Original subtitles

An ambulance

heading up the canyon,

that usually means a wreck.

Holy.

Okay, here we come.

Collin and I are probably the only ones crazy enough

to do something like this.

Oh, oh, oh, oh.

Hold it!

Seriously, dude!

Traffic ain't stopping for nothing!

It's a safety risk. I mean, it gets nerve-racking.

The conditions on I-70

are still challenging,

especially if you are traveling between Denver and Vail.

Keep your eyes open for slick roads

and accumulating ice

since the temperatures are still in the low teens.

After days of heavy snow

on I-70 in Colorado,

the weather has started to break,

but there's no break for Mountain Recovery.

Usually after the storms,

we got business, we got a lot of business.

The residual effect days after a storm,

we're pretty busy.

Loveland Pass is clear at this time.

I'm gonna head for the 205 and the tunnel grade.

What's it looking like up there?

Copy that.

With the road still slick,

the crew is sticking close to the Eisenhower-Johnson Tunnel.

You have 40-plus-thousand vehicles

that go through the Eisenhower Tunnel

every single day,

and it's not an eight or ten-lane highway,

and there is a lot of traffic.

At 11,000 feet above sea level,

the route to the 2.7 kilometre tunnel

is a steep climb

to the highest point on any U.S. interstate.

Let's go check out the other side.

This morning,

the west side of the tunnel is primed for trouble.

On our way.

We've got very, very slick roads going downhill.

The snow subsided for a minute,

but the sun came out,

kind of made it even slicker

as that sun melted that top layer.

The steep descent and slick conditions

have taken their toll.

Hey, 18, you're going to the jackknife, right?

Seth is just minutes away,

and on the move.

Let's go get on scene.

Trying to just figure out

what you're about to walk into,

hoping that you're able

to get the job done efficiently.

Ooh... yeah, we're slippery.

Yeah, it is bad.

Oh, man, we're screwed right here.

They basically can't close the road right now,

we've got too heavy of westbound traffic

coming through the tunnel.

About a thousand cars an hour,

so, yeah, you're not gonna...

you don't want to stop that up.

If you're closed for an hour,

now you've got a thousand cars on the road backed up,

and it does... it's not pretty.

Probably a bad spot to be right now, to be honest.

Seth has maneuvered around

to face against the flow of traffic

so he can winch the semi backwards.

He'll then hook up front to pull it free.

We're doing two double lines

to the back of the trailer,

and just pulling from the angle

that they're letting us get to.

Big truck.

Looking good, gonna pull forward,

give us some room to winch.

Hooked up to this thing,

I've got enough winch line out

for about a full vehicle length of winching backwards...

...which will straighten out the trailer,

and un-jackknife the tractor.

All right.

We're dealing with icy road conditions.

We've got lanes of traffic opened up right next to us.

I'm just hoping that the truck sets in,

get my spades in the ground.

Spades coming down.

The spades will help anchor his truck

so he can wrestle the semi

and get off this road.

This is one of the more dangerous spots to be,

for sure.

Come on, baby.

When I start winching...

...my truck starts pulling backwards

just due to not having enough resistance.

Come on...

I notice this crack in the asphalt,

and I think, man, it might just be enough,

um, to get my spades down into that.

Dammit.

Well, we're gonna end up getting to that crack, I guess.

Definitely feeling pressure.

Set in, come on,

come on.

Yes.

Found it.

Yeah.

Yeah, just needed those spades to find the crack.

Sometimes it's just that little bit of resistance,

just the spades with their fingernails just...

just grippin',

holdin'.

Hell, yeah.

Now we're in business.

But now that it's moving,

the semi's trajectory is a new problem.

Yeah, I gotta check an angle on the far side here.

I want to keep going,

but we're getting too close to that active lane there

with that rear corner of the trailer.

The truck isn't as straight as he'd planned,

but he can't pull any farther backwards.

Yeah, when you guys are, yup.

To pull from the front,

Seth will need to flip his wrecker around.

We're waiting on the plows that just went up

to create a break in traffic.

I'll probably have to cut off these active lanes

for a minute.

This is not a good spot here.

In Utah,

southwest of Salt Lake City...

See?

It's too fast.

...Chuck from Stauffer's

is wrapping up his latest job

on a busy morning.

You have got cars coming at you within feet.

You gotta pay attention.

Okay, we are outta here!

There's quite a few times

that it's been close calls for me.

It's been a slippery morning on Highway 6,

a road that can be a test for drivers,

even on a good day.

It's because of the narrow, windy, twisty roads.

It's rated one of the deadliest highways in the state.

Up here is not a very forgiving place.

There's a lot of wrecks in this canyon,

and when I say wrecks, I mean bad ones.

That's never a good sign.

An ambulance

heading up the canyon

with the sirens going,

that usually means a wreck.

That's not good.

Stuck in the backup,

Stauffer's operators Carl

and Jaramie

are heading to answer the urgent call.

We have highway patrol coming down

on the opposite side of traffic,

and they are going to give us an escort.

We good to follow you?

Okay.

Holy .

It's a really bad wreck.

Debris is all over.

Trailer with snowmobiles upside-down.

It's a terrible wreck.

Highway 6 in Utah is at a standstill.

I don't know much of what happened, honestly,

I just know it's a mess.

A westbound box truck

crossed into the eastbound lane,

hitting a pickup,

and rolling its trailer

before colliding head-on with an SUV.

Three people

have been transported to the hospital

with serious injuries.

All survived.

Let's get this flipped over.

Better hurry.

Now the work begins.

Highway 6 has been shut down.

You have a lot of people backed up for miles and miles.

Multiple tow companies

will be clearing the damage.

Carl and Jaramie's job

is the trailer.

And go up with it.

Just having him boom out so he can get it flipped over

and get everything back onto the trailer

and get it loaded up.

This job is very dangerous,

especially me being deaf...

Perfect.

...but I do not let it affect my job.

I always tell everybody

Carl's world is a little different,

being hearing impaired...

...but he does anything

and everything that we ask him,

and we appreciate him.

We wouldn't know where we would be without Carl.

Jesse is very understanding of my disability.

He treats me like everybody else.

Now we are going to lift them snowmobiles

up on the trailer.

I'm always watching what's going on.

This-this cable, let it out a little.

You're all the way up, so let this cable out.

I have to learn their lip pattern...

Working with Carl on a job,

he'll be able to read your lips,

and just do whatever needs to be done.

As they clear out the damaged snowmobiles,

heavy operator Austin pulls up to lend a hand.

Hey, Austin.

Do you guys need my help with this?

I'm going to back up.

We'll hook up and get it loaded up.

The snow's coming down,

it's pretty cold,

and we need to get this taken care of

'cause we've got both lanes shut down

both directions.

There's no movement on the highway

where we're at.

Are you putting this on the ball?

No, it's going up on the bed.

Okay.

Now a Stauffer's competitor has arrived

to move out the box truck,

adding more chaos to the scene.

It's a huge conglomerative mess.

We've got to work as fast as we can

to try and get this road back open.

Back on I-70 in Colorado...

Another beautiful day in the Rockies.

...Seth has finally received the go-ahead

to flip around his wrecker.

We're on the move.

State patrol's, you know, giving me one of these,

like, "Let's get it going."

Turning radius of a small battleship.

All right.

Not my first ro-de-o.

Good morning to you too.

Now he can finish unfolding the jackknife

and get off this busy stretch of slick road.

Definitely feeling pressure.

You get the feeling

everybody's kind of "Tick-tock, let's get this done."

We got it.

We are un-jackknifed.

We are jill-gunned!

So, right now,

we're just getting a truck

from winch mode into tow mode.

Come on...

Really?

Air system on the tractor side, it's not building air.

I'm gonna have to do something.

The brakes are controlled

by compressed air.

With damage to that system,

they're locked.

I'll need some time.

She's got an air issue.

Okay.

So you can't drag 'er with the air issues

right now, or...?

I was feeling my heart just sink.

Three tow companies

are working to clear a chaotic scene

on Highway 6 in Utah.

We've got miles of traffic,

both directions, completely shut down,

so we have no traffic flowing,

so the urgency is to try to get the highway open.

You want me to grab a snatch block?

She's getting heavy.

It's up to the Stauffer's crew

to clear the final obstacles blocking the road

so at least one lane can start moving.

Got a hammer?

Comin' at ya.

Go ahead and pull, see what it does.

Our pressure that we have to get in,

get hooked up, and get out of there,

it's pretty high.

I want to be off that road as quickly as I can.

Are we hooked enough that we can move?

Yeah, I'm just tightening this off.

Okay, let's get moved,

and then we'll finish strapping down the road.

They're going to open westbound.

Yeah, we're getting outta here!

These guys have this part figured out.

They're going to take care of this truck and this SUV,

so we're going to take off

and get off the road before they open the highway.

It's a good feeling

knowing that we got the highway opened up,

we did our job.

Now there's time to reflect

on the people injured,

recovering in the hospital.

It's a really bad wreck,

a terrible wreck.

That's the worst feeling.

I worry about my family being in a wreck.

I tell everybody, cars are replaceable,

people are not.

You are not replaceable.

All I care about is you being okay.

In Colorado,

on the edge of I-70...

Whatever is spitting like that is--

air system on the tractor side.

Seth is hunting for the breach

in the semi's air system.

I know they are eager to get us out of here.

If he can find the leak,

he might be able to bypass it

and feed compressed air from his wrecker

to release the locked brakes.

Oh, that's where that is, okay.

This is a quick disconnect,

and where it broke is just above it,

and there's a fitting right above that,

so if it had to go,

it kind of went in, like, the perfect place.

I can air this thing up.

I just found the problem.

We're gonna bypass it.

This thing will be rolling in minutes.

Yes!

We're in.

Little bit of luck, little bit of skill,

call it what you want to,

but, yeah, it worked, so, hey...

Currently airing up,

and good to go.

Yeah!

Basically just putting the bow on this

before we move it.

I honestly can say

I pretty much did everything as fast as I could...

Whew.

...as safe as I could,

and that's what you try to do as an operator.

Let's get outta here!

Here we go.

Takin' names and clearin' lanes!

Yeah, buddy.

One man, one truck, one job.

Hell, yeah.

That's how that should go right there.

Hey, Colorado.

It's finally the weekend,

and the stretch of nice weather continues

with some clear skies

and unseasonably high temperatures,

so make sure you seize the day,

because, I hate to say it, this isn't gonna last.

All right, rollbacks,

you can go ahead of me right here...

5,000 feet closer to sea level,

there's no trace of the weather

that hit up in the mountains...

...and then you can just sit on the shoulder.

...and other members of the Mountain Recovery crew

are heading away from I-70

for a different kind of recovery.

Normally we're working on the highway,

keeping the highway open,

but today we're going to focus on the waterway,

absolutely free of charge.

All right, let's all get out.

All right, here we go.

Eagle River

is a popular white-water rafting run

just west of Vail.

In a few months,

rafters will descend on this river...

That's the bad boy.

...but first,

there's a dangerous problem that needs fixing.

So, how long has that been there, Rick?

That came in during runoff last spring.

The danger now is,

as this river comes up,

spins that log off of there,

we don't know where it goes.

Does it pin on the two boulders downstream?

Does it pin on the next train trestle?

Does it make the Eagle completely unrunnable?

Mikey, what do you think?

We wanna rig to the river side of that log...

Yeah.

...so we have something that we can grab onto.

Bad Grandpa,

he's a former white-water rafting guide.

He was for many, many years.

He knows these waters,

he knows the danger in these waters,

and he's the best one to lead the charge here.

In theory,

it'd be nice if we could just kind of stand it up

right over that rock,

and then drag it up.

Yeah, I think that'd be perfect.

I have seen these in my white-water rafting days.

If you are in a boat,

you could be pinned up against it,

you could be washed underneath it.

It's extremely dangerous.

Pulling it out

is a challenge unlike anything the crew has faced before.

We might have to get out on the log itself.

Yeah, can you get on that big boulder,

and then get on the log?

That's what I'm thinking.

How stable's that log?

I dunno. We'll see.

Cool. Let's suit up.

Sounds like a plan.

Rafting season is coming up here very quickly,

and this log has got to be recovered today.

On Eagle River in Colorado,

Bad Grandpa is sizing up the unusual job ahead.

Back to my old stomping ground.

I probably have over 1,500 hours on this river,

raft-guiding it.

It's in his heart,

you know, he wants to keep the river safe,

'cause this is what he used to do,

so seeing him take the lead here is really cool.

I've got three stents in my heart,

I've had two heart attacks,

so I have obstacles that I need to overcome,

but I don't let that stand in my way.

I'm out here like Superman.

How do we go down there?

Let's go down this way.

The plan for this job

is to utilize the track machine and the winch box,

choke this log,

and then force this log off this rock,

up the hill, out of harm's way.

Okay, here we come!

Collin and I

are probably the only ones crazy enough

to do something like this.

Come here, Mike, come float with me.

I love Bad Grandpa.

He's great to work alongside.

Keep doing what you're doing.

The rigging team

will need to wrap a chain around the log

so operator Dustin can then pull it free...

Winching.

...from 400 feet away.

We've got our machine where we want it.

We've got cable in line with the actual log.

Once that's rigged,

I think we're going to be really close

to pulling on this thing.

Are we ready?

We're going to put a chain around the log.

It looks like it's a little brittle.

Hopefully it just doesn't break apart on us.

What we want to do is go down two or three of these.

Right.

Yeah, whatever you do, don't let go.

That's like 15 feet deep right there.

Reaching out on top of this log

trying to hook a chain that weighs about 40 pounds,

and get the chain tight...

easier said than done.

In case for some reason

that Collin and I would happen to fall in the river,

we want to have our feet downriver

in case you come across any obstructions

or another strainer,

you can use your feet

to brace yourself from the impact.

How are we looking down there?

They're trying to get it wrapped.

Just don't dislodge that thing

and cause bigger issues.

The rivers up here are very dangerous.

They claim several lives every season,

and we want to be on guard here.

Oh, oh, oh, oh.

Is he okay?

You all right?

Yeah.

Ah, it's another day

of white-water rafting.

I didn't panic.

They called the right guy.

Okay.

All right, we need the cable.

Get that real tight around that log.

Dusty, cable in.

Yeah, we're winching in.

There it is.

Keep going.

It's gonna break.

Right there.

Oh, the log's broken.

Keep going, keep going.

Fortunately, the chains that we secured on the log

held together.

Okay, that's good right there. Stop.

It went really well.

We're gonna rig up the other half too,

and bring it up the hill.

Both of 'em need to come up.

They're-they're big enough and enough of a hazard.

Okay.

All right, get out of the way, boys.

Cable in.

The final piece.

We've completed the task.

Yeah.

A success.

It's out of the water.

Nobody got hurt.

I'm still breathing.

Barely.

I might need some oxygen.

Good job, buddy.

Nice.

Bad Grandpa did good today.

He's tired.

This was a challenge

from a physical standpoint.

I'm tired too.

The towing business,

it's almost like white-water rafting.

You don't know what you're going to run into,

what sort of obstacles you're going to overcome.

You never know what the day's going to bring.

Not looking good

around Spanish Fork tonight.

Winds gusting around 20 miles per hour,

and the blowing snow is reducing visibility

to as low as a quarter mile.

Avoid traveling through the canyon

if at all possible.

In Utah,

a busy day on Highway 6

is giving way

to a busy night.

A semi is straddling the ditch,

cutting off all traffic.

Let me see here.

The driver was coming down through the canyon

when he lost control.

I'm all right!

His brakes had overheated,

seized up,

and were minutes away from bursting into flame.

Now we stuck.

All righty,

well, we've got ourselves a semi trailer

that slid off the highway.

Here we go again.

I've been up here already today,

had the snowmobiles earlier.

We're going right back up 6.

Let's get up there, get our eyes on him,

and see how bad his situation is and go from there.

There's definitely a huge difference

between working in day and night.

Going into the darkness,

you can't see very well.

There's a lot of unknowns.

We're gonna roll up here nice and slow.

It looks like we've got highway patrol here.

We also have fire department on scene.

Looks like they've got the highway shut down entirely.

The tractor,

it's still sitting on the travel lane.

The trailer ended up sliding down into the ditch

to the point that she was ready to roll.

-You the driver? -Yes, sir.

Okay.

Highway patrol, fire department,

they've got both directions completely closed.

Nothing is driving either direction in this area.

I'll go see what kind of damage we're looking at.

Right, right, right.

Uh, he said that there was a tire blown, right?

-Three. -Three of them blown?

Uh-huh.

Oh, man...

All I heard was a pop,

and one after another, they're popping out...

My dogs were going crazy in there, so...

...but everybody's safe.

That's a good deal.

Driver and dog are okay...

Go ahead and hop up in your truck,

just stay warm,

don't release any brakes, okay?

Just sit up there for a minute.

All right, good deal.

...but for Austin,

the pressure is just beginning.

He is loaded, about 40,000 pounds with mattresses,

so he is pretty heavy.

I'm seeing some brakes that have overheated,

some tires that have blown out,

so this inside dual, it's completely dead.

We've got two good tires holding air.

Three of 'em are completely shot.

How do I get this semi out of this corner

and get this trailer out of the ditch

where we can get this road back open?

Just from him sliding into the ditch,

we've got probably

a couple of miles of backup already.

It's just single lane each direction.

They have nowhere to go.

Traffic is completely cut off

on Highway 6 in Utah,

and clearing the stuck semi

is up to Austin.

This is going to be a pretty tricky winch-out.

I've got to be very meticulous

on how I get this trailer brought back up

onto the highway.

If I don't, I could end up losing the trailer

into that ditch even further,

potentially rolling this truck on its side.

He's probably gross really close to 80,000 pounds.

Sitting there on scene, looking back either direction,

watching traffic build up...

even at night,

you can get a couple-mile buildup

pretty quick out there.

I'm going to start pulling the trailer

over to the highway.

Just sit tight, don't touch anything,

don't play with anything, okay?

Six inches of snow have fallen

in the last two hours,

and it's not stopping.

Austin needs to hurry,

but not at the expense of caution.

We've just got to take our time,

make sure we're watching everything she's doing.

The last thing we want to do

is try and just give 'er hell and break something.

You're listening to the cables on the truck.

If it's whining and groaning and popping,

that's a terrifying sound,

because any one of those pops

can let that cable just break.

The semi is out of the ditch,

but there's still a problem...

All right, driver,

you will have no trailer brakes.

Everything is on the truck.

...so Austin

will pull the broken trailer himself.

There's too much damage,

so I need to disconnect him,

hook my truck to the trailer,

pull him down the mountain.

To connect to the trailer,

Austin somehow needs to turn around

and get in front.

All right, we got a plan.

Let's get 'er done.

Can't do a three-point turn.

The road is way too narrow.

I'm going to end up putting myself in the ditch,

or worse.

The only option

is to head to a pullout

a kilometre west up the road,

where he can flip around to head east,

but the road is blocked.

-Okay, thank you. -Yup.

Impatient drivers

stuck in the backup

have taken over both eastbound and westbound lanes up ahead.

We have some semis

that decided to come the wrong way,

thinking they could get past some of this stopped traffic,

so I am unable to continue further up the canyon

to get flipped around.

Knowing that I'm kinda the linchpin

to get this highway open,

I've got to get this done as quickly as I can.

Instead of disconnecting him here,

I need him moved down to that pullout area.

The 80,000-pound semi

will have to drive

three kilometres down the canyon,

where the road widens,

relying only on the brakes on its tractor.

So, my only concern

is that he's gonna do the same thing,

just end up in the ditch.

He just needs to nurse it nice and slow.

It's a huge gamble

to have this driver take his own load

even a couple hundred yards,

because he already put the truck into the ditch.

He already smoked his brakes.

It's kinda pushing its limits.

It's a gamble that I need to try to trust him with

to take it nice and slow

so that we can get this lane open.

The driver won't be alone.

Troopers will provide an escort,

and Austin will follow

so he can then flip around and tow the trailer.

All right, driver,

I'm gonna be behind you

while Highway Patrol is in front of you.

He's gonna guide you to a good spot

where we can get you pulled over.

When we get stopped,

we're gonna drop the trailer off of you,

and I'm gonna hook it on me, okay?

All right.

The only way Austin can make the trip

is to drive in reverse.

I have to drive backwards through all of the closure,

through all of the traffic that's backed up,

until I get to a safe point that I can safely turn around.

You gotta go backwards, wrong way,

in a 50,000-pound truck,

with a police escort behind ya.

This is going to be

a long stretch of just stress.

My camera doesn't work right now, actually.

She got some water in 'er and stopped working,

so right now I've got some Pink Floyd playing on my dash.

I've got to keep my truck in my own lane,

not being able to see much behind me.

It's pretty stressful.

Good old-fashioned mirrors.

Mirrors and self-awareness of where my rig is.

I mean, it gets nerve-racking.

We still have quite a long line

that I can see just in my mirrors back here.

On Highway 6 in Utah,

Austin is inching three kilometres down the canyon

in reverse.

I'm having to watch myself

and watch him at the same time.

The semi still has enough good tires to drive,

but there are no working brakes on the trailer.

Having the headlights from all the stopped traffic,

having the snowfall,

flashing lights,

it definitely creates a stressful situation.

If I bump my throttle a little too hard,

or if I have to touch my brakes a little too hard,

it could lock up my rear end

and slide me into traffic

that's now on my passenger side.

There's a huge risk

that this driver could potentially be another hazard,

be another road closure

while I'm backing up following him.

He's running the same risk that I'm running

driving backwards behind him.

Can we hold up right there for just a second,

bring 'er to a stop?

We're gonna try and get my truck flipped around right here.

He's finally reached the spot

where there should be enough room to turn around.

Now I'm in a place here

that I can work safely,

get this trailer hooked up to me

to get him off the mountain

without having any further issues.

Okay, let's go ahead and drop trailer

where you're at.

We'll get you down the highway safely.

I'm gonna back up to the trailer,

we'll get her hooked up,

and we'll pull 'er down the road.

With the eastbound lane blocked,

they should have enough room to work safely...

Okay, go ahead and pull 'er forward.

...but another impatient driver

has other ideas.

Seriously, dude!

This is some of the most selfish behavior

I've seen on scene before.

Traffic ain't stopping for nothing!

It's just the audacity of some of these guys

that they need to get where they're going,

and they don't care what's going on.

They don't care how dangerous it is.

I think potentially Highways

is gonna get him pulled over up ahead of us,

and possibly cite him for it.

Now Austin needs to hook up the trailer

and get off this road.

All right, let's get outta here.

It's a sigh of relief

knowing that you have both lanes back open.

I was definitely one small mistake

away from a disaster

on pretty much this entire recovery.

With disaster averted,

a long day on this highway

can come to a close.

I'm happy to have Highway 6 in my rear-view mirror tonight.

Hardly ever jump in a heavy.

This is kinda fish out of water for me.

We broke our tow strap.

There's a lot of curves here on this mountain.

It happened real quick.

You're loaded with medical supplies?

The worst-case scenario here

is this trailer rips open,

and we have medical supplies all over the highway.

Keep 'er going! It's a hard pull!

Uh-oh. Damn it!