* Texas - Alaska (USA) trip is 'highlight' of driver's career
-- Richard Robertson, 57, who has been driving for Ennis Trucking for 17 years. Traverse City's Midwest Air Products, Co., asked Ennis if he had someone who could haul a truck load of make-up air units to Valdez, Alaska, and Ennis posed the question to Robertson... Robertson left Traverse City on Feb. 3 and didn't return for a full month. It was the longest he'd ever been on the road; most trips take 10 days at most. The drive from Michigan toSeattle— his first destination — was about what he was used to, but conditions grew more unfamiliar as he headed north through British Columbia andthe Yukon Territory. "Being out there and seeing it, it's real pretty, but it's deadly at the same time," he said. "You're a long ways from nowhere" ...Robertson drove from sunup to sundown — driving at night would be too risky — and often was the lone truck pulled off at rest stops. "Other than being awed by the sights all around me, it was just the loneliness," he said. "I have never felt so isolated" ... He stayed the night in the Alaskan town and set out in the morning to retrace his path back to Seattle. From Seattle he hauled a load to New Orleans, then a load fromNew Orleans to Texas and a final load fromTexas back toTraverse City.He arrived home March 3 with 12,418 miles logged...Robertson wouldn't take the trip again in the winter, but said he'd"take my chance with the tourists"in the summer. The vast Alaskan landscape left an impression... "It was the highlight of my career," he said. "Where else can you go, the moon?" ... (Photo by Thessa Lighty: R. Robertson sits in his truck cab) -- Traverse City, TXS, USA - Traverse City Record Eagle, by SARAH ELMS - Apr 3, 2016
-- A fuel tanker that plunged through an ice road on March 5 in the , near Deline, has finally been removed after spending nearly a month in a shallow, icy state of hibernation...CBC News reports that about 30,000 litres of fuel had to be removed from the truck, which is owned by Bassett Petroleum... The weight limit of the road had recently been tripled to 40,000 kg, according to the territory’s Department of Transportation... Nobody was injured in the incident... (Photo: The territory's Department of Environment and Natural Resources posted a photo to its Facebook page showing the truck partially submerged through a hole in the ice) -- Deline, NWT, CAN - Today's Trucking - 4 April 2016
* Canada - European truckers on "Ice Road Truck" (real)
* North West Canada - Merthyr-born, , is now driving trucks across ice in
--Ice Road Trucker Simon Petherick of Merthyr Tydfil (Wales, UK), he says it's not all as glamorous as it appears onChannel 5 show Ice Road Truckers... Driving vehicles weighing almost 64,000kg over treacherous icy terrain with temperatures sometimes reaching as low as -60C - just a normal working day for Simon Petherick... Employed as an ice truck driver in north-western Canada, the dangerous job has seen him crossing 56 lakes in one journey and can see a normal work day consist of a 15-hour drive - all a far cry from his start in life growing up at his home in Swansea Road, Merthyr Tydfil... Simon’s current responsibility is to deliver fuel to the Diavik Diamond mine from Yellowknife, which takes him via the winter ice roads... He is in his first season after starting in the role last year... Soon after moving, Simon got a job driving trains hauling materials such as molten sulphur, asphalt and propane. His routine saw him drive from Edmonton, the capital of Canada’s western Alberta province, to Yellowknife, a 1,400km journey, taking two days to complete... But he was then moved onto driving ice trucks, which meant uprooting to be based in Yellowknife. His routine then involved driving the icy, treacherous route between the city and the Diavik Diamond Mine, a distance of more than 400km... Some mean the driver must slow down to 10km per hour due to their precarious nature, while others take three hours to cross, and others pose the constant risk of slipping off, which would cost $1,200 to be towed back to safety, as well as a long wait for the services to arrive... But it seems Simon’s stint as an ice road trucker won’t last too much longer... He said: “Ice road trucking is not for me and I will not be doing another season" ... (Simon and his truck, delivering fuel to the Diavik Diamond mine) -- Yellowknife, Northwest, Canada, Wales On Line (UK), by TOM HOUGHTON - 10 March 2016
TRUCKERS' LIFE & SHOW * USA - Trucking reality shows
Give drivers a chance to show off their skills
(Photo - Trucker: Wayne Pelletier)
Millinocket,MN,USA -The Road King, by Katie Neal -28 Oct 2010: -- “In my wildest dreams, I never thought I’d ever be on TV,” says Wayne Pelletier.From an early age, he knew he would drive for the family logging business, Gerard Pelletier, Inc., in Millinocket, Maine, just as his six older brothers had... But nearly 20 years after he went to work with his family, a local TV producer approached the Pelletiers about filming them for a reality show.Soon, viewers were tuning in tothe Discovery Channel’s "American Loggers" to watch Wayneand his brothers do a job that is regularly classified by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as among the most dangerous... The stars of TV’s trucking shows were trained to do a very specialized job — not perform for the camera. So it wasn’t easy to adjust to having a crew filming their every move... Pelletier has also relaxed as American Loggers prepares to enter its third season, though it can still be nerve-wracking to do a dangerous job with the cameras trained on him...
* Earning the public’s respect
Pelletier, Rowland, Locklear and their castmates present a markedly different image of truckers in pop culture than the last time the profession captured the public’s attention... While the trucking TV shows of today certainly capture a spirit of adventure, it’s not exactly romantic to watch Rowland narrowly avoid spinning out or Pelletier handle a double trailer... The challenges of the job have surprised and impressed even friends and family of drivers on the show... For an industry that has battled negative stereotypes for years, it’s refreshing to see the public perception start to change... “People see a truck going up and down the road and think it looks easy, but there’s a lot of work behind it, a lot of testing your nerves and your skills,”Pelletier says.“They respect us more now. I’ve done this all my life and it’s finally being recognized.”
* Looking ahead
(Video from YouTube, by historychannel -7 Aug 2009: Miss Ice Road Truckers last week? Catch up on what happened)
The idea of seeing truckers at work has attracted so many viewers that the genre continues to grow... But the success of the shows doesn’t mean you’ll find their stars ditching the driver’s seat anytime soon.“I think more than other industries, trucking isn’t just a job,” Locklear says. “It’s a passion and a way of life” ...The Pelletiers are grateful for the small boost in business, but their on- and off-camera days are pretty similar... “We’re not actors — I don’t have any lines,” he says, laughing. “I don’t change my ways at all. I just go and do my job” ...
(Video from YouTube, by historychannel -17 June 2009: Danger lurks around every corner on the Dalton Northern Territories,Canada -History Channel/TVPG L -3 Oct 2010:-- The Ice Road truckers battle to the last load to determine this year's King of the Haul Road.Tensions between co-leaders Ray and Greg explode on Atigun, giving Hugh a chance to take the lead.Lisa's possible best season ever is on the line, while Jack's hope to repeat as King is in jeopardy.Alex pushes to finally beat his nemesis, the Polar Bear...
AND NOW !!! Lisa Kelly !!! ... on ... * Canada - ICE ROAD TRUCKERS
Lisa Kellycuts pretty figure on'Ice Road Truckers'
Prudhoe Bay,Canada -New York Daily News (NY,USA), by Richard Huff-May 29 2009:... Lisa Kellyadmits she gets a kick out of seeing people do a double take when she slides out of her massiveKenworth W900 tractor-trailer..."I don't have to play it down," says the pretty blond, one of the drivers followed on the new season of History's "Ice Road Truckers."... "I think I've earned where I'm at. They don't just judge me by the cover, and I can get the job done," she says. "I don't need to fit the stereotype. I don't have to be a potty mouth, chew tobacco and be 300 pounds to drive a truck."... The show follows truckers who maneuver icy, snow-covered, narrow roads to deliver goods in Alaska 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle... Kelly, who calls Wasilla home (yes, Sarah Palin's place), is new to the cast...
** Ice Road TruckersSeason 3 Preview
Video from YouTube, by historychannel-21 May 2009: --Season 3 premieres May 31, 2009 at 9pm/8c...In Prudhoe Bay, a network of ice roads in the tundra crisscross river systems & open ocean to connect Americas booming North Slope oil fields to dry land... Every winter truckers have less than three months to shuttle critical supplies over the ice.There's only one way to get to this remote location: 400 miles of ice-covered, mountainous terrain known as The Dalton Highway... !!!
ICE ROAD TRUCKERS * Canada - Feeling the economic freeze
Yellowknife,NT,Canada -Today's Trucking-17 Feb 2009: --The winter road inCanada’s north-hit show Ice Road Truckers- is seeing a little less action these days... According to the Northern News Service, one closed mine and a general slowdown in production have led to a drop in shipments for trucking companies working the famous route... The winter road opened Feb. 2 and is operating on schedule, completing 10 percent of this season’s shipments. The number of those on-time shipments, however, has gone down... While the drop in tonnage will mean the trucks that are hired will do between eight to 10 loads, rather than 20 to 25 loads, Blair Weatherby, president of the NWT Motor Transport Associationsays,the news isn’t all bad... "If you go back five or 10 years, we're still (shipping) more than we were then," he notes...(Picture by getmemedia: Ice road truckers)
Now, what would you have to do if you were an Ice Road Trucker?
Northern Terr,Canada -Ice Road Truckers -7 July 2008: --... First of all, some may wonder how much Ice Road Truckers are paid. In some cases, they end up getting $90000 in three months.Canada’s tundra is one of the most desolate places on Earth, and due to the lack of experienced drivers and the money they give you, Ice Trucking becomes one of the most attracting offer when it comes to high paid jobs. Tempting, isn’t it? Not really, given the fact that the risks that they are exposed to aren’t worth all that money...Your main job would be to take the cargo to its destination. You must take care of the cargo, and also make sure that you safely return to the place of the departure.Besides this, you must be VERY careful while driving.Some parts of the road must be crossed with a certain speed, for example, if you are lucky, you can travel with 50 km/h, or if you find a delicate area, you must not cross 5 km/h...
Ice Road Truckers Premieres * USA - June 8th On The History Channel
New Season Of Ice Road Truckers: A History American Original series.June 8 at 9pm ET/PT on The History Channel
USA -Commercial Truck Trader Insider-June 4, 2008: --According tothe History Channel, the new season follows some of the truckers from last season, along with new drivers, as they haul essential equipment and supplies to remote outposts across one of the world’s last great frontiers, the vaunted winter ice road that runs over the frozenArctic Oceanandthe Mackenzie Riverin the farthest reaches of the Northwest Territories... For a brief window during the coldest part of the winter, the only way to reach the remote communities and natural gas exploration sites of this region, which lies more than 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle, is by driving over an extraordinary ice road that winds along the Mackenzie River...Contending with Arctic storms that hit without a moment’s notice, even the most seasoned truckers find themselves challenged by the extreme polar conditions, isolation and the lack of basic comforts. Temperatures during the winter months here can dip as low as -60...Last season in Yellowknife, our truckers had narrow land bridges to escape to. This season it’s ice all the way, no land, no sanctuary. Four familiar faces return to see if their ice road experience translates to this more imposing river and ocean ice road...
ICE ROAD TRUCKERS * USA - Reality Series returns, may become a Movie
Obvious dangers are cracks in the road, which road maintenance teams scramble to cover with rig mats. Like speed bumps, the rig mats can take out an oil pan, which is not a minor problem when it’s 40 below zero outside the cab
USA -Land Line Magazine, by Elizabeth Andersen-April 7, 2008: --The producers of the popular documentary-style TV show “Ice Road Truckers” have announced that the second season will air this summer.The first season, which launched in June 2007 on The History Channel, had record high ratings of 3.4 million overall...On this second season, the drivers and camera crew are in the remote communities ofInuvikand Tuktoyaktuk, more than 100 miles north of the Arctic Circle. In a period of about two months, two clients collaborate with three competitive trucking companies to move hundreds of heavy, oversized loads across frozen water through frigid, often dangerous conditions...(See full videos collections here)
ICE ROAD TRUKERS' * USA - Surge in oil exploration boosts trucking on North Slope
Deadhorse,Alaska -The Alaska Journal of Commerce, by Rob Stapleton -April 3, 2008: --A high demand for oil drilling pipe and steel, as well as the addition of seasonal ice roads have increased trucking activity to support oil exploration on Alaska's North Slope. Business has jumped so much, it's attracting outside trucking firms to the state...Ice roads across frigid expanses of the Beaufort Sea to locations west and east of Prudhoe Bay are full of vehicles headed to exploration sites and the camps that support the petroleum industry...(Photo by Rob Stapleton / Alaska Journal of Commerce - A Carlile Transportation tractor pulls a double load of welding tanks, pipe and a refrigerator van of food items from Prudhoe Bay on March 24, 2008, for the Alpine field to the west of Prudhoe Bay)
“Ice Road Truckers” * USA - Prohibited video or rolling film cameras either inside or attached to the outside of vehicles
Producers find new ice road for TV series
Grain Valley,MO,USA -Land Line Magazine -February 5, 2008: --The producers of the popular documentary-style reality TV show“Ice Road Truckers”say there will be a second season.The first season, which launched in June 2007 onThe History Channel, had record high ratings of 3.4 million overall... After the first season, the mining company that owned the ice road where the series was filmed bowed out, saying the show exaggerated the dangers and made the drivers look like cowboys making a mad dash for money at high risks. A new rule for theTibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Roads was enacted for the 2008 season prohibiting commercial, media, video or rolling film cameras either inside or attached to the outside of vehicles... Now the producers say they’ve found a “new frontier” and a new ice road and that the show will go on... (Video from You Tube by kd5yov -September 04, 2007: "Ice Road Truckers - Modern Marvels Special": 60 below zero, 350 miles, @ 20 miles an hour: one hell of a roadtrip... MODERN MARVELS special, by the History Channel. This is about a 9.25 minute preview of the actual dvd that is now being sold on the History Channel. Get your copy today... The characters in this show, real working men, are the heart of the show, competing with other drivers for money, and enduring dangerous conditions along the way)
London,UK -Biglorryblog -4 Dec 2007: --There are quite a few places that Biglorryblog would rather not drive a truck but the Ice Road in Canada which runs from Yellowknife to the isolated mining communities in the North West territories across a number of frozen lakes (well frozen enough to drive an artic across them for three months of the year) is probably at the top of my list---I wouldn't do it for all the tea in China, no matter how much you paid me... Yet there are plenty of brave souls who will and if you want to find out more then I recommend the 'Ice Roads' DVD available from Old Pond Publishing priced £14.95...And when you're out on the Ice Road you probably don't want to find that the ice is not as thick as you thought...as the driver of the above rig must have discovered... I'm not quite sure is the thing on the back of the trailer is the load--or a floatation tank! And if you need to know what time of the year it's safe to drive on the ice reads the signs!(Video from You Tube, by kd5yov - 4 Sept 2007: 60 below zero, 350 miles, @ 20 miles an hour: one hell of a roadtrip. MODERN MARVELS special, by the History Channel. This is about a 9.25 minute preview of the actual dvd that is now being sold on the History Channel)& (Thanks for the picture to Gerald Woodgate at Transport News Network)
Think you have a dangerous job? * Canada - Watch this
Yellowknife,Canada -The Guelph Mercury -subscription- (Ontario,Can) -15 June 2007: --On Sunday, theHistory Channelreveals the virtually unknown occupation of ice-road trucking, considered to be one of the world's most dangerous jobs..."Ice Road Truckers,"which premieres at 10 p.m., charts two months in the lives of six men who haul vital supplies to diamond mines over frozen lakes that double as roads...The little-known ice road trucking industry, stationed just outside of Yellowknife in Canada's Northwest Territory, is responsible for supporting the diamond mines there... With one hand on the wheel and one on the door at all times, drivers always have to be prepared for the ice to give way under the weight of their trucks in their dash for cash...(Picture: BC Ice road)
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