Anyone else been watching this show? New episode is on tonight at 10 PM on History channel. I haven’t seen them all, but how do you think these guys compare to the crab fisherman? Isn’t there any EASY jobs in Alaska?
Those guys are crazy. I just watched an episode this afternoon, and the scuba diving body recovery teams kinda freaked me out.
I think that their job is just as dangerous as the crab fisherman. Maybe not the same type of eminent danger, but you pull a 40 hour shift driving a 25 ton truck over a frozen lake, or whatever frozen water it is - that shit can get hairy.
These guys are tough. Real men most of them I bet. The crab fishermen are hard working guys as well.
If it were me, I’d like to try both. It seems like the chance of dying in either job is pretty high relative to most occupations .
Not sure how drowning compares to freezing to death but I don’t plan to find out.
I saw a preview of IRT where one of the guys is shooting a handgun out his window into the darkness and screaming to “stay away” or something.
Any idea what that was about?
[quote]derek wrote:
These guys are tough. Real men most of them I bet. The crab fishermen are hard working guys as well.
If it were me, I’d like to try both. It seems like the chance of dying in either job is pretty high relative to most occupations .
Not sure how drowning compares to freezing to death but I don’t plan to find out.
I saw a preview of IRT where one of the guys is shooting a handgun out his window into the darkness and screaming to “stay away” or something.
Any idea what that was about?[/quote]
I believe it was to scare away animals, lest they plow into them at high speeds and become stranded.
[quote]derek wrote:
I saw a preview of IRT where one of the guys is shooting a handgun out his window into the darkness and screaming to “stay away” or something.
Any idea what that was about?[/quote]
apparently one of the guys in his convoy was trying to overtake him and he was shooting at him. very interesting. im sold on the rest of the season…
[quote]derek wrote:
Any idea what that was about?[/quote]
Evidently, he was shooting at the guy behind him for trying to pass. They were both cracking up laughing, so either the gun wasn’t loaded with real bullets, or he never got off a clean shot.
Those guys have to be nuts to drive over that frozen lake.
[quote]derek wrote:
I saw a preview of IRT where one of the guys is shooting a handgun out his window into the darkness and screaming to “stay away” or something.
Any idea what that was about?[/quote]
they have a competition each year to make the most trips in the season. the guy was shooting at his rival trying to pass him. It looked like it was a bb-gun or something of that nature.
[quote]binko wrote:
derek wrote:
I saw a preview of IRT where one of the guys is shooting a handgun out his window into the darkness and screaming to “stay away” or something.
Any idea what that was about?
they have a competition each year to make the most trips in the season. the guy was shooting at his rival trying to pass him. It looked like it was a bb-gun or something of that nature. [/quote]
In the preview I saw, he was blasting off shots. I’d say 9mm, 40cal or 380cal at LEAST.
I think the History channel brought this about because of the success of Deadliest Catch. I like the show…guys laying it out there for 2 months to rake in the big bucks. Polar Bear made 76K last year.
Driving in during snow blind conditions would be a stressor for sure.
The gun part was a joke, and was shooting blanks at his partner.
I think I would take driving those rigs, over 40 ft waves in the bearing sea, and getting slammed by a rouge wave. At least with a truck you’ve got heat. On the boat…you’ve got nothing but a deep freeze. Those guys are the shit.
Right now Discovery has a documentary on the cameramen who filmed DC. To cool…
[quote]StevenF wrote:
Anyone else been watching this show? New episode is on tonight at 10 PM on History channel. I haven’t seen them all, but how do you think these guys compare to the crab fisherman? Isn’t there any EASY jobs in Alaska? [/quote]
Interesting show. The Ice Road truckers are in the Northern Territories of Canada, hence the Canadian accents.
The show blows the risks out of proportion. There are lots of roads in the north that only open up once lakes freeze over. The only problem on these roads would be in the spring and early fall, when the ice isn’t quite thick enough. During the middle of winter, the ice is so thick that the trucks are in little danger of going through. Also, it’s not like they can go off the road or anything, because usually the “road” is plowed and has high walls on both sides.
[quote]IronRaider wrote:
I think the History channel brought this about because of the success of Deadliest Catch. I like the show…guys laying it out there for 2 months to rake in the big bucks. Polar Bear made 76K last year.
…[/quote]
For 2 months work? How do you get this job?
[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
IronRaider wrote:
I think the History channel brought this about because of the success of Deadliest Catch. I like the show…guys laying it out there for 2 months to rake in the big bucks. Polar Bear made 76K last year.
…
For 2 months work? How do you get this job?[/quote]
I wonder how much the camera men make? Fishing out there sounds hard enough, but carrying around a big camera and looking at those guys instead of incoming waves…they have to be pretty badass.
I know the guy who filmed the IMAX movie on climbing Everest. You thought those guys were tough, this dude had the carrying not only his hiking equipment but 3 cameras as well. (1 still shot, 1 regular film, 1 IMAX film). The camera men in these shows are the real badasses to me.