The documentary series examining the lucrative but highly dangerous job of driving trucks on Canada’s ice highways continues. In this episode, the truckers are called upon to help dismantle and move a massive drilling station. Rick is stuck waiting for repairs to his truck while Drew takes his first ride on the ocean ice.
Ice-road supervisor Jerry Dusdal faces his biggest job of the season this week when he is asked to oversee the transportation of a huge drilling rig. The station at Aput has failed to find any oil, so owner MGM plans to move the entire base 50 miles north to a site at Langley. It is estimated that up to a quarter of the world’s untapped gas reserves lie in the Arctic, and MGM hopes to find a new source. Hundreds of tons of valuable equipment must be shifted by truck and time is of the essence, as the company loses $250,000 for each day the rig is out of commission. “Am I nervous? Yeah, a little bit,” says Jerry.
For trucker Eric Dufresne, the job is reminiscent of dismantling a giant Lego kit. “You create something and then you can take it all apart,” he says. His first task is to deliver a 31-ton generator to Langley, driving at a top speed of just 18mph. After that, he must take a 19-ton survival shack to Inuvik. Perched on skis on the back of his trailer, the cabin is too high to pass under the power cables lining Inuvik’s streets, so Eric must park his truck outside town and spend the night in his cabin. The next morning, the shack is unloaded and towed into town on its skis.
Hugh Rowland, meanwhile, has to deliver a crucial batch of wooden mats to Langley. The mats are placed on the ice to protect it from thawing. The rig is then constructed on top. Hugh sets out in comparatively balmy temperatures of –20 degrees Fahrenheit. “It’s a perfect day for trucking up the ice road,” he says. Along the way, he reflects on his love for the job, and expresses doubts about Drew Sherwood and Rick Yemm’s ability to stay the course.
Hugh’s scepticism seems to be well founded, as Rick is still stuck in Tuktoyaktuk, having broken his third truck of the season. Rick hotly denies that his driving is to blame, but engineer Shaun Lundrigan diplomatically expresses his frustration. “Two trucks that Rick was driving and they’re both down and in the shop at the same time,” he remarks. “I think Rick’s a little hard on trucks.”
In Inuvik, Drew is faring rather better. He has completed four journeys on the ice road so far, but now he is about to cross the sea for the first time His mission is to deliver food supplies to Tuk. “I don’t try to think about driving on the ocean,” he says. “I don’t think that it might be 400ft underneath. You do that and you’d just be a nervous wreck.”
Back in Aput, Jerry oversees the lowering of the drilling station’s derrick. This 135ft-high metal structure is the tallest and most expensive tower in the Arctic, costing a cool $1.5million. “If we drop that or did something to it, there isn’t another one around,” says Jerry. “They have to make another one.” The freezing temperatures render metal extremely brittle, which means the derrick is in danger of bending or shattering. It takes three trucks to lower the tower to the ground.
The operation has proceeded smoothly, but now a storm is fast approaching. Jerry and MGM boss John Williams must decide whether or not to risk transporting the derrick in a virtual whiteout. “You can plan everything and if the weather ain’t co-operating with you, your plan just went out the window,” says a rueful Jerry. Will they err on the side of caution, or will they risk the safety of the equipment and the truckers by sending them into a blizzard?
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