List of Ice Road Truckers episodes

The ice covering the lakes continues to melt as warmer weather finally arrives, and the ice road season winds down. Hugh is involved in an accident when he is sideswiped by another truck. Not only is his truck crippled by the accident, but one of the bags of ammonium nitrate he was carrying begins leaking onto the ice – which melts the ice at an even faster rate. Hugh and ice road maintenance crews work to contain the spill and clean the ammonium nitrate off the road. Another truck takes the load north while Hugh returns to Yellowknife (Hugh got credit for this load although he failed to take it all the way to its destination). Jay takes an underground rock truck north to the Fortune mine. Trying to climb a steep hill, he becomes stuck, due to the way the load sits on his truck, but fortunately there is a bulldozer on site to pull him the rest of the way. After reaching the mine and unloading the rock truck, Jay heads home for the season. Hugh manages to get one of his other trucks working, and takes a final load north. Alex convinces officials to allow him to take a light load north on his own; it turns out to be his final load of the season, as the road is closed soon afterwards. And a raven, sacred to the north, flies by T.J. for a second time as he takes his final load north, capping a remarkable rookie season. The season turns out to be one of the most successful seasons so far, with 10,922 loads totaling 331,000 tonnes (730 million pounds, or 365,000 U.S. tons) delivered. (Note: The total shown on screen is 662,000,000 pounds, corresponding to 331,000 US tons.)

Total hauls for the season:

• • Hugh - 37
  • Alex - 36
  • Jay - 35
  • T.J. - 23
  • Rick (Resigned) - 19
  • Drew (Resigned) - 13

As the ice road from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk is completed, drivers converge on Inuvik for the start of the year's transport season. Alex, Hugh, Rick, and Drew find themselves lumped in with the other "highway maggots" - the local drivers' term for rookies on this road - and must adapt to new rules and conditions. The road takes them up the Mackenzie River and over parts of the Arctic Ocean, with long stretches in which drivers are out of radio contact. Alex is delayed by the late arrival of Rick, who gets into an accident on his way up the Dempster Highway while bringing a truck to Alex. They are both dispatched to Mallik, a site of ongoing research into gas hydrate fields. As they take their first loads out (a boiler house and a drilling mud tank), Alex gets used to this ice road's higher speed limits (50 km/h or 31 mph and up), while Rick keeps driving at 25 kilometres per hour (16 mph) as he did in Yellowknife.

Word of Drew’s quitting spreads rapidly among the other truckers, but instead of going home, he finds work at a local moving company - driving a forklift at first, then a box truck. Eric is assigned the job of hauling a much-needed vacuum truck to Mallik; emergency repairs on its suspension and a frozen bolt threaten to ruin this plan, but he does eventually leave in time. Hugh takes a boiler to Mallik as Rick returns to Inuvik with a load of classified equipment from a Cold War-era military post. Six-year veteran Bear Swensen takes a load of rig mats to Mallik as Alex hauls a load to Tuktoyaktuk. On the way back to Inuvik, transporting contaminated soil, Alex spots emergency personnel attending to a flipped-over box truck whose driver is nowhere in sight. (Word later comes that this person made it back to Inuvik safely, while the truck is towed in.)

As the season’s first major blizzard closes in on the region, drivers scramble to deliver their loads before the ice road becomes impassable. With the help of a student trucker, Hugh takes his refurbished vacuum tanker to Aput, a natural gas exploration site, to haul away a load of wastewater. Drew makes his first ice road run of the year, bound for Tuktoyaktuk with a load of construction materials for a hockey rink, but his illness flares up and Kelly Brown (the senior trucker riding with him) has to finish the run. Rick is still off the road, waiting for a new oil pan to be flown in, as Bear hauls a drilling mud tank to Mallik. A snowplow gets stuck on the ice, but a repair crew quickly takes care of it.

The gas drilling wells at Aput have come up dry , so the entire operation is to be shut down and moved 50 miles (80 km) to a new site at Langley. Nearly seven million pounds of equipment must be hauled along the ice road as quickly as possible, in order to keep the company from losing any more money than necessary. Eric hauls a heat exchanger and a generator for the new site’s truck shop, while Hugh brings a load of rig mats up from Inuvik and later takes his vacuum tanker to Aput. Meanwhile, Alex takes a water tank and some boards from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk and Drew completes his first solo run over the ocean, hauling groceries to the same destination. Rick is once again off the ice, waiting on both an oil pan for his original truck and assorted repairs to the one he borrowed; Shaun and the other mechanics blame these problems on his rough handling of the trucks.

With the storm over and the road cleared and reopened, the truckers are ready to get back to work hauling equipment from Aput to Langley. To save time, rather than break the derrick down into pieces, Jerry loads the entire unit onto two trucks, hooked back to back with the derrick's ends resting on their trailers. Oncoming traffic is warned to yield the right of way to these two truckers; one convoy barely gets off the road in time, but the derrick still arrives safely. Eric hauls a cherry picker to the new site, once he and a supervisor get its frozen engine running again so he can drive it onto his trailer. Bear picks up an electric power station and carefully drives it to Langley due to its weight distribution.

Even though the derrick has been successfully moved from Aput to Langley, the crews cannot erect it until its 80-ton substructure is put in place. This equipment is split into two 40-ton loads and assigned to Alex and Bear. Alex has been battling problems with his health – hemorrhoids, shortness of breath, general fatigue – and Jerry holds him back for a while, sending Bear out first. The two loaded trucks have a combined weight of over 100 tons; Alex's load is the heaviest of his career. Both truckers stay below 25 km/h to avoid over-stressing the ice, and once they reach Langley, they must maneuver very carefully in order to unload the substructure halves in exactly the right position. Alex's half gets briefly tangled in the lines of one of the auxiliary trucks helping with the operation, but it is set down safely and the derrick goes up. Returning to Aput late in the day, he picks up a load of rig mats and crates, but Jerry keeps him there for the night out of concern for his welfare.

As the rig move enters its third day, there are still many loads to haul from Aput to Langley. While pulling a gas flare stack, Eric hears of a polar bear sighting near the road and makes plans to stay clear of the area, since several people have died in bear attacks over the years. The news quickly spreads among the truckers, and local wildlife experts equipped with snowmobiles and rifles are dispatched to ward off the threat. Bear takes a boiler onto the ice road, whose surface is now so rough that he makes a risky stop to check that his load is secure before proceeding to Langley.

With only a few loads left in the rig move, the pressure is on Jerry to finish the whole operation by the end of the day. He sends Eric out with a drilling mud pump and gives the last load to Bear—a tank for isolating and measuring the gas brought up from the drilling wells. Both truckers have to handle their loads carefully, and Eric’s low speed briefly causes a traffic jam that puts extra stress on the road. Once Bear pulls in at Langley, the rig move is complete and the crews hurry to get all the equipment assembled so they can start drilling.

Elsewhere, Hugh takes his vacuum tanker from Inuvik to Langley so he can drain the sewage tank again, while Rick hauls garbage from Tuktoyaktuk to Inuvik. Hugh has to be careful on the return trip; the battered road is becoming slippery due to the lengthening days, and the liquid in his tanker threatens to slosh around and cause him to lose control of the truck. Rick complains about both his truck’s condition and his own aches and pains, planning to see a chiropractor in Inuvik even though Doug wants him back in Tuktoyaktuk that night. He instead returns to the freight yard, intent on confronting Doug, and is surprised to be given time off for a checkup.

The time has come to dismantle the Mallik site, even as crews are close to a breakthrough on harnessing the region’s gas hydrate fields. When springtime comes, there must be no traces of any human presence on the site. Eric picks up a camp shack bound for Inuvik, with the goal of completing two hauls in one day. In Tuktoyaktuk, Rick and second-year trucker Bill Thorbourne are sent to Mallik together. Bill’s truck soon develops problems with its heater, and the two men have to nurse their trucks along so he does not suffer hypothermia or frostbite. Upon reaching the site, Rick picks up a load of dirty snow and Bill takes on an electrical generator and three lighting plants. They reach Tuktoyaktuk safely; before Rick can clock out for the night, though, he is put on loader duty and must unload Bill’s cargo. At Mallik, the crews succeed in extracting natural gas from the fields.

With less than two weeks to go in the season, the ice road is badly worn and getting thinner by the day, and every available trucker is called in to move loads. Eric and Hugh drive up from Inuvik, the former headed for the Wurmlinger to pick up a load of drill casings, the latter to Langley with his vacuum tanker to pump out the wastewater. As they return to Inuvik, Kurt climbs into an available truck and drives up to help in the effort, hauling back a snowcat and a survival shack used by the road crews. At the ice-locked Arctic Star barge, a headquarters for natural gas exploration crews, veteran trucker Jim Gattie picks up a three-trailer load to save time: two pairs of full fuel tanks and related supplies, all on sleigh runners. The strategy makes his drive especially hazardous, but he reaches the edge of Inuvik safely and stops to unload the sleighs so they can be dragged in one by one.

Now that natural gas deposits have been found at Langley, the top priority is to cap the well and move all the equipment out before the ice melts. However, the truckers must contend with both the thinning road and the water that has begun to flow up through the cracks. Rookie Devon Neff, making his first ice road run, and Hugh are dispatched from Inuvik to help with the job. Hugh picks up a load of rig mats and several large spools of cable, an unstable load whose weight distribution makes it difficult for him to keep traction on the wet, slick road. Meanwhile, just after Devon takes on two diesel fuel tanks and starts back, he is alerted to a severe water flow on the road directly ahead of him; he stops to re-secure his load, then proceeds slowly through the hazard. He and Hugh both make it back to Inuvik safely.

As daily temperatures continue to rise and the ice road keeps melting, Jerry works at full speed to clear all the equipment from the Langley site. Every available trucker reports in for the job, including Devon and Hugh; the former gets a camp shack, the latter a load of crates and pallets, and both start out for Inuvik. The site’s derrick is loaded onto two trucks, just as in the move from Aput, but the drivers encounter a serious break in the road and must wait for a pilot car to escort them around the hazard. They reach Inuvik safely, as does Devon, who runs across some severe overflows of his own.

On the final day of the season, there are still hundreds of tons of equipment to move within 12 hours. However, the road is now awash in water and literally crumbling away beneath the truckers’ wheels. In Inuvik, Rick seizes a chance to take one last load, a loader that is to be stored at Tuktoyaktuk until next year. Since he does not know how to run a winch, he builds an improvised ramp out of boards and tries to drive the loader up it and onto his trailer, without success. Rick’s supervisor, irritated by what he sees as Rick’s season-long lack of professionalism, fires him and threatens to have him arrested if he shows up again. The incident ends up with the supervisor swinging one of the boards at the cameraman filming the scene - narrowly missing him.

At Langley, Bear picks up a camp shack and takes it to Inuvik as his last load. Drew delivers a load of groceries and a couch to Aklavik, then heads home for the year, while Devon brings a camp shack back to Inuvik. He leaves with a measure of respect from the senior truckers for successfully navigating the late-season hazards.

The rivalry between Hugh and Eric continues as both roll toward Langley. Eric is slowed down by a surprise whiteout and a lull in the action on site, but eventually picks up some rig mats and storage containers and heads back to Inuvik. Meanwhile, Hugh brings his vacuum tanker up to offload some wastewater; once he has emptied the load in Inuvik, he sets out again to drain the last full tank. Both he and Eric had planned to pull two loads today, but the road is officially closed before Eric can pick up his second, leaving Hugh at the top of the load count. Jerry confirms that Langley is completely clear and clean, and Hugh — the last driver to come in off the road — goes home with Kurt’s respect for a season of hard work.

Final load counts:

• • Drew — 9; spent most of the season driving on pavement in Inuvik
  • Alex — 22 as stated in "A Trucker's Farewell"; left early for medical reasons
  • Rick — 51; fired on the last day of the season
  • Bear — 63; hauled a total of 4 million pounds, probably the most of any driver this season
  • Eric — 67
  • Hugh — 68

The Dalton Highway (Alaska Route 11) serves as a major ice road to bring supplies nearly 500 miles from Fairbanks to the Prudhoe Bay oil fields and offshore rigs. However, the combination of avalanches, strong Arctic winds leading to whiteouts, and unforgiving terrain has led to hundreds of accidents in past years. Six thousand loads must be moved up the road within 12 weeks before the ice melts.

At Carlile Transportation in Fairbanks, "heavy hauler" Jack Jessee is assigned an oversized modular building unit to take to Prudhoe Bay. A squad of pilot cars accompanies him to warn other drivers of his approach, but he must still contend with the other road hazards on his own. Passing a spun-out truck, he nearly suffers the same fate; a recent avalanche and sudden whiteout close the road for some time, but he does meet his delivery deadline. Along the way, word comes in that a truck has gone off the road, but the driver (a rookie on his first run) was not seriously injured and made it back to town.

Thirty-year veteran George Spears and rookie Tim Freeman, Jr. set out together for Prudhoe Bay, hauling steel housing panels and canned food, respectively. Shortly after the start of the run, Tim feels himself losing control of his truck, and he decides to abandon his load and return to Fairbanks so he can have the truck checked out. Soon afterward, though, he begins to wonder if he let his nerves get to him.

Second-year driver Lisa Kelly takes a load of construction equipment, her first of the season, and sets out with the goal of reaching Deadhorse in one day. Pulling in 14 hours later, she must then negotiate the final stretch of the road over the Arctic Ocean in order to deliver her cargo to the oil fields where it is needed. Jack picks up the longest load of his career - a set of 130-foot-long pipes, which pose special difficulties in both loading and hauling. An inspection at a weigh station on the road reveals that the load is overweight and unbalanced, and he is fined $1,000 and sent back to Fairbanks to take care of these problems. The delay puts him one day behind when he heads north again.

The Fairbanks mechanics check out Tim's truck but find nothing wrong, suggesting that his inexperience was the cause of the problems he encountered on his first run attempt. He and George go north, each with a load of construction supplies; this time, he is better able to navigate the road's hazards. The flipped truck seen in the previous episode contains a load of batteries, which must be salvaged to prevent damage to the environment; after a six-hour road closure, the truck is towed back to Fairbanks and the load goes to Deadhorse. Snow and wind slow Tim and George for a while, but they deliver their loads safely.

Now back on the road after correcting his truck's weight problem, Jack finds a pickup truck in the ditch on a steep, slick hill. A risky maneuver allows him to tow the vehicle back onto the road, and he takes his load of pipes to Deadhorse and returns to Fairbanks for his next load, an oversized pipe rack. He loses three hours waiting for a spun-out truck to move, then finds himself in the middle of a fierce Arctic storm with no choice but to keep rolling.

In Fairbanks, Lisa picks up a set of truck tires (her first oversize load) and finds that the combination of its bulk and steep, slick curves poses serious risks. As she approaches the edge of the storm, she stops to re-secure the load but is knocked over when one of the strap tensioners gives way; she then decides to wait at Coldfoot until the weather clears. Tim and George briefly lose track of each other in a blizzard, but are soon able to re-connect and keep heading north with fresh loads of construction supplies.

Tim, George, and Lisa have gathered at Coldfoot to wait out the snowstorm, but Jack - the only driver on the road for the moment - pushes through it to cover the last 50 miles to Deadhorse. The weather begins to clear as he reaches town to deliver his pipe rack, but a second whiteout leaves him stuck in town for some time; after it breaks, he takes a load of 80-foot pipes out to an ocean oil rig.

Lisa's pilot car breaks down, leaving her to negotiate the final stretches of snowy tundra alone at night, but she brings her load of truck tires to Deadhorse safely. Tim and George find that Atigun Pass, the highest-altitude stretch of the road, is down to one lane due to the storm, and they are 12 hours behind schedule when they deliver their loads. During their drives, all three spot trucks that have gone off the road and fallen victim to the harsh road and weather conditions.

A storm has stranded several truckers at Coldfoot overnight, and Jack and Lisa go south the next morning even before the snowplows have had a chance to clear the road. Another truck has gone off the road in the bad weather; its driver was thrown free but managed to flag someone down, and he was subsequently airlifted back to Anchorage, Alaska for treatment. Lisa briefly loses her brakes and almost sideswipes a northbound truck, but she and Jack both reach Fairbanks to pick up their next loads. A recovery crew hurries in to get both the rolled truck and its load of pipes back to town without breaking a nearby natural gas line it had almost hit. Once Jack has his next load (a pipe rack), he sets out only to encounter moose on the road - one live, one dead that has to be hauled off the road by his pilot car driver.

Lisa takes on her longest load ever, a set of 80-foot pipes meant for an ocean oil rig, in an effort to prove herself as a potential heavy hauler. She barely makes it out of Fairbanks ahead of the afternoon curfew for oversized loads, and must then work her way carefully along the road's turns and slopes due to the size of her trailer. After reaching Deadhorse at night, she covers the final stretch over the ocean the next day and delivers the pipes.

Meanwhile, Tim's truck has broken down on the way back to Fairbanks; he left it by the road and got a ride, and now he and a mechanic are bringing up parts for a repair job. They get the truck working, but Tim discovers that someone has stolen his tire chains and he must drive to Fairbanks without them - skidding everywhere on the road as he goes. The truck is later found to have problems with its starter, and repairs take so long that George may have to start his next run without Tim. However, both men get rolling just in time, each hauling a load of petroleum products, then run into bad weather that night and stop at Coldfoot after learning that the road has been closed.

As more storms close in on the area and the road crews race to minimize the danger of avalanches, Lisa picks up her next oversized load in Fairbanks: rig mats, a steel framework, and a pickup truck. Fresh snow buildup on the road makes the turns and slopes very slick, and as she reaches Coldfoot, she learns that the north lane has been closed due to the storm and must wait there for the night.

Tim and George start out from Coldfoot, intent on getting through the mountains before the storm closes the road, and pass a wrecked truck in the ditch. They make it through Atigun Pass, but find themselves facing a 20-mile stretch of deep, fresh snowdrifts standing between them and Deadhorse; punching their way through, they deliver their loads safely.

Even though the Alaska Department of Transportation is working long hours to keep the road open, snowfall from the recent storms has made it very slick. In Fairbanks, Jack and fellow heavy hauler Carey Hall team up to transport a pair of huge storage tanks that must get to Deadhorse that night. Simply loading them up poses a challenge; they drop one tank in the process, but it is not damaged and they are able to head north. Encountering steep downhill runs and thick fog, and fighting fatigue on the last stretch, they bring the tanks in on time and then drive into a whiteout on the way back to Fairbanks.

In Deadhorse, Lisa picks up some flatbed trailers to take to Fairbanks. As she goes through Atigun Pass, she encounters two northbound trucks (with the right of way) skidding all over the road and barely avoids going over the side as she lets them pass. Later in the day, she has to fight her way up a steep, icy slope before delivering her trailers to the Carlile yard.

With only a few weeks left in the ice road season, the pressure is on to move critical supplies up to the oil fields. Tim and George continue to push south toward Fairbanks and pull in after four more hours of driving through whiteouts. As George waits for repairs on his truck, Tim gets a load of cable spools and prepares to ride in front, practice for eventually making solo runs. Once the two get on the road, Tim finds that his taillights are out and is unable to get them working; he is thus forced to return to Fairbanks, leaving George to go north alone.

Jack and Lisa form a convoy of their own and start for Deadhorse, he with a three-tanker load of diesel fuel, she with some containers and rig mats. He shows her a new technique for shifting gears on the ice, but she has some trouble getting used to it and decides to practice it later. Lisa's taillights also malfunction, but an impromptu repair suggested by Jack allows her to continue on for the time being. They stop at Coldfoot for the night and find sheep on the road the next day before reaching Deadhorse and delivering their loads. A report comes in of an overturned tanker at the south end of the road, and recovery crews hurry to drain its fuel cargo and get the wreck off the road before traffic backs up.

In Fairbanks, Jack gets an early start to haul a critical load of oil additive to a pipeline pumping station 250 miles up the road by noon. The liquid sloshes back and forth in its tanker, making it hard for him to stay in control on the slopes, and upon reaching the station, he has to adjust his suspension so that his truck will not tear up the unloading platform. The additive goes into the pipeline just in time and he heads south again.

Lisa, Tim, and George set up a convoy - Lisa taking rig mats and a pickup truck to an ocean oil rig, Tim and George hauling Styrofoam insulation panels to Deadhorse. Lisa's preference for faster driving leads Tim and George to put her in front; she soon gets in trouble, stops dead on an uphill run, and has to restart from the bottom as trucks back up behind her. Once they reach Deadhorse, Tim and George unload and start back to Fairbanks, while Lisa crosses the ocean to deliver her cargo.

With perhaps two weeks left in the season and 300 loads left to move, the truckers face a new challenge: the volcanic eruption of Mount Redoubt, which has grounded all air traffic and shut down Alaska's oil refineries. The Dalton Highway is left as the North Slope's only supply route for the time being. Jack prepares to take a load of badly needed diesel fuel from Fairbanks to Deadhorse, but he and a mechanic must first free a frozen axle on the trailer. The thawing road has become very rough and slippery; he barely clears a dangerous hairpin turn and an oncoming truck at the same time. Driving well into the night and battling fatigue, he brings the fuel into town safely.

In Deadhorse, Lisa picks up some used batteries and an airline passenger who found herself stranded in town when the flights stopped running. She starts out for Fairbanks, but soon discovers a serious fuel leak and is forced to stop in an area out of radio contact. Several other truckers stop to help and get her rig running by changing out a broken fuel line. Though the cab is now full of nausea-inducing diesel fuel evaporation fumes due to the leak, Lisa completes her run to Fairbanks.

A spring storm brings wind and snow, making the rapidly thawing road even more dangerous in the final days of the season. In Fairbanks, Lisa picks up a load of construction supplies, but a problem with the trailer's air brakes forces her to leave it and take a trailer full of explosives instead. Reaching the hill where she spun out two episodes ago, she tries a new strategy that allows her to climb it successfully; after clearing the windy Atigun Pass, she arrives in Deadhorse with her load intact.

While hauling his empty fuel trailer back from Deadhorse, Jack loses traction on Atigun and is briefly stranded until a snowplow stops to tow him up to the summit. He has further trouble sliding on the bridge over the Yukon River, but gets to Fairbanks safely. Tim and George haul trailers of their own out of Deadhorse and push ahead so as not to get caught in the approaching storm. They reach Fairbanks the following day, and George believes that Tim is almost ready to start doing runs on his own.

The season finale; with two days left in the season, the truckers rush to take their last loads before the road disintegrates completely. Tim picks up a load of pipes and sets out from Fairbanks on his first solo run, while Lisa heads south from Deadhorse with a load of hazardous waste. Her trip becomes extremely dangerous due to an air leak that disables her trailer brakes. She and Tim meet in Coldfoot, and he stops the leak well enough for her to reach Fairbanks and close out the season. Tim crosses Atigun Pass, now dotted with patches of black ice, and finishes his run to Deadhorse.

George and Alex head north with a load of construction supplies and three pickup trucks, respectively. George's slow pace continues to frustrate Alex, who still wants to get ahead of Hugh's load count, and George eventually lets Alex drive in front so he can complete his last run as soon as possible. Hugh develops major brake trouble on the way to Fairbanks, but he and his escort are able to patch up the truck and nurse it back to town for an overnight repair job. The next day, Hugh takes on construction supplies and is almost to Deadhorse before running into a traffic jam caused by trucks stuck in the snowdrifts. Once the backlog is cleared, he brings in his load and goes home with the respect of his superiors at Carlile for mastering the road's challenges in his first year on it.

Upon reaching Deadhorse and delivering his load, George decides to end his ice road career, though other truckers wonder aloud if he is serious about that decision. Jack picks up a tanker of diesel fuel in Fairbanks and makes it as far as Coldfoot that day. The next morning, he continues north toward a remote island oil rig, only to be stopped by the presence of polar bears on the ocean ice road; they move off just in time for him to deliver the fuel and get off the road, the last driver to do so.

Final load counts:

• • Jack - 20
  • George - 15
  • Lisa - 15
  • Hugh - 13
  • Alex - 12
  • Tim - 11

The truckers on the Dalton Highway must move 2500 loads totaling nearly 50 million pounds within 90 days. This year, though, they have to make runs to the isolated towns of Bettles and Nuiqsut, crossing frozen rivers and swamps to deliver vital supplies.

Jack is the first to start out of Fairbanks, taking a 100-foot pipe rack that has been needed at Prudhoe Bay since last year. Accompanied by a fleet of pilot cars, he eases his truck out of town and starts north. Even before Lisa gets moving, she hears of an accident at the north end of the road that has traffic blocked in both directions. She takes on a car carrier loaded with pickup trucks, but her convoy partner is unhappy with her slow speed and trades loads with her, much to her dissatisfaction. The accident is cleared in time for her to reach Prudhoe without any more delay.

Two newer drivers, Greg Boadwine and Ray Veilleux, each take a load of pipes north from Fairbanks. Greg tries to beat Jack to Prudhoe but comes up just short at the end, while Ray tries to go over Atigun Pass at night without tire chains. Sliding to a stop, he realizes his mistake and chains up before starting again and finishing the trip. Other truckers make a first attempt to reach Bettles and break their tires partway through the river ice, but they manage to ease across and finish the supply run.

A whiteout south of Prudhoe presents a hazard for both Jack and Greg, heading south with a damaged fuel storage tank and a load of lumber, respectively. As Greg gets clear of it, he learns of a fuel tanker that has gone off the road and must be pumped out; seeing the wreck makes him rethink his need to outrun Jack, and he stops at Coldfoot for the night. Jack drives on through the night to bring the tank to Fairbanks for urgent repairs.

Lisa goes north with a load of odds and ends - lumber, steel, a pickup truck - and develops brake trouble soon after starting out. After trying unsuccessfully to fix the problem herself, she starts back toward town only to come across her previous convoy partner, who quickly gets her running again. Though her self-esteem suffers at the need to have someone help her twice in a row, she soon comes to the rescue of a trucker stuck in the snowdrifts. As Ray takes a load of pipes north, he develops an antifreeze leak that becomes a severe problem just short of Prudhoe. Once he nurses his truck into town, he learns at the repair shop that he will either have to wait for parts to be delivered or get the truck towed back to Fairbanks.

The first major storm of the season brings dangerous wind chills and severely reduced visibility on the road. In Fairbanks, Greg and Ray roll into town with their loads; the problem with Ray's truck proved to be easily fixable in Prudhoe Bay. Greg waits out the storm and takes his truck in for inspection, but learns that he needs new tires. Ray heads out with a load of pipes. Twice during the trip, he slides to a stop while trying to climb hills without his tire chains; embarrassed, he puts them on as traffic backs up behind him. Dashboard warnings of engine trouble prompt him to consider quitting.

Lisa, still eager to prove herself as a potential heavy hauler, gets a load of pipes that is her heaviest one of the season to date. She heads out from Fairbanks into the storm and develops mechanical trouble, which turns out to be a bad speed sensor, but decides to push on. Before reaching Atigun, she stops to chain up and makes it safely through the second spot that brought Ray to a standstill.

In Fairbanks, Lisa picks up a load of oil pipeline supports and must get them to Prudhoe within 48 hours as a huge storm settles in near Atigun. She spends the night at Coldfoot and heads out with several other truckers; eventually they pull off the road and wait for the weather to clear, then punch through the fresh snowdrifts to get over Atigun and finish their run.

In Prudhoe, Ray loses some time chaining down a pair of flatbeds, then has to wait until the next day to start his run with a convoy. They pass a new wreck while fighting through the drifts, and soon get off the road to wait out the worst of the storm before making it to Fairbanks safely. Greg takes a load of pipes north from Fairbanks, intending to drop it off at Coldfoot and go back down for a second load; he skids out briefly on a steep downhill stretch, but gets control again and completes the first run.

In Prudhoe, Alex goes south with a flatbed and eases through the poor visibility at Atigun before stopping briefly at Coldfoot, where one of the road markers he knocked over has been left for him as a joke. Hugh is told to take a load of pipes and follow Jack north from Fairbanks, but sets out on his own after waiting three hours for Jack to show up. Jack later starts north with a vacuum truck, intending to reach Prudhoe that night. They both end up at Coldfoot that night; the next morning, Hugh again becomes impatient, leaves his load there, and returns to Fairbanks for another one. Jack goes on ahead and gets to Prudhoe one day later than he planned.

In Fairbanks, Hugh and Alex each pick up a load of pipes bound for Prudhoe; Alex rolls out well ahead of Hugh, who is still determined to outdo him in loads delivered. That night, Alex arrives in Coldfoot first, but Hugh parks his own truck so as to keep Alex's blocked in and unable to leave. Alex gets an early start, breaking a pickup truck's side view mirror as he noses out, but Hugh soon catches up and brings his load in first when Alex takes a wrong turn at the end of the road.

Jack takes on a load of fuel that is urgently needed in Nuiqsut. The sloshing contents threaten to pitch him off the road as he climbs Atigun Pass, but he comes over the peak safely and turns off onto the slick ice of the Colville River. A windstorm kicks up, reducing visibility to near-zero and forcing him to make a long, risky stop on the ice before moving on to his destination. Lisa gets her first oversize load, a pipe rack meant for Prudhoe, and eases out of Fairbanks with the help of a pilot car. The combination of fresh snowdrifts and the wide cargo force her into close calls as southbound trucks pass her. Crossing Atigun, she drives through a long patch of ice fog and then is almost pulled over by the North Slope police before delivering the rack.

As extreme cold strikes the state, Alex - northbound from Fairbanks with a load of pipes - stops to pick up a hitchhiker. After putting up with the man's incessant talking, Alex drops him off at the Yukon River Bridge and soon develops steering wheel trouble. He switches loads at Coldfoot with a southbound driver and takes on flatbeds, so he can get his truck to the shop, but has to free up that trailer's brakes before he can go. Once he gets to Fairbanks, he learns that his steering column needs repair. As Hugh goes north with his own pipes, he finds them not strapped down to his liking, and later trades barbs with a driver who is annoyed at his presence on the road. He later brings flatbeds south from Prudhoe, still smarting over the exchange.

Lisa, eager to make up for time lost due to storm delays, stops at the weigh station on her way to Fairbanks. A truck inspection reveals missing emergency equipment and leads to a $160 fine; after paying this, she goes in for a medical exam to keep her certification up to date. Jack picks up his next load, a pipe rack, and starts for Prudhoe with a rookie pilot car driver. Miscommunication leads to close calls along the way, involving blind corners and a flock of white-tailed ptarmigan on the road, but their teamwork improves and Jack has an encouraging word for the driver at Prudhoe.

Truckers in Fairbanks are scrambling to get on the road and stay ahead of an approaching storm, as the heavy snowfall near Atigun increases the danger of avalanches. Hugh, Greg, and Ray each take a load of pipes toward Prudhoe; Greg tries unsuccessfully to get a different load, while Hugh has to knock his trailer brakes loose before he can go. Many drivers stop at Coldfoot for the night, but Ray pushes on and brings his cargo in safely. Not long after he clears Atigun Pass, an avalanche closes the road.

Traffic backs up in both directions as a heavy-duty snowblower is brought in to clear the slide. The next morning, Greg - having stopped at Coldfoot - eases his way past the danger zones and goes on to Prudhoe. Jack, coming north with structural steel panels, finds himself stopped dead south of Atigun when a second avalanche occurs. He soon gets a clear road and continues to Prudhoe, as does Hugh, who risks a head-on collision by moving into the southbound lane to stay out of the snowdrifts. Once he delivers his load, he picks up trailer flatbeds to take back to Fairbanks.

Jack and Lisa are sent down to Anchorage to help veteran driver Carey Hall transport the season's heaviest load to date: a modular building weighing 209,450 pounds. It is too heavy for a single truck to handle, so Carey plans to steer it in front while Jack and Lisa push from behind. The three must carefully coordinate their maneuvering, engine speed, and gear selection in order to get the building to Prudhoe. After a rough start that fails to impress Carey and Jack, Lisa gets a better feel for this type of trucking and helps deliver the power needed to move the load over Atigun. After three days and 850 miles, the trio brings it to Prudhoe safely.

Alex takes a load of lumber north from Fairbanks, trying to beat a deadline of 5:00 the next afternoon. Shortly after starting out, he encounters a pickup truck that has rolled off the road. Stopping to give first aid to the two passengers, he learns that a third one has apparently gone missing. As paramedics arrive to take the victims to the hospital, Alex gives the police as much information as he can and then goes on his way. He stops at Coldfoot for the night and reaches Prudhoe the next day, with minutes to spare before the deadline.

At the Prudhoe outskirts, Lisa swerves to avoid a plow truck and ends up sliding into a ditch. Though the plow pulls her out and there is no damage to her truck, she worries about getting fired. After pulling in and filing a report on herself, she is told that the incident was minor and will not affect her record; however, her pride is wounded and she fears that her reputation will be damaged.

In Fairbanks, Ray picks up a pipe sleigh that needs to be in Prudhoe that night, but his truck has frozen up due to being shut off overnight; it takes six hours for him to get it thawed out. He drives late into the night, not stopping at Coldfoot, but eventually pulls over to get a little sleep. He wakes up to find that his arm has gone numb, then has himself checked out at the hospital once he reaches Prudhoe. The problem turns out to be a pinched nerve caused by his sleeping position, and he is soon back on the road. Greg stops at the Fairbanks shop to check on the repairs to his truck, and is called in to talk with the boss because its onboard computer indicates that he has been speeding. He is eventually let off with a warning, but wonders if he is running out of second chances at Carlile.

In Fairbanks, Jack gets a late-afternoon call to haul a load of pipes to Bettles, only the third such run of his ice road career. Once he gets to the start of the side road, he stops for the night; the next morning, he negotiates animal and driving hazards until coming to the Jim River. After carefully scouting the weakened ice, he pushes ahead and starts to break through before reaching the other side. Once he gets to Bettles and finds someone to accept the cargo, he injures his head while unloading it and gets bandaged up, then starts back to Fairbanks.

Coming south from Prudhoe, Greg stops to pick up a manlift, abandoned by another driver, and take it to Fairbanks. It is his first oversized load, and he has a few close calls with oncoming trucks before continuing on toward his destination. Lisa tries for an early start to take pipes north from Fairbanks, but her truck's door locks have frozen up and she loses some time thawing them out. After driving long stretches of slick roads, she pulls into Prudhoe but runs into trouble again, this time with frozen landing gear on her trailer; a freight yard worker helps her unload and get on her way.

In Prudhoe, Alex looks for a load to take back to Fairbanks, but there are none, as Ray got the last one (a set of flatbeds) just before he came in. Trying to stay ahead of Alex, Ray skids into the ditch and ends up burying his truck's wheels deep in the loose snow. Other drivers try to pull him loose, but the tow chains break and they resort to digging him out. Alex stops to help with the effort; after four hours of digging, the group is able to pull him back up onto the road. After calling in at Coldfoot to report the incident, he has to go in for a drug test and driving review once he arrives in Fairbanks. The meeting ends without any penalty against him, though he must take his truck to the shop to be checked out before he can resume work.

In Fairbanks, Hugh picks up a load of heaters, noting that they are not securely strapped down but starting off quickly to save time. He passes his trainer from the previous season, who notices part of the load coming loose, and both pull over to secure it. They then see that one of the heaters has become damaged due to scraping against another one. When Hugh reaches Prudhoe, he quickly unloads and heads south; however, word of the damaged load soon reaches Fairbanks and he is called in to discuss the matter. Hugh claims that the straps were always tight and is let off with a caution, but the dispatchers take the matter far more seriously and plan to watch him more closely in the future, mentioning that Hugh may be charged for the damage.

Carey comes up from Anchorage with a 114,000-pound "pig launcher" module, used for cleaning and inspecting oil pipelines. The load requires two additional trucks to help push it, but one of them - Jack - is late reporting in and the run starts without him. While Carey is stopped to help fix a flat tire on the other push truck, Jack turns up and the team starts into the first big uphill runs. Jack comes loose from the rear bumper, having missed a gear, and rushes to get back in place so Carey can make it over the hill. After a night's stay at Coldfoot, Jack is again late to get started, but he catches up in time for the run to Atigun. Once the load is at the summit, he moves in front to slow its descent on the other side, and the team reaches Prudhoe safely.

Hugh starts north from Fairbanks with a load of pipes, early enough to pass the not-yet-open weigh station, and soon catches up to Ray, who is taking his own pipes north. They race each other to Coldfoot - an activity frowned upon by their superiors - and Ray briefly spins out in the southbound lane while trying to pull ahead. Hugh wins the race and continues on through the night to reach Prudhoe; Ray stops at Coldfoot, buys a meal gift certificate for Hugh as a prize, and continues to Prudhoe the next morning. He then picks up a drill rig and two explosives containers for the trip south.

With spring approaching and temperatures rising, the ice road to Nuiqsut will soon disintegrate, cutting its only supply line. All six truckers are assigned to bring the village its last loads for the season; four of them have to drop off cargo at Prudhoe first. Shortly after the convoy sets out from Fairbanks, Lisa learns that she has been given the wrong load and must return to the Carlile yard to get the right one - a snowmobile bound for Nuiqsut. Jack is hauling a load of fuel that is needed there as well.

With Greg in front, hauling structural steel members, the rest of the convoy inches past the site of a truck that has rolled off the road. Alex becomes impatient at Greg's slow pace and starts to speed up toward him, while Hugh tries to get ahead of Alex and Greg becomes annoyed with the latter's CB banter. By midday, they have passed Coldfoot and Lisa has caught up with them in time to hear of a storm up ahead. Eventually Alex drops to the rear of the group as visibility falls to almost zero in the blowing snow, and everyone slows down as night falls. They reach Prudhoe and Alex, Hugh, Greg, and Ray pick up their Nuiqsut loads, but the bad weather forces everyone to wait 36 hours until they can start off again. They have a rare meal together, passing time as best they can, and Jack teaches Lisa how to change out an air filter.

As Lisa sets up for a push-trucking job to move a 100-ton modular building from Fairbanks to Prudhoe, a bad air valve puts her several hours behind schedule getting out of town. As soon as she starts up the road, another malfunction occurs, but she quickly finds the problem - a loose air hose - and fixes it so she can keep moving. Once she catches up to the other two drivers on the job, one of them has to stop briefly for suspected engine trouble; it turns out to be only vaporizing snow and they continue on. Slush and flying snow dust on Atigun pose hazards for the trio, but they bring the load in safely and the other two express their respect for Lisa's developing skill as a push trucker.

With the season in its final week, truckers are rushing to move loads as the ice on the Dalton melts away. A bridge over the Dietrich River is threatened by a buildup of water pressure behind the remaining ice; crews are dispatched to bore tunnels through that layer to relieve the stress. Elsewhere, the thawing of the Yukon River puts homes near its banks at risk of flooding.

As Jack and Lisa head north with jet fuel and pipes, respectively, they hear of a truck that slid into a ditch and stop to chain up so they can better approach the slick roads. They reach Prudhoe that night, but not before Jack receives a citation for not having the proper hazardous-materials paperwork on his load. Once Hugh starts out of Fairbanks with a load of pipes, he stops at the weigh station and is told that his log book is out of compliance and shows evidence of speeding. He denies the latter, is let off with a warning, and continues to Prudhoe at his usual fast pace.

On the final day of the ice road season, Ray and Greg are each hauling a pair of cement powder tanks south from Prudhoe. Only Ray stops to chain his tires as they approach Atigun; Greg tries to pass him during the climb, but cannot due to Ray's maneuvering in order to maintain traction. Eventually Greg spins out and stops to chain up, and the incident later leads to animosity between the two when the boss sides with Ray after they both reach Fairbanks.

Jack brings a load of jet fuel south toward Fairbanks, passing a snowplow stuck in the ditch, and struggles to reach the top of Atigun on the wet, slick roads. Once he is over and down, he and Ray laugh about Greg's mishap; later he gets a flat tire and changes it before finishing the run. Lisa comes south with a pair of flatbeds, and stops at Coldfoot to buy a meal gift certificate for the plow driver who pulled her out of the ditch in "Blood on the Dalton." Once she finishes the run, she heads home with enough money to buy back a horse she had once owned as a pet.

Hugh takes a reel of cable and a pickup truck north from Fairbanks and hurries to Prudhoe, intent on picking up one last load. However, the boss - who has disapproved of his driving habits all season long - refuses to give him one and comments that he may not have a future on the Dalton. Alex hauls a pickup and assorted building materials from Prudhoe to Coldfoot, his last load, then visits one of the victims from the accident he saw in "Blood on the Dalton." He learns that the third passenger, whom no one was able to find at the time, fled the scene only to be arrested some time later.

Final load counts:

• Ray - 19
• Hugh - 18
• Jack - 17
• Lisa - 17
• Alex - 16
• Greg - 11

The two-hour season premiere. With Carlile needing to move 1500 loads up the Dalton in 90 days, Lisa reports in and take a load of pipes up from Fairbanks. She leads a convoy of heavy haulers, including Carey Hall, who needs her help to pull his own freight up a steep incline. After a problem with tow hooks snapping in the cold, they continue on to Prudhoe, the first drivers of the season to arrive. Returning to Fairbanks, Lisa takes on a second load of pipes and pushes a spun-out truck out of the ditch on her way north.

When Alabama trucker Dave Redmon arrives in Fairbanks, he is paired up with 19-year veteran Tony Molesky as an escort, to his discontent. They head out with a load of diesel fuel, Tony driving the first half and Dave the second. Dave's problem with shifting gears on the steep grades leads Tony to decide, at Prudhoe, that he needs at least one more escorted trip before doing runs on his own. This decision irritates Dave greatly; on the way back to Coldfoot, the two get into a long argument that results in Tony leaving Dave there the next morning. New York trucker Maya Sieber also reports in, takes a road test, and is cleared to start training. She rides shotgun on a fuel run, during which she sees a flipped pickup truck in a ditch, and later meets Lisa in Prudhoe.

In Fairbanks, Lisa picks up a car hauler loaded with pickup trucks and remembers the trouble she had with this load the previous season. After a day-long trip and a battle with fatigue, she delivers it to Prudhoe with a sense of vindication. While taking a load of diesel fuel north, Tony stops at the site of his recent accident to pick up debris left by his truck.

Dave is still in Coldfoot after being left there by Tony, so Phil Kromm, Carlile's driver trainer, drives up to get him. Dave drives on the way back to Fairbanks as Phil offers advice; once they have returned, their boss decides to consider both Phil's and Tony's opinions and figure out what is next for Dave. After passing a drug test and taking a rough run in the trucking simulator, Maya spends a night relaxing at Chena Hot Springs in preparation for the start of her driver training the next day.

In Winnipeg, Hugh and Rick team up with another driver to transport the three sections of an airport terminal building to St. Theresa Point, 550 miles away. Each section weighs 86,000 pounds, more than any other load on this road to date. Rick dents one of his rims on a bumpy stretch; by the time Hugh jury-rigs a repair job, the convoy has lost the whole afternoon. On the second day, they reach a long stretch of hairpin turns, which damage the side of Rick's section when he gets hung up in them. The third day of the trip brings them to a lake crossing whose weight limit is slightly less than the weight of each truck.

Meanwhile, Alex picks up a forklift bound for St. Theresa Point and six boats for the village of Garden Hill. Once he drops off the forklift, he makes his way through a newly opened, 8-mile lake crossing and brings the boats in.

In Manitoba, the airport terminal convoy eases across the lake crossing and reaches St. Theresa Point that night. The third driver clips a power line and pulls down its pole with his trailer. By the time a utility crew cuts the line and safely removes the line, it is so late that unloading the buildings must wait until morning. After the convoy complete the delivery, the drivers relax with a curling match.

In Garden Hill, Alex picks up a load of recyclable materials bound for Winnipeg and hears about the downed power line before setting out. He barely misses two oncoming passenger vehicles, nearly spins out, and has his trailer come loose at night due to snow caked in the hitch. Once he clears the buildup, he hooks up again and continues the run.

In Fairbanks, Dave gets a set of spool pipes as his first oversized load, but frozen trailer brakes delay his departure. He finds the Yukon River Bridge to be completely iced over and eases across, sliding badly before reaching the other side and arriving in Prudhoe that night. Maya takes a load of pipes north, with Phil riding shotgun to offer advice. She negotiates traffic and road challenges well until that evening, when she hears something rattling under the floorboard. A brief stop and under-hood check reveals nothing immediately, so Phil takes the wheel to see if he can hear it, leaving Maya disappointed at not being able to drive the entire run herself.

Lisa and Tony are called down to Anchorage to move a pair of modular buildings. She learns from him that she will officially become a heavy hauler upon successful completion of this run. After easing under the freeway overpasses on their way out of town, the run proceeds without incident, with Tony leading until Lisa starts to crowd him; he then lets her take the lead.

Having spent the night in Coldfoot, Lisa and Tony head north with their modular buildings. On the tundra south of Prudhoe, Lisa barely avoids an oncoming truck and slides partway off the road. The two work together to help her get going again, and Tony drives lead as they complete the delivery. In light of this incident, the question of her transfer to the heavy haul division is left up to the Carlile bosses.

In Fairbanks, Maya picks up a load of cable spools and starts out with Phil riding along. An exhaust leak into the cab sends the truck to the shop; once it is repaired later that morning, she starts the run again, ignoring disparaging radio talk from Dave. She drives the entire way to Prudhoe herself without incident.

Reports of an approaching storm on the Dalton send drivers rushing to get on the road before conditions make the road impassable. In Fairbanks, Dave prepares to take a load of pipes, but a stuck trailer brake and a loose hitch delay his departure. By the time he approaches Atigun, the storm has forced several drivers to jettison their loads and turn back, and he does the same and returns to Coldfoot. Lisa learns that she will not become a heavy hauler at this time. Angry and disappointed, she goes north with a load of office supplies but ends up stopping at Coldfoot as well.

Tony, hauling a load of explosives bound for Prudhoe, finds a truck in the ditch but does not stop to help due to the danger of his own cargo. As he encounters the worst of the storm, he decides to push on and brings the load in after fighting a near-total whiteout. Maya takes a load of pipes north on her first solo run, a load that must be delivered by day's end. She too has to deal with worsening visibility as the storm closes in and also reaches Prudhoe safely.

In Fairbanks, Lisa takes a pickup truck and some structural steel members north as reports of a fresh storm come in. She deals with a stubborn trailer hitch in the yard, followed by a tarp coming loose from the pickup on the road. Pushing through near-zero visibility conditions, she brings the load to Prudhoe.

Dave drives up from Coldfoot to get the load of pipes he abandoned, but his cab's heater fails and makes the drive extremely uncomfortable. Finding miles of backed-up traffic due to the storm, he has to wait four hours until crews can clear a path to let trucks through. Passing ditched trucks in the backup and another after he gets clear, he picks up his load and brings it in. When Maya starts the day in Fairbanks, she learns that she has officially been issued her own truck, which is smaller and older than the one in which she trained. It has sat idle for months and must be towed into the shop to get it running; she takes advantage of the delay to buy some equipment, including a knife for protection.

After four days of winter storms, the weather clears and crews go to work reopening the road. Dave and Tony head north from Fairbanks with critical loads of groceries, and Maya goes with them to transport a pickup truck and other supplies. Tension among the three simmers as they start the run - Dave frustrated at Maya's slow pace and Tony's perception that he is disrespectful, Maya and Tony annoyed at Dave's habit of crowding them from behind. Dave eventually speeds ahead and reaches Coldfoot alone, but is ordered the next morning to regroup with them. After he again pulls away, Tony and Maya ease through the ripe avalanche conditions on Atigun. Dave reaches Prudhoe well ahead of them, picking up the only available load bound for Fairbanks (scrap material).

Meanwhile, Lisa digs her truck out after spending four days stranded in Prudhoe. She gets a load destined for Anchorage, but gets a flat tire 50 miles into the trip as a result of pumping her brakes to melt built-up snow. After doubling back to Prudhoe for repairs, she makes the delivery and then takes a day off at home.

In Winnipeg, Hugh and Rick pick up fuel tanks destined for St. Theresa Point, but find themselves battling slick roads and hairpin turns. A jackknifed tanker is blocking the road, but Hugh pulls it straight so the run can continue. After another truck begins to spin out and nearly hits Hugh, he and Rick bring their loads in safely. Alex, on the road back to Winnipeg, sideswipes a car parked in a snowbank that is being used by the camera crew following him.

In Fairbanks, Lisa gets a load of pipe sections that is so long (100 feet) that it needs a special rear dolly instead of a standard trailer to support it. That dolly soon moves out of alignment with the truck and begins to swing wildly on corners, posing a hazard to oncoming truckers. She cannot get it realigned herself, but does get help in Coldfoot; later that night, she discovers that two of the dolly's tires have completely fallen off. With help from another trucker, she straps up the axle so that it will not collapse, then limps into Prudhoe to finish the run.

In Fairbanks, Lisa and Tony take steel building frames bound for Prudhoe; at 16 feet, Lisa's load is the widest of her career. The two truckers need a squad of pilot cars to help keep the road clear. That night, they maneuver carefully past several southbound convoys and trucks parked on both sides of the road, leaving little room for error. Lisa takes the lead the next day for the run over Atigun, and they reach Prudhoe that night; Tony expresses his satisfaction at her success on this run.

Although Maya is sick, she reports in to get a load and heads for Prudhoe. She develops a fever that night, but successfully negotiates a slick, steep uphill climb. The next day, she encounters Phil and tries to pass him, but he jokingly keeps her from doing so. Impatient for something to do, Dave is dispatched to take a pickup-truckload of tires to a crew a few miles north of Fairbanks. He has several close calls with southbound trucks before making the delivery.

In Fairbanks, Dave picks up a load of pipes as part of Carlile's late-season drive to get urgently needed freight to Prudhoe. Told to stay close to Phil, he has trouble hooking up his trailer and finds that he may have dented one of the pipes. The load turns out to be undamaged, but Dave is cautioned to be more careful as he and Phil head out. Irritated, Dave ignores Phil's radio calls during the last stretch of the run, leaving Phil unimpressed with his attitude.

Setting up to head north with a load of cable trays, Maya finds her trailer brakes stuck. Another trucker helps her fix the problem, but her brakes soon lock up again once she is on the road. Deciding to play it safe, she drops the load and returns to Fairbanks. After stopping with Tony to scatter a trucker's ashes on the Brooks Range, Lisa goes south with a load of recyclable materials and hears about Maya's trailer problems. The two discuss Dave's attitude as they head south, but a collision between a pickup truck and a big rig delays them for more than an hour.

In Winnipeg, Alex has developed coughing fits and is worried that his lung trouble from three years earlier is returning. After a clinic visit, he is diagnosed with bronchitis and prescribed antibiotics. He picks up a load of groceries bound for St. Theresa Point and hurries out, anxious to deliver it before the road closes for the season. The slick road conditions and his fever complicate the trip, but he pushes on and stops briefly to observe a skunk. After fighting his illness and a stretch of treacherous lake that night, he brings the groceries in the next morning.

In Prudhoe, Dave picks up a load and heads south. Phil, still watching his performance, has begun to think that Dave is ignoring safety rules in order to get more loads. Meanwhile, the truck Tony wrecked early in the season has been completely repaired, and he takes it up from Fairbanks with a load of diesel fuel. Once he delivers the tanker, he picks up a load of gasoline for Nuiqsut and skids badly on the slick river ice while bringing it in.

As Lisa and Maya take loads north from Fairbanks, Maya is beginning to feel comfortable on the road. Stopping briefly to help a driver fix a coolant leak, they meet Tony in Coldfoot during his Prudhoe run and discuss Dave's behavior. Dave stops here, overhears some of their comments, and immediately leaves without Phil to keep himself from getting into a confrontation. He arrives in Fairbanks that night, an hour ahead of Phil; the next morning, his supervisors decide to take him off active duty until they can re-evaluate his driving.

Warming temperatures give rise to wet, slick road conditions, complicating the push to move the season's last loads. In Manitoba, Hugh and Rick get an early start to move loads up to St. Theresa Point - concrete barriers and school supplies, respectively. They stop to re-secure one barrier after it slides forward and nearly crushes Hugh's cab, then bring their loads in. Alex, taking building supplies to Garden Hill, finds dangerously thin ice on a lake crossing and detours around it, adding 200 miles to his trip. A broken drive shaft delays him until another driver brings up a replacement truck so he can continue the run.

In Prudhoe, polar bear sightings on the road have temporarily blocked runs to and from the oil fields. Tony picks up a load of scrap metal and goes south, passing a northbound truck as he reaches the point where he had his accident at the start of the season. The bear later moves off the road and trucks start moving as a road crew works to relieve pressure on a frozen creek, so that the ice will not destroy its bridge.

In Fairbanks, Tony is not surprised to learn of Dave's dismissal. Heading north with a load of pipes, he ponders other drivers' reports of slick roads and passes a pickup truck in a ditch. In Prudhoe, Lisa and Maya are both dispatched to Nuiqsut with loads of assorted supplies and must deal with the slippery ice roads. The delivery puts Lisa at the top of the Alaska load count. Once all three are back in Fairbanks, the Carlile truckers get together for an end-of-season cookout.

In Manitoba, Hugh has reached St. Theresa Point but finds no loads available that can fit on his trailer. He and Rick head back to Winnipeg empty-handed, but get stuck while trying to pass an abandoned double-wide truck in a storm. They have no success pulling loose until the driver returns with a second double-wide, providing enough traction to help move all the other trucks so Hugh and Rick can finish the trip.

On the way to Garden Hill in his replacement truck, Alex stops briefly to pull a passenger car out of a ditch. He brings in his load and picks up a cargo of tools bound for Winnipeg; soon after starting back, though, he finds an antifreeze leak and must return to town. The problem is a broken radiator hose, and local mechanics splice in a new piece to get him back on the road. Completing this run puts Alex ahead of Hugh in the load count for the first time in five seasons.

Final load count (Canada)

• Alex - 22
• Hugh - 21
• Rick - 20

Final load count (Alaska)

• Lisa - 28
• Dave - 27
• Tony - 25
• Maya - 22

In Whitehorse, Yukon, Alex signs on with Manitoulin Transportation and is immediately dispatched to take a load of badly needed food to Inuvik. His truck stops working not long after he begins the 500-mile run up the Dempster Highway, but it soon starts again and he eases onto the river crossings to complete his delivery.

In Winnipeg, an unusually warm winter has shortened the ice road season and created a backlog of loads. As soon as Hugh and Rick report in, they are sent to pick up two trailers of construction supplies, abandoned in Berens River from the previous year's season. After Hugh spins out on loose snow at a corner, Rick pulls him loose but breaks a tow chain.

In Fairbanks, Carlile must transport 70 loads of rig parts up to Prudhoe Bay within 10 days to get the oil fields' exploration efforts started. Jack and rookie Austin Wheeler pick up pipe sheds as part of a convoy. Austin voices displeasure not only at Jack's cautious pace due to his oversized load, but also at his decision to stop at Coldfoot for the night when the weather worsens.

In Manitoba, Hugh and Rick negotiate slushy roads, a half-thawed river crossing, and a low bridge before reaching Berens Point. They find the two abandoned trailers, but must wait for a loader to arrive and plow away the snow burying the wheels. Rick has trouble hooking up to his trailer and gets briefly stuck in snow along the road as he and Hugh start back to Winnipeg.

In Inuvik, Alex picks up a load of store supplies bound for Tuktoyaktuk, following a road over the Arctic Ocean. He passes a truck that fell partway through the ice and froze in place, then enters a whiteout that causes him to lose his bearings. Once he makes radio contact with the store owner, he pulls in safely and gets a batch of muktuk as a snack for the trip south.

In Fairbanks, Darrell is cleared to start making solo runs and heads north with a pump motor. Running into ice fog, he nearly skids out on a corner but reaches Prudhoe safely. Based on Phil's disapproving assessment, Ronald is assigned to make another training run, this time carrying a load of pipes with Tony riding along. After he again has trouble shifting gears, Tony has him pull in at Coldfoot and discusses his driving with Phil.

With 24 hours left in the 70-load rig move, Jack and Austin head north from Fairbanks with a superstructure section and a screen house, respectively. Austin rides so far in front of Jack that neither can see the other, creating a safety hazard. Darrell takes an oversized load north, but has to slow down when it starts shifting on his trailer. Ronald is cleared for a solo run, but must follow Phil up the Dalton for now.

Once all four drivers reach Prudhoe, they get ready to move the final loads out to the oil fields. At the rear of the convoy, Ronald drives too fast and too close to Darrell, disobeying the road's safety guidelines. After he causes two delays, first with a leaky air line and then by pulling his truck loose from its trailer, Phil sends him back to Fairbanks and wonders whether he is qualified to drive the Dalton. Jack hauls both his own load and Ronald's at once to finish the rig move on time.

In Fairbanks, Austin picks up an excavator for his first solo run, while Jack voices his concerns to the Carlile bosses about the rookie's driving habits. Along the way, he helps two stranded trucks get moving, one who needs a push over a hill and another blocking the road in a fast-developing storm. When he tries to pull a third truck out of a ditch, though, he ends up stuck as well.

Meanwhile, Jack goes north from Fairbanks with a load of lumber and a pickup truck. As he approaches the storm, one of his trailer wheels begins wobbling dangerously, he stops briefly to remove both wheels in that pair, then pulls in at Coldfoot for the night. Darrell hauls a load of heaters from Coldfoot to Prudhoe and picks up a stack of flatbeds to take south as the storm closes in. He, Phil, and the other drivers on the road decided to drop their loads and stop at Coldfoot. When Ronald reports in at Fairbanks, he is suspended from driving for the immediate future due to his mistakes during the Prudhoe rig move.

In Fairbanks, Ronald returns to duty but bristles at his next assignment: delivering a load of dog food to the downtown area for the start of the Yukon Quest dogsled race. Farther up the Dalton, Austin's wheels are now buried deep in snow after a night stuck in the ditch. A road crew pulls him loose with a snowblower, allowing the traffic jam behind him to start moving, and he delivers his load to Prudhoe and heads south.

As a severe storm moves in on the road, Darrell picks up his abandoned flatbeds and follows a road crew to keep moving south. Coming over Atigun Pass he learns of a collision between a truck and a pilot car. The news spreads quickly, with drivers scrambling to get updates on the second driver's condition. Darrell helps move the wreckage off the road and continues his run, only to be fined $300 during an inspection at a weigh station. Jack, meanwhile, pushes through deep snowdrifts in order to bring his load to Prudhoe.

In Manitoba, Hugh and Rick stop to secure a loose fuel tank and continue their cement-truck delivery. As they approach Red Sucker Lake, though, they are pulled over for an inspection and learn that they are over the road's weight limit. They are forced to abandon the loads and head back to Winnipeg; along the way, Rick gets briefly stuck in a snowbank until a passing motorist pulls him loose. Meanwhile, Alex fights through a late rendezvous, bad weather, and slick uphill runs to pick up a load of groceries and deliver it to Inuvik before the road becomes impassable again.

Ronald and Darrell are assigned to drive together in a convoy, taking pipes and support members from Fairbanks to Prudhoe. Darrell repeatedly bristles at Ronald's slow pace and reaches Coldfoot two hours ahead of him. Forced to stop here due to the late hour, the two argue over scheduling versus safety. The next day, Darrell is again first out, chaining up and crossing Atigun well ahead of Ronald.

In Fairbanks, Carlile owner Harry McDonald and terminal manager Lane Keator head north with loads of explosives to make up for Jack's continuing absence. Darrell and Ronald continue south from Coldfoot, with Darrell warning Ronald not to crowd him due to the frost-buckled roads. They meet Harry and Lane coming north, and Lane has a brief talk with Darrell to discuss both his and Ronald's driving performance to date. Ronald spins out on a hill, forcing Darrell to wait as he chains his tires, and the two reach Fairbanks.

Harry and Lane reach their destination, a gold mine north of Coldfoot, but cannot immediately find anyone to take delivery. Lane ventures into the nighttime wilderness and finds the mining crew so they can unload the cargo. Meanwhile, Austin takes a load of pickup trucks north from Fairbanks, having been cautioned not to speed, and becomes annoyed at other truckers' ribbing. However, he calms down during a talk with another trucker while waiting for a spun-out tanker to be pulled free, then pulls in at Prudhoe that night.

In Fairbanks, Ronald starts his first solo run with a load of supplies needed in the village of Manley Hot Springs, a new destination for Carlile deliveries. The road is rough, narrow, and slick, with a steep drop-off on one side. After easing across a bridge with almost no overhead clearance to spare, he brings his load in safely.

Austin and veteran Carey Hall are called in to help with a heavy haul mission, a 100-ton modular building that must reach Prudhoe within 72 hours. The crew loses time due to maneuvering problems on the road leading to the Dalton, then again when one truck develops brake trouble. That night, Carey's truck develops engine trouble and he decides to drop the load and return to the shop in Fairbanks, rejecting Austin's offer to pull the load.

Darrell picks up a load of sheet rock and heads north, making good time until he finds a jackknifed truck blocking the road. Well after nightfall, the wreck is cleared and he gets moving again. Jack checks in at Fairbanks and gets a chilly reception from Lane. Nevertheless, he is put back on duty and heads up the Dalton with a load of pipes, since there is still a large volume of cargo to move.

Road crews spend the day defusing potential avalanche sites on Atigun to keep the road clear. In Fairbanks, Ronald starts his first solo run up the Dalton carrying a load of sandbags. Fever, congestion, and coughing make it hard for him to concentrate all day long until he reaches Prudhoe that night. With a relief driver taking Carey's place in the lead for the heavy haul convoy, Austin makes a driving mistake that has the potential to send all three trucks into the ditch. However, he corrects it in time for the final push over Atigun and the convoy meets its deadline to arrive at Prudhoe.

As Jack goes north with his load of pipes, he hears them shifting on his trailer and stops to check them. The pipes are badly off-center on his trailer, so he re-secures them with a chain as best he can and drives on. Having spent the night in Coldfoot, Darrell gets an early start to stay ahead of Jack. He slides badly on the road while crossing Atigun, but gets to Prudhoe before Jack, who loses time due to poor visibility at sunset.

In Prudhoe, Darrell chafes at being denied a southbound load as Jack gets one due to seniority. When he reaches Coldfoot, he finds a load of pipes waiting for him, left by a driver who had a family emergency, and starts north again. He brakes hard to avoid hitting a herd of caribou on the road. Meanwhile, Jack fights the glare of sunlight reflecting off the ice and skids nearly off the road. Both bring their loads in, and Darrell picks up a load to take south.

Heading north with a light load of construction supplies, Ronald tries to keep his speed up so he can have enough momentum to get over hills. A slow fuel tanker up ahead grates on his nerves until he gets a chance to pass it. Heavy fog on the final stretch leads to a near miss with a southbound truck before he reaches Prudhoe. In Fairbanks, Austin is first to report in at the depot and picks up his first solo heavy-haul load, a snowplow. The trailer's landing gear is frozen, so he ties it off with a chain to get started on the run. On a steep uphill turn, he slides badly and spins out; an oncoming truck nearly hits him as he scrambles to chain his tires in the middle of the road. He brings the snowplow in safely, leaving himself, Jack, and Darrell tied at the top of the Alaska load count.

Alex and another driver start a two-day run from Whitehorse to Inuvik to deliver groceries and supplies. The route takes them through "Hurricane Alley," a stretch notorious for whiteouts and strong winds, and a storm closes in as they head up the Dempster. With visibility dropping to near zero, they are forced to stop and cannot find any trace of the road. A snowplow happens to come through three hours later, giving them a chance to follow it through the storm and complete their delivery.

In Fairbanks, Darrell picks up a load of sheet rock, on a badly worn-out trailer. He hurries north and passes Jack, who is hauling a fuel tanker and nearly skids off the road. The next morning, Darrell hits an extremely bumpy stretch and must slow down to spare his trailer before reaching Prudhoe; he then picks up a bus for the return to Fairbanks. Jack, critical of his push to top the load count, muscles up to the top of Atigun but briefly loses control on the downhill side due to his load's weight.

In Fairbanks, Austin takes a load of long pipes whose rear end must be supported on a separate dolly. As he negotiates the turns to keep the dolly from swinging around, it begins to drift out of alignment. He and his pilot car driver pull it back to center before finishing the run. Darrell, heading north with a tanker of machine oil, develops alternator trouble when he is 30 miles from Prudhoe. The truck will not start again after he shuts it off, leaving him with no heat, but he is close enough to his destination to call for help on his cell phone. A loader arrives to bring in both Darrell and the truck, and the tanker is left for another driver to pick up. The next morning, Austin meets Darrell and takes him and the truck back to Fairbanks.

Ronald bristles at being assigned to drive with Jack, hauling mixed loads to Prudhoe. Part of Jack's load must be delivered to a certain point on the Dalton first, and Ronald is expected to help unload it. At the dropoff, though, Ronald goes ahead by himself and leaves Jack to do the unloading alone. The next morning, after both check in at Prudhoe, Jack sharply upbraids Ronald for leaving him alone and mentions that he will have to report the incident to Lane in Fairbanks.

The morning after their unscheduled stop, Hugh leaves Rick sleeping and delivers his load of septic tanks to Wasagamack. He picks up a shack several feet longer than his trailer and hauls it back to Winnipeg, noting the extent to which the road is melting down. Rick fumes at being left behind as he brings in his load of tanks and starts the return trip. On the Dempster, Alex delivers a snowblower to a road camp so the crew can clear Hurricane Alley, then picks up a loader needed in Inuvik to help keep those roads open. Its increased weight forces him to take extra precautions as he crosses the Peel River before bringing it in.

In Alaska, the approach of an extreme cold front threatens to shut down the Prudhoe oil fields for days. Jack and Austin head north from Fairbanks (respectively taking lumber and a pickup truck, and long overhead crane beams), trying to deliver their loads before the shutdown. The length and weight of Austin's load give him difficulty on the uphill runs when he decides not to chain his tires, causing delays for himself and the southbound drivers. Jack notices a loose chain on his load and stops to tighten it, then drives into the night. By the time he reaches Prudhoe, though, he finds that the shutdown has already begun.

With 10 days left in the Alaska ice road season and Prudhoe reopened after the cold-weather shutdown, drivers are hurrying to move all the loads they can. Darrell and Austin head north from Fairbanks with groceries and a front-end loader, respectively, while Jack comes in later and gets a load of pipes. Darrell pushes ahead and reaches Prudhoe that night, but the strain on both Jack and his truck prompts him to stop at Coldfoot. Approaching Atigun, Austin pushes a spun-out driver over the summit, then finishes his run to Prudhoe.

When Ronald reports in, Lane fires him, noting the widespread opinion among the other drivers that he is not cut out for the ice road. To keep the loads moving, Carlile calls in Season 4 driver Ray Veilleux and sends him north with a large piece of pipe. After the first 100 miles, his truck loses power due to an oil leak, leaving him stranded. Well after nightfall, Phil drives by and picks him up.

In Prudhoe, Darrell and Jack are dispatched to carry supplies to Nuiqsut - Darrell with food, supplies, and a flatbed; Jack with a tanker of fuel. The road will be closed at sundown that evening, forcing the truckers to move out quickly on the weak, slushy ice. Once they reach Nuiqsut, Jack offloads his fuel quickly; Darrell, though, must deliver his cargo around town and then load some pickup trucks onto his flatbed for the return trip. With time running out, Jack surprises Darrell by loading the flatbed himself so both of them can get out of town before the road closes.

Ray takes a load of pipes up from Fairbanks and makes good time into the evening, successfully climbing an uphill stretch where he went into the ditch two years earlier. He has a close call with a southbound truck before completing the run. Austin, going north with a cube van, hears noise from his engine but cannot find anything immediately wrong when he stops to check it. When he returns to the Carlile shop, he learns that the truck's fuel injection system must be replaced, a job that will take at least a full day.

In Manitoba, Hugh and Rick start back toward Winnipeg, over a route that is rapidly melting back into swampland. They reach solid ground shortly before the maintenance crew officially closes the ice-road portion for the year. Once they return to Winnipeg, Hugh voices his dissatisfaction about the season's difficulties to the Polar Industries management. He decides that he and Rick do not want to drive for the company anymore. In Inuvik, Alex picks up a load of firewood and supplies needed in Tuktoyaktuk and starts onto the cracked, weakened ice of the Arctic Ocean. Although the surface has developed major fractures that briefly cause him to skid, he decides to push on and brings the load in with the villagers' gratitude.

In Fairbanks, Jack and Darrell each pick up loads that must reach Prudhoe by the end of the day: oil rig parts and pipe elbows, respectively. Although Darrell passes Jack, Jack uses his experience on the curves to retake the lead as the two race north. Jack reaches Prudhoe just ahead of Darrell, and Ray pulls in later that night, having taken a load of methanol south from Prudhoe and returned with a load of pipes. With his truck now out of the shop, Austin picks up a modular building and starts north. Shortly into the trip, though, he develops the same engine trouble that cut his last run short. He abandons the load and returns to Fairbanks, frustrated over not being able to complete the job expected of him.

Sean Parnell, Governor of Alaska, arrives in Fairbanks the next morning to thank the Carlile drivers for their hard work. After an end-of-season cookout, Lane announces that Jack has topped the load count.

Final load count (Alaska):

• Jack Jessee - 29
• Darrell Ward - 28
• Austin Wheeler - 23
• Ray Veilleux - 5 [not full season]

Final load count (Canada):

• Alex Debogorski - 25
• Hugh Rowland - 14
• Rick Yemm - 6

In Manitoba, Hugh and former Polar Industries dispatcher Vlad Pleskot have set up a competing trucking company, VP Express. Alex, Lisa, and Darrell sign on with Polar; Hugh voices his belief that Lisa is not suited to drive the Canadian winter roads.

All three Polar drivers set out from Winnipeg with construction supplies: Alex and Lisa to Bloodvein, Darrell to Berens River. Darrell slides badly on patches of deep snow, then eases over a river crossing despite his misgivings and brings his load in. Alex and Lisa soon fall out of radio contact with each other and have trouble following the route on their maps. Alex is first to reach Bloodvein, with no sign of Lisa. She eventually arrives as well and the two deliver their cargo.

A passing grader pulls Art out of the ditch so he can reach Wasagamack and unload with Hugh and Vlad. The next morning, he soon falls behind on the return trip, delaying the group, and starts to worry about his future at VP Express. That night, his truck suddenly stops working and Hugh and Vlad decide not to return for him. Tension grows on both sides as Art spends the night at a rest stop.

Polar secures a $100,000 contract to supply the community of Shamattawa, 800 miles away. The road has been the site of many wrecks and breakdowns in the past, and it includes a steep uphill stretch past the crossing over the Hayes River. Darrell starts the run ahead of Alex and Lisa, all three hauling construction supplies. After Darrell crosses the Hayes, he spins out on the slope and is forced to back up onto the ice so he can try again. Once he reaches the top, he continues on and reaches Shamattawa that night.

Darrell, coming south from Shamattawa, pulls in at the rest stop and helps Art get his truck going so he can return to Winnipeg. The next morning, Hugh and Vlad hire logging trucker Todd Dewey to help keep the loads moving. They decide to give Art one more chance to prove himself, as part of a convoy with Hugh and Todd to haul assorted supplies to Wasagamack. Todd's aggressive driving leads Hugh to believe that he will be a better convoy leader than Art as the drivers bring in their loads.

Meanwhile, Alex and Lisa reach Shamattawa and deliver their loads. For the return trip, Alex picks up a forklift bound for repairs in Winnipeg. Lisa hurries south, ready for another load, and pulls in that night. Driving more slowly because of his load, a fatigued Alex arrives several hours later; the forklift delivery secures another set of Shamattawa-bound loads for Polar.

As Hugh, Art, and Todd head back to Winnipeg, Hugh's heater and Art's truck both stop working. Todd persuades Art to leave the truck on the roadside and takes him as far as Norway House to wait for Vlad to pick him up. Art and Todd both voice their frustrations over their bosses' perceived lack of concern for their well-being, and Hugh begins to think about firing Art. Vlad takes Art back to the truck that evening; they have no success trying to repair it or pull it loose, so Vlad decides the next day to take Art to Wasagamack and fly him back to Winnipeg.

Lisa sets out along the newly opened, slick, bumpy road to Oxford House, hauling a grader whose blade keeps swinging out over the side of her trailer. Reaching a narrow bridge, she ties the blade back as best she can and eases across without damage. That night, she begins to skid down a hill in high gear and finds herself at an unexpected river crossing; she gets her speed under control and crosses safely. The next morning, she discovers a leaky air valve, but changes it out so she can bring in the load and start back to Winnipeg.

Hugh sets out early for Wasagamack with a load of bridge parts, wanting to make up for lost time on VP's contract. His brakes fail soon after starting out, and he wrestles with the steering to keep the truck from skidding off the road on turns. Pushing through a road roughened by fresh snowfall, he brings his cargo in that night. Art is back in Winnipeg, waiting on truck repairs and expressing regrets about signing on with VP.

When Todd reports in, he becomes angry at being left behind by Hugh and has to start his run alone, hauling a bulldozer. He and Lisa reach an ice crossing from opposite directions at nearly the same time, and he crosses first in an attempt to catch up with Hugh. Lisa, bringing a school bus back to Winnipeg, is very nervous about crossing so soon after him due to the stress on the ice, but eases safely over the river to finish her run. Todd's heater fails, causing frost to build up on the windows, but he sets up a hair dryer to thaw them out and keeps driving to reach Wasagamack not long after Hugh.

As VP lines up more contracts, Vlad gives Art one last chance to show his ability as part of a convoy to Tadoule Lake with Todd and a free-lance driver, Derek. Todd, hauling a trailer-load of supplies, loses electrical power and calls the convoy to a stop. One of his batteries shorts out and bursts as he checks its connections. The explosion sends sulfuric acid into Todd's and Derek's faces; to get medical attention, the convoy must backtrack 80 miles to Lynn Lake. As Derek is treated for chemical burns, Todd is checked out and released, then finds that his problems were caused by a faulty alternator.

Yuri, one of Polar's drivers, quits to join VP and Lisa gets his load: building supplies that must reach Bloodvein by the end of the day. On Hugh's orders, Yuri parks his truck in front of the Polar freight yard to block outgoing trucks. When he refuses to move, the police are called in to escort him off the property; the delay costs Lisa two hours and forces her to hurry up the road. She loses more time stopping at a blasting zone, but reaches the drop-off point just in time to deliver her load and pick up another one bound for Winnipeg. Alex gets a speeding ticket while hauling the last load on the Shamattawa contract, hoping to meet the following morning's deadline. That night, he develops engine trouble and finds an electrical fire behind his dashboard.

On the way to Shamattawa, Alex finds that his electrical fire has gone out, but it has melted an air line behind the dashboard. He clamps off the leak and spends the night in the smoky truck, then continues on the next day and brings in his load to close out the contract. Darrell hauls a load of cement to Oxford House, his trailer skidding badly behind him. When he arrives, though, he discovers that an expected return load is not there, greatly lowering his opinion of Polar's management.

Lisa is on her way to Pauingassi to pick up a load, following a road that includes the first lake crossing of her career, over Fishing Lake. She begins to wonder if she is following the correct path on the ice, only to become more confused when she stops to check the area. She gets safely off the ice and reaches town, but has to dig out the snow around the trailer she needs to haul back. After several hours of work, she successfully drags it out and starts back to Winnipeg.

With Todd's truck fixed, he, Art, and Todd resume their trip to Tadoule Lake. All three find their return loads (a cement truck for Todd, trailers for Art and Derek) stuck in deep snow. Art and Todd hitch up to their trailers and pull them loose after digging out the wheels, while Todd borrows a tractor to help load up the cement truck. As they head toward Winnipeg, Art's dissatisfaction with VP intensifies.

Lisa heads toward Pauingassi to pick up a second trailer that has been stuck there since the previous year. Arriving that night, she finds the trailer's latch frozen solid and the tires stuck in ice, but it comes free after some effort. The ice over Fishing Lake has weakened due to higher-than-normal temperatures, putting her nerves on edge as she crosses it on the return trip to reach Winnipeg.

Hugh is on the way back to Winnipeg after delivering a load. Art, not far behind him, is still very irritated over the difficulties he has encountered. At the VP office, he meets with Hugh and Vlad to express his dissatisfaction, a talk that ends with the two owners firing him. He stops by the Polar office and is immediately hired.

As Darrell waits for a broken axle to be repaired on his truck, he gets into an argument with the Polar mechanic. He then meets with company owner Mark Kohaykewych to talk about his workload and expectations, and calms down when Mark tells him about upcoming high-value loads. Soon afterward, he is dispatched to pull a jackknifed truck out of a ditch so that it no longer blocks the road.

Polar picks up a contract to haul 10 loads of construction supplies 680 miles to Utik Lake, over a road that is not monitored by government crews. Darrell is first to start out, but his engine begins to overheat and he must shut down his truck to check his cooling fan. He manages to get the truck restarted despite the falling temperature and continues his run. The final stretch includes a risky lake crossing for which his truck is too heavy, so he lightens his load in order to cross safely.

Alex and Art are dispatched to follow Darrell, with Alex taking a camping trailer to Oxford House first. Once they arrive, he drops off the camper and picks up a loader bucket, attaching several heavy tires to his trailer in order to drag over the road and smooth the surface. They get stuck in a dead end with no room to turn around, but Art calls in a nearby loader to clear the area so they can double back and keep driving. That night, word reaches them about the thin lake ice; with no one to help, they have to take their full loads onto the crossing. The ice holds and they deliver their cargo, with Alex expressing his approval of Art's driving.

As spring approaches in Manitoba, both VP and Polar scramble to move needed freight before the ice roads melt. Lisa picks up a rock truck needed in Utik lake, her heaviest load of the season. The sound of shifting ice sets her nerves on edge as she crosses the lake late that night to make the delivery. In Oxford House, Alex heads out to pick up his next load, leaving Art to take a snowcat to Utik Lake alone. Art's truck will not start, but he manages to get it going by cleaning out a blocked filter. He loses power on a hill the next day, but another cleanout allows him to complete the run.

Todd takes on an excavator bound for Wasagamack, his heaviest load of the season. Before he reaches the ice road, though, its weight causes two tires on one trailer axle to blow out; he chains the axle so he can backtrack to the nearest repair shop, 100 miles away. He loses one day waiting for new tires and drives late into the night to make up time, making a risky ice crossing to bring in his load.

Darrell is dispatched on a night run to free a jackknifed Polar truck that is blocking the road. The task proves very dangerous, since the other driver has been taken to the hospital and he must manipulate both trucks and his winch by himself. He pulls the truck free after several maneuvers, then takes on its load (a rock truck) and delivers it to Utik Late late that night. The next morning, he wakes up feeling ill and finds several broken tire chains, complicating the start of his return to Winnipeg. Hauling a stack of two empty trailers, he loses traction and power on a hill but manages to pull them over the top. He limps back to Winnipeg, believing that his season may be over if repairs take too long.

Hugh takes a firetruck north toward Wasagamack, but not before he and Vlad park it in front of the Polar depot with sirens blaring to annoy Mark. He decides to drive the truck instead of hauling it on a trailer. That night, he pulls Todd over as a prank; Todd is hauling a light load back to Winnipeg, fighting for traction and pulling a truck out of a ditch along the way. Hugh and Todd both bring in their cargo.

Polar secures a contract to haul a wide-load modular building from Red Sucker Lake to Thompson. Darrell's truck is back in service, and he is dispatched to move it, with Lisa taking support scaffolding and a pilot car to guide them along the narrow road. A bent wheel rim leads to a flat tire for Darrell, but he hammers it back into shape and reinflates the tire to keep going. He damages the building's air conditioning unit on a bridge barely wide enough for the load. Later, when his truck suffers a partial power loss, he and Lisa trade loads so he can haul the lighter one. The next day, they bring the loads in and use the pilot car to help unload the building, completing the delivery.

Art, also on his way back to Winnipeg, develops engine trouble again as he eases onto a weakened lake crossing. He is soon forced to stop, putting himself at great risk of breaking through, but an emergency fuel filter repair allows him to get moving again. When the engine again struggles and dies, he finds that an electrical cable has broken. Unable to drive, he starts a fire to keep warm and waits for help from a passing driver. After nearly a full day with no luck, he improvises a repair job and reaches Oxford House so he can have it properly fixed.

The road to the village of God's Lake is opened for 48 hours to allow drivers to bring in supplies. Both VP and Polar pick up loads--appliances (Art), building materials (Alex), cement (Darrell and Lisa), cement trucks (Hugh and Todd). Once Hugh and Todd finish the season's last runs to Wasagamack, they load up and start for God's Lake, driving into the night to save time. Both struggle to get over a slick hill and must then carefully cross Island Lake with their heavy loads. They reach God's Lake the next morning and head south, intending to get off the roads before they close.

Art, the first to bring in his cargo, picks up the only load bound for Winnipeg: canisters of flammable propane gas. Darrell and Lisa find many melting patches on the road as they drive and skid badly on corners, but reach God's Lake at night. All three hurry back down the road, with Art trying not to jostle the canisters. After Alex finishes his run, he skids badly on the return trip and ends up jackknifing and damaging his truck. A passing driver helps him pull the truck and trailer separately back onto the road so he can hook them back up and limp back to Winnipeg.

In Winnipeg, Polar and VP renew their rivalry as the 2013-14 North American cold wave closes in on Canada. Art, Darrell, and Lisa, all driving for Polar again, start out with construction supplies bound for Garden Hill. Darrell and Lisa get an early start, seeing "thin ice" warning signs on the first ice crossing they encounter, while Art is later to set out and hurries to catch up. A wrong turn takes him 12 hours out of his way. That night, Darrell and Lisa find a jackknifed truck blocking the road; Darrell berates the inexperienced driver for his mistake, then pulls him free with Lisa's help so they can keep moving. They reach Garden Hill the next morning, and Art follows their path after backtracking through the night.

Todd has left VP to work for Polar, and he sets out with a grader needed in the village of North Haven Lodge, 500 miles away at the north end of the winter roads. The newly opened crossing over Split Lake unnerves him due to vibrations in his load; he reaches land safely, only to find a bumpy road that shakes his truck just as badly. He slides off the road and into a snowbank, leaving him stranded for the night, and he is unable to call for help on his satellite phone.

Todd remains stuck in the ditch until late in the day, when a passing road crew spends several hours pulling him loose. He makes his delivery to North Haven Lodge that night, 36 hours behind schedule; once he returns to Winnipeg, Mark sends him and Darrell on a new run to Utik Lake. Darrell, hauling a snowcat, bristles at being told to follow Todd, taking a grader, and the two begin to needle each other as they drive. At the drop-off site, there is no equipment to use for unloading and Todd decides to drive the equipment off the trailers himself, nearly crashing the snowcat in the process.

Having made his delivery in Garden Hill, Art is hurrying back to Winnipeg when he loses electrical power. Finding that snow buildup has shorted out his batteries, he covers them with a piece of cardboard and is able to get moving again. Once he returns to Winnipeg, Mark reprimands him for his dangerous wrong turn but sends him to Deer Lake, Ontario with a load of construction supplies. He is following Lisa along this route as she hauls a load of her own. During a 6-mile lake crossing, Lisa's engine begins to struggle; she barely makes it across before her truck shuts down completely to clean its air filter. At Deer Lake, Lisa takes charge of a loader and, despite her lack of experience, unloads both trailers so she and Art can head back.

As the storm hits central Canada, Lisa is hauling construction supplies to Big Trout Lake, Ontario. Despite hearing of other drivers' decisions to stop and wait it out, she pushes on and soon finds herself the only one still on the road. Missing the final turn off the road, she tries to turn around but gets stuck in the snow; chaining her tires allows her to break loose and backtrack 100 miles to her destination.

Art is taking his own load of supplies to Deer Lake; he breaks one set of tire chains while climbing a hill, but decides to keep going despite the reduced traction. Partway through an ice crossing thickly covered with snow, he finds water seeping up through weak spots caused by the snow's weight. He crosses safely and brings his load in. On the return trip, he and Lisa both get stuck on uphill runs, no longer having the weight of a load on their trailers to help provide traction.

As the storm begins to subside, Vlad learns of Alex's thwarted effort to repossess the Polar trailer, while Alex has stopped on the road outside Red Sucker Lake to await instructions. He eventually gets clearance from VP and makes the pickup, annoying Mark greatly, but must now face a low fuel supply and a rough, slick road as he drives back to Winnipeg.

Meanwhile, Todd is making a 600-mile run to bring lumber to Muskrat Dam, Ontario. The load is stacked high enough on his trailer to put him at risk of toppling due to wind forces. On a steep downhill run, he is forced to accelerate in order to cross a narrow bridge and climb the hill beyond it; he briefly loses traction in the deep snow, but muscles his truck over the peak. A collapsed lake crossing forces him to follow an unused detour trail around the shore, with a crossing of its own, and he delivers his cargo that night.

A passing driver pulls Alex out of the snow so he can continue his drive back from Red Sucker Lake. Low on fuel and with the next town 20 miles ahead, he nurses his truck across a nighttime ice crossing only to run dry shortly afterward. A passing driver tows him into town so he can refuel and make it back to Winnipeg.

Todd, also returning to Winnipeg, gets stuck in the deep snowdrifts that have covered an ice crossing. He hurries to dig out his tires and put on chains so he can get moving again, but later comes across three trucks that are stuck and blocking the road. Not wanting to wait several hours for a road crew to free them, Todd first tries unsuccessfully to pull them loose, then veers around them off the road and continues on. On the way to Muskrat Dam with construction supplies, Lisa cautiously navigates an ice crossing that has just been reopened after the storm. That night, she finds that one of her suspension straps has broken, leaving her air bags vulnerable on a steep hill. However, she reaches the top without incident and brings her load in.

Deciding to go into business for himself, Darrell rents a truck and cargo bay from a local trucker in hopes of competing with Polar. His first load, from one of Mark's clients, consists of culvert sections bound for Wasagamack, and he flaunts it in front of Mark on his way out of Winnipeg. He decides to take his chances on an untested lake crossing rather than take a long detour around it, and he delivers the load that night.

Lisa is hauling construction supplies to Cat Lake, Ontario, 500 miles from Winnipeg. Many trucks have wrecked on this road's twists and turns, and she passes one that has been abandoned since the previous year. Easing over a rickety bridge barely wide enough for her truck, she is relieved to reach her destination safely that night. A set of broken tire chains complicates Todd's run to deliver groceries to Big Trout Lake, but he brings it in on time to resupply the village for the coming year.

In Winnipeg, Darrell arranges to haul a generator to Wasagamack, but Mark tracks him down at his shop and angrily confronts him before he can get moving. The slick road and tight corners cause his trailer to skid in several places, but he successfully delivers the cargo. VP secures a contract to haul 150 loads to Oxford House, a job that had gone to Polar the previous season. Alex takes the first load of the contract, a set of septic tanks, and brings it in after navigating the tight corners of the final stretch.

With his suspension now over, Art reports in to see Mark, who cautions him against making any further mistakes that could hurt Polar's record or finances. He takes a load to Cat Lake and delivers it without trouble, but the road back has been shut down and he must take a different route with several narrow, rickety bridges. At his final fuel stop, he discovers that he has lost one of his new tire chains; once back in the Polar yard, he sneaks a chain from the shop onto his truck to cover up the loss.

On his way to Deer Lake, Art stops at North Spirit Lake, Ontario to deliver part of a load of lumber. However, bad directions to the drop-off point send him in circles until his map sets him straight. With that cargo delivered, he drives on and braves a late-night ice crossing to complete the second half of the delivery. Darrell also heads toward Deer Lake with a load of building supplies, but the fresh snowfall causes him to skid badly on the corners. He brings it in ahead of schedule the next morning and comes across Art, and the two talk briefly about Darrell's new business.

Lisa and Todd head for Utik Lake with pontoon boats and building supplies, respectively, and must force their way through the soft snow without losing control. They venture onto a newly opened river crossing, even though the fast currents have led to uneven and possibly incomplete freezing; at the other side, Lisa fails to climb a steep hill and has to back onto the ice for another attempt. Her third try is a success, with risky speed and a bit of advice from Todd, and they finish their run.

In Winnipeg, Darrell hires his son Reno and takes him on a delivery run to Big Trout Lake to get him accustomed to the winter roads. Once they reach the end of the road's pavement section, Darrell lets Reno drive, cautioning him about the ice crossings and other hazards. They bring the load in on time the next morning.

Returning to Winnipeg from Deer Lake, Art gets stuck on the same hill that cost him over one full day earlier in the season. This time, though, he climbs it on his second try with the help of his tire chains. That night, he jackknifes briefly at a corner, damaging his truck's bodywork; once he reaches Winnipeg and tells Mark the next morning, he is sent home for the day so Mark can decide whether or not to fire him.

Meanwhile, Hugh is taking a load of home supplies to Pauingassi, along a road that has already started to melt back into swampland. He swerves and slides into a snowbank to avoid an oncoming truck; the other driver quickly pulls him loose so he can drive on. After completing a melting ice crossing, he successfully makes the delivery.

In Winnipeg, Mark decides to keep Art on the job in order to keep loads moving during the final days of the season. He sends Art on a run to Lac Brochet, with Joey Barnes escorting him on the final, most dangerous leg - a plan that rankles him greatly at first. However, he changes his opinion once he meets Joey in person, and the two help each other through the rough roads to finish their delivery.

Darrell and Reno are hauling building supplies and a work truck to Big Trout Lake, with Reno driving. A trailing convoy blames them for scattering fresh snow across the road, leading to a heated confrontation between those drivers and the Wards. Tempers flare briefly between father and son afterward, but the mood quickly improves and they bring in the load.

Alex starts for St. Theresa Point with a load of concrete, despite an electrical problem with his truck. The trouble worsens just before he reaches an ice crossing that night, but he manages to reach the other side and limp to his destination.

Art, Lisa, and Todd are dispatched to Fort Severn, Ontario, following a 500-mile winter road whose length qualifies it for the Guinness Book of World Records. They are carrying building materials and equipment, as well as extra fuel and emergency supplies. On the third day of the trip, after dealing with slick corners and a rapidly melting 5-mile river crossing, a check of the loader on Lisa's truck reveals that its batteries are dead. Even though the three now have no means of pulling themselves free if they get stuck, they push on. Later that day, Todd devises a scheme to jump-start the loader, and the three continue on with the machine now running.

Darrell and Reno start out for Fort Severn as well, driving separate trucks so that Reno can make his first solo run. Reno ignores Darrell's advice to slow down; as the two cross the river, Darrell notices a loose strap on Reno's trailer that is at risk of snagging on his axles. Once on the other side, they stop so Reno can secure it. Reno's speed causes his load to shift on the trailer, leaving it at risk of overbalancing, but he insists on fixing the problem himself and succeeds. The two catch up to Art, Lisa, and Todd on the final stretch of the trip, the morning of the fourth day, and all five reach Fort Severn safely. All but Darrell deliver their loads; Art, Todd, and Reno head for Winnipeg, while Darrell asks Lisa to follow him another 150 miles to Peawanuck First Nation so he can deliver the groceries he has been hauling.

In Fort Severn, Lisa agrees to accompany Darrell to Peawanuck, risking her job. Todd disagrees with her decision, since Darrell no longer works for Polar and Lisa has the convoy's emergency equipment. Her toolbox falls off her trailer, but they retrieve it and reach Peawanuck that evening to find a celebration waiting for them.

On the return trip, Lisa's truck begins to break through an ice crossing. She and Darrell quickly get the equipment off her trailer, and Darrell then pushes her truck free of the break so they can load up and resume their trip. Once the two are back in Winnipeg, Mark tells Lisa that he was originally angry with her for driving with Darrell, but now understands that she did the right thing.

As Art, Reno, and Todd start the return trip to Winnipeg, they find stretches of slush and water on the road and Reno has trouble keeping pace with the others. They stop for the night after covering 400 miles that leave him sore and battered, then finish the drive the next evening to close out their season.

Mark gets Polar off to a quick start as the season opens, sending Alex and Todd onto the ice roads early. Alex notes cracks and holes in the ice as he crosses the Hayes River, hauling a camp shack to Shamattawa. The next morning, he brings the load in. While taking an emergency load of heating supplies to Wasagamack, Todd skids badly on the slick road and slides into a snowbank. By looping a strap around a tree and one axle, he improvises a winch and pulls himself free so he can continue his run and make the delivery by day's end.

Still in business for himself, Darrell quickly secures two emergency loads of building supplies needed in Garden Hill. He takes Lisa on as a partner, offering her partial ownership of the company, and the two set out. Shortly into the run, though, Lisa's truck loses power and she is forced to return to Winnipeg for repairs. She loses half a day waiting on it to be fixed, then hurries to make up for lost time. Darrell reaches Garden Hill the next morning, and Lisa comes in just in time to meet the deadline.

Mark sends Todd out with a load of heating supplies that must reach Wasagamack by the following morning. After spinning out on a hill that night, he spends several hours digging his wheels free so he can complete the delivery on time. Meanwhile, Alex delivers a load of groceries donated by Polar to a food drive in St. Theresa Point. At his destination, the village chief gives him a painting as a token of appreciation. Carrying lumber to Garden Hill, Art must negotiate a rough road that is frozen solid and dotted with flags that mark dangerous spots. The final obstacle is a 10-mile ice crossing whose weight limit is barely high enough to accommodate his truck, but he completes the run safely after nearly an hour on the ice.

Mark sends Todd to Pikangikum with a crane weighing 130,000 pounds, the heaviest load moved by Polar to date. Despite Mark's assurances that the road's ice crossing will be kept clear for Todd, he encounters an oncoming truck on the ice. It quickly turns around and retreats onto the shore, and he delivers the crane safely. Art hurries to St. Theresa Point to pick up a trailer abandoned from the previous year; it is needed in Winnipeg for a haul the next morning. After skidding his way through the final 50 miles of the trip, he finds the trailer stuck in deep frozen snow. He uses a loader parked in the yard to dig out the tires, but they are still frozen to the ground and he must shovel them off by hand. After working for a total of 14 hours, he pulls the trailer free that night and starts the return trip to Winnipeg.

Mark hires a new driver, Mike Simmons, and sends him out with Art for his first run. The two are hauling building supplies and pontoon boats to the fishing resort of Elk Island Lodge, 400 miles away. Both Mark and Art express concerns over Mike's cocky attitude and lack of ice road experience. Art's speed challenges Mike to keep pace on the rough roads; that evening, they come to a 10-mile ice crossing that is not maintained by public road crews. Night falls as they make their way across the ice, and Art tries to calm a jittery Mike with an impromptu poetry recital. Once they reach their destination, Art congratulates Mike for his first successful ice road run.

Todd takes building supplies to Muskrat Dam, whose ice road has just opened, and must fight through bumps and ruts that threaten to shake his load off the trailer. A hard jolt knocks the plug out of his compressed air tank, causing a leak that locks his brakes, and he finds himself stranded with no way to repair the leak or call for help. As Alex heads to Big Trout Lake with a load of building supplies, he encounters several unmarked forks and intersections in the road. Choosing the paths with the most signs of use, he successfully delivers his cargo the following morning.

With temperatures rising several weeks earlier than in past years, roads and ice crossings are rapidly deteriorating. Darrell and Lisa secure their biggest contract to date: two electrical transformers that must reach Deer Lake by the following morning. They start out with the equipment, as well as a loader to move it, but must contend with slush and water flows that riddle the path. As they traverse a 7-mile ice crossing, Lisa hits a rough patch that causes her to skid briefly. They cross the lake and drive into the night, but a road crew working on an ice bridge will not let them through until repairs are finished.

As part of a government contract, Mark sends Todd to Tadoule Lake with a load of grader blades needed at the local airport. Following a long, poorly maintained road, he eventually finds that the rough conditions have shaken the blades off his trailer. After loading them up by hand, he pours water over them to freeze them in place and starts out again. The load reaches the airport on time, opening the possibility of further government work for Polar. Art heads for the city of Thompson, intending to pick up a load of medical supplies and haul it to Garden Hill. However, he is forced to pull over after his engine develops oil pressure trouble and then cuts out. Finding the oil reservoir to be nearly empty, he calls Mark for a tow into Thompson and passes time in a bowling alley while waiting on repairs. Mark begins to think that Art's problems are due to his driving style.

Although the ice bridge on the road to Deer Lake will not officially reopen until dawn, Darrell and Lisa take a risk by sneaking ahead after the work crew has finished for the night. They both cross safely and deliver their transformers on time. During the return trip, with Lisa bringing back a load of scrap metal, a broken fan belt causes Darrell's engine to overheat and forces him to stop. Lisa draws on her Alaska push trucking experience to keep them both moving and avoid an expensive towing bill. They cover a total of 70 miles in this fashion until reaching a town where Darrell can have repairs done.

Mark informs Todd that the load of grader blades he hauled to Tadoule Lake was short by three when he delivered it, jeopardizing Polar's government contract. Todd is assigned to take a load of lumber and pick up the missing blades in Lynn Lake along the way. That night, with the blades secured, he stops on the roadside to eat dinner over a campfire and sleep in his truck; he reaches Tadoule Lake the next morning and delivers his cargo. Meanwhile, Mike is taking a load of cement to Shamattawa, braving a road roughened by a cold snap. He slides into a snowbank and is unable to free himself by chaining his tires, but a passing trucker pulls him loose so he can finish the run.

As the lake ice starts to give way beneath Art's wheels, he returns to the shore and calls Mark for instructions to find a safer route back to Winnipeg. He reaches the Polar yard safely, to his and Mark's relief. Meanwhile, Alex is taking cement to Pikangikum. Although the road was closed several days earlier, it has been reopened to allow the season's last loads in. After bogging down in the muck on a steep hill, he chains his tires and manages to reach the top so he can complete the run.

Darrell and Lisa have secured a contract to haul two loads to Deer Lake, and Lisa takes building supplies as the first load. However, high temperatures have turned the road into a muddy, slushy mess and left its ice crossing awash in water. In Winnipeg, Darrell learns that Polar has undercut his rates in order to secure the second load of the contract. Offering to reduce his price even farther, he hurries to the Polar yard to hook up the load and get moving, despite Mark's attempt to intercept him.

Darrell improvises a winch, hooking tow straps to an axle and a tree, and pulls himself loose so he can get moving again. He catches up to Lisa the next morning and pulls her free, and the two resume their drive to Winnipeg. After one final, fragile ice crossing, they pull into town to face the likely prospect of extensive repair work due to the deteriorating road conditions.

Art is hauling a double-trailer load of wood fuel pellets to Brochet. Since loads this heavy are not allowed on the final stretch road so late in the season, he recruits Joey Barnes to take half of it. Joey slides into a snowbank on a sharp turn; he manages to free himself, but his maneuvering tears up the road surface and makes the turn more difficult for Art. Both drivers reach Brochet and deliver their loads.

Mark gets a call from a client at a lodge on the Seal River, needing an excavator and a load of building supplies. With no one but Todd immediately available, he offers Darrell and Lisa a chance to split the job with Polar. Lisa volunteers for the run, and she and Todd fly to Churchill, Manitoba to get ready for it. Once there, they must put the loads on sledges and haul them 35 miles across the frozen Hudson Bay to reach their destination. Since trucks are not allowed on the ice, they must use caterpillar track machines instead.

Todd starts first, taking the excavator and a backup driver, but Lisa has trouble getting used to her machine on the rough, jagged ice as she takes the supplies. When Todd gets stuck on a peninsula's snowy hill, the backup driver uses the excavator to push him and the load over the top. As they move away from the shore, they find that the snow layer is so thick that they cannot accurately measure the ice thickness, but they push on regardless. As the sun sets, they encounter large water flows on the ice and Todd finds himself in danger of breaking through.

On the Hudson Bay, Todd and his backup driver work together to pull his load onto sturdier ice. He and Lisa reach the Seal River and deliver their cargo shortly before sunrise. Darrell races over a muddy trail to deliver a load of sheet rock to Pikangikum before the offload site closes at 4:00 that afternoon. Relying on momentum to carry him over the last, steepest hill, he arrives in time and starts back to Winnipeg.

Taking a last-minute load of building supplies to Poplar Hill, Art must contend with a road full of potholes, mud, and slush due to the spring thaw. Remembering his near-breakthrough earlier in the season, he hesitantly ventures onto the season's last open ice crossing. Rough spots and water-filled holes plague him throughout, but he completes the run to close out his season.

While hauling cement and a wood-fired boiler to Kingfisher, Alex encounters an oncoming tanker truck at a slippery corner. As the two drivers swerve to avoid a head-on collision, the tanker sideswipes Alex; neither man is injured, and Alex's truck suffers minor damage. His load still secure, he pushes on and finishes the run late that night.

High winter temperatures due to El Niño have greatly shortened the year's ice road season and left the routes in even worse shape than normal. Mark has a backlog of freight in the Polar yard, while Darrell and Lisa hunt for loads they can take over accessible routes.

Todd is first to head out, taking building supplies to Pikangikum along a just-opened road with a 10-mile ice crossing. He feels the ice flex and crack under his truck's weight, but it holds up as he brings in the load. When the road to Wasagamack opens, Art hauls a load of lumber but soon finds that the rough terrain is causing it to shift on his trailer. His only spare strap proves too short to tie it down, so he clamps it with a set of vise grips and resumes his trip. The improvised repair job holds all the way to his destination, but a hard bump on the return trip sends him bouncing into a snowdrift.

After several hours of trying unsuccessfully to free himself from the snowbank, Art discovers that he has a flat tire. Unable to fix it himself, he has no choice but to wait and hope someone comes by to help. That night, a passing road crew pulls him free with a loader; however, one of his front wheel rims is badly bent. They remove it and mount one of the trailer tires in its place, even though the two are different sizes, and he continues back toward Winnipeg.

While hauling a load of heating fuel to Little Grand Rapids, Alex encounters an ice crossing that has mostly been blocked off due to potential hazards. He stands in the doorway of his cab to scout for danger and spots several water flows on the ice, but finishes the crossing and completes the run. As Mark scrambles to get more loads out as quickly as possible, recently licensed driver Steph Custance visits the Polar offices lookig for a job. Mark needs drivers, but hesitates on immediately hiring her after she turns in a shaky performance on a practice course in the yard.

While hauling construction supplies to Pikangikum, Darrell learns that a stretch of the route has been closed due to high temperatures and pulls over to wait until it reopens. Not wanting to leave the village empty-handed, he turns onto a narrow private road that includes an untested 3-mile lake crossing, and reaches the village safely.

On the way to St. Theresa Point with construction supplies, Art gets word from a passing trucker that the road is in bad shape. The sight of a snowplow half-buried in frozen mud prompts him to contemplate the hazards of his trip, but he pushes on into the night. He has to stop at an ice crossing that is being flooded by road crews to increase its thickness. The next morning, he estimates that his truck's weight is very close to the safety limit and risks the crossing; a passing pickup near the shore throws a scare into him, but he makes it off the ice and completes the run.

Lisa hurries from Garden Hill toward Winnipeg with a loader, but engine trouble forces her to pull over and shut off her truck so she can check the fluid levels. She tops up the oil, but is unable to restart the engine; however, she uses the downhill terrain and the weight of her load to push-start the truck and get moving again.

Darrell and Lisa take on their longest haul to date, driving over 1,000 miles along a trail nicknamed "The Death Road" to deliver heating supplies to Fort Chipewyan, Alberta. Lisa's engine begins to leak oil into its coolant system; unable to fix it on the spot, she and Darrell push on in the hope that they can finish the run before the truck becomes undrivable. They manage to limp into town, delivering the cargo and dropping off Lisa's truck for repairs.

For Steph's first ice road run, she and Todd head to Shamattawa as a convoy to pick up two abandoned trailers from the previous year. Todd is surprised and dismayed to learn that she does not know how to put on tire chains, but gives her a quick lesson so they can keep moving. News of a truck having broken through one of the road's ice crossings sets Steph's nerves on edge, but she and Todd avoid the damaged area and reach land safely. They reach a second crossing that night but find it closed, forcing them to spend the night on the roadside.

The crossing on the road to Shamattawa is reopened after a night's wait, and Todd and Steph get moving in order to reduce their chance of being caught by another shutdown. After making it off the ice and into town, they must dig out the tires of the two abandoned trailers and then try to pull them free of the snow and ice. One is stuck in place, stumping Todd and Steph until they knock its frozen brakes loose from the wheels. As they move from the winter road onto pavement for the drive into Manitoba that night, Steph thanks Todd for helping her complete her first ice road trip.

Darrell sets out with a load of heating oil bound for Elk Island Lodge, following a privately owned road that crews do not maintain. As night falls, he comes to a 4-mile ice crossing that appears never to have been used or monitored for thickness. He ventures cautiously onto it, alarmed at the severe cracking under his wheels that indicates dangerously thin ice, and reaches the lodge safely to drop off the cargo.

Alex is dispatched to St. Theresa Point with a load of building supplies that must arrive by 9:00 the next morning. As he reaches the start of the winter road, however, he finds that the route he needs to take is closed due to high temperatures. After waiting more than 10 hours, he gets word from Mark that the road has been reopened; driving through the night, he reaches his destination with eight minutes to spare.

A cold front has allowed more roads to open for a short time, and the truckers scramble to deliver loads to isolated communities before they close again. Darrell hauls a load of insulation toward Cat Lake, following a narrow, twisting trail filled with hazards. After spinning out on a steep hill, he chains his tires and manages to get enough traction to reach the top and deliver the cargo.

Alex picks up an oversized fuel tank needed in Norway House that night, but the road's poor condition threatens to shake it off his trailer. The final hurdle is an ice crossing that shows signs of beginning to thaw, and he proceeds with great caution, standing on the steps of his cab as he notices open water flows on the surface. Despite nearly falling out of the truck, he keeps control and reaches town safely.

As Art takes building supplies toward Pauingassi, he comes across a truck that has slid into the ditch at an angle, blocking the road. He pulls it free, breaking a tow chain in the process, and drives well into the night to make up as much time as he can. He finds himself driving on an unmarked, melting ice crossing, reaches the opposite shore just as abruptly, and finishes the run the next morning.

Mark sends Steph on her first solo run, taking building materials to Pikangikum. Her truck is close to the maximum weight allowed on the ice crossing, whose length and covering of fresh snow cause her great alarm as she starts across. She finishes the run safely, her confidence restored.

Darrell drops off a load of school supplies in South Indian Lake, the first leg of a one-day triple run that will take him to Lac Brochet and then Brochet. After making the second stop, he ventures onto the rough roads in the northernmost portion of the Manitoba system. Risking a drive through a stretch of melted, boggy terrain, he reaches Brochet that same evening, drops off the last load, and hurries to leave town before the weather changes.

While hauling shop supplies to Sandy Lake First Nation, Lisa battles through a road that has melted into mud and slush. Smoke begins to pour from under the hood, caused by dirt and grass kicked up from her wheels and igniting on the hot exhaust pipe. After cleaning out the debris, she finishes the run to bring in the community's final load of the season.

After spending a night stuck on the road to Big Trout Lake, Todd ties down the broken ends of his spring with a tow strap and is able to start moving again. The rough road puts severe stress on his repair job and the truck's one intact spring; once he delivers his load, the return trip proves equally hazardous. That night, he hits a rock that damages his radiator, leaving him with no choice but to call Polar and have the truck towed back to Winnipeg.

Taking a last-minute haul to Sandy Lake, Lisa finds herself the only driver on this road due to its poor condition. She ventures onto a lake crossing awash in water and slush, nearly losing traction at the opposite shore, and reaches land to continue her trip. The final stretch leaves her scrambling to keep traction and hold the road, but she muscles her way into town and finishes the run.

Alex is hauling building supplies to St. Theresa Point, the village's last haul of the season. A thawing creek forces him to plot his path across very carefully, and he ends up having to back up onto it after caching a tire in a snowbank on the other side. His second crossing attempt damages the ice even further, but he clears the obstacle and continues driving. Low trailer height and large bumps combine to shake some of the materials off the trailer; he re-secures the load and eases through the last few miles to bring in his load.

As the season enters its final two days, the truckers scramble to deliver as many loads as possible over roads that may be closed at any time. Dispatched to Sachigo Lake with building supplies, Art chooses the shorter of two available paths, but must face a risky 4-mile ice crossing. Finding a radiator leak and a broken fan while on the ice, he has no choice but to continue on and hope that his engine will not overheat. He limps into town and delivers the load, but the truck is so badly damaged that he cannot drive it back to Winnipeg. Meanwhile, Alex also starts for Sachigo Lake with a load of lumber. He chooses the much longer path, but has to contend with a mile-long ice crossing that begins to crumble under his wheels.

Mark and Darrell put out the fire in Darrell's truck, caused by an electrical short, and Mark patches the wiring so the convoy can keep moving. A steep, muddy hill forces Mark to use the loader he has brought along to push them to the top; Todd, the last to go, has the hardest time of them all since his load is the heaviest. Later they come to a lake crossing that proves to be dangerously thin, but all four drivers decide to push on, with Mark taking the loader off Darrell's trailer and driving it himself to redistribute the weight. They cautiously venture out, the ice cracking badly under their wheels, and reach the opposite shore to finish the run to North Caribou Lake.