World’s Most Dangerous Roads | The Canadian Ice Roads | Free Documentary

[Music] manitoba canada temperatures go down to below minus 50 celsius one of the most inhospitable regions of the earth as soon as the swamps and marshes are frozen the ice road season begins it's the only period of time in which the inhabitants of these isolated areas can be supplied with goods it's a short period of time everything that people need for the course of the whole year must be brought there within two to three months the problem is no one knows for exactly how long the deep frozen swamps and lakes will be passable for the 40 ton trucks every single trip to the north is a risky ride hot roads the canadian ice roads we're gonna we're gonna offer a little bit of tobacco to the uh to the the smudge here we're going to put some of that tobacco in our pipe we're offering this pipe as a way of our acknowledging that you're going to you're going to have a safe trip i want you to just uh scott campbell's ancestors belonged to the first nation the country's native people that you feel that you need to help he's proud to be one of them out loud for those things that you want on this journey and then after that you and i will smoke that pipe well you got lots of hair anyway ahead of scott lies a dangerous trip for which he wants to prepare himself spiritually i pray to my family um that they are kept safe when i'm on my long journey and to be able to come back home safe [Music] scott and chief calvin conjure up the mystic white buffalo woman a powerful being and patron of the north american natives [Music] scott has promised a friend to transport an urgently needed snowmobile across the ice roads up north [Music] with the snowmobile on the back of his truck he sets off on a long lonely trip the white buffalo woman is supposed to accompany and watch over him spirituality is connected to traditions and customs and to family i find that every religion or race has their own beliefs um native people tend to be very spiritual very tied to the land and to me in my heart if you don't know where you come from it's sometimes hard to find direction in life and find out where you're going [Music] his journey begins in the heart of canada not far from the border to the usa winnipeg the capital of the province of manitoba from here the route leads almost 1300 kilometers further north to a little community called god's lake last warnings on the way into wilderness in wintertime god's lake like many other villages can only be supplied via the ice roads [Music] the transportation of goods is a tough business most transports are organized by the state and are contracted out amongst the road haulers it's a question of money and speed both man and material are extremely under stress [Music] every truck that manages to return safely is put to the acid test before being sent out back into the cold you rowland earned his money already at the age of 15 as a construction worker building the ice roads after 30 years in the business his colleagues call him polar bear i mean people used to get up there and the truck could break down and if your truck broke down in 15 minutes you didn't get it going you were stranded there i've had guys freeze to death freeze their feet freeze their hands and you can't go you can't leave your truck because of the wild animals you eat by polar bears wolves so you have to stay with the truck and that's how people freeze to that i mean at 60 below up there that's it's not a nice place to be with no heat vlad pescod arrived in canada as a young man with 42 dollars in his pocket today he owns a freight forwarding business as soon as the first snow falls he sits on the driver's seat of his 40-ton truck again this is my baby you know i sleep uh truck i eat truck uh i breed truck i mean if something happens to my truck uh it's devastating it can cost me my life so everything's gonna be tipped up that's why i'm checking every single bolt every single out from bumper to bumper everything's got to be tipped up if it's not it can break down up there there is no way to pull over and fix something it's minus 40. you know you freeze to that in half an hour departure at dawn it's minus 30 celsius you and vlad have to go to god's lake too their load school material and medical goods for the medical clinic ahead of them lies several 18-hour days and the constant risk of getting stuck on the road in these icy temperatures in the beginning it's only straight ahead on highway number six heading north a thousand kilometers from winnipeg to the little village of norway house the first leg of the trip [Music] well when i was a kid you know i wanted to be an astronaut or president actually i wanted to be a pilot but my father he drove the truck his whole life so i knew when i was young that that's gonna be my future too uh i was always interested in the truck and i i got these underneath my fingerprints when i was really young and i guess you know once you get a little bit of diesel in your blood it's really hard to get rid of it as soon as the road patrol releases the ice roads the ice truckers are on the road every tour means cash [Music] when i first started it it was uh real adventurous and then paid good and of course you know i raised my whole family driving the ice roads and everything so i just kept doing now i'm just passionate about it i can't wait to do it every year i can't wait for the ice to come in and i get up there and i get to drive them i wait for it every year i love the ice roads it gets in your blood you just keep doing it the loneliness of the northern hemisphere begins just a few kilometers outside the city of winnipeg only very rarely do you meet people here jim needmeyer is one of them he grew up here in the summer he works as a farmer and grows rice up here in northern canada [Music] during the long winter months he works as an artist he used to manufacture mainly furniture by now he sees more in wood than simply building material you have to see what you're going to do in the wood the wood has to have some kind of spirit in it that you have to see it you don't know how it's going to turn out you start up the saw and you just see what happens [Music] you'll see it pretty quick you'll know that you could see something in there you know it just there's an eagle and it's just you know the chainsaw is just removing wood that's all it's doing but this thing is underneath it and it's a tool just for removing that wood and exposing that carving along the ice road people know gymneedamaya the truckers regard his sculptures as symbols of their home country well we have a lot of wood out here a lot of animals to me it's got to be part of manitoba you know it's just showing the creatures that are running out in the forest here i try to bring them back to life in wood that's my goal is to bring them to life [Music] in the meantime scott has reached the first frozen lakes the smooth surface is a temptation for speeding 100 kilometers an hour like on a highway actually worry sometimes because as you're going across you can hear the ice cracking it actually sounds like thunder underneath your vehicle but as long as you stay in the middle and you're safe and you do the right speed everything's all good [Music] where scott is driving right now is a lake in the summer the ice roads exist only in winter time the through route to northern manitoba lasts for a few weeks only and no one knows for exactly how long each year in manitoba alone more than 2 000 kilometers of ice roads are built through the wilderness but even in these arctic temperatures you can't rely on the great rivers freezing over only permanent bridges can help [Music] in the villages of northern manitoba live mostly members of the first nation the indigenous inhabitants of canada the state's way of treating them is a dark chapter of canadian history canadian government has just just recently started to deal with with some of these things that went on decades ago but the after effects of the cultural genocide for its assimilation are seen not only in the big cities but some of the small communities and reservations throughout manitoba when you take a person and you rip out their culture and their traditions and you force them to do some someone else's that is totally alien to them they lose who they are they lose they lose their identity [Music] the people living in the reservations are completely dependent upon state aid and upon the transportation of goods on the ice roads scott visits old friends and relatives on each of his tours to the north [Music] he has met up with lee codd to go ice fishing lee is a pine creek indian and like scott fights for the remembrance of past injustices what they did is when your kid was five years old they would come here take all the kids all the children and and then they'll take them and take them to uh residential schools and then then did either catholic presbyterian i don't know uh some kind of denomination christian and it turned them out to uh be christianize them and believe in something that they were that they weren't you couldn't speak our language and you weren't allowed to talk to your family members your siblings and there was a lot of crying lee is trying to make the first nation members more aware of their traditional way of life it starts with very practical things we would never have gloves like this we'd have like leather mitts you know that hides caribou height has that fiber has a hole in it that for a good insulation that runs around the territory here lee wants to connect traditional ways of life with modern life for example an ice drill can actually be quite helpful if the ice is thicker than a meter [Applause] this balance between the past and modern age is not at all easy for many first nation members ice fishing used to be an ordinary part of self-sufficient life for the people up north today it's more or less a way to pass the time many first nation members have drug and alcohol problems lee himself had a hard time too now he helps young people and is engaged in revitalizing the traditions of the ancestors it has helped him to get over his own problems as well no bites i think all the fish are in school yeah meanwhile you and vlad are still heading up north [Music] oh i know that guy well i just passed yeah i'm going up north going to centuries uh how's the road no they're not too bad once you get up to about 220 there before you hit more on hill you're gonna have to slap your chains on it's pretty slick up there so basically the same old same away same same yeah looks pretty good out there it's it's never any warmer than minus 25. like last year we had eight weeks of minus 60 below it never got there wasn't one day that was below minus 40. so i mean you get up there metal breaks at minus 40. break straight in half and then you're screwed you're you're not getting out of there so you make make sure you got a sleeping bag that's good for minus 40. so i mean you always you got to be prepared [Music] scott has relatives living alongside the ice road he wants to stay the night with them but he isn't going to make it before darkness sets in the rare trail marks on the frozen lakes are hard to find they're just simple branches at irregular intervals and then the snowfall begins scott can only hope it's not one of those infamous snowstorms a blizzard would destroy all trail marks for good and the snow masses would make it impossible to continue driving a whiteout is lurking the white wall which races across the open landscape as a snowstorm the inferno of storm and snow makes all orientation impossible the best thing to do in a white out if you're lost is just stay where you are a lot of times people will spend hours and hours just walking in circles to the point of exhaustion and then just that's it fortunately the storm weakens so scott can drive on he wants to make up for lost time that's when it happens [Applause] in a short moment of distraction he starts to slide and gets stuck but he's fortunate in his bad luck scott is already within radio distance of the next village help arrives after a few minutes [Music] scott's truck is badly stuck in the snow the second vehicle can't get any grip on the icy track finally the men try to alternately push and pull scott's truck out of the deep snow [Music] [Music] done and since everyone knows each other out here a place to sleep is easy to find vlad and you have almost reached their destination for the day 800 kilometers north of winnipeg they cross the nelson river on the concrete dam of a hydroelectric power plant [Music] worldwide canada is one of the major producers of hydropowered electricity this is how the province of manitoba produces more than 90 percent of its energy [Music] the truckers drive across the last leak of the day in walking pace standing still would be potentially lethal because of dangerous cracks in the ice that might occur top speed five kilometers an hour there is air between the ice and the water surface the weight of the passing truck presses the ice down a bit it freezes underneath so the cracks are patched [Applause] [Music] in spite of all the experience every single crossing of the ice remains a risky business vlad and you arrive late at their place for the night along the ice road they have everything they need for the night inside their trucks so how did it be today uh how did we do today well i think we did pretty fair she's pretty decent time getting up here today hey i'm good i got my coloring book all done so i'll sack her down for the night what time are you getting up tomorrow morning oh we may as well get up around six and hit her ah that gives me my 13 hours yeah that's fine but you need all the beauty sleep you can get yeah you passed that long time ago there is no return for you i said i'm too ugly to be on tv just show me the money all righty man i'll see you in the sixth okay good night man the second leg stretches from norway house to god's lake almost 300 kilometers across snow ice and dangerously hilly terrain [Applause] the next day in the summer you'd find swamps and lakes impenetrable moore lands neither boat nor truck could pass here the roads across snow and ice can only be built in wintertime and if it's cold enough one of the things they do if they find out the ice isn't thick enough is they'll send crews out here um with big drills that they pull behind a vehicle and they'll drill a hole in the ice and as the auger spins through the ice and it gets into the water it'll pull water up it's called flooding the ice so they can actually add inches to the top of the ice to make it thick and safe enough [Music] the ice must be at least 1.2 meters thick in order for the 18-wheeler to cross the ice safely [Music] vlad and you start their journey early too if all goes well they'll make the last 300 kilometers to god's lake before darkness sets in they are a well-rehearsed team and have gone through a lot together if i go with you on a trip you know i feel much more confident who is a great partner to be on these roads you know every single trip something happens i know i can rely on that guy behind me because he knows a lot well me and vlad uh we're business partners and good friends like best friends so we get along real good and uh when we travel together there ain't nothing we can't pull off i mean uh and uh we know we ain't gonna get stuck in the bush anywhere and we know we're going to get anything done that needs to be done so me and him travel real well together we know each other pretty fair it's the beginning of march the roads are still in good shape considering the time of year it may get warmer any day then the roads will turn into impassable swamps vlad and you are in a hurry they want to drive as many truckloads as possible up north this season the ice roads have only existed for the last 50 years there used to be no vehicles up here in the north it was the time of the sledge dogs for dwayne kabelok a construction engineer along the ice road the dogs are just a hobby his dogs are alaskan malamutes famous for their strength and endurance they can manage up to 100 kilometers without taking a rest up in the north well basically uh they moved around from place to place wherever the food was and they brought their families and all their belongings with them and that's what they used the dogs for and your dogs back then were basically your home pets treated well just like family and in summer months when they were low on food your dogs are basically let loose and they fend on their own that's why the dogs still have a bit of prey instinct to them compared to most dogs [Applause] the dogs are not only persevering and tough they are also capable of defending the freight and their owner against polar bears [Music] duane practices with his dogs almost every day along the ice roads he hopes next year they will be ready for their first race [Music] vlad and you must stop in spite of all the hurry it's safety first [Applause] there is one kind of accident on the ice roads the truckers are especially afraid of a jackknife that's what is called when the heavy trailer and the truck twist and wedge together this must be prevented by all means [Applause] you know we got about 30 clicks of rough road in front of us and we're going to need some other traction because it's really hilly i mean loaded trails like that i don't want that i don't want to end up in the date you were upside down so putting up chains so i can basically make those hills up there well if i don't have a chains best best case scenario is i just get stuck until somebody pulls me up worst case scenario i started sliding backwards jack knife and basically ended up in a ditch truck trailer load you know we talking about 300 000 in damages so i don't want to end up like that that's why i'm putting all those chains [Music] [Music] the ride through the hilly terrain is an act of balance [Music] if you drive too slowly you lose the momentum and risk sliding backwards [Music] but if you go too fast you end up in the ditch and block the road which uh what's blocking the road to trump to the trailer everything [ __ ] right in the middle of these vitals [Applause] one of vlad and u's colleagues has landed in the ditch and must detach the truck now to clear the way without the weight of the trailer the truck is hardly able to maneuver anymore there's not much vladdin you can do here but help is on its way inch by inch the fully loaded trucks work their way past the damaged truck [Music] so it's only later they learned that their colleague had to wait for two days before heavy machinery helped him out of his misery anything you learn on a highway throw it out the window i mean basically you can't hit your brakes on the ice you've got hills up there and everything you hit the brakes your load is going by you you're gonna hit the brakes you've got to use your trailer brakes no no tractor brakes at all and uh you gotta have a big set of nuts [Music] vlad and you want to make up for lost time and speed up [Music] but a lack of attention for just a single moment is enough to cause danger on these icy fast and i roads into the ditch oh yeah i see you now a piece of ice was sufficient to derail vlad's truck and once a truck starts sliding there's hardly any stopping it [Music] go ahead a little bit okay i'm gonna lock everything i got just put her in gear and [ __ ] let's try slow if you can then just start bumping it okay [Applause] a towing maneuver with 500 horsepower so they got off lightly though just a slight damage to the bumper [Applause] all right he just touched her in there sideways that'll be good let's rock and roll often enough the two have experienced that they couldn't continue their journey they had to hold out for days in their trucks until help arrived from winnipeg many a driver has gone crazy in the loneliness of the north last year a colleague had to be saved by a helicopter it's truly a dangerous job but 30 000 people in manitoba depend on the transportation of goods on the ice roads for the last part of the trip to god's lake the trucks need snow chains scott and his light pickup truck are almost there [Music] the snowmobile on the back is still undamaged [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the village gods lake with its 2000 inhabitants lies at the shore of the lake in summer time one of the best fishing grounds in canada here a highlight is awaiting the drivers after a long trip healey's lodge it's the only comfortable lodging in an area of many hundreds of kilometers not only the breakfast is legendary the homely sitting room is a reminder of great hunting and fishing adventures for decades owner goldie healey has been making sure the travelers feel at home here oh good morning scott nice to see you too you made it yeah yeah it was a long trip so it's almost 26 hours but we made it yeah the road is better this year than most years because we haven't had any melt like it's pretty cold it's good though because the road's nice and tight like and was minus 51 this morning so yeah everything's frozen pretty good so made for some good going yes but i'm gonna let you have your coffee at goldie's practical information as well as tales of the trucker's greatest deeds are exchanged before scott delivers his freight to a place a few kilometers outside the village he uses the opportunity to go out on the lake his old friend brian who still goes fishing in the traditional way even in wintertime has to bring his nets in and has asked god for help [Music] brian has put out the nets between two ice holes a few days ago if you're doing it the old way with the picks and the chisel you got to dig a three foot wide hole probably you know three four feet of ice and that's a lot of work but you do what you've got to do in the north so basic supplies for the locals comes via the ice roads but a diverse diet especially one containing fresh vitamins can only be achieved by hunting and fishing brian fishes mostly for his own needs he sells the surplus fish in the village oh there's a nice one only a few moments after they come out of the water the fish are already deep frozen ready to be taken home an exceptionally yummy dish if fried in the pan i used to do a lot of hunting and fishing with some of my family and that and to be back out in the community of god's lake now to to help some of my friends now it felt really good you know doing things the way they used to do things and and knowing that whatever i put into my day with them was going to help his family out so it was good it was worth it i really enjoyed it vlad and you are still at work but they too have almost arrived at god's lake a few kilometers from their destination the last great crossing of the lake is waiting for them [Music] a safety distance of 500 meters and walking peace are obligatory when you come onto the ice it deflects the ice and makes a wave under you so all the time you're going across that ice you're actually deflected and you've got a big wave pushing in front of you so now he's got a wave in front of him and i got a wave in front of me you don't want my wave to catch up to him because the wave will hit his back tires break the ice out and he'll sink you got to go slow steady and slow respect the ice at all times go slow going on go slow coming off and keep your spacing between the trucks if you're not only gonna like kill yourself you're gonna kill somebody else if you don't respect the ice even after 30 years the men still hold a great respect for the ice it's their life insurance on the ice roads after two days of driving vlad and you do not want to lose more time as soon as they are within radio range they try to reach their contacts in god's lake hey you uh tell me one more time what's loaded first i was loaded second okay the health unit is at the back and the admin is at the front uh you're going to bank office that's that's the first load they're gonna handle you and ella from health authority is gonna meet you in the bed office and drive you over to the complex and i'll hold the second house okay so will somebody get a marshalls from the corner up here yeah ally is taking care of it unloading is manual labor it takes time especially if you arrive at the wrong time today they are lucky the helpers arrive quickly and they make good progress while 40 tons of load are stored box after box the driver's thoughts are already one step ahead i mean the whole season you know it's like roller coaster it's like a long-lasting marathon you know you load and you start thinking about the the trip when you get there you start talking about uh unloading when you unload you start thinking about how you're gonna get back and when you get back you're thinking about the next load because that's the name of the game you gotta get all these loads up here before the ice belts and you've seen it today it got down to only minus six that's too warm for these roads if that happens for a whole week we're finished already the biggest thing i'm looking forward to is getting my paperwork signed and getting back for my next trip scott too has arrived at his destination hey bud it's me scott i just made it in i was good it was good it was a long trip but uh i got here i got the sled on the back everything's all fixed up no it was a good trip i'll uh i'll see you shortly [Music] it was a long trip but it was i'm glad it's over it's almost 30 hours on the road and roads are pretty decent but uh it's only half over now i gotta unload this and turn around and then i gotta head back in delivering the snowmobile scott has completed his mission just like you and vlad he will now head back as soon as possible back across canada's ice roads for as long as the ice still carries [Music] you

Channel: Free Documentary

Views: 2,496,181

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, dangerous canada, deadliest journeys canada, hot roads, hot roads canada, canada, canada ice road, ice roads, ice road

Id: UCkhwkZvCJw

Length: 43min 19sec (2599 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 25 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/UnderTheMuddyWater]

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[u/muddy_cat]

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