: Up and away.

Got to get ready to roll.

NARRATOR: Keeping the pass clear falls on avalanche expert Reid

Bahnson.

We gotta get rolling.

You know, the clock is running.

NARRATOR: Reid is a 20-year veteran of Alaska's DOT.

It's might crack at any time.

NARRATOR: And when danger looms--

REID: Fire!

NARRATOR: He's called in to blast away avalanches

before they strike.

REID: Good shot, got it.

You get some strange looks from the truckers when

you're driving down the highway in the F-150 with a gun sitting

on top of it.

Keep going.

Rotate, rotate.

NARRATOR: Reid's weapon of choice,

a Korean War-era cannon.

Mandatory safety meeting.

This is a recoilless rifle.

Half the blast goes out the back of this weapon.

Nobody-- you understand this?

Nobody goes beyond this point.

From that area out and back, you're going to get [bleep] up

and killed.

OK, Ken, we're closed and clear, correct?

MAN: 10-4, closed and clear.

REID: All clear, ready to load.

super quick.

Hold it.

Clear the front.

All clear!

Ready to fire, fire!

NARRATOR: Shot one, no action.

REID: [inaudible]!

Shot 112.

Clear the front, clear the rear!

All clear.

Ready to fire, fire!

NARRATOR: Shot two.

The snow holds solid.

REID: Let's dial it in really tight this time,

see if we can't get it to run.

Hold it!

All clear.

Ready to fire, fire!

Let's see what happens.

Yeah!

Right on.

Here it comes.

Looking good.

OK, Ken, we're clear.

Slide path 25 just released.

The guys got the road under control,

and the trucks are rolling.

NARRATOR: The danger is diffused,

and Atigun is open for business.

REID: And they'll be rolling all day there.

That's all that counts.

NARRATOR: 50 miles south at the Coldfoot truck stop.

Well, I'm going to pull out ahead of him

and take the load count.

NARRATOR: Word of Jack Jessee's return

has reached Darrell Ward.

DARRELL: I'm going up against the haul road ace.

I'm chasing him for load count.

Yesterday was kind of another chop-chop day.

Long drive, short trip.

So I'm going to roll on north.

NARRATOR: He'd be a load up on Jack if not for last night's

setback.

Delays, delays, delays.

NARRATOR: A truck jackknifed across the road put him

behind schedule.

That's part of the life of a trucker,

and I don't want to see Reno to end up in that same boat,

you know?

NARRATOR: But reminded him why he's here.

Oh yeah, Reno would love to be snowmobiling up here right now.

Nice snow.

NARRATOR: On the pass, the avalanche danger

may have been cleared.

But the slick road and sheer cliffs remain.

Slick out here, man.

I'm telling you.

[bleep] damn it, man.

Sliding all over the place.

It's slick, slick, slick today.

Right on.

I made it through the pass, and I'm good to go.

[music playing]

Oh!

Oh [bleep]!

My trailer coming out [inaudible]..

[bleep] that's slick.

That [bleep] road is slick as hell.

I'm just rolling along, my trailer

just headed for the ditch on the side over here.

Wow, that was close.

Close as I want to get.

Makes you think, you know, same thing happened to that truck

on 9 mile.

Trailer slid around, and you know, could have been me

sitting in the same situation.

I about need to stop and clean my drawers out after that one.

NARRATOR: 2,400 miles east in Manitoba,

Canada, a brutally warm season has washed Hugh and Rick's

hopes of cashing in on the winter roads.

HUGH: Holy [bleep].

NARRATOR: They've only delivered a handful of loads.

[laughing]

We might not be going anywhere.

NARRATOR: A deer mouse infestation left Rick's truck

undrivable.

MAN: We can't make sure nobody goes in there.

NARRATOR: And Rick is sidelined with a potentially fatal

infection.

It's like a 2% survival rate if you get hantavirus.

NARRATOR: And Hugh's profit sharing deal

is looking like a bust.

If we can't get this [bleep] straightened out.

NARRATOR: At Polar Industries, Rick's truck

is ready to roll after our complete clean-out.

But Rick's still out of commission.

Hey Wilson. VLAD: Hey Hugh, how's it going?

HUGH: Rick is still sick.

Still sick.

HUGH: So did you get that truck of yours running?

VLAD: Truck of mine?

How much are you guys paying?

HUGH: I'll give you the going rate.

NARRATOR: And with his season on the line,

Hugh is calling a Hail Mary.

This year there's a lot of loads hanging out here,

and you got to get them in there.

I got Wilson driving one truck and got the mechanic

driving the other one.

And Derek's never been up the road before.

NARRATOR: His plan is to lead a convoy of dispatcher Vlad

"Wilson" Pleskot--

It looks like a short dispatch day for me,

because Hugh asked me to take a load up with him.

NARRATOR: And shop mechanic Derek Berry,

who's never driven on the ice.

DEREK: I don't know where he got this crazy idea from.

I think he's-- he's not right in the head right now.

NARRATOR: Today they've got three trailers of cement headed

across Lake Winnipeg and over the winter

roads for a construction project in Pauingassi, Manitoba.

VLAD: Wilson and Lewis, ready to go.

Let's rock and roll.

NARRATOR: If the plan works, Hugh

will earn another load for himself

and put three more on the books for Polar Industries.

The loads have to go up there, and they all

have to be up there tomorrow.

NARRATOR: But if it doesn't, Hugh, the Polar staff

and 39 bags of cement could end up

on the bottom of Lake Winnipeg.

You will have panic all over the place there,

and it will be a good show.

NARRATOR: 1,000 miles to the northwest.

I'm 134 kilometers down the tungsten mine road.

NARRATOR: Alex Debogorski is learning the ropes

on the one-lane mine road.

Are you behind me now, Alex?

I can't see you.

This is no place to get into trouble.

OK, Alex, stay to your left.

It kind of leans the wrong way.

Two of the boys have been upside down here.

Just kind of watch yourself.

OK.

Yes, it's a dangerous road.

If you get in trouble on this road,

you're going to be two hours before you get help.

You bleed to death a lot faster than that.

You freeze to death faster.

It depends if you're upside down down in the gully.

You can ask Brento.

How many trucks have been over this road?

How many trucks got smashed?

How many guys survived?

NARRATOR: The road narrows as they head closer to the mine

and deeper into the mountains.

If you're not careful, these roads will bite you.

And this road is just like any other.

NARRATOR: 250 miles north of Fairbanks.

[coughing]

NARRATOR: Porkchop is seven hours into what should

be a triumphant first solo run.

PORKCHOP: I still feel like I got a fever.

I just all around don't feel good.

NARRATOR: But all he wants to do is take a nap.

Got me some coffee in me.

Took me a shot of energy.

Hopefully it'll get me on up the road here a good little ways.

The better you feel, the better you got your wits about you.

[coughing]

Not as good as I should feel.

Just trying to get this day over with.

Got a lot of [inaudible].

The first time out here by myself,

I want to play it by the books, get everything done.

Let's get her back get her--

get her done.

Huh, look up ahead of us.

Porkchop, copy.

10-4.

NARRATOR: All season--

All right, you're done driving.

Pull over.

NARRATOR: Trainer Phil Kromm hasn't

been impressed with Porkchop.

I wouldn't feel comfortable signing an authorization.

NARRATOR: And now he's checking in on his former student.

How do you feel?

Alert and awake and doing OK?

Yeah, so far, so good.

Just don't be afraid to ask if you got any questions.

10-4, thank you, sir.

NARRATOR: But Phil's offer to help falls on suspicious ears.

35-year-old man.

I don't need some--

somebody that's been driving a couple of years longer than me,

just because he knows the road, try to tell me how to drive.

I'm here to do what I do.

PHIL: Porkchop's got 15 years of driving experience,

but he didn't learn all the best driving skills.

And up here on the haul road, you

have to have the best driving skills.

And I think he can learn them, but I think

it's going to take a while.

I got people sitting here watching over me and looking

at me like I'm a piece of prey and they're a hawk up on a limb

waiting on me to make a wrong move so they can swoop

in and gouge my eyeballs out or something.

NARRATOR: 300 miles north of Fairbanks.

AUSTIN: It's just been a really long trip.

I usually don't have anything happen to me.

NARRATOR: Austin Wheeler is still

dwelling on his mistimed push earlier in the day.

AUSTIN: Sometimes you can't help but to him them hard.

That's what push trucking is about.

NARRATOR: The convoy has just 12 hours

to make it to Prudhoe Bay.

AUSTIN: Well, we're down here at the shelf.

NARRATOR: And they've reached their biggest challenge.

Hopefully the pass is good to go.

NEIL: Everything good back there?

Yeah, I'm good.

NARRATOR: Atigun Pass the 23-year-old's last shot

at proving himself as a Dalton heavy hauler.

Here that kind of mistake Austin made earlier could be fatal.

Are you hooked?

Yeah, I'll back off if I need to.

OK.

NEIL: Yeah, you're good to go.

[dramatic music playing]

Holy smokes.

Hang on.

NARRATOR: He makes the connection.

Right now I'm hooked up to Greg.

Greg's hooked up to Neil.

NARRATOR: But it's still a mile to the top.

AUSTIN: Yeah, if Greg accidentally disconnects

from the bumper of the trailer, and I'm still looked up to him,

I could push him right into the ditch, because I'm still,

you know, pushing on him hard.

NARRATOR: Finally, Austin's in the clear,

as the 100 ton load makes it over the pass.

So you don't need us the rest of the way in?

NEIL: No, all good.

NARRATOR: He'll see the mission through to Prudhoe Bay.

But the hardest part is over.

It's flat from 62 mile all the way in to Prudhoe.

We don't really need push trucks anymore,

and we can cruise on in to Prudhoe Bay.

NARRATOR: In Manitoba.

We have three loads of concrete

to go down to Pauingassi.

NARRATOR: Hugh is on a Hail Mary run.

Rick is still sick, so I talked [bleep] Wilson

into coming for a trip.

He ain't been up here since last year trucking.

So he decided he'd come along.

We got a rookie here going across the ice bridge

his first [bleep] time.

It's good for him.

So you just [bleep] rotate.

It keeps the load going, and hopefully everything goes good.

NARRATOR: The makeshift team is Hugh's last ditch attempt

to salvage his season.

But before they reach the ice--

Hey buddy.

What's that?

NARRATOR: The rookie gets some words of advice.

Poor guy, never been on the ice roads.

Oh, he's [bleep].

I've taken a lot of guys up there on their first time.

And some of them, they're big brave boys.

But by the time they get there, lots of them

just get out of the truck and say I can do her.

Well, in case you're scared, just,

you know, keep the truck rolling in the first gear.

Jump out.

Jump out and go home.

Yeah, you can always do that.

[sighing]

What, you're telling me you forgot your Speedos today?

DEREK: I forgot my Speedos.

Did you bring that life jacket that was on the stairs?

DEREK: I'm not going swimming.

I'm not going swimming. No.

No.

What the hell am I doing out here?

I'm just a mechanic.

I am the mechanic.

NARRATOR: 2,100 miles to the northwest,

on Alaska's north slope.

[horn honking]

See if I can't whip this day out in a pretty timely manner.

NARRATOR: Darrell Ward has made it to Prudhoe Bay ahead of Jack

Jessee.

Coming into Prudhoe here, drop my trailer off.

Go ahead to dispatch, get another load,

whip over and throw some fuel on this old girl.

And Jack's going to be following me.

NARRATOR: But just behind Darrell--

We're about 30 minutes out of Prudhoe.

NARRATOR: Jack's crawling up the Dalton with an off-center load

of pipe.

Kind of funny.

I've had a pretty rough trip, but I

think they've saved the worst part for the last.

NARRATOR: And as the sun goes down, visibility is near zero.

I'm not a big fan of twilight up here.

It's hard to see anyway.

You put ice fog into it, it makes it even worse.

I can't tell where the edges are.

I can barely see the end of my hood.

It's really hard to tell between fog and ground level,

because everything kind of looks the same bluish gray.

You can't see any texture.

You got-- you got no definition.

Shoulders look just the same as a tundra, which

looks just the same as the fog.

I don't want to meet anybody out here.

I mean, just look at-- look at that!

I can barely even see the delineators out here, man.

Hey, southbound, how fast you going there?

I think I'm on my side of the road.

NARRATOR: The off-center load leaves

no room for sudden movements.

It's getting a little close, it's getting a little close.

Slow down!

Crap.

That was close.

These dangers, they're real up here.

But doesn't matter what's in front of me,

I'm going to get the job done.

NARRATOR: Pushing through the ice fog,

Jack pulls into Prudhoe Bay.

JACK: Got in here.

It's all in one piece.

It's still on the trailer.

NARRATOR: 800 miles to the southeast.

ALEX: So I'm on the Nahanni Range

Road, about three quarters of the way into the tungsten mine.

NARRATOR: Alex Debogorski and Brento Labonte

are 100 miles up the mine road.

Yeah is this where you're not supposed to sleep.

That's where you're not supposed to sleep.

I like that.

Well, where was that truck that was buried that they had

to dig out that was covered up?

BRENTO: That was a load of ore that went down over the bank.

Just up here by this top checkerboard.

You have a look off to your right,

you'll see where I'm talking about.

NARRATOR: As they get closer to the mine,

the cliffs get steeper, and the drop gets farther.

ALEX: Easy.

Can't tell under that snow whether that's the shoulder.

You go over that cliff, you're dead.

Oh, this is it right here.

NARRATOR: Alex reaches the last mile, the steepest pass

on the mine road.

ALEX: Didn't get much of a run on that one,

I'll tell you that.

This one's going to be a little harder.

What the hell.

I think I've got a problem here.

It didn't quite go all the way in.

NARRATOR: The rough climb is popping his truck out of gear.

ALEX: Come on, baby.

We're almost there.

Come on, come on.

Hang on.

NARRATOR: In Northwest Territories,

Alex Debogorski is fighting to keep his truck

in gear and on the road.

ALEX: Whoa!

Darn truck.

Come on, baby, we're almost there.

Come on, come on.

Come on.

BRENTO: Over the top.

ALEX: Yes!

That's the [inaudible].

Thank you, Lord.

It's a fairly steep climb.

I had to hang on to the gear shift

to make sure it didn't pop out of gear.

Anyway, it worked out, and it didn't blow the transmission

up, and we made the hill.

Thank goodness I had Brento leading me in.

You're wonderful, Brento.

Thank you.

NARRATOR: After 11 hours riding on the edge--

Here's the camp coming over the hill.

NARRATOR: Alex and Brento make the deadline with just an hour

to spare.

Perfect.

[inaudible] will be happy that their driver and truck got

there in one piece, and they'll be happy to get their chemicals

in one piece.

And I'll be happy to go in there and have two steaks for supper

time.

NARRATOR: And thanks to Alex, the mine

will stay in operation.

ALEX: Well, thank you very much.

BRENTO: Hey, too much fun, Alex.

Yeah, good trip.

Yeah, it was so.

Good fun.

OK, good enough, thanks.

OK.

Now it's time to eat some supper.

NARRATOR: 800 miles to the northwest.

AUSTIN: OK.

NARRATOR: The heavy haul team pulls into Prudhoe Bay.

Thanks. MAN: Nice working with you.

Hopefully I'll-- hopefully I'll see you guys in a couple

of days.

NARRATOR: They've made the deadline,

and Austin earns another notch in his heavy haul belt.

You know, you just got to prove yourself out here

to the older guys.

You've got to prove that you know the road.

Now they understand that I have what it takes to be up here.

NARRATOR: Just a mile outside of town--

Yeah!

That's what I'm talking about.

NARRATOR: Porkchop's at the end of his first solo

run on the Dalton.

[horn honking]

Boo-yah!

Prudhoe Bay, get the hell out the way.

Here comes the Chop.

NARRATOR: And there's no better cure than the likes of Prudhoe

Bay.

PORKCHOP: Still feel a little under the weather,

but, you know, for the most part I feel pretty good.

Feels pretty good to have a moral victory for once

while I'm up here.

First trip to freaking Prudhoe, by myself, baby.

I told you you can't stop the Chop.

That's one way to chop one up on the load count.

Yee-doggy!

NARRATOR: Pork Chop is just two loads off the lead,

behind a three-way tie for the top spot.

In Winnipeg, Canada--

We're at the winter road.

NARRATOR: Hugh's Hail Mary convoy

is going to be put to the test.

[horn honking]

We need three loads up to Pauingassi today, three loads

of cement.

But Rick is still sick.

So he wrangled Vlad into it here.

So I got another guy, and he's never even been on the [bleep]

ice before.

Oh, this is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy, man.

I've just hauled on the highway.

I haven't done no winter roads.

Never.

He's, uh, in his bunk right now [bleep] cleaning his

shorts.

[bleep].

So how do you think the mechanic is going to do?

He's going to be OK going across there?

He's got-- he's got second cigarette in his mouth in two

minutes, so.

NARRATOR: The team's about to hit the ice.

I'm-- I'm feeling nervous.

I'm-- I'm pretty nervous right now.

NARRATOR: And the time for joking is over.

HUGH: But go slow coming on and off the ice.

Always go slow.

And then just hit that bridge straight.

But only go about 5 kilometers an hour

or lower across that bridge.

Slow as you can go.

Just walk across it.

Wow.

Driving on ice.

Never driven across ice, never drilled holes in ice.

I've never done nothing on ice, except put it in my drink.

And now I have to haul 32 tons across the ice.

[whistles]

OK, get at her.

Wish me luck.

NARRATOR: Next time on Ice Road Truckers.

OK are we ready, boys?

NARRATOR: Hugh's big gamble--

Oh my God, it's cracking.

NARRATOR: Is falling apart.

HUGH: Come on!

It's going to be a long, long night.

NARRATOR: On the Dalton-- [horn honking]

[bleep] look out.

NARRATOR: The haul road rivalry reaches a peak.

Don't cut my throat to keep your nickname.

It's all about freight, man.

Holy [bleep].

NARRATOR: And things get personal.

[horn honking]

PORKCHOP: Get out the way!

Suck on this, Jack.

Ugh!

NARRATOR: And in the Yukon, Alex has a million dollar load

on the edge.

ALEX: Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on!