Original subtitles

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Tonight on "Ice Road Truckers"--

She's dragging up big time under me here.

NARRATOR: --the Canadians battle thin ice.

We're right in her now.

NARRATOR: And in Alaska, rookies run wild.

I'm going to take out the top dogs.

NARRATOR: As everyone guns for the top spot.

I'm going to be like a rocket ship to Prudhoe.

As far as I'm concerned, you're

not qualified to be here.

NARRATOR: But when Mother Nature strikes--

We're going to get into a blow that

is going to be zero visibility.

NARRATOR: --nobody's making it home.

We're not going to get through this.

AUSTIN WHEELER: I'm stuck here.

[theme music]

[music playing]

NARRATOR: In Fairbanks--

I'm going into dispatch.

It's about 5:30 in the morning.

Go see what they got for me to bring to Prudhoe today.

NARRATOR: --eager rookie Austin Wheeler is first

through the door at dispatch.

You got me some paperwork?

It's too early in the morning for this [bleep],, Austin.

I'm ready to go, man.

Little mini excavator for our mini heavy hauler.

Yes.

Hell, yeah.

It's only 18,000 pounds.

It's going to be like a rocket ship to Prudhoe.

All right. Stay out of trouble.

All right.

See ya.

NARRATOR: Since the season began,

Austin's been enrolled in the School of Jack Jessee.

You're Austin?

Yes, sir.

NARRATOR: But the 23-year-old hasn't

been impressed with the ace.

Well, he's a douchebag for sitting in Coldfoot while I

loaded up the truck by myself.

NARRATOR: Today, Austin's running solo, getting

his first taste of freedom and a chance to set his own pace.

AUSTIN WHEELER: Shoot up to Prudhoe, one day,

spend the night, jet back the next day

and go straight back up.

Just keep hammering them out.

There are some more experienced people

in my way of being the load count champ,

but that's not going to stop me, because I know that, you know,

in here, I can do it.

Well, everything checks out good.

Let's get out of here.

My goal is to beat Jack in the load count.

NARRATOR: Hauling an 18,000 pound

load of excavation equipment, Austin's first out of the yard.

AUSTIN WHEELER: Who decides to show up for work, Jack Jessee.

We'll give him a honk.

[honk]

Just showing up to work an hour after I do.

That's the way I like it.

NARRATOR: But this morning, Jack's got more on his mind

than getting a load.

I think Austin came in a little too strong.

If he thinks he can handle this without any instructions,

he should probably turn around and go back

wherever he came from.

NARRATOR: After struggling to rein in the rookie--

Man, Austin.

Hammer down, boys.

NARRATOR: --Jack's taking his concerns to the boss.

JACK JESSEE: So, Austin.

I think we need to talk about him a little bit.

Really?

JACK JESSEE: I think he's trying to do too much, too fast.

He's getting in too big of a hurry.

Separated the convoy by 30 miles at one point.

And he just-- he ran off and left me.

Like, it's not sinking in.

He's just getting ahead of himself.

I don't want him to learn bad habits.

I appreciate your opinion.

If I think a guy's a problem on the road,

I don't have any problem pulling him off there.

But I just don't believe that's the case with Austin right now.

I think he's got what it takes.

Maybe you better go out and get in your truck

and take your load.

And I'll worry about getting Austin off the road.

All right.

Jack and Austin didn't get along very well,

didn't hit it off right away.

Not that I disagreed with Jack, but the bottom line is,

Austin's got the skill to handle the big stuff.

He's proved that.

Maybe Jack's threatened by that.

I don't know.

But I have to be fair to all my drivers,

give them all a fair shot.

NARRATOR: With the veteran's doubts falling on deaf ears,

Jack hooks up to his load of lumber in a pickup truck.

I went in there and said my piece.

I don't know if he was listening that well or not,

but Austin doesn't have near the miles as I do.

And I know Lane ain't got near the miles that I do, if any.

Lane wants me to step up and lead the pack this year.

But if nobody's going to listen to me, why bother?

NARRATOR: 250 miles up the road, after spending the night

in Coldfoot, Darrell Ward is already halfway

to Prudhoe Bay with a 28,000 pound load of portable heaters.

I'm headed north.

It started snowing.

And you know, what I got to watch

for is somebody else getting crossways in the road

and me coming up on him and not seeing him, you know.

Or they could be on my side of the road,

because they're not as capable of doing this as I am.

NARRATOR: Just two weeks into the season,

Darrell's tied for the lead in the load count.

DARRELL WARD: The farther north I go, the worse she gets.

NARRATOR: And the Montana legend isn't

about to let a mistake knock him from the top spot.

DARRELL WARD: You know, this road

could be a little slick today.

And I got this load that I'm afraid is going to move around

on me.

So I will take it easy.

I just keep an eye on everything and make sure it's good.

I'm ready to roll, rock and roll.

Good feeling, when they realize what I can do.

I'm doing my job.

They're happy with it.

Awesome.

Makes me feel good.

NARRATOR: Holding a half day's lead

on the rest of the pack, Darrell's approach

is paying off.

DARRELL WARD: I'm killing it.

I'm going to take out the top dog.

I'm going to be the new top dog.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: 2,400 miles to the southeast,

in Manitoba, Canada--

We got 16 fresh water tanks going to St. Theresa Island.

What if I poop in one?

Then we have 15 fresh water tanks and one sewage tank.

NARRATOR: Back from their first trip

and anxious to get in another run,

Hugh and Rick are turning and burning.

Sir, you may want to polar bear-ize those.

Yeah?

NARRATOR: Today, they're heading 300 miles north,

hauling fresh water tanks to the village of St. Theresa.

I do them tight.

He does them polar bear tight.

Let's roll.

Apparently, they got more loads

going up this year than any other year so far.

So that needs to get up the roads.

NARRATOR: But with warm weather wreaking havoc on the winter

roads, melting sections could shut down without warning.

RICK YEMM: I guess we're kind of taking a gamble,

but it's just the way this game goes.

Some risk and a gamble I took when I turned the key

and headed out here.

NARRATOR: 50 miles north of town,

Hugh and Rick reach the entrance to the St. Theresa winter road.

And so far, luck is on their side.

[horn]

Oh, they had a big snow bank across the front of the road

here.

And they just opened it up.

And I think we're the first two trucks on it.

It's going to be rough in here.

NARRATOR: But first on the road also means first on the ice.

We'll see what we hit.

This is supposed to be the roughest son of a bitch they

got out here.

NARRATOR: If they can get there in one piece.

RICK YEMM: It's pretty [bleep] rough.

We're down to about [bleep] 20 kilometers an hour here.

It's that rough.

The winter road's just like the autobahn.

You can go as fast as you want if you can hang on

to the [bleep] steering wheel.

NARRATOR: As they clear the next rise,

a two mile stretch of virgin ice appears up ahead.

HUGH ROWLAND: OK.

We're just edging onto the lake right now.

There is a good reminder that this is a [bleep]

dangerous, dangerous job.

There's a big excavator in the water.

Don't [bleep] around.

Respect it.

She's a-crackin'.

NARRATOR: In the unseasonably warm weather,

ice is fragile and quick to crack.

Let me know when I'm good to come.

RADIO: 10-4.

NARRATOR: The plan is to cross one at a time to increase

their chances of staying dry.

RICK YEMM [RADIO]: How's it look up there, polar bear?

Very thin, very thin.

HUGH ROWLAND [RADIO]: We're just crawling across here like this.

The cracks right beside my window here

are opening up at least an inch, two inches right there.

Oh, so she's deadly.

Yeah.

10-4.

You just watch these cracks shoot across.

There's no cracks, then all of a sudden there's cracks.

And look at that.

Cracks.

Oh, [bleep].

OK.

You can probably come on if you want.

10-4-ski.

Yeah, she's cracking up big time under me here.

Like, cracks shooting all over the place.

And they're up to about an inch wide when I'm doing it.

So just go slow.

RICK YEMM [RADIO]: 10-4.

This is ice road trucking, now.

RICK YEMM [RADIO]: We do-- we're coming into a bunch of [bleep]

this time around.

You could never stop with a load on this.

You'd go down.

NARRATOR: Halfway across and 100 feet from the bottom, the ice

under Hugh's rig is starting to fracture.

See where it just cracked the [bleep] out of this.

Holy [bleep].

Big time, big time.

Oh, [bleep] yeah.

We're right in her now.

Sinking.

Hold on!

[music playing]

NARRATOR: In Manitoba, Canada--

See where it just cracked the [bleep] out of this.

Holy [bleep].

NARRATOR: --Hugh and Rick are headed to the village of St.

Theresa, hauling a load of water tanks over 100 feet of water.

Oh, [bleep] yeah.

We're right in her now.

Sinking.

Hold on!

Holy [bleep].

Fell through back there a little bit.

You just respect the ice and you'll make her through there.

Yeehaw.

[laughing]

Now that was kind of bad coming through there.

I don't know.

I'm still not there yet.

Yeah, it's a big 10-4.

This separates the men from the boys.

I'm clear, buddy.

That's pretty [bleep] trippy watching them cracks open up,

eh?

Yeah.

You know you're on some pretty [bleep] green ice

when you're out there doing that.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: 2,400 miles to the northwest in Fairbanks--

I hate to say it, but my life's in another man's hands

right now.

NARRATOR: --South Carolina native Ronald "Porkchop" Mangum

is on his way to answer for what could

be a career-ending mistake.

Last trip, Porkchop failed to properly hook up his trailer.

Son of a [bleep].

NARRATOR: Putting Carlile's 3 and 1/2 million pound oil rig

move in jeopardy.

Trailer [inaudible] weren't locked in place all the way,

and she fell to the ground.

I screwed up.

I screwed up big time as far as dropping that trailer.

I hope everything works out pretty good.

We're just going to have to wait and see.

I don't want to go home a failure.

I miss my wife and kids, but I don't want to go home yet.

NARRATOR: With his dream of making big money in Alaska

on the line, Porkchop reports to the boss's office.

LANE KEATOR: How you doing?

You mind if I come in and talk, sir?

- Have a seat. - Yes, sir.

Why don't you close that door, too.

The other night in Prudhoe, when you were getting

ready to go out on the ice, it sounds

like you didn't do a complete check on your fifth wheel

and ended up dropping a trailer up there in the yard.

Yes, sir.

I'm completely guilty as charged.

I can't be there and do it for you.

I can't expect your driver trainer

to be there and do it for you.

He shouldn't have to tell you to do the basic steps of being

a truck driver. You've got to start the truck.

You know, you got to get hooked up to the trailer.

You got to make sure you're hooked up.

Then you've got to make sure your load's tied down, right?

I mean, as far as I'm concerned, if you don't

do any one of those steps, then you're not

qualified to be here.

In 15 years, I've never had it happen.

And I'm embarrassed about it.

OK.

Well, that doesn't fix the problem.

I guess I'm to the point where, we need

to take a little break here and get back together in a couple

days.

And we'll revisit it, OK?

I just got out of a meeting with Lane.

Got my ass chewing like I figured I was going to get.

He probably wanted to jump across the desk

and rip my head off and stomp on me, but for the most part

I think he was very reserved.

LANE KEATOR: Yeah.

I just got done talking to Porkchop.

I had him back in the office again.

Pretty much a common thing these days.

I'm going to do a little thinking.

He's going to do a little thinking.

You know, I'm not sure he's got a future at Carlile,

because I'm not sure it's going to work.

NARRATOR: 100 miles north--

We're hauling ass.

[honk]

NARRATOR: --23-year-old Dalton newcomer, Austin Wheeler,

is making good time on his first solo trip.

We got a full tank of gas, a four pack of Red Bull,

and a pound of beef jerky.

We're going as fast as the law allows.

NARRATOR: Determined to stay ahead of former mentor Jack

Jessee, Austin is setting an aggressive pace.

AUSTIN WHEELER: We're going to pass him.

[honk]

So nice to be by myself, finally.

I feel like I won't get slowed down at all today.

Nothing is out there to stop me.

NARRATOR: But as he speeds north--

RADIO: Hey, you know, it's pretty bad.

We're stranded up here with 105,000 pounds.

NARRATOR: --the radio comes to life with a call for help.

Don't you worry.

I'll be there before you know it.

Well, there's another Carlile driver up ahead of us

here, that he's kind of heavy.

And he's slowing way down on the hills

and asked if I could give him a little

push up the Gobblers Knob.

I don't mind helping another driver out.

NARRATOR: When push trucking, the front truck

does the steering, while the back truck provides

the extra power.

But if either driver loses control,

they'll both end up in the ditch.

There's definitely a lot of things that can go wrong

when you're push trucking.

You don't know what's in front of you.

You're trusting the driver in front of you

to steer you on the road.

All right.

I got you.

I'll start speeding up here.

You don't want to hit him hard.

It ruins the front ends of trucks and the bumpers

on trailers.

Hang on.

NARRATOR: 150 miles north of Fairbanks,

haul road rookie Austin Wheeler is about to rear end

another big rig--

on purpose.

You don't want to hit him hard.

It ruins the front ends of trucks and the bumpers

on trailers.

Hang on.

The reason why you're pushing is to help get that weight up

the hill.

NARRATOR: With the two trucks locked in,

Austin's at the mercy of the 50 ton rig riding his bumper.

When you're push trucking, you don't steer.

The front truck steers for you.

You just keep your foot in it.

You want to try to be a little faster than the driver

that you're pushing.

There's an art to push trucking.

They just don't let anybody do it.

All right.

I'm backing off you.

RADIO: I just sat back and enjoyed the ride, man.

I sure appreciate it.

I'm going to have to buy you a cup of coffee or something now.

Make it a Coke and you got it.

NARRATOR: While Austin struts his stuff,

300 miles to the north--

A little chilly.

NARRATOR: --Darrell Ward's already reached Prudhoe Bay.

After delivering his load of heaters,

he's hoping to score a backhaul and the extra pay that

comes with it.

What you got for me?

Got a triple stack here.

A triple stack?

Yeah.

How heavy is it?

It's heavy enough for a backhaul.

Heavy enough for backhaul.

It's a paying backhaul.

- All right, Joe. - Be careful there on out again.

It's blowing. - Is it blowing?

- Yep. - Thanks.

Sure.

NARRATOR: Still half a day ahead of the competition--

All right.

Get her hooked up, man.

Get southbound toward Fairbanks.

NARRATOR: --the Dalton newcomer's lead

has earned him a coveted bonus on his return trip.

I got three trailers here.

They're needing them back in Fairbanks

so they can get some freight moved back up here, you know.

I was the only one that made it here.

So I'm the one that got the trailers to go back.

Right on.

We're good to rock and roll.

[music playing]

I don't think they're ever going to send me back with nothing.

I think they really like what I do, you know.

They know that, you know, everything I take,

it arrives in the same condition it left in, you know.

And it gets there on time.

They said, give those flat beds to Darrell.

We need them here, and we need them here now.

He's the man that will get them to us.

When you love to be out here on the road more

than you want to be at home, I guess maybe I was meant just

to be a single man and doing what I love to do,

and this is it.

NARRATOR: 2,400 miles to the southeast--

Oh, [bleep].

NARRATOR: --Hugh and Rick are battling their way

towards St. Theresa with two loads of much needed water

tanks.

[bleep].

NARRATOR: The first drivers on a newly opened stretch

of rough road, they're taking their worst

beating of the season.

That's a bit of a rodeo over that [bleep] corner,

wasn't there?

That's a 10-4.

It's been a rodeo on this whole [bleep] road.

Good thing I wore my [inaudible] today.

[music playing]

[chuckles] Here we go.

Once you get her hopping, you can't get her stopping.

NARRATOR: Despite the rugged conditions,

Hugh and Rick are finally nearing their destination.

HUGH ROWLAND: Hold on.

NARRATOR: But as they reach the final turn--

HUGH ROWLAND: You've gotta be joking.

NARRATOR: --the veterans have run out of road.

Hey, [bleep], you on here?

RADIO: Hello, hello, hello.

Hey.

We're at our turn off here, for [bleep] sakes,

and the road's closed.

NARRATOR: At a standstill, Hugh phones the buyer

to figure out a plan.

Hello?

This is Hugh.

We got a couple loads of water tanks here.

16 fresh water tanks.

They were supposed to go to St. Theresa,

but the road's not open.

OK.

OK.

Thanks.

Bye.

NARRATOR: With no word of how long

the melting road will remain closed,

the order is dump the load and head back to town.

Pretty unique hand bomb.

We always wanted to do it, and here's our chance.

What?

Wait.

What?

Go.

One more.

There's four.

That's good.

Yeah, baby.

[laughing]

All right.

We had to hand bomb these tanks off.

Hopefully, they're in the right spot.

But at this point, they're so light,

they can put them behind a snowmobile, tow them in.

Hell of a job, Mr. Rowland, hell of a job.

HUGH ROWLAND [RADIO]: I always wanted to do it.

Now I've done it.

And I hope I never have to do it again.

I agree.

NARRATOR: With empty trailers, Hugh and Rick

pull away from only their second loads of the season.

That's not heard of with a truck driver.

Oh, just push your load off on the side of the road.

No.

That's definitely a first.

[horn]

NARRATOR: 50 miles south of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska--

[music playing]

DARRELL WARD: She's blowing hard up here.

NARRATOR: --Darrell Ward is still leading the pack

with his triple trailer backhaul.

It started snowing. It's snowing pretty hard.

I don't know. We picked up a couple inches.

NARRATOR: But with every mile, conditions are getting worse.

DARRELL WARD: That's not a good sign

when they're sending that big boy up here.

You can see the wind's starting to pick up here already.

I know we're going to get into a blow that

is going to be zero visibility.

It's going to be terrible.

These roads are going to be slick.

I just come up behind the biggest road grader you ever

seen in your life.

Big old V blade on the front, winged up,

and he's headed up here for a reason.

NARRATOR: Two miles ahead of Darrell,

Carlile's Phil Kromm is also pushing south.

Freezing rain, blowing snow.

It's really kind of a tough day to be leaving town, not knowing

exactly what we would find out here.

Yeah, copy that.

Yeah, it's liable to be real bad.

DARRELL WARD: This stuff's really picking up and moving,

so let me just go see if we can bust through it.

NARRATOR: Up ahead, severe winter weather

is taking control.

Packing 80 mile per hour winds and heavy, drifting snow,

the storm is quickly clogging up the road.

In these conditions, trucks can easily

become stranded, trapping drivers for days

in brutal subzero temperatures.

[music playing]

RADIO: You get up down the side and it just keeps getting worse

and worse and worse.

RADIO: It seems like this is [bleep]..

I ain't doing it.

DARRELL WARD: Everybody turning around.

RADIO: Yep. Slope Mountain Camp for me.

DARRELL WARD: Everybody's going back to Slope Mountain Camp,

turning around.

NARRATOR: After an hour fighting the weather--

RADIO: Darrell.

Yes, sir.

RADIO: Going to back them in right here in this little pull

out on top, drop them and go down to the camp site.

NARRATOR: --both drivers decide to call it quits.

DARRELL WARD: They're saying it's really, really, nasty.

RADIO: It's changing fast.

10-4.

NARRATOR: Trapped in the violent storm--

We're going to drop our trailers here and go back

to Slope Mountain Camp.

We're not going to get through this.

NARRATOR: --Darrell and Phil drop their loads

and run for cover in a nearby DOT camp.

DARRELL WARD: Pretty rough out there.

I'm always one to want to push through it,

but sometimes you gotta throw in the towel, you know.

And admit a little defeat.

NARRATOR: 130 miles to the south--

RADIO: We can only go 30 miles an hour on this strip.

NARRATOR: --Austin Wheeler is running into the same storm

that stopped Darrell and Phil in their tracks.

The roads just really suck right now.

Once we got to the other side at Atigun Pass,

the roads are just [bleep].

The wind's blowing really hard.

You can barely see.

The road's drifting really bad with snow,

so you just got to be careful going through here.

NARRATOR: Running solo, Austin had hoped to fly up to Dalton.

NARRATOR: But the winter weather has slowed him to a crawl.

There's a truck in the ditch up here, one of our own,

so we'll probably stop and see if we can help him out.

NARRATOR: A fellow Carlile driver lost track of the road

and wound up buried in the ditch, backing up the Dalton.

AUSTIN WHEELER: I'm not with Jack.

I'm by myself.

I don't know.

We can try.

RADIO: OK, Austin.

Come on up.

NARRATOR: And with traffic at a standstill,

the only way through is for Austin

to quickly free the rig before they all become hopelessly

trapped on the road.

I'm going to try to help this guy get out of the ditch.

Oh, my God.

Let me know when you're ready.

RADIO: All right, bud.

AUSTIN WHEELER: Here we go.

Hang on.

Here we go again.

You gotta be kidding me.

Come on.

NARRATOR: 150 miles south of Coldfoot--

Jack Jessee is headed toward the storm with a load of timber

in a pickup truck.

RADIO: [inaudible] is going to be a [bleep]..

Excellent.

I need a little excitement for the night.

So I just talked to another driver,

said there's a big weather front moving through.

Right around the Arctic Circle, it might get very interesting

tonight.

So, regardless of how early or how late

you get out of town, when the weather kicks up,

it's definitely going to slow you down.

NARRATOR: On top of the massive storm bearing down--

RADIO: Hey, Jack.

You got a bad tire on your rear.

NARRATOR: --Jack's got other problems.

JACK JESSEE: Oh, [bleep].

RADIO: Uh.

Your rear tandem tire, the outer, is wobbling pretty bad.

JACK JESSEE: Thanks a lot.

That back one does seem a little screwed up.

NARRATOR: The frozen Dalton's hard miles wreak havoc

on equipment.

If a loose wheel goes unnoticed, it

can break free, sending a 150 pound projectile

into oncoming traffic at over 50 miles an hour.

JACK JESSEE: I'll be blocking this part of the road here,

but when you've got to stop, you've got to stop.

I can see where it's already lopsided.

Look at that.

That's what it's doing.

I'm not really sure what happened.

Loose lug nuts, broken stud right there.

Wheel's separating.

Right now, we're definitely at a standstill.

I can't go down the road with this thing lolling like this.

NARRATOR: Stuck on the side of the road

with a storm bearing down--

So I'm pretty well stuck where I'm at until I

get this problem fixed.

NARRATOR: --the haul road ace is stranded.

[music playing]

On the side of the haul road--

I don't know what happened.

Lug nuts got loose, shrank, it doesn't matter.

NARRATOR: --Jack Jessee is at a standstill

with a busted trailer and a storm on the way.

Can't have these things even free rolling.

Even if I took the weight off, because it's still

going to break those studs.

So I think what I'm going to end up doing is to go down

the road with no wheels.

NARRATOR: Desperate to get back under way,

Jack's plan is to remove the tires

and turn his big rig into a 16-wheeler.

JACK JESSEE: Hopefully, that chain

can pick the whole trailer up.

See what happens.

And the last one.

We got her.

And the cavalry arrived, just as soon as I got done.

Here's one.

The guys showed up right when I really needed the help the most

to load these tires up.

All right, guys. Thanks.

Yep. You're welcome.

See you later.

I say we go trucking now.

People see you riding down the road with no wheels out there,

then they know you've had problems.

But they also know you fixed them and you overcome them.

NARRATOR: Jack's back on the road,

but the fix cost him precious time.

And with the storm raging up ahead,

Jack's calling it a night in Coldfoot.

It's definitely not the way I want to end a long day.

NARRATOR: While the veteran packs it in--

Austin is still determined to reach Prudhoe Bay.

Here we go again.

NARRATOR: He's fighting to clear a 105,000 pound tanker that's

blocking the road.

But the truck refuses to budge.

RADIO: I don't know if that one worked.

AUSTIN WHEELER: Damn this wind.

NARRATOR: With every passing second,

blowing snow buries the big rig deeper.

AUSTIN WHEELER: Might be able to pull it off from the front.

Worth a try.

NARRATOR: And with a line of stuck trucks building

on the road behind him--

AUSTIN WHEELER: OK, Bill.

I'm going to try to come around you here.

NARRATOR: --Austin takes one last shot at freeing them

all from the crippling storm.

AUSTIN WHEELER: Just let me disconnect you from me here.

Hold on.

All right.

Ready?

RADIO: Yep.

Now I am.

Come on.

Wahoo!

Whoo!

NARRATOR: With the truck free and the road cleared,

Austin and the rest of the drivers

are once again rolling north.

AUSTIN WHEELER: Well, the Qualcomm said zero visibility

out here.

That ain't stopping us.

Now I'm leading the convoy to Prudhoe, all chained up.

I ain't gonna lie.

I just feel like a total bad ass today.

NARRATOR: Austin's back underway,

but until he reaches Prudhoe Bay,

Darrell Ward is all alone at the top of the load count.

Back on the haul road--

I see lights out there to the left.

NARRATOR: --another truck is in trouble.

RADIO: Yeah, I was following tracks.

I'm almost in the tracks and it looks like the [inaudible] is

eight feet over, but I don't know what the hell it is.

But I don't think that's road over there.

NARRATOR: The stranded driver has lost track of the road.

Let's see if we can help him out.

NARRATOR: And batting 1000, Austin

decides to attempt another rescue.

Here I go.

NARRATOR: But this time, the rookie has run out of luck.

AUSTIN WHEELER: I'm stuck here because I've

been trying to play the [bleep] savior and help everybody.

NARRATOR: Next time on "Ice Road Truckers"--

Get me the hell out of here.

NARRATOR: --a path of destruction

in the aftermath of the storm.

Barely seeing the road.

Crap.

It's very possible that I've lost my best friend.

[sirens]

And we're off and running.

NARRATOR: Alex makes a break for it.

And in Manitoba, the heaviest loads of the year--

When you're hearing ice cracking,

that's usually when the [bleep] about to go really wrong.

NARRATOR: --have Hugh and Rick at rock bottom.

Oh no.