Ice Road Truckers (season 5)

The two-hour season premiere. With Carlile needing to move 1500 loads up the Dalton in 90 days, Lisa reports in and take a load of pipes up from Fairbanks. She leads a convoy of heavy haulers, including Carey Hall, who needs her help to pull his own freight up a steep incline. After a problem with tow hooks snapping in the cold, they continue on to Prudhoe, the first drivers of the season to arrive. Returning to Fairbanks, Lisa takes on a second load of pipes and pushes a spun-out truck out of the ditch on her way north.

When Alabama trucker Dave Redmon arrives in Fairbanks, he is paired up with 19-year veteran Tony Molesky as an escort, to his discontent. They head out with a load of diesel fuel, Tony driving the first half and Dave the second. Dave's problem with shifting gears on the steep grades leads Tony to decide, at Prudhoe, that he needs at least one more escorted trip before doing runs on his own. This decision irritates Dave greatly; on the way back to Coldfoot, the two get into a long argument that results in Tony leaving Dave there the next morning. New York trucker Maya Sieber also reports in, takes a road test, and is cleared to start training. She rides shotgun on a fuel run, during which she sees a flipped pickup truck in a ditch, and later meets Lisa in Prudhoe.

In Fairbanks, Lisa picks up a car hauler loaded with pickup trucks and remembers the trouble she had with this load the previous season. After a day-long trip and a battle with fatigue, she delivers it to Prudhoe with a sense of vindication. While taking a load of diesel fuel north, Tony stops at the site of his recent accident to pick up debris left by his truck.

Dave is still in Coldfoot after being left there by Tony, so Phil Kromm, Carlile's driver trainer, drives up to get him. Dave drives on the way back to Fairbanks as Phil offers advice; once they have returned, their boss decides to consider both Phil's and Tony's opinions and figure out what is next for Dave. After passing a drug test and taking a rough run in the trucking simulator, Maya spends a night relaxing at Chena Hot Springs in preparation for the start of her driver training the next day.

In Winnipeg, Hugh and Rick team up with another driver to transport the three sections of an airport terminal building to St. Theresa Point, 550 miles away. Each section weighs 86,000 pounds, more than any other load on this road to date. Rick dents one of his rims on a bumpy stretch; by the time Hugh jury-rigs a repair job, the convoy has lost the whole afternoon. On the second day, they reach a long stretch of hairpin turns, which damage the side of Rick's section when he gets hung up in them. The third day of the trip brings them to a lake crossing whose weight limit is slightly less than the weight of each truck.

Meanwhile, Alex picks up a forklift bound for St. Theresa Point and six boats for the village of Garden Hill. Once he drops off the forklift, he makes his way through a newly opened, 8-mile lake crossing and brings the boats in.

In Manitoba, the airport terminal convoy eases across the lake crossing and reaches St. Theresa Point that night. The third driver clips a power line and pulls down its pole with his trailer. By the time a utility crew cuts the line and safely removes the line, it is so late that unloading the buildings must wait until morning. After the convoy complete the delivery, the drivers relax with a curling match.

In Garden Hill, Alex picks up a load of recyclable materials bound for Winnipeg and hears about the downed power line before setting out. He barely misses two oncoming passenger vehicles, nearly spins out, and has his trailer come loose at night due to snow caked in the hitch. Once he clears the buildup, he hooks up again and continues the run.

In Fairbanks, Dave gets a set of spool pipes as his first oversized load, but frozen trailer brakes delay his departure. He finds the Yukon River Bridge to be completely iced over and eases across, sliding badly before reaching the other side and arriving in Prudhoe that night. Maya takes a load of pipes north, with Phil riding shotgun to offer advice. She negotiates traffic and road challenges well until that evening, when she hears something rattling under the floorboard. A brief stop and under-hood check reveals nothing immediately, so Phil takes the wheel to see if he can hear it, leaving Maya disappointed at not being able to drive the entire run herself.

Lisa and Tony are called down to Anchorage to move a pair of modular buildings. She learns from him that she will officially become a heavy hauler upon successful completion of this run. After easing under the freeway overpasses on their way out of town, the run proceeds without incident, with Tony leading until Lisa starts to crowd him; he then lets her take the lead.

Having spent the night in Coldfoot, Lisa and Tony head north with their modular buildings. On the tundra south of Prudhoe, Lisa barely avoids an oncoming truck and slides partway off the road. The two work together to help her get going again, and Tony drives lead as they complete the delivery. In light of this incident, the question of her transfer to the heavy haul division is left up to the Carlile bosses.

In Fairbanks, Maya picks up a load of cable spools and starts out with Phil riding along. An exhaust leak into the cab sends the truck to the shop; once it is repaired later that morning, she starts the run again, ignoring disparaging radio talk from Dave. She drives the entire way to Prudhoe herself without incident.

Reports of an approaching storm on the Dalton send drivers rushing to get on the road before conditions make the road impassable. In Fairbanks, Dave prepares to take a load of pipes, but a stuck trailer brake and a loose hitch delay his departure. By the time he approaches Atigun, the storm has forced several drivers to jettison their loads and turn back, and he does the same and returns to Coldfoot. Lisa learns that she will not become a heavy hauler at this time. Angry and disappointed, she goes north with a load of office supplies but ends up stopping at Coldfoot as well.

Tony, hauling a load of explosives bound for Prudhoe, finds a truck in the ditch but does not stop to help due to the danger of his own cargo. As he encounters the worst of the storm, he decides to push on and brings the load in after fighting a near-total whiteout. Maya takes a load of pipes north on her first solo run, a load that must be delivered by day's end. She too has to deal with worsening visibility as the storm closes in and also reaches Prudhoe safely.

In Fairbanks, Lisa takes a pickup truck and some structural steel members north as reports of a fresh storm come in. She deals with a stubborn trailer hitch in the yard, followed by a tarp coming loose from the pickup on the road. Pushing through near-zero visibility conditions, she brings the load to Prudhoe.

Dave drives up from Coldfoot to get the load of pipes he abandoned, but his cab's heater fails and makes the drive extremely uncomfortable. Finding miles of backed-up traffic due to the storm, he has to wait four hours until crews can clear a path to let trucks through. Passing ditched trucks in the backup and another after he gets clear, he picks up his load and brings it in. When Maya starts the day in Fairbanks, she learns that she has officially been issued her own truck, which is smaller and older than the one in which she trained. It has sat idle for months and must be towed into the shop to get it running; she takes advantage of the delay to buy some equipment, including a knife for protection.

After four days of winter storms, the weather clears and crews go to work reopening the road. Dave and Tony head north from Fairbanks with critical loads of groceries, and Maya goes with them to transport a pickup truck and other supplies. Tension among the three simmers as they start the run - Dave frustrated at Maya's slow pace and Tony's perception that he is disrespectful, Maya and Tony annoyed at Dave's habit of crowding them from behind. Dave eventually speeds ahead and reaches Coldfoot alone, but is ordered the next morning to regroup with them. After he again pulls away, Tony and Maya ease through the ripe avalanche conditions on Atigun. Dave reaches Prudhoe well ahead of them, picking up the only available load bound for Fairbanks (scrap material).

Meanwhile, Lisa digs her truck out after spending four days stranded in Prudhoe. She gets a load destined for Anchorage, but gets a flat tire 50 miles into the trip as a result of pumping her brakes to melt built-up snow. After doubling back to Prudhoe for repairs, she makes the delivery and then takes a day off at home.

In Winnipeg, Hugh and Rick pick up fuel tanks destined for St. Theresa Point, but find themselves battling slick roads and hairpin turns. A jackknifed tanker is blocking the road, but Hugh pulls it straight so the run can continue. After another truck begins to spin out and nearly hits Hugh, he and Rick bring their loads in safely. Alex, on the road back to Winnipeg, sideswipes a car parked in a snowbank that is being used by the camera crew following him.

In Fairbanks, Lisa gets a load of pipe sections that is so long (100 feet) that it needs a special rear dolly instead of a standard trailer to support it. That dolly soon moves out of alignment with the truck and begins to swing wildly on corners, posing a hazard to oncoming truckers. She cannot get it realigned herself, but does get help in Coldfoot; later that night, she discovers that two of the dolly's tires have completely fallen off. With help from another trucker, she straps up the axle so that it will not collapse, then limps into Prudhoe to finish the run.

In Fairbanks, Lisa and Tony take steel building frames bound for Prudhoe; at 16 feet, Lisa's load is the widest of her career. The two truckers need a squad of pilot cars to help keep the road clear. That night, they maneuver carefully past several southbound convoys and trucks parked on both sides of the road, leaving little room for error. Lisa takes the lead the next day for the run over Atigun, and they reach Prudhoe that night; Tony expresses his satisfaction at her success on this run.

Although Maya is sick, she reports in to get a load and heads for Prudhoe. She develops a fever that night, but successfully negotiates a slick, steep uphill climb. The next day, she encounters Phil and tries to pass him, but he jokingly keeps her from doing so. Impatient for something to do, Dave is dispatched to take a pickup-truckload of tires to a crew a few miles north of Fairbanks. He has several close calls with southbound trucks before making the delivery.

In Fairbanks, Dave picks up a load of pipes as part of Carlile's late-season drive to get urgently needed freight to Prudhoe. Told to stay close to Phil, he has trouble hooking up his trailer and finds that he may have dented one of the pipes. The load turns out to be undamaged, but Dave is cautioned to be more careful as he and Phil head out. Irritated, Dave ignores Phil's radio calls during the last stretch of the run, leaving Phil unimpressed with his attitude.

Setting up to head north with a load of cable trays, Maya finds her trailer brakes stuck. Another trucker helps her fix the problem, but her brakes soon lock up again once she is on the road. Deciding to play it safe, she drops the load and returns to Fairbanks. After stopping with Tony to scatter a trucker's ashes on the Brooks Range, Lisa goes south with a load of recyclable materials and hears about Maya's trailer problems. The two discuss Dave's attitude as they head south, but a collision between a pickup truck and a big rig delays them for more than an hour.

In Winnipeg, Alex has developed coughing fits and is worried that his lung trouble from three years earlier is returning. After a clinic visit, he is diagnosed with bronchitis and prescribed antibiotics. He picks up a load of groceries bound for St. Theresa Point and hurries out, anxious to deliver it before the road closes for the season. The slick road conditions and his fever complicate the trip, but he pushes on and stops briefly to observe a skunk. After fighting his illness and a stretch of treacherous lake that night, he brings the groceries in the next morning.

In Prudhoe, Dave picks up a load and heads south. Phil, still watching his performance, has begun to think that Dave is ignoring safety rules in order to get more loads. Meanwhile, the truck Tony wrecked early in the season has been completely repaired, and he takes it up from Fairbanks with a load of diesel fuel. Once he delivers the tanker, he picks up a load of gasoline for Nuiqsut and skids badly on the slick river ice while bringing it in.

As Lisa and Maya take loads north from Fairbanks, Maya is beginning to feel comfortable on the road. Stopping briefly to help a driver fix a coolant leak, they meet Tony in Coldfoot during his Prudhoe run and discuss Dave's behavior. Dave stops here, overhears some of their comments, and immediately leaves without Phil to keep himself from getting into a confrontation. He arrives in Fairbanks that night, an hour ahead of Phil; the next morning, his supervisors decide to take him off active duty until they can re-evaluate his driving.

Warming temperatures give rise to wet, slick road conditions, complicating the push to move the season's last loads. In Manitoba, Hugh and Rick get an early start to move loads up to St. Theresa Point - concrete barriers and school supplies, respectively. They stop to re-secure one barrier after it slides forward and nearly crushes Hugh's cab, then bring their loads in. Alex, taking building supplies to Garden Hill, finds dangerously thin ice on a lake crossing and detours around it, adding 200 miles to his trip. A broken drive shaft delays him until another driver brings up a replacement truck so he can continue the run.

In Prudhoe, polar bear sightings on the road have temporarily blocked runs to and from the oil fields. Tony picks up a load of scrap metal and goes south, passing a northbound truck as he reaches the point where he had his accident at the start of the season. The bear later moves off the road and trucks start moving as a road crew works to relieve pressure on a frozen creek, so that the ice will not destroy its bridge.

In Fairbanks, Tony is not surprised to learn of Dave's dismissal. Heading north with a load of pipes, he ponders other drivers' reports of slick roads and passes a pickup truck in a ditch. In Prudhoe, Lisa and Maya are both dispatched to Nuiqsut with loads of assorted supplies and must deal with the slippery ice roads. The delivery puts Lisa at the top of the Alaska load count. Once all three are back in Fairbanks, the Carlile truckers get together for an end-of-season cookout.

In Manitoba, Hugh has reached St. Theresa Point but finds no loads available that can fit on his trailer. He and Rick head back to Winnipeg empty-handed, but get stuck while trying to pass an abandoned double-wide truck in a storm. They have no success pulling loose until the driver returns with a second double-wide, providing enough traction to help move all the other trucks so Hugh and Rick can finish the trip.

On the way to Garden Hill in his replacement truck, Alex stops briefly to pull a passenger car out of a ditch. He brings in his load and picks up a cargo of tools bound for Winnipeg; soon after starting back, though, he finds an antifreeze leak and must return to town. The problem is a broken radiator hose, and local mechanics splice in a new piece to get him back on the road. Completing this run puts Alex ahead of Hugh in the load count for the first time in five seasons.

Final load count (Canada)

• Alex - 22
• Hugh - 21
• Rick - 20

Final load count (Alaska)

• Lisa - 28
• Dave - 27
• Tony - 25
• Maya - 22