The documentary series examining the dangerous job of driving trucks on Canada’s ice highways continues. This week, as spring approaches, the truckers race to dismantle the Arctic bases before the ice melts. Hugh aims to overtake Eric in the total number of hauls. Rick puts his truck in the garage once again. And a rookie trucker faces a nerve-racking first drive on the ice.
Spring is just around the corner and the ice road is melting beneath the trucks’ wheels. The time has come to dismantle the Arctic drilling stations. Supervisor Jerry Dusdal has responsibility for ensuring that the base at Langely, erected earlier in the season, is disassembled quickly and safely. “It’s been a long winter. Got to try and keep it focused, keep it motivated so that we don’t have a screw up,” he says. “Time to get off the Arctic Ocean and head for land.”
Hugh Rowland is behind Eric Dufresne in the total number of hauls this season, with 58 loads to his rival’s 59. This week, Hugh sets out to catch Eric by making two trips in one day. He is given a welcome break from hauling sewage when he is assigned the tricky job of transporting iron mats and cable drums. Travelling up the highway, Hugh reflects on the way in which he has been accepted by the Inuvik truckers. “At first they were a little bit sheepish, butnow everybody talks to me,” he says. “I guess I had to prove myself.”
Like the other truckers, Hugh is finding the late-season ice road a slick and slippery affair. With his trailer weighted heavily at the back, it is hard for his cab to find traction. Despite the lack of grip on the road, Hugh makes it to Inuvik in time to drop off his load and speed back to Langley. For his second load of the day, he is back to shipping wastewater – but he has no reason to complain, as the trip puts him in joint first place with Eric.
Elsewhere, Rick Yemm begins his 45th run of the season with frozen brakes putting his trailer out of action. A few judicious knocks with a mallet and a blast from the blowtorch helps get the rig moving. Rick sets off to deliver a 13-ton off-road vehicle to a group of prospectors hunting for potential sites of natural gas. The researchers are looking for next year’s drilling location, and their work involves dynamiting the permafrost to pinpoint possible deposits of gas and oil.
No sooner has Rick returned to his base in Tuk than his truck breaks down again. There is no love lost between Rick and the mechanics, who accuse the hotshot trucker of driving his rig too hard. Rick is made to wait for two hours before his vehicle is admitted to the workshop. “I guess this truck isn’t on the high-concern list,” he jokes. His pal Hugh, however, can only shake his head when he hears of this latest incident. “Rick’s gonna have to smarten up,” he says. “You don’t drive a truck like that – that’s disrespectful.”
Also this week, novice driver Devon Neff makes his first trip on the ice road. Devon is the protégé of supervisor Marcel Bisson, who has taken something of gamble in allowing the rookie to drive on the ice. “He’s been after me for the last couple of years to try and get him up here,” Marcel says. “If he doesn’t do me good, I’m gonna kill him!” Devon’s brash, confident exterior thaws a little once he hits the road, which is itself in danger of melting away.
Devon’s errand is to transport a pair of diesel tanks weighing 38 tons from Langley to Inuvik. To make the journey extra challenging, he is confronted with an ‘overflow’ on his return drive. “Overflow? You mean I gotta drive through water?” he asks. It transpires that water has broken through cracks in the ice and is flooding over the surface of the road. “I don’t like the fact that it’s four feet from the truck!” Devon remarks, as he looks across at the melting ice.
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