For what age: 7+
How many episodes in 2 season: 13 episodes
A group of new truckers join those from last year as they carry supplies to natural gas and mineral exploration sites across icy roads hundreds of miles north of the Arctic Circle in Canada's Northwest Territories.
After just two days in the Arctic, the truckers are already seeing setbacks. A mechanical failure for on trucker has him reviving a truck which has been retired for four years. Meanwhile, a trucker has an eyewitness account of an accident, while another has his own mishap.
The roads are shut down by the first snowstorm of the season, and a trucker is reported stranded on the road. Meanwhile, Rick awaits his truck to be repaired after suffering a second accident in four days, and Drew becomes ill on the first day he is to hit the ice.
A storm arises and halts the progress of moving a tall structure for an oil exploration site which must be moved in pieces because of its massive size. Eric is stuck under the power lines because the survival shack he is delivering is too large. Rick is still awaiting the repair of his rig.
Now that the storm has ended the truckers are anxious to get back on the road. Two trucks are used simultaneously to help move a 50 ton derrick, a dangerous maneuver. Meanwhile, Alex becomes lost along the way.
Now that the 135-foot derrick has been delivered to the MGM exploration site, and now must transport the 80-ton substructure that will form its base before it can be erected. Weighing 160,000 pounds, the base must be delivered in pieces and will still be the heaviest and most dangerous load of the season. The job is given to veteran trucker Bear Swenson and Arctic Ice Road rookie Alex Debogorski. Compounded by on-going and increasing health problems, the pressure on this trucker is rising fast.
Bear and Eric are left in charge of carrying a pair of important pieces across the ice highway, a boiler and a flare stack into Langley, an area which has had polar bears spotted in the area. The truckers need to be aware of this danger since arctic polar bears have been known to hug humans. Rick threatens to quit as pressure mounts due to a 5-day-long trip in which he has been scheduled for. Alex is med-evaced to Yellowknife medical facilities as his health worsens, leaving his fate unknown.
Alex receives grim news from the doctors at the Yellowknife hospital, which may lead to the end of his trucking season. Rick threatens to quit because of his medical problems since his boss refuses to give him time off to be checked out by a doctor. It's up to the vets to continue with the final loads of the big rigs now that most of the rookies have left. Bear loads on a P-Tank, a critical part used to measure the amount of waste gas emitted by a drilling rig. Eric sets off on a slow journey to transport a mud pump from Aput to Langley. Weighing in at 100,000 lbs. will mean that the rig can move no faster than 16 mph, or risk damaging the already taxed ice road.
It's time to dismantle the Mallik Research site and are now racing against time to beat the ice road melt. Hugh is put in charge of training a new trucker, Isaac Lenny, who is scheduled for a driving test in just a few days. And it's a bad omen when Issac makes a mistake on his first day. A truck in Rick's convoy has broken down and now the driver must decide whether to risk freezing while walking and abandoning his truck or stay with it. Drew embarks on a box-truck run, which may not be as lucrative but is very important since he will be delivering a corrosion inhibitor to the people of Aklavik, a tiny community on the Mackenzie River.
With the sun beating down on the ice, the road is melting at an accelerating rate. This means that it's all hands on deck for the demobilization of the drilling sites at Langley and Mallik, which must be broken down and hauled away before they're swallowed up by Arctic waters. Northwind owner Kurt Wainman leaves his office behind and jumps into a truck to contribute to the effort. Kurt meets a convoy of 'highway maggots' on the way and has nothing but choice words for this group of 'scab' drivers from the south. Trucker Jim Gattie volunteers for a dangerous mission; he'll haul three sled trailers at once, carrying two diesel tanks and drilling supplies in one mega-load. With the close of the season in sight, Eric and Hugh continue to vie for the title 'King of the Ice Road.' Eric holds the lead for the moment, but Hugh is making a final push that might put him out in front.
Rising temperatures are melting away the ice road, making it a dash to the finish line for the crew breaking down the Langley site. Every last piece of equipment must be transported down the ice to Inuvik before the Arctic waters reclaim the road. Hugh is hauling an unsteady load of heavy gauge cable, making his rig so back-heavy that he struggles to get traction on the slippery surface. One wrong move could spell disaster for Hugh, but also for rookie Devon Neff, who makes his debut run at a time when the road is at its most fragile. And as the action escalates on the road, Rick finds himself in familiar territory--Gruben's garage. He has loads to pick up, but yet again this season, they'll have to wait until his truck is repaired.
Warming temperatures are causing overflows all over the ice road, and with water rushing through cracks in the ice, hauling loads just got a lot more dangerous. Jody and Brett take on the challenge of removing the 66-ton derrick from the Langley site. The massive rig will have to be 'two-trucked;' one truck will make the entire journey traveling backwards. Although maintenance crews create a detour around the overflow, Jody and Brett still need the help of a pilot car to navigate their double load along its winding turns. Forced to wait for the pilot car to arrive, the truckers sit with 200,000 pounds of dead weight on weakened ice, with freezing ocean water below. Hugh is hauling one of the only standard-sized loads of the day, so while everyone else is stuck driving at 15 mph, the Polar Bear is running full steam ahead. Unencumbered by speed restrictions, Hugh is trying to use his last few days in the Arctic to secure his reputation as the only Southern driver who has what it takes to make it in the North.
Hugh and Eric are neck-in-neck in their race to claim dominance over the ice road, but with only days before the end of the season, time is running out and the ocean waters are closing in. As the truckers race to remove every last piece of equipment from the Langley site, an Arctic whiteout threatens to halt operations, and may mean the difference between winning and losing in the load count. This handful of die-hard truckers pushes for every last load, but as the world around them crumbles, someone will be kicked off the ice.
