Ice Road Truckers

Lisa Kelly auditions to be the first woman to break into the elite Heavy Haul division by commanding a convoy of pilot cars while hauling 80-foot sections of wide-gauge pipe. Having spun out before with a much shorter load, she faces a daunting task involving a 600 mile run through the Brooks Range mountains, over the wind-blasted North Slope, and across the ice road of the Arctic Ocean itself. Hugh “The Polar Bear” Rowland aims for an even bigger title–that of master of all of North American ice roads. But Hugh’s archrival Alex Debogorski is matching him shift-for-shift. In an epic five hundred mile race that runs from the truck yards of Fairbanks to the shores of the Arctic Ocean, Hugh and Alex duel for North American bragging rights. Tim Freeman’s goal is a more universal one–survival. He wants to finish his rookie season with his truck, and himself, in one piece.

The race is on to make it to Prudhoe before a wicked storm turns fierce. Despite a cloud of ice fog, Hugh and Phil make it through the worst of the storm and celebrate at the top of Atigun Pass.

Record snowfall mixed with now warmer temperatures has turned Atigun Pass into a devil’s slide – slippery than ever and at an all time high for avalanche risk.

With just three weeks to go, everyone is pushing it to the limit to get the freight to Deadhorse before the season ends. Lisa rushes to Carlile to pick up her next load. She’s convoying north with Jack Jesse. On the road, he shows her how to avoid spinning out by shifting gears. Hugh and Phil have been doing short turns all week to get storm-delayed freight from Coldfoot to Deadhorse. On today’s trip, Hugh discovers that he and Alex are not the only fierce competitors on the ice road. Phil is battling with his nemesis at Carlile, Drew—they get into a heated debate on the CB about who has the most trips this month. Since Hugh’s logs are same as Phil’s, he thinks they will win this one. Tim and George are delayed again in Fairbanks because George’s truck is in the shop. But when they finally get on the road, it’s Tim’s truck that develops a fatal electrical problem. The rookie is severely disappointed and has to turn back again while George carries on north by himself.

There’s only two weeks left to pull in the big bucks and get all the loads to the oil fields. Hugh’s impatience with his trainer driver Phil’s slow pace nearly causes him to spin out on one of the steep slopes of the Atigun Pass–a place where the slightest misstep can send a truck over the cliff. In Fairbanks, Lisa, who has a reputation for fast driving, decides to convoy on her next load with veteran George Spears and rookie Tim Freeman, who refer to themselves as “Slow and Slower.” On the road, Lisa spins out, forcing her to back down a hill–while traffic in both directions comes to a complete standstill. Alex delivers a load to Deadhorse, equaling Hugh Rowland’s load count. Determined to take the lead, Alex immediately takes a back haul assignment, but the load isn’t strapped securely and threatens to fall off.

With only two weeks left of the winter season, the race is on to deliver the remaining loads before the ice roads melt away. But this late in the game, truckers are besieged by mechanical breakdowns and a volcanic eruption in Southern Alaska has put unexpected pressure on this remote road. The volcanic eruption has also shutdown Alaska’s fuel refineries, leaving Deadhorse extremely short on fuel. Without diesel, the generators that supply power and heat are likely to run dry. The impending crisis prompts Carlile Trucking to give the first load of diesel reserves to their ace trucker, Jack. He races up the ice with the flammable load, only to be put to the test when an oncoming truck heads straight for him on a hairpin corner. Up in Deadhorse, rookie Lisa assists a stranded airline passenger with a ride south only to be left high and dry herself with a major breakdown–in negative thirty. Stranded with no heat, their only hope is rescue.

The truckers and their rigs are running ragged as they race to pull in the last loads. Lisa can’t get out of the Carlile yard in Fairbanks–the trailer they’ve assigned her has a massive air leak. To stay in the running she accepts a new load: a van full of high explosives. The harsh icy conditions southbound on Atigun Pass cause Jack to spin out for the first time this season. George and Tim barely make it through Atigun themselves, but by doing so, Tim gains much needed experience, and George feels that Tim is ready to drive solo. Alex heads north from Fairbanks with his convoy partner Ron, whose truck breaks down with an oil line leak. Alex and Ron wait overnight for a part to arrive, and then must fix the truck themselves by the side of the road. As Hugh heads south, he finds fellow Canadian Alex in the coffee shop and the two old pals (and competitors) have a brief moment to catch up before both hit the road again.

As the final 72 hours of the Ice Road season tick away, legendary driver George Spears calls it a career, Lisa Kelly makes a harrowing 300-mile run with no brakes, the rivalry between Alex Debogorski and Hugh “The Polar Bear” Rowland comes down to the final load, and polar bears–real ones–shut down the Ice Road in front of Jack Jessee, as the “Dash for the Cash” comes down to the wire.