By Ron Ross

Only a few feet of ice lies between you and disaster. The big question is, will the ice hold?

The ominous sound of the ice cracking beneath your monster truck as you make your way to the diamond mines is unnerving, even for the most experienced of drivers.

However, for those hardy souls who wish to brave the elements, there is no other job like it in the world!

Revving the engine at night, sleeping in the cab at the side of the deserted road, gauging how thick the ice is for crossing, encountering wolves, elk and caribou, seeing the grandeur of the mountains and frozen lakes, all adds up to a truly breathtaking scenario.

The Ice Road in Canada, 75% of which is built on frozen lakes, lies in the Northwest Territory between Yellowknife and the diamond mines in the frozen north.

The road is constructed every January and the season normally spans February and March, and is the only way to transport essential equipment and supplies to the Diavik diamond mine and other mines in the region.

The ice has been proven by engineers to support light vehicle loads at 70 centimetre (30 inches) and increases to full highway truck loads as it thickens, often exceeding 100 cm (40 in). Winter this year, which was exceedingly cold, saw ice depths of up to 60 inches.

Drivers can earn tens of thousand of dollars, “a year’s salary”, in a two-three month time frame and their hazards and rewards were highlighted in the series Ice Road Truckers, which was screened over the winter on TV here in Britain and was much enjoyed and very popular on its first showing on the History Channel and subsequent repeat now showing on Channel 5.

One such driver is 23-year-old William Douglas, a former Airlie Primary and Dundee High School pupil, who now lives in Lethbridge, Alberta, and who has just completed his second winter on the Ice Road.

William (known to his friends as Will) left the family home near Guildtown and went out to Canada in 2006. Before he left he secured a job with a Canadian company that undertook big contracts in crop harvesting in the United States

“The company put me through training and before long I had my Commercial Driver’s Licence, similar to the HGV licence in the UK,” said William.

“The CDL licence equipped me for the road and my first trip involved driving a truck carrying harvesting equipment from Alberta to Texas, a small matter of around 3000 kilometres

The company which employed William for the harvest also has a contract for supplying fuel to the Diavik diamond mine.

So, after a summer of harvest, it was back to Canada in early winter 2007, where his truck was adapted for the Ice Road in the workshop in Lethbridge.

He then drove to Edmonton to collect two tanker trailers which gave his rig a fully-laden weight of 50 tonnes.

This unit was to be his home on the Ice Road for the next 10 weeks.

First stop was Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territory, where his tanker was given its load, fuel for the Diavik mine, 350 kilometres up the Ice Road.

He then linked up with another three trucks for the journey.

“Trucks can’t travel on the Ice Road on their own, four to a convoy is the rule,” explained William.

“For our combined safety, we must travel one kilometre apart and when on the ice we have to stick to a maximum speed of 25 kilometres per hour.”

The truck’s engine must be kept running at all times, otherwise oil and fuel lines would freeze.

The stamina required by drivers is phenomenal, with each trip lasting an average 17 hours in temperatures as low as minus 61C (not counting wind chill) and when survivable time spent outside the cab is counted in minutes and seconds.

William, like the other three drivers employed by his company, is responsible for his own servicing and repairs, so the actual driving of the truck is just part of his duty.

“I do my own servicing in Yellowknife and if necessary at the Lockhart Lake service station,” he said “The benefit of the Lockhart station is the food provided by the mining companies, steak and lobster every day!

“This winter I had difficulties on one run with my fuel supply and had to get out and fix the problem.

“I ended up taking bucketfuls of diesel from one part of the truck to another. Serious stuff at minus 61C.”

William’s first storm was memorable.

“It was a total white-out, with the truck ending up zig-zagging all over the place.

“The ice road is wide and there are no visual reference points to keep you straight in conditions like that. You tend to wander about a bit.”

Not all of the road is on ice, and according to William, the Ingraham Trail, which is on land between Yellowknife and the first of the lakes, is possibly the most hazardous part of the journey.

“It is narrower and is used by local traffic.

“Some other sections of the road have got fearsome reputations. Charlie’s Hill has a lot of history, but in my opinion is not as daunting as it used to be.

“For my money, Drybones Hill, on one of the portages, the landmasses between lakes, is as tricky as it gets.”

The season lasted 10 weeks in 2007 and during that time William fed himself, washed and slept in his truck.

Doesn’t the sound of the ice cracking under the weight of his truck worry him as he tries to sleep?

“Not if I have my window closed,” he joked.

William repeated the Ice Road season this winter and is “thinking about it” regarding the 2009 season.

“When I remember the nights the aurora borealis lit my cab in shades of jade, purple and blue, it does become quite addictive.

“Japanese tourists pay big money to come to Yellowknife to see the Northern Lights, but out there, on the ice road, it’s a one-man show, just for you.

“I can only describe it as a spectacular, breathtaking bonus.

“Added to that, I have met an awful lot of great people up there and that in itself is a factor that seems to be pulling me back,” he said.

William now has his “summer hat” on and when I spoke to him he was in Wyoming, on his 3000-kilometre marathon drive south to Texas

He loves the variety of his new life and the rewards it brings.

The shimmering heat of the vast United States grain belt is a whole world away from the Northwest Territory, but it looks as if William intends returning to the bone-chilling challenge of the Ice Road and the frozen north.

Ice Road Truckers is showing on Sunday’s, Channel Five at noon.