.

Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - For the past month, reality TV star Alex Debogorski has travelled back and forth along a 500 km stretch of the Dalton Highway between Fairbanks, Alaska, and Prudehoe Bay.

"This is a wild road," he said on the eve of his seventh and final run. "You never know what you're going to get when you head out."

Alex Debogorski is working on the third season of Ice Road Truckers, a popular documentary-style drama on the History Channel. - photo courtesy of Alex Debogorski

He is accompanied by a film crew shooting the third season of Ice Road Truckers, a popular documentary-style drama on the History Channel.

Debogorski planned to leave Fairbanks yesterday to haul his last load to the vast oil fields on the Northernmost tip of the state. He expects to be done the run by Friday.

"I should be on my way back home by May 2," he said.

However, sometimes the two-and-a-half day trip takes longer than expected. His sixth run took five days to accomplish. A flat tire, a string of breakdowns and a bunch of other unforeseen delays stranded him and his truck in the small town of Deadhorse.

"Just about everything that could have gone wrong did," he said.

The winding highway is an unpredictable mix of pavement, chip seal and gravel. The route travels through the Brooks Mountain range via the Atigun Pass, one of the Northernmost mountain passes on the planet.

The pass, which sits almost 1,500-metres above sea level, is buffeted with high winds and snow and is often clouded by fog. The winds can reach almost 90 km per hour.

"We go through about three or four weather patterns every trip," Debogorski said, adding that the temperature varies by about 15 degrees Celsius along the route.

He is employed by Carlile Transportation, a U.S. company with a fleet of about 300 trucks.

"We've been very well accepted," he said. "People have been really decent. There's been a few grumpy Alaskans, but most have been really happy. We're teaching them how to say 'eh' and they're teaching us how to say 'y'all.'"

The experience is not all hard work. Debogorski joined former Yellowknife resident and fellow ice road trucker Hugh Rowland at the Red Fox bar in Fairbanks for a farewell double shot of Tequila and a few games of pool on Sunday night. The film crew joined the truckers in the bar.

"They turned the camera off and it got worse after that," he joked.

Rowland split for home on Monday morning. Debogorski's Yellowknifer column, In the Driver's Seat, returns early next month.