Most Dangerous Ice Roads in Canada | Highway to the Arctic | Free Documentary

[Music] [Music] winter in canada's far north is the most important travel season for the people who live there ice roads are built across hundreds of miles connecting frozen rivers and lakes reaching remote villages and stretching up to the very northern tip of the country by the arctic ocean they are highways across the icy tundra all the way out to the mackenzie river delta these are roads to solitude roads that disappear from the map completely as soon as the ice melts in spring early morning in inuvik a small town in the arctic northwest territories of canada kurt weinman and his crew are starting work for the day making sure the ice roads are drivable the ice road's been a well it's been a lifelong thing for the company here since day one you know it's a maintenance contract it's money to us it's a it's a job it's a lifestyle it's different not everywhere in the world people build ice roads to get to community community right everything around here is winter-based work to do any exploration to do any anything going forward access to the oil fields out in the ellis island the ocean area right it's a it's been a meaningful uh me and the ice would have had meaningful relationship most of my life we started off at one one one plow truck and one semi ended up to uh got about 350 pieces of equipment now we start around december first we start checking ice by december 10th we start plowing roads thanks to the continental climate there isn't much snowfall in the western most part of canada's arctic province and the little snow that does fall is powdery dry beginning we just clean it off and then the ice thickens and then we go and we do greater work we ice blade it so it gets smoother ice isn't totally smooth like everyone thinks it is it's actually rough it's pretty hard on the vehicle so when we grade it smooth it flattens it down like an asphalt really to do that they attach massive steel planers to the front and sides of the snowplows kurt and his crew often need to drive back and forth several times to make absolutely sure the roads are wide enough got to be 100 feet wide to accommodate the weight you can go narrower but it doesn't work it's got to be at 100 feet wide to to hold the floatation if this was your ice road and this was your sides it floats up right and the sides break off eh because this is like a ship it floats right and the sides break off and they fall down and they don't gain any inside are they leaning like this and there's always water in the cracks right you want to haul heavy transport loads it's most likely mid february to the end of february until the ice builds naturally on its own thick enough right we do profiling with gprs we profile the ice to see the thicknesses for safety reasons profiles are mapped along the entire length of the roads the first step is to calibrate the gpr by drilling a hole in the ground then a dynamometer car drives along the road measuring the thickness of the ice the radar can show the top and bottom of the ice cap to within centimeters hundreds of miles of these ice highways are built every year they're a modern substitute for the traditional dog sled trails we use it for everything we play on the ice road we sled on the ice road we boat we boat in the summer when there's no ice food inuvik is located at the edge of the sprawling mackenzie river delta the northernmost point of the regular road system in canada in the local language of the inuit inuvik translates to the people's square about 3 500 inuit members of the gwichin first nation and caucasian canadians live in harmony up here it's a true cultural melting pot everyone here has managed to adjust to life in these extreme winter conditions and for pastor john hansen the freezing cold even has some advantages the roads between our communities are are very important to me as a as a priest as a clergy person who has to travel between four different communities here in the north i prefer it in the winter time because it's less dusty and not so much mud to cover my truck once the ice road opens up i see all kinds of people from up there coming down and i'm able to get up there more [Music] frequently it was father adam's idea to build a church that uh represented the culture of the local people here and so he decided upon the igloo shape all of the materials were shipped up or down the mckenzie river to the site all of the trusses which hold up the large dome that you see were built by hand out of sticks of lumber [Music] these days it's no longer just inuit who come to the church a number of filipino settlers also attend dan hailbrunn is originally from ontario his spare time consists of just two things huskies and dog sleds the most important means of transportation before people began using the ice roads this is cash he's one of our best lead dogs he's uh he's a really happy fast strong guy creaky this is creek creek's also a really nice leader and she's she's a big big girl come here these are alaskan huskies too just a mix of different type of huskies spotty jump up spotty has a lot more hound dog we do sprint racing here which is see how fast the dogs can go as opposed to the long distance racing where they have to camp and they go much slower with the dogs before a short sprint race which is about 16 kilometers they will only drink plain soup plain beef soup for about 24 hours before the race they don't eat anything solid because we want their stomachs and intestines to be free from all sorts of obstruction in the last 10 years or so there's been four or five different dog teams that have uh that have quit because it's very expensive and it takes uh it takes everyday dedication to give the dogs breakfast and run them three four times a week it costs thousands of dollars a year just for a dozen dogs and thousands of dollars but i love the dogs they're always in a good mood and they're always lots of fun and we go out there we play with them every day and it's it keeps me healthy all winter it keeps me sleeping really well in the dark winter yeah it's a very healthy uh it's very healthy for the mind and body living with dogs may be the healthier alternative but the trend these days for transport and winter sports is snowmobiles young people like james and sean love them working tirelessly on their racing machines at night in late winter toward the end of march they compete in snowmobile races between the villages of the that when it delta to this time of year everyone think about competition yeah everybody is allowed to pay your entry fee and then you have a chance to quadruple it or whatever yeah it's a pretty good time of year everybody looks forward to this time of year every year yeah yeah you got to save lots of money for this time of year it's hard on the pocket though and you try to be a racer and all that you gotta buy brake pads belts gas oil ski rods you can't be scared when you race like yeah you'll be driving ten kilometers an hour if you're not yeah when you when you when you come to a corner the first corner is always going to be nervous but the second one you can't give up because then you have friends out there racing your friends before the race then when it comes to racing it's enemies people come to inuvik from all across the province to participate in or watch the races that are part of the jamboree festival at the end of march [Music] last minute preparations and they're off the course runs parallel to the ice road right outside of town that way there is enough space for mechanics and the repair vehicles the audience has a front row seat all along the course [Music] depending on the race drivers have to race around the course 25 to 40 times tactics are key here but physical strength helps on the jumps and bumps as well [Music] james has to end the race early he's dislocated his shoulder and needs to go to the hospital [Music] dropping out is part of the race though and the show must go on after a long dark winter everyone in inuvik is longing for a change the jamboree festival which takes place in march is right on time after all it's only -15 celsius now along the ice road people are barbecuing burgers meeting friends and following the various competitions [Applause] traditional dishes are also popular including caribou soup or sweet pastries deep fried in hot oil people here call them eskimo donuts another important part of the jamboree is of course dog sled racing [Music] dan and his girlfriend have brought one sled each they were expecting three more teams from alaska but they got stuck in a blizzard not unusual up here [Music] the race is taking place anyway so dan puts small leather shoes on his dog's feet to protect them from the sharp edges of the icy snow [Music] one minute to start one minute one minute one minute to start [Music] the racecourse parallels the ice highway for five miles turning the entire stretch into a mobile grandstand [Music] keeping sled dogs isn't all that common these days but everybody loves watching the dogs race even if it's just two teams this time [Music] dan's girlfriend is winning the race which means the prize money of a thousand dollars will stay in the family canada's winter roads start down south where a paved road leads from white horse up to dawson city from there to inuvik the so-called dempster highway is just a gravel road covered by snow and ice through 450 miles of uninhabited [Music] wilderness during winter the road north turns into a magical journey through a wondrous world of ice [Music] in the old days people only traveled long distances using dog sleds in winter in summer the tundra was just a swampland without any roads [Music] in the 1950s people tried for the first time to bore their way into the wilderness using machines so-called cat trains a long line of bulldozers and sleds made their way across frozen ground at a snail's pace they brought supplies to remote locations and delivered heavy equipment used in the extraction of natural resources [Music] in the mid-1950s people then built the first road to dawson city a former gold mining town on the klondike the little town has kept much of its flare from the pioneer days but there is still no bridge across the yukon in summer just a ferry boat going back and forth in winter there is an ice road for five months north of dawson city the landscape gets even lonelier and less inhabited this is where the huge caribou herds roam the so-called porcupine herd alone consists of 120-170 000 animals every year they migrate over 300 miles between alaska and the yukon province it's an arctic spectacle of nature that's been going on for thousands of years eagle plains is the only service station on the dempster highway it has a gas station a container motel and a road maintenance depot this morning kathy the supervisor is assigning tasks during the daily briefing then he can clean it up before you guys get there traffic narrow areas wind controls radio communication do you still have your inreach from yesterday is it charged kathy and her guys have to make sure the roads are passable all winter long and they are responsible for 130 miles of highway up to the border of the northwest territories they have to go out when it's dark when it's minus 45 celsius when blizzards are sweeping across the mountains and later on when the road is turned into a muddy track by spring temperatures [Music] eagle plains is the only outpost of civilization in the area the next town dawson city is about 250 miles away and the journey there is fraught with danger we are on a road check right now and what i'm looking for normally is any broken down vehicles there could be people that have been stranded overnight sometimes people aren't prepared for this road they don't have proper footwear there they don't carry a shovel with them they don't have chains the blowing snow can make a big difference in driving snow poles that are 100 feet apart and when we can't see more than two snowfalls we shut the road down can you make another pass towards the circle here dwayne it's not so much the amount of snow the plows have to deal with but the drifts wind can compress the actually powdery snow so tightly that it's as hard as concrete yukon is the center of the cold pole in north america where temperatures have gone as low as minus 63 celsius and winds of 75 miles per hour are not unusual during storms near the arctic circle trees in the richardson mountains can't survive this kind of climate and for truckers this glistening emptiness makes it difficult to navigate the mountains turn into sahara-like dunes of snow and the vast landscape is reduced to just a few lines the dempster highway was built just 40 years ago it was the first road in canada to cross the arctic circle and is still the only one now it covers the same distance as paris to marseille but without any traffic lights intersections or people [Music] on the northern flank of the mountains the highway leads into the vast delta of the mackenzie river it's a maze of tributaries and lakes known to very few people before the highway was built bush pilot fred carmichael was one of them [Music] flying was only really means of traveling between communities other than if you went by escudo or or dog teamers [Music] basically i left the trap line where i was driving to the team to fast transportation as a means of getting to the top line and hunting and everything from there i went directly to an airplane fred is 81 years old now and one of the last people still able to master the dangerous art of flying with snow blades it's i guess 61 years now that i've been flying it's totally different today than than the way the you know on the old days i mean all the laces out there there would be you'll see signs of people tracks and trails all over them because they were trapping muskrats it was nothing for a family to get anywhere from five to ten thousand muskrat in the season but these days muskrat fur is out of fashion and bush pilots are fewer and far between small roads off the main ice highway take you deeper into the mackenzie river delta to the tribal area of the gwichin first nation only during winter is the ice thick enough for trucks and emergency vehicles to reach these remote settlements the ice road also helps hunters and trappers reach their hunting grounds more easily and the delta is teeming with game including muskox caribou moose fox and beaver the gwichin have been living in the heart of the delta for thousands of years but elements of modern civilization have arrived even in small villages like aklavik where people ride snowmobiles and get electricity from generators nevertheless some of the older inhabitants like billy archie try to maintain a traditional lifestyle as hunters and trappers not just because it's been part of their culture for centuries but for financial reasons as well muskox you get about 150 pounds of meat for one so you try and buy that from the stores you got to be wealthy they make good they make good burgers so at the end i mean that's that's the way it is we got to keep our deep freezers full and never know there's times when the caribou or animals don't come near and uh it has happened my generation growing up uh back when the prices of foxes were like 300 now you'd be lucky to get 20 bucks our people were so independent at one time uh living off of the land and it is a challenge for uh for communities adapting booming bust with oil and gas our community back in the day was uh around a thousand people while we're down to 600 so young folks getting their education moving on and getting career in a new vic or yelling like for white horse back to the ice road in the jamboree where people are waiting excitedly on this particular sunday night many of them have come all the way from town to the delta for the special event in which the reindeer brought out to their summer pasture to provide a reliable source of food for the people up north the canadian government imported a herd of reindeer from sweden in the 1930s including their shepherds from lapland unlike wild caribou which go on long migrations reindeer usually stay in one place this of course helped the inuit and gwichin to find sustenance even in lean times today lloyd binder takes care of the herd he is a descendant of those swedish shepherds they stay on this side of the river until just about today and today is the the second is it the second the third of april and we usually figure that the first fawns start to come about the 7th of april so the thing is that we like to have the herd cross the ice road so that afterwards there's no stress the animals don't have to go anywhere they just naturally graze on this island it's called richards island it usually isn't too much of a challenge but sometimes like they say will happen and we have this very uh bad circumstance one november we came and there was there were no animals left on on the island so we had to go looking for them on the mainland side and they had gone across the river and then further north we spent uh basically we spent three months collecting what we could and we lost about 1500 rangers [Music] this year everything goes well and all of the reindeer are brought safely across the road during summer those three thousand animals will fan out over the pasturelands over the next couple of weeks lloyd is expecting 1500 phones just in time for the region to slowly leave winter behind [Music] [Music] so [Music] the next morning we get an idea of just how hard the winter can be here even in april it's minus 25 degrees celsius in inuvik it's windy cloudy and there are snow flurries but during the long winter months it's even darker colder and more depressing up here now spring is almost here and the little bit of cold left in the air certainly isn't keeping anybody from the jamboree traditional gloves of polar bear fur and boots out of sealed skin or moose hide are good protection against the extreme temperatures let the games and the festivities begin [Music] the most popular competitions focus on traditional skills like t-boiling which is more exciting than it may sound the men have to chop wood as fast as they can and light a fire to boil tea in a simple tin can without using any other tools all around parents please watch your kids it's a skill one had to master during trapper times after falling into an icy river for example a fast cup of boiling tea could decide whether you survived or not in the end the oldest participant among the gwichins gets his tea ready first and wins the competition everyone has a sip the smoky taste of the fire brings back memories of the old days when trappers were still common in the region or the grandparents still cooked over an open fire the audience is even more excited about the next competition muskrat skinning it was an everyday skill for the older people in the crowd who still witnessed the heyday of trapping in the delta but for the younger folks it still takes a bit of getting used to get set go the fluffy pelts of the muskrat were once the most important article of commerce in this region and once again it is an older participant who wins the competition taking only 30 seconds to skin the whole animal what you [Music] at the kindergarten in inuvik even the little ones help prepare food for the jamboree they chop vegetables and caribou meat using oolu knives the traditional tool of the inuit ulus are as sharp as razor blades but the kids seem to know exactly what they're doing [Music] in the evening a huge buffet is prepared at the local gym the kids have made a caribou soup and almost everybody has brought homemade dishes for the event [Music] there are also a few regional specialties from the delta on display including muskrat houses and then they skin them and then they cook them yeah and they even have the tail there we do have that delicacy according to tradition here in the north all of the nearly 500 guests have to be served food before the evening program can begin after the meal people sing old songs and perform traditional dances for hours on end the drums set the rhythm it's hypnotic and archaic it's a celebration for all generations and even the youngest are joining in [Music] [Applause] this is how they welcome spring at the jamboree and its arrival at the beginning of april is heralded by wondrously long bright evenings all across the watery maze of the delta [Music] it is almost the end of the season for the ice roads now just a few more weeks before they melt away once again [Music] inuvik is the starting point for the northernmost and most spectacular section of canada's winter roads [Music] on the easternmost arm of the mackenzie river a road of pure ice leads across the delta up to the arctic ocean and further across the ice pack to the town of taktayaktuk the harbour of inuvik seems frozen in time indeed six months of the year the mackenzie river is completely covered in ice from mid-december to the end of april the ice is safe enough to transport heavy goods all the way out into the arctic ocean [Music] the road seems glassy over vast distances here and people rarely use spike tires because the extreme temperatures keep the ice from getting slippery we arrive at the tree line shortly before reaching the frozen arctic ocean from there an endless wide expanse surrounds the road all the way to the horizon after 115 miles on ice taktayaktuk finally appears in front of us it's the northernmost town on the canadian mainland a centuries-old inuit settlement about a thousand people live here at the edge of the world but they do enjoy some modern conference the extreme location of the village just requires some extra effort there are no basements and houses are built on stilts so they don't sink into the marshy tundra in summer while anubic has central water and gas tuck as the locals call it has to get fresh water delivered daily by trucks this is the only way to guarantee a living standard that includes a shower or dishwasher and the delivery has to be made quickly otherwise the water will freeze immediately thanks to the ice road supplies for the town are more or less guaranteed in winter trucks from the south roll in several times a week to fill the local supermarket's shelves from boat paddles to yogurt the residents of tuck have a wide range of products to choose from just like anywhere else but living on the edge of the world is not easy especially for children as social worker faye trumbley says how long am i going to be here that was about the first question kids ever asked me when i came here 10 or 11 years ago and they said how long are you going to stay and that's because usually teachers or nurses or rcmp or people from the south they're in and they're out like maybe six months maybe two years but they don't seem to stay very long so i said i'm here till my teeth fall out and i happened to tell that to the bishop and he said keep brushing kids like to drop in i have centers of interest that they can enjoy i've got wi-fi the family might not be able to afford internet connection like there are many families in town don't even have a telephone they might not even have a television some families so i try to say what can i have available in my house that might help them not only to pass the time but enjoy themselves and be a little bit helpful for them there's no catholic priest here but we have church services on sundays the church is at the very far northern tip of tuck and in the winter if it's 30 or 40 below and you've got two or three kids to pack up and walk here it's a big challenge after all our sunday services we have brunch over here and sit around and talk like we might talk for two or three hours it's lovely tuktoyaktuk is a place of extremes human warmth and proximity sharply contrast with the fact that this is one of the coldest places on earth where people can still survive while the nubik is located south of the tree line the population of tuck is very exposed to the strong winds and snowstorms of the arctic ocean in winter the sun doesn't even make it beyond the horizon for 46 days a minor mishap out here can quickly turn into a major problem but as brutal as nature may be it is just as beautiful and bizarre to behold the icy landscape and the frozen ocean are mesmerizing in their melancholic solitude it's a strange foreign world where nothing is as it appears the 300 foot hills at the shoreline of taktayaktuk are not actually mountains but upwelling in the permafrost they are called pingos a sort of natural frost boil to build a drivable road on the ice of the arctic ocean you need to be a specialist like mervyn gruben i'm 53 now i used to come out with my dad and some of our guys with a bombardier track machine and and uh just by traditional knowledge of where the ice is thin we come out and chisel some holes with a you know a chisel and scoop and uh just like i say pick out where we know the ice is thin or traditionally bad and then come out and plow it now you notice out here you see a lot of the cracks and stuff it's a lot of the tidal ice it's going up and down but you know there's a lot of places too where there's big dips on the ice [Music] [Laughter] the ice here is about seven feet thick and crystal clear in some sections sometimes you can even see the sandy ground below it [Music] we're totally exposed up here with no wind break you look at uh you go up further up the river you're obviously you're in a river and you have trees and you have some uh a lot more protection you get out out here you see forever you can keep on driving that way you'll get end up in russia mervin has worked on the ice highway for three decades but now he is helping to build a new gravel road this is the start of the technique highway this is the first all-weather highway road that reached the arctic ocean in public highway and continent of north america and this significant road as it connects canada canada is surrounded by three oceans the arctic ocean up here the pacific ocean to the west and the atlantic ocean to the east so canada is now connected by by road to the three oceans the new road across land will change people's lives in tuktoyaktuk forever connecting them to the outside world all year long perhaps they'll miss the ice road and some of the traditions that have come with it either way it is the end of an era [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Free Documentary

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Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, most dangerous roads, most dangerous journeys, worlds most dangerous roads, worlds most dangerous journeys, deadliest roads, deadliest roads in the world, dicing with death, deadliest journeys, dicing with death canada, most dangerous roads canada, deadliest roads canada, hot roads, hot roads canada, canada, canada ice road, ice roads, ice road, arctic, arctic documentary

Id: uMMG9K5KujE

Length: 43min 14sec (2594 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 29 2021