Ice Road Truckers Season 1 DVD Review

If you have not tuned in to watch Ice Road Truckers on the History Channel, this is your opportunity to catch up with the series. Season one of the show is now available on DVD. The first season will grab your attention and keep you watching for many seasons to come.

In season one, we are introduced to the Ice Road Truckers. They are Hugh "the Polar Bear" Rowland, Rick Yemm, Alex Deborgorski, Jay Westgard, T.J. Tilcox, and Drew Sherwood. The men drive eighteen wheelers over the dangerous ice roads. They come to the show with varying degrees of experience when it comes to meeting the challenges of the ice roads.

For only a few months out of the year, all of the ice lakes and rivers in this remote area of Canada's Northwest Territories freeze. The freezing allows the truckers to haul tens of thousands of pounds of supplies and equipment. To do so, they traverse the frozen lakes and rivers, relying on their skills and perseverance to arrive at their destination unscathed by cold and injury. Like many dangerous jobs, sheer luck also seems to be a factor in how many of the show's events turn out.

In this season, the Ice Road Truckers are hauling supplies to the diamond mines far outside of town. They are challenged to deliver ten thousand loads while the ice is still frozen, which is usually only a period of two months. The fun part of the show is watching how the various relationships unfold: man vs. man, man vs. nature, and man vs. machine. The men manage to complete extremely dangerous missions in an environment that would discourage even the most seasoned of regular truckers. We also see that the men who treat their trucks the best seem to get some benefits, and the "bad" truckers often find themselves on the sidelines while their truck is in the shop.

The season one DVD release of Ice Road Truckers contains several bonus features that were not seen when the show aired. The first is the episode called Dangerous Missions. This was originally part of a different television series, and features the first introduction of the truckers. It was so popular that a whole series was created, inspired by that episode. In addition, there are five small features. The first is called Meet the Truckers. The others are Overcoming the Challenges, The Perils of the Ice Road, Behind the Scenes, and the Countdown. Of these, my favorite is the behind the scenes look at the filming of the show.