Warm snap makes for dangerous conditions in latest ‘Ice Road Truckers’ episode

Slippery roads caused Ice Road Truckers newcomer Steph Custance to slide off the road and into a snow wall, where she had to dig her way out.Slippery roads caused Ice Road Truckers newcomer Steph Custance to slide off the road and into a snow wall, where she had to dig her way out.

In the latest episode of History Channel’s Ice Road Truckers, the show’s stars had to manipulate frozen roads and lakes that had recently thawed and refrozen, making trips more difficult than normal, writes Truckers News Editor David Hollis.

The episode also saw who the narrator calls the show’s “odd couple” get together to determine whether the frozen Muskrat Dam Lake ice crossing was stable enough to support the weight of their trucks, Hollis writes. Todd Dewey and Art Burke wound up at the lake at the same time and examined the route. Burke decided he would cross first, and Dewey waited until Burke’s taillights were out of sight. Both drivers made it across without any trouble.

The show’s newest member, Steph Custance, was taking a load along a newly reopened, and slippery, road when she slid on the ice into a snow wall along the side of the road. After 13 hours of shoveling and working to get her Kenworth free, she finally got back on the road to get to her destination.

Additionally, Lisa Kelly had to traverse a recently refrozen 13-mile lake crossing and make it up a “very, very slippery” steep grade to make it to her destination.

The highlight of the show, Hollis points out, was perhaps the preview of the next episode, which showed Reno Ward, the son of late IRT star Darrell Ward, helping make an ice road delivery.

See full coverage of the episode with Hollis’ recap here. Ice Road Truckers airs on the History Channel at 10 p.m. Eastern on Thursdays.

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