Ice Road Truckers

On one of the coldest frontiers on the planet, the Ice Road Truckers brave treacherous terrain to deliver crucial supplies to northern diamond mines. Take a look back at the highs and lows of the first season.

It is a job only a few would dare. This year, four ice road truckers, Hugh, Alex, Rick and Drew, return from last season to join Arctic veterans as they venture 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

After just two days in the Arctic, the critical demands of the oil exploration sites are testing the limits of the truckers and their machines. Both the veterans and rookies are delayed in the shop by mechanical failures.

Just five days into the Arctic adventure, Mother Nature is about to strike and wreak havoc on the ice roads. Making matters worse is a report of a trucker who has run off the road and is stranded on the weakest part.

After the storm clears, most of the truckers are ready to roll--all except Rick, who is on the verge of quitting and looks to Hugh for advice. For a second time, Jerry attempts the MGM camp move, including the transport of an expensive 50-ton derrick.

It's week two on the frozen tundra and the name of the game is Rig Move. MGM is breaking down camp and moving every last piece of equipment to a new base at Langley to continue exploring for natural gas.

The truckers have delivered the fragile 135-foot derrick to the new MGM exploration site, but before it can be erected, they must also transport the 80-ton substructure that will form its base.

Bear and Eric must haul a boiler and a flare stack--two critical pieces of equipment--to Langley at the same time that a polar bear is spotted in the area. In this region of the Arctic.

After being Med-Evaced to Yellowknife hospital, Alex receives a grim diagnosis that could mean the end of his Ice Road season.

Research site before the ice road melts, but while scientists are on the verge of an historic breakthrough, the truckers are starting to haul away equipment piece-by-piece.

With the sun beating down on the ice, the road is melting at an accelerating rate. This means that it's all hands on deck for the demobilization of the drilling sites at Langley and Mallik, which must be broken down.

Rising temperatures are melting away the ice road, making it a dash to the finish line for the crew breaking down the Langely site. Every last piece of equipment must be transported down the ice.

Warming temperatures are causing overflows all over the ice road, and with water rushing through cracks in the ice, hauling loads just got a lot more dangerous.

With the ice road melting at a quickening rate, the truckers reflect on their first season tackling the treacherous roads of the Arctic. At the start of the season these veteran drivers from the south were nothing more than Arctic rookies.

Hugh and Eric are neck-in-neck in their race to claim dominance over the ice road, but with only days before the end of the season, time is running out and the ocean waters are closing in.