Ice Road Truckers (season 10)

High winter temperatures due to El Niño have greatly shortened the year's ice road season and left the routes in even worse shape than normal. Mark has a backlog of freight in the Polar yard, while Darrell and Lisa hunt for loads they can take over accessible routes.

Todd is first to head out, taking building supplies to Pikangikum along a just-opened road with a 10-mile ice crossing. He feels the ice flex and crack under his truck's weight, but it holds up as he brings in the load. When the road to Wasagamack opens, Art hauls a load of lumber but soon finds that the rough terrain is causing it to shift on his trailer. His only spare strap proves too short to tie it down, so he clamps it with a set of vise grips and resumes his trip. The improvised repair job holds all the way to his destination, but a hard bump on the return trip sends him bouncing into a snowdrift.

After several hours of trying unsuccessfully to free himself from the snowbank, Art discovers that he has a flat tire. Unable to fix it himself, he has no choice but to wait and hope someone comes by to help. That night, a passing road crew pulls him free with a loader; however, one of his front wheel rims is badly bent. They remove it and mount a tire from the left side of the truck's middle axle in its place and he continues back toward Winnipeg.

While hauling a load of heating fuel to Little Grand Rapids, Alex encounters an ice crossing that has mostly been blocked off due to potential hazards. He stands in the doorway of his cab to scout for danger and spots several water flows on the ice, but finishes the crossing and completes the run. As Mark scrambles to get more loads out as quickly as possible, recently licensed driver Steph Custance visits the Polar offices looking for a job. Mark needs drivers, but hesitates on immediately hiring her after she turns in a shaky performance on a practice course in the yard.

While hauling construction supplies to Pikangikum, Darrell learns that a stretch of the route has been closed due to high temperatures and pulls over to wait until it reopens. Not wanting to leave the village empty-handed, he turns onto a narrow private road that includes an untested 3-mile lake crossing, and reaches the village safely.

On the way to St. Theresa Point with construction supplies, Art gets word from a passing trucker that the road is in bad shape. The sight of a snowplow half-buried in frozen mud prompts him to contemplate the hazards of his trip, but he pushes on into the night. He has to stop at an ice crossing that is being flooded by road crews to increase its thickness. The next morning, he estimates that his truck's weight is very close to the safety limit and risks the crossing; a passing pickup near the shore throws a scare into him, but he makes it off the ice and completes the run.

Lisa hurries from Garden Hill toward Winnipeg with a loader, but engine trouble forces her to pull over and shut off her truck so she can check the fluid levels. She tops up the oil, but is unable to restart the engine; however, she uses the downhill terrain and the weight of her load to push-start the truck and get moving again.

Darrell and Lisa take on their longest haul to date, driving over 1,000 miles along a trail nicknamed "The Death Road" to deliver heating supplies to Fort Chipewyan, Alberta. Lisa's engine begins to leak oil into its coolant system; unable to fix it on the spot, she and Darrell push on in the hope that they can finish the run before the truck becomes undrivable. They manage to limp into town, delivering the cargo and dropping off Lisa's truck for repairs.

For Steph's first ice road run, she and Todd head to Shamattawa as a convoy to pick up two abandoned trailers from the previous year. Todd is surprised and dismayed to learn that she does not know how to put on tire chains, but gives her a quick lesson so they can keep moving. News of a truck having broken through one of the road's ice crossings sets Steph's nerves on edge, but she and Todd avoid the damaged area and reach land safely. They reach a second crossing that night but find it closed, forcing them to spend the night on the roadside.

The crossing on the road to Shamattawa is reopened after a night's wait, and Todd and Steph get moving in order to reduce their chance of being caught by another shutdown. After making it off the ice and into town, they must dig out the tires of the two abandoned trailers and then try to pull them free of the snow and ice. One is stuck in place, stumping Todd and Steph until they knock its frozen brakes loose from the wheels. As they move from the winter road onto pavement for the drive into Manitoba that night, Steph thanks Todd for helping her complete her first ice road trip.

Darrell sets out with a load of heating oil bound for Elk Island Lodge, following a privately owned road that crews do not maintain. As night falls, he comes to a 4-mile ice crossing that appears never to have been used or monitored for thickness. He ventures cautiously onto it, alarmed at the severe cracking under his wheels that indicates dangerously thin ice, and reaches the lodge safely to drop off the cargo.

Alex is dispatched to St. Theresa Point with a load of building supplies that must arrive by 9:00 the next morning. As he reaches the start of the winter road, however, he finds that the route he needs to take is closed due to high temperatures. After waiting more than 10 hours, he gets word from Mark that the road has been reopened; driving through the night, he reaches his destination with eight minutes to spare.

A cold front has allowed more roads to open for a short time, and the truckers scramble to deliver loads to isolated communities before they close again. Darrell hauls a load of insulation toward Cat Lake, following a narrow, twisting trail filled with hazards. After spinning out on a steep hill, he chains his tires and manages to get enough traction to reach the top and deliver the cargo.

Alex picks up an oversized fuel tank needed in Norway House that night, but the road's poor condition threatens to shake it off his trailer. The final hurdle is an ice crossing that shows signs of beginning to thaw, and he proceeds with great caution, standing on the steps of his cab as he notices open water flows on the surface. Despite nearly falling out of the truck, he keeps control and reaches town safely.

As Art takes building supplies toward Pauingassi, he comes across a truck that has slid into the ditch at an angle, blocking the road. He pulls it free, breaking a tow chain in the process, and drives well into the night to make up as much time as he can. He finds himself driving on an unmarked, melting ice crossing, reaches the opposite shore just as abruptly, and finishes the run the next morning.

Mark sends Steph on her first solo run, taking building materials to Pikangikum. Her truck is close to the maximum weight allowed on the ice crossing, whose length and covering of fresh snow cause her great alarm as she starts across. She finishes the run safely, her confidence restored.

Darrell drops off a load of school supplies in South Indian Lake, the first leg of a one-day triple run that will take him to Lac Brochet and then Brochet. After making the second stop, he ventures onto the rough roads in the northernmost portion of the Manitoba system. Risking a drive through a stretch of melted, boggy terrain, he reaches Brochet that same evening, drops off the last load, and hurries to leave town before the weather changes.

While hauling shop supplies to Sandy Lake First Nation, Lisa battles through a road that has melted into mud and slush. Smoke begins to pour from under the hood, caused by dirt and grass kicked up from her wheels and igniting on the hot exhaust pipe. After cleaning out the debris, she finishes the run to bring in the community's final load of the season.

After spending a night stuck on the road to Big Trout Lake, Todd ties down the broken ends of his spring with a tow strap and is able to start moving again. The rough road puts severe stress on his repair job and the truck's one intact spring; once he delivers his load, the return trip proves equally hazardous. That night, he hits a rock that breaks his Jerry-rigged leaf spring completely and punches a hole in his radiator, leaving him with no choice but to call Polar and have the truck towed back to Winnipeg.

Taking a last-minute haul to Sandy Lake, Lisa finds herself the only driver on this road due to its poor condition. She ventures onto a lake crossing awash in water and slush, nearly losing traction at the opposite shore, and reaches land to continue her trip. The final stretch leaves her scrambling to keep traction and hold the road, but she muscles her way into town and finishes the run.

Alex is hauling building supplies to St. Theresa Point, the village's last haul of the season. A thawing creek forces him to plot his path across very carefully, and he ends up having to back up onto it after caching a tire in a snowbank on the other side. His second crossing attempt damages the ice even further, but he clears the obstacle and continues driving. Low trailer height and large bumps combine to shake some of the materials off the trailer; he re-secures the load and eases through the last few miles to bring in his load.

As the season enters its final two days, the truckers scramble to deliver as many loads as possible over roads that may be closed at any time. Dispatched to Sachigo Lake with building supplies, Art chooses the shorter of two available paths, but must face a risky 4-mile ice crossing. While on the ice, he hears a loud clang and sees smoke coming from the hood of his truck. He is forced to stop on the ice , hoping the damage isn't too severe, only to find a radiator leak and a destroyed fan. His truck is unable to turnover, but does so after a few minutes, much to Art's relief, but he realizes he has no choice but to continue on and hope that his engine will not overheat. He limps into town and delivers the load, but the truck is so badly damaged that he cannot drive it back to Winnipeg. Meanwhile, Alex also starts for Sachigo Lake with a load of lumber. He chooses the much longer path, but has to contend with a mile-long ice crossing that begins to crumble under his wheels. He makes it across safely and inches his way toward his destination.

Mark and Darrell put out the fire in Darrell's truck, caused by an electrical short, and Mark patches the wiring so the convoy can keep moving. A steep, muddy hill forces Mark to use the loader he has brought along to push them to the top; Todd, the last to go, has the hardest time of them all since his load is the heaviest. Later they come to a lake crossing that proves to be dangerously thin, but all four drivers decide to push on, with Mark taking the loader off Darrell's trailer and driving it himself to redistribute the weight. They cautiously venture out, the ice cracking badly under their wheels, and reach the opposite shore to finish the run to North Caribou Lake.