If you ever watch promos for the History Channel’s Ice Road Truckers television series, you will see a dramatic shot of a massive semi-truck falling through the ice and into the frigid waters below the ice road. The History Channel originally ran Ice Road Truckers as a segment on a series called Suicide Missions.
As I stood on a frozen ice road in Northern Alberta and felt the ice vibrating and swaying below my feet as a large semi drove by, I couldn’t stop myself from visualizing that scene from the TV series.
I hadn’t planned on a suicide mission when I signed up to travel the ice road between Fort McMurray and Fort Chipewyan, but I couldn’t help wondering if that was inadvertently what I had done. It wasn’t until after the trip that I found out the truck scene was a special effect that never really happened.
People around the world have become fascinated with ice roads, due in large part to the popularity of the aforementioned television series, which aired to millions of viewers in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand. Driving an ice road is seen by some to be the ultimate in adventure travel for professional truck drivers.
Ice roads are seasonal highways that are built across frozen lakes, rivers and tundra each winter to provide four-wheel-drive access to remote northerly communities. We owe the phenomenon of the ice road to an ex-RCMP officer named John Denison who came up with the idea and implemented the building of the first ice road back in the 1950s. Dennison and his crew built the first ice road between Yellowknife, N.W.T., and a silver mine in the Arctic Circle so that they could more readily transport goods to the mine site. Building a disposable road isn’t cheap, but it was far less costly for the mining company than transporting supplies by air.
In the 1950s, little was known about building ice roads and there were many close calls as Dennison and his crew constructed the first roads. Sixty years later, the building of ice roads has become a common practice and industries as well as many small northerly communities have come to count on these roads to bring in supplies.
Ice roads in Alberta are regularly monitored, maintained and provincially regulated to ensure they remain safe for traffic.
My journey along the ice road took me from Fort McMurray to Fort Chipewyan (Fort Chip) through Wood Buffalo National Park and on to Fort Smith, N.W.T. If you have always wanted to experience an ice road, this might be the right trip for you.
After arranging a four-wheel-drive truck rental in Fort McMurray, we set out on the ice road, or “winter road” as it is commonly known to locals. The ice road between Fort McMurray and Fort Chip is built on the Peace-Athabasca Delta, which is the world’s largest freshwater delta.
This 200-km stretch of road is built annually in three sections and is usually complete by Dec. 15. The first 150 km of the road is built mainly out of sand with water laid on top of the sand to freeze.
The last 50 km of the road is called the delta section, because it crosses creeks, lakes and muskeg that must be flooded to build up the ice surface. Construction also involves creating seven ice bridges that motorists can drive over.
The first thing you notice about an ice road is that you can’t travel as fast as you can on a regular road. In some places, particularly water body crossings, speeds are kept very low to help preserve the road and prevent vehicles from falling through the ice.
This region of Alberta has an abundance of wildlife but in the still cold of winter, we only saw their tracks.
We stopped and got out for a rare bathroom stop partway through the trip (not surprisingly, there are very few amenities along this winter road).
While we were stopped, I decided to walk across one of the water crossings and it was while I was standing in the middle that the large semi truck passed along the road. I could feel a vibration and sway in the ice as the truck passed, but otherwise the road trip was relatively uneventful.
Arriving in Fort Chip really brought home the value of this road to the tiny Northern Alberta community. Stopping in the local grocery store revealed that a four-litre jug of milk costs about $10. Without the ice road, the community must rely on food shipments via airplane and this makes groceries and other commodities very expensive. The grocer explained that in Fort Chip, residents actually look forward to winter because of the ice road and the freedom that connection brings. The colder the winter, the better the conditions for the road and the longer they will be able to use it.
It’s good to know that when the weather is very cold, there is actually a reason to be happy about it.
If you go:
• The winter road between Fort McMurray and Fort Chipewyan is just over 200 km long and very rough in spots. It will take between three to four hours to travel the road one way between Fort McMurray and Fort Chip. You can fly into Fort McMurray and rent a four-wheel-drive truck for approximately $55 a day plus mileage (www.budgetfortmcmurray.com). If you take your own four-wheel-drive vehicle up to Fort McMurray, the driving distance is approximately 600 km from Red Deer to Fort McMurray. Be aware that some rental agencies do not permit guests to take their rental vehicles on the winter road.
• From Fort Chip, you may choose to venture further on the ice road to Fort Smith. The winter road distance between Fort Chip and Fort Smith is 228 km and includes several ice bridge crossings.
Communities connected by the ice road
Fort McMurray — With a population of close to 50,000 people, Fort McMurray is the largest of the northern communities connected by the ice road. There are plenty of things to do there, but visiting the Oil Sands Discovery Centre is an absolute must.
If you contact the local tourism board, they can help you co-ordinate other activities like snowmobile tours, snowshoe tours, dogsledding trips, aurora borealis tours and cross-country skiing.
There are plenty of hotels to choose from in Fort McMurray, but we stayed at the Sawridge Hotel (www.sawridgefortmcmurray.com). The onsite Hearthstone Grill Restaurant has an all-you-can eat Alaska king Crab leg buffet on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings for $44 per person.
For more information on planning a visit, contact Fort McMurray Tourism at www.fortmcmurraytourism.com or 1-800-565-3947.
Fort Chipewyan — With a population of about 1200, Fort Chip is the most isolated of the three communities connected by this winter ice road.
In Fort Chip, we enjoyed an aboriginal sled dog tour with Robert Grandjambe. You can arrange a sled dog or fishing experience by calling Grandjambe at 780-697-3830.
Accommodations can be found at one of two local bed and breakfasts (Northern Lights B&B 780-697-3053 or Wah Pun B&B 780-697-3030).
Fort Smith — Fort Smith is slightly larger than Fort Chip with a population of just over 2,000.
While in town, you will want to check out the Northern Life Museum and the historic buildings in Fort Smith Mission Park.
North of 60 Books is a great spot to spend some time checking out the books and enjoying refreshments at the coffee bar.
In the evening, you may want to see if you can spot the aurora borealis. Viewing is often excellent, as the town is located very close to the 60th parallel.
There are a couple of hotels to choose from in the town. We stayed at the Pelican Rapids Inn (867-872-2789).
For more information on the town, visit: www.fortsmith.ca.
Debbie Olsen is a Lacombe-based freelance writer. If you have a travel story you would like to share or know someone with an interesting travel story who we might interview, please email: DOGO@telusplanet.net or write to: Debbie Olsen, c/o Red Deer Advocate, 2950 Bremner Ave., Red Deer, Alta., T4R 1M9.