Product Description

It s one of the most perilous roads in the world, a strip of ice built on frozen lakes that connects remote billion-dollar mining outposts in northern Canada with civilization 350 miles away. In the brief two months a year that the road is passable, ten thousand loads, some weighing as much as twenty-two tons, will travel over the highway in an urgent race to provide critical supplies to the camps before the ice melts.

ICE ROAD TRUCKERS follows the competition and camaraderie of six truckers over a season on the ice road, as they brave white-outs, thin ice, and the deadly cold to perform one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. From the construction of this massive frozen highway and the preparation of the truck fleet, to the risky final days when the melting highway grows dangerously unreliable, THE HISTORY CHANNEL takes viewers on a thrilling, adrenaline-pumping ride.

DVD Features: Ice Road Truckers episode of Dangerous Missions; 5 Featurettes: Meet the Truckers , Overcoming the Challenges , Perils of the Ice Road , Behind-The-Scenes , The Countdown

Stills from Ice Road Truckers (Click for larger image)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6528 in DVD
• Brand: A&E
• Released on: 2007-11-20
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 470 minutes

Features

• The mines of northern Canada contain billions of dollars worth of gold and diamonds, but the only way to get supplies to those mines is a treacherous 350-mile-long road across frozen lakes--which don't always stay frozen. This electrifying documentary series dives into the dangerous, sometimes glorious, potentially fatal world of Ice Road Truckers--the men who, each season, drive their trucks

Amazon.com
Wages of Fear has nothing on Ice Road Truckers. Transporting unstable nitroglycerine is Driving Miss Daisy compared to the sanity and death-defying challenges facing these drivers who face great rewards but even greater dangers. Where these guys are going, there are no roads, except for about two months when the lakes freeze solid enough to allow the transport of literally tons of essential supplies to Canada's remote diamond mines as far as 350 miles away near the Arctic Circle. The goal is to deliver 10,000 loads in 60 days. The truckers call it the "dash for the cash." Fasten your seatbelts; it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Ice Road Truckers is one of the most harrowing of the "dirty jobs" sub-genre of reality TV. This History Channel series mines a little extra drama by playing up the competition between the drivers to see who can make the most runs. The series' most compelling personality is Hugh, a 21-season veteran known as "the Polar Bear," who suffers what another driver calls "a bad luck year." Hugh is the kind of guy who will blow poisonous methyl hydrate into his own suspect transmission. Among those trucking for him are Alex, the 25-year "marathon man" with 11 kids), 21-year-old TJ, and Drew, a 35-year-old "newbie." But the conditions under which these "titans of the ice" operate is all the drama this series needs. Suffice to say, there are up to 800 drivers when the season begins. By the spring thaw, there are only about 125 remaining. Consider: Truck breakdowns and equipment failures can leave truckers stranded in the middle of nowhere in 40-below temperatures. Blinding snowstorms can reduce visibility to zero. Speeding can cause waves that blow out the ice. A shout-out to the camera crew who faced these dangers with the truckers and captured nerve-wracking footage of the trucks making their treacherous way over heaving, cracking ice, and behemoth 18-wheel rigs plummeting through the broken ice to the lake's bottom. --Donald Liebenson

Customer Reviews

what else has been done to this series?
I really got into this show. I wanted to know how everyone turned out, and that they all were safe in the end. One thing that really bugs me, is the bleeping of the swear words. Just like Ramsey's Kitchen shows. This is the man and this is how he talks. These are plain, rough, hard working guys and this is how they talk to each other and probably around their homes, unless the "little Woman" puts a clamp on them. Let it go, or at least on the dvd's an uncut/ uncensored version should be offered. Just like Rap music, they would probably find the uncut/uncensored would sell tons more that the annoyingly bleeped version. If it is bleeped, I won't be buying it. sorry folks. Some of the guys say they are being reconized down here in the lower 48, but this show hasn't been shown yet in Canada, so they are not reconized yet in their own stomping grounds. A way better live show than bogus Survivor... This is Really for Real. A+++

Working Class Heroes
For me, the greatest thing in science fiction is the positive portrayal of working class folks. Here they are in real life, in a very well-done series.

The truckers are really good guys, and their forays onto the ice roads are true adventures. The videographers share the danger, and the ups and downs of the 2-months when the lakes are frozen and the trucks try to get everything to the Canadian diamond mines before the ice melts again.

I think it's a nice touch that they put the most unassuming character on the cover!

Truck-Stopping Delight
Ice Road Truckers is a daring delight. I watched this show with my son, who is also a trucker. Much to our surprise, this show was absolutely spell bounding.