Ice Road Truckers just premiered its 11th season. The first episode was filled with emotions as the cast tussled with the loss of their friend and fellow trucker Darrell Ward, who recently died in a plane crash. The show began with a monologue by Ward and credits included the inscription “Dedicated to our fallen comrade”. Ward was, and will continue to be, an Ice Road legend. The cast members contributed their thoughts, and then moved forward with business.
Contributing to the overall tension was the fact that climate change has shorted two prior seasons with warm weather. The truckers not only had a huge backload of undelivered loads from the previous season, and nobody had been on the roads to know exactly what conditions to expect. The ice roads serve the First Nations villages, and to say they are remote is an understatement. The work camps and villages in the Northwest Territory are Canada’s most difficult to supply. The rigs must make journeys hundreds of miles long. The roads include paths over frozen lakes. The ice may hold, but heavy rigs have also broken through the ice and sunk to the bottom…cargo and driver together.
Lisa Kelly, who lost her business partner when Darrell Ward died, had a first run by herself of 900 miles. With customers waiting for goods promised the previous season, Kelly set out on her own. With 150 miles left on her trek, her truck ran into trouble. Kelly had to climb under and fix a leaking rubber air valve.
Todd Dewey accomplished two runs with huge loads. He was pulling a lowboy loaded with heavy equipment. He ran into trouble when an icy hill forced him to slide backward and try again. His run home included returning another heavy piece of equipment, and that would double his paycheck. But his run was overshadowed by the sadness which overcame him due to the death of his good friend Darrell.
Greenhorn single mother Steph Custance returned this season. Her first task was to pick up a stranded trailer; miles away. The road was so bad she had no choice to chain up her tires. She was bobtailing, and without a trailer load behind, the road conditions were much more treacherous with the extra weight to stabilize the truck.
Art Burke, the wild card, was sent out to take the northern route on his trek. It would add an extra day of travel time over the icy roads. When he got radio confirmation from a tanker truck heading in the opposite direction that the southern route was okay, Burke chucked orders out the window and headed south. He ended up crossing Island Lake at night, accompanied to the sounds of cracking and popping ice. He made it across the ice, but faced a 15 percent grade just before his destination. He could see Garden Hill’s lights flickering in the distance, but he couldn’t get up the icy grade fast enough to crest it. He ended up having to back onto the icy lake for a second try, knowing that the truck might end up sinking into the lake with him inside. It was a white-knuckle moment heightened by strategic underwater camera views of the truck seen from below through the ice.
What is it that keeps the Ice Road Truckers partnering with danger? Of course- great pay. But highest risk, too. These long-haul truckers are a tenacious lot. They know that their customers are highly dependent on their loads. The brutal Canadian winters are a barrier which keeps customers and goods divided. Whether their load is sensitive supplies for diamond mines or heavy metal for Arctic Ocean drilling rigs, they drive their rigs over frozen rivers and icy seas. These guys are daredevils. Give them great respect. They work for the money…sure… trucking crazy… like no others.
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