''Ice Road Truckers'' (commercially abbreviated ''IRT'') is a

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

series that aired on

History Channel History (formerly and commonly known as the History Channel) is an American pay television television broadcaster, network and the flagship channel of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney General Entertainme ...

from 2007 to 2017. It featured the activities of drivers who operated trucks on

ice road An ice road or ice bridge is a human-made structure that runs on a frozen water surface (a river, a lake or a sea water expanse).Masterson, D. and Løset, S., 2011, ISO 19906: Bearing capacity of ice and ice roads, Proceedings of the 21st Int ...

s crossing frozen lakes and rivers, in remote territories in Canada and the U.S. state of

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

. Seasons three to six also featured Alaska's improved but still remote

Dalton Highway The James W. Dalton Highway, usually referred to as the Dalton Highway (and signed as Alaska Route 11), is a road in Alaska. It begins at the Elliott Highway, north of Fairbanks, and ends at Deadhorse (an unincorporated community within t ...

, which is mainly snow-covered solid ground.

History

In 2000, History aired a 46-minute episode titled "Ice Road Truckers" as part of the ''Suicide Missions'' (later ''Dangerous Missions'') series. Based on Edith Iglauer's book '' Denison's Ice Road'', the episode details the treacherous job of driving trucks over frozen lakes, also known as ice roads, in Canada's

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...

. After 2000, reruns of the documentary were aired as an episode of the series ''

Modern Marvels ''Modern Marvels'', formally known under A&E as ''Time Machine'', is a television series first aired by the History Channel in 1995, but previously under A&E starting December 10, 1993. It is the History Channel's first and longest-running prog ...

'', instead. Under this banner, the ''Ice Road Truckers'' show garnered very good ratings. In 2006, the History Channel hired

Thom Beers Thom Beers (born July 20, 1952) is an American television producer and narrator/voice-over artist. Career Beers, a former producer and executive with Turner Broadcasting System, Turner Broadcasting and Paramount Syndicated Television, has produc ...

, owner of

Original Productions Original Productions, LLC is a television production company based in Burbank, California. It was founded in 1999 by Thom Beers.Deadliest Catch ''Deadliest Catch'' is an American reality television series that premiered on the Discovery Channel on April 12, 2005. The show follows crab fishermen aboard fishing vessels in the Bering Sea during the Alaskan king crab and snow crab fishing ...

'', to create a series based on the ''Ice Road'' book. Shot in

high-definition video High-definition video (HD video) is video of higher resolution and quality than standard-definition. While there is no standardized meaning for ''high-definition'', generally any video image with considerably more than 480 vertical scan lines ( ...

(although the season ended before History HD was launched in the US), the show "charts two months in the lives of six extraordinary men who haul vital supplies to diamond mines and other remote locations over frozen lakes that double as roads".

Airings

Season one of ''Ice Road Truckers'' was shown on the British national commercial channel

Channel Five 5 (formerly known as Channel 5 and Five) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Param ...

in February/March 2008. In Australia, it aired on

Austar Austar was an Australian telecommunications company founded in 1995 as Community Entertainment Television (CETV). Its main business activity was subscription television. It was also involved with internet access and mobile phones. Austar's tel ...

and

Foxtel NXE Australia Pty Ltd, trading as the Foxtel Group, is an Australian pay television company that operates cable television, direct-broadcast satellite, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April ...

in early 2008, and from June 18 it also began being shown on

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...

. In autumn 2008 season one aired on

RTL 7 RTL 7 is a Dutch free-to-air, free-to-cable television channel that was launched as ''Veronica'' on 1 September 1995. RTL 7 is RTL Nederland's "men's channel" with action films, reality television about crime and professions, Association footbal ...

in the Netherlands. In Italy. the first season premiered on History Channel on January 7, 2010 as "" ('Heroes of the ice'). The second season premiered on June 8, 2008, in the US; October 9, 2008 on History in the UK and in Australia; November 12, 2008, in New Zealand; and January 7, 2009, on Channel 5 in the UK. The first season was not aired in Canada until March 4, 2009, on

History Television The History Channel (also known as History) is a Canadian English-language discretionary specialty channel that primarily broadcasts programming related to history and historical fiction. It is owned by History Television, Inc., a subsidiary of ...

. The third season premiered on May 31, 2009, in the US; September 10 in the UK. Channel Five debuted series 3 on January 5, 2010.

Reception

The series' premiere was seen by 3.4 million viewers, to become the most-watched original telecast in the History Channel's 12-year history at that time. Among critics, Adam Buckman of the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

'' said, "Everything about 'Ice Road Truckers' is astonishing".

Virginia Heffernan Virginia Heffernan (born August 8, 1969) is an American journalist and cultural critic. Since 2015, she has been a political columnist at the ''Los Angeles Times'' and a cultural columnist at ''Wired''. From 2003 to 2011, she worked as a staff w ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' said, "Watching these guys ... make their runs, it’s hard not to share in their cold, fatigue and horrible highway hypnosis, that existential recognition behind the wheel late at night that the pull of sleep and the pull of death are one and the same. ... gets right exactly what ''

Deadliest Catch ''Deadliest Catch'' is an American reality television series that premiered on the Discovery Channel on April 12, 2005. The show follows crab fishermen aboard fishing vessels in the Bering Sea during the Alaskan king crab and snow crab fishing ...

'' got right, namely that the leave-nothing-but-your-footprints, green kind of eco-travelers are too mellow and conscientious to be interesting to watch. Instead, the burly, bearded, swearing men (and women) who blow methyl hydrate into their own transmissions and welcome storms as breaks from boredom ... are much better television." During 2007 the series was shown in the United Kingdom, Australia and various countries in Africa. The show opening features a truck falling through the ice. While real accidents with fatal outcomes might be mentioned, the show has never featured them; the show opening is a miniature model filmed inside a studio. A season-one rumor that the sequence was staged using a real truck and dynamite caused discontent among the drivers.Kaplan, Don, "BACK ON THE 'ICE ROAD'"
''

'', April 2, 2008

Episodes

Truckers

''IRT: Deadliest Roads''

Season 1: Himalayas

On October 3, 2010, a spinoff series, titled ''IRT: Deadliest Roads'', premiered immediately after the season-four finale. Rick Yemm, Alex Debogorski, and Lisa Kelly traveled to India and put their driving skills to the test on the narrow, treacherous mountain roads that lead from

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

Shimla Shimla, also known as Simla ( the official name until 1972), is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summer capital of British India. After independence, the city ...

, then up to the Karchan and Kuppa hydroelectric dam construction sites in the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

. The truckers were accompanied by spotters, who were responsible for making the negotiations in case of problems with other drivers in the city and keeping them safe during their routes and difficult spots on the road. In season 1, three spotters were present, each one for one respective trucker. Tashi was Lisa's spotter. Sanjeev was Alex's spotter during his first day and helped him during his problems and accidents in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

. Later Dave's spotter with Alex's quit and his arrive. Hameed was Rick's spotter. Debogorski quit in the first episode due to fear of angry mobs if he were involved in an accident and the pressure of city chaos, and was replaced by Alabama's trucker Dave Redmon (who has since been featured in season five of ''Ice Road Truckers''). As the season continued, the drivers were dispatched to carry supplies over the stormy

Rohtang Pass Rohtang Pass (Rohtang , literally meaning "pile of corpses"Polgreen, Lydia. ''New York Times''. Accessed 31 July 2010.) is a high mountain pass (elevation ) on the eastern end of the Pir Panjal Range of the Himalayas around from Manali, Himac ...

to the town of

Keylong Kyelang (also spelled Keylong) is a town and the administrative centre of the Lahaul and Spiti district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, north of Manali via Atal Tunnel and from the Indo-Tibetan border. It is located along the Mana ...

, which had been cut off for months due to the bad weather. The season finale aired on December 5, 2010, with the truckers attempting to deliver loads of jet fuel for helicopter crews who were working to rescue people stranded in the mountains by the storms. Yemm and Redmon turned back, deciding that the conditions were too hazardous for the volatile cargo; the next day, Kelly hauled the entire shipment herself and delivered it to the crews, becoming the only North American trucker to complete the entire season. The roads were often hacked out of vertical cliffs like a tunnel with one side open to the air, with rock overhangs overhead and drops of several hundred feet below. One part of the road was called "the Freefall Freeway". * In episode 5: "Crumbling Roads", Kelly and Yemm delivered two images (one each, well-

packed Data structure alignment is the way data is arranged and accessed in computer memory. It consists of three separate but related issues: data alignment, data structure padding, and packing. The CPU in modern computer hardware performs reads a ...

with

sandbag A sandbag or dirtbag is a bag or sack made of Hessian (cloth), hessian (burlap), polypropylene or other sturdy materials that is filled with sand or soil and used for such purposes as flood control, military fortification in trenches and bunke ...

s, sand, and straw) of the goddess

Kali Kali (; , ), also called Kalika, is a major goddess in Hinduism, primarily associated with time, death and destruction. Kali is also connected with transcendental knowledge and is the first of the ten Mahavidyas, a group of goddesses who p ...

(shown as treading on her husband

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

) along a risky mountain road hacked out of cliff sides to a temple at a town called

Kalpa, Himachal Pradesh Kalpa is a small village in the Sutlej river valley, above Reckong Peo in the Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh, Northern India, in the Indian Himalaya. The region is inhabited by the Kinnauri people and is known for its apple orchards, as app ...

. * In episode 6: "Thin Air", they struggled with a worse road and

altitude hypoxia Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometry, geographical s ...

on the

, and one of them delivered an image of

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

and some

Buddhist scriptures Buddhist texts are religious texts that belong to, or are associated with, Buddhism and its traditions. There is no single textual collection for all of Buddhism. Instead, there are three main Buddhist Canons: the Pāli Canon of the Therav ...

to a Tibetan-type

Buddhist monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which may ...

in the mountains. Early promotional spots for the series listed the title as ''IRT: Himalayas''.

Season 2: South America

The second season of ''IRT: Deadliest Roads'' premiered on September 25, 2011. Six North American drivers are sent to

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

to haul cargo along the

Yungas Road The Yungas Road, popularly known as the Death Road, is a long cycle route linking the city of La Paz, Bolivia, La Paz with the Yungas region of Bolivia. It was conceived in the 1930s by the Politics of Bolivia, Bolivian government to connect ...

, notorious for its extreme hazards. The drivers work in pairs, as in the first season, but this time, instead of taking locals as spotters, the drivers also acted as them, where one driver would be the main driver for that run (drives the truck most part or the entire run) and the other would be the spotter, taking turns between them. – Hugh Rowland and Rick Yemm, Lisa Kelly and Dave Redmon, and newcomers Timothy "Tim" R. Zickuhr and Augustin "Tino" Rodriguez. Redmon and Yemm quit in episode 2; Rowland continues driving alone, while Texas trucker G.W. Boles arrives to ride with Kelly and replace Dave in episode 4. Making "Tim & Tino" the only original pair to stay together the entire season. Starting with episode 8, the truckers relocate to

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

and begin transporting loads to sites high in the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

mountain range. In episode 6, Kelly and Boles transport 32 breeding

llama The llama (; or ) (''Lama glama'') is a domesticated South American camelid, widely used as a List of meat animals, meat and pack animal by Inca empire, Andean cultures since the pre-Columbian era. Llamas are social animals and live with ...

s across the

Salar de Uyuni Salar de Uyuni (or "Salar de Tunupa") is the world's largest salt flat, or playa, at in area. It is in the Daniel Campos Province in Potosí in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes at an elevation of above sea level. The Salar wa ...

, the world's biggest salt flat, above sea level. On the way, their truck's radiator begins to leak; after they mend it, they must empty all their drinking water into the radiator to replace the loss. Abundant

lithium Lithium (from , , ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard temperature and pressure, standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the ...

deposits cause their magnetic

compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with No ...

es to read incorrectly, and for a time, their

global positioning system The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based hyperbolic navigation system owned by the United States Space Force and operated by Mission Delta 31. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provide ge ...

malfunctions. In February 2015, Tim Zickuhr pleaded guilty to kidnapping and extortion, then was sentenced to a maximum of 15 years prison. Zickuhr's current incarceration and/or parole status are uncertain. Early promotional spots for the series listed the title as ''IRT: The Andes''.

Truckers (''Deadliest Roads'')

Music and sound FX

The Ice Road Truckers and Ice Road Truckers: Deadliest Roads soundtracks are composed and produced mainly by Bruce Hanifan. The series also includes music from other artists such as Gregg Montante,

Andy Kubiszewski Andrew "Andy" Kubiszewski (born September 30, 1961) is an American musician, songwriter, remixer and producer. He has worked with bands Exotic Birds and Stabbing Westward, contributed to several other bands, and composed music for TV shows and ...

, Grayson Matthews,

Paul Hepker Paul Hepker (born in Harare, Zimbabwe on 17 December 1967) is a South African composer, musical director, pianist, best known for composing the score (with Mark Kilian) for the film Tsotsi, which won the Academy Award for Foreign Language Film ...

and many others. The additional music and sound effects are licensed by Amygdala Music Library owned by the American recording studios company Amygdala Records, which have a partnership with

Original Productions Original Productions, LLC is a television production company based in Burbank, California. It was founded in 1999 by Thom Beers.Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of lead vocalist Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarists Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry and B ...

's lead single for the album

Get a Grip ''Get a Grip'' is the eleventh studio album by American rock band Aerosmith, released in April 1993 by Geffen Records. ''Get a Grip'' was the band's last studio album to be released by Geffen before they returned to Columbia Records. ''Get a ...

Livin' On The Edge "Livin' on the Edge" is a song by American hard rock band Aerosmith. The song was written by Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, and Mark Hudson. It was released in March 1993 by Geffen Records as the first single from the band's commercially successful e ...

, composed by

Steven Tyler Steven Victor Tallarico (born March 26, 1948), known professionally as Steven Tyler, is an American singer and songwriter. Tyler is best known as the lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the keyboards, h ...

, Joe Perry, and Mark Hudson and released in early 1993. The song was used in the openings of the series four initial seasons (2007 – early 2010) in the United States and Canada dubbing (original audio), which was later changed in the following season (early 2011) for the song, originally composed for the series soundtrack, "Ice Road Truckers Theme" by Bruce Hanifan and Gregg Montante. Hanifan's and Montante's song was used in the series worldwide premiere and distribution as the opening theme, replacing the Aerosmith's song even in the initial seasons of the series outside the United States and Canada. The song was also used as replacement in the digital / streaming versions of the I.R.T.: Deadliest Roads Season 1 (late 2010), which also uses

Livin' on the Edge "Livin' on the Edge" is a song by American hard rock band Aerosmith. The song was written by Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, and Mark Hudson. It was released in March 1993 by Geffen Records as the first single from the band's commercially successful e ...

as its original theme song in the United States and Canada. In the television worldwide premiere, the song "Black Mo" by

Blues Saraceno Blues Saraceno (born October 17, 1971) is an American rock guitarist, composer and music producer, currently residing in Los Angeles, California. He was discovered by ''Guitar for the Practicing Musician'' magazine at the age of 16, which assis ...

was used as theme and background music in promotional videos of the spin-off's first season. For season 2 of the spin-off series (late 2011), the song "Over the Line", originally composed for the series soundtrack by

, was used in the opening sequence, both in U.S. and worldwide airings. Season 6 (2012) also uses a song composed by Kubiszewski as its theme, which was never released by Amygdala or Andrew. In 2013, with season 7 on production, Original Productions contracted VARIPIX to rebuild the series' opening sequence, which changed its main theme once again, to the song "Maiden Voyage", also composed by

for the series soundtrack that lasted for the last five seasons (2013–2017).

Other media

In 2008,

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

acquired the rights from the History Channel to create a scripted, theatrical action film based on the series, with a script penned by

William Wisher Jr. William Howard Peter Wisher Jr. is an American screenwriter, known for his work with long-time friend James Cameron on the screenplays for ''The Terminator'' and '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day'', and his work with Caleb Carr on '' Exorcist: The ...

, and John Moore attached as director. In 2010, a video game for the

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PA ...

was released by

Slitherine Software Slitherine Software UK Limited (also known as Slitherine Strategies) is a British video game developer and publisher founded on 25 June 2000. It is responsible for the production of a range of over 200 strategy and war video games. Slitherine de ...

. In 2020, the show was mentioned in “Godzilla” by

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, he is credited with popula ...

and

Juice WRLD Jarad Anthony Higgins (December 2, 1998 – December 8, 2019), known professionally as Juice Wrld (pronounced "juice world"; stylized as Juice WRLD), was an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He emerged as a leading figure in the emo rap ...

References

External links

Official website, History Channel USA

Official website, History Channel UK

Official website, History Channel Canada

Official website, Channel 5 UK
* (2000

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

) * * (''IRT: Deadliest Roads'') {{Alaska reality television 2000s American reality television series 2000s Canadian reality television series 2007 American television series debuts 2007 Canadian television series debuts 2010s American reality television series 2010s Canadian reality television series Channel 5 (British TV channel) original programming American English-language television shows History (American TV channel) original programming

Truckers A truck driver (commonly referred to as a trucker, teamster or driver in the United States and Canada; a truckie in Australia and New Zealand; an HGV driver in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the European Union, a lorry driver, or driver in ...

Television series by Original Productions Television shows set in Alaska Television shows filmed in Alaska Television shows set in Canada Television shows filmed in Canada 2017 American television series endings 2017 Canadian television series endings