Shawn Tooley, a driver and dispatcher for United Van Lines agent Walker’s Van and Storage in North Bay, knows what it’s like to be a real ice road trucker. He hauls supplies from Yellowknife to the Snap Lake and Diavik diamond mines in the Northwest Territories, Canada, a route that some consider on of the most dangerous in the world.
According to North Bay Nipissing, many areas on Tooley’s route have been featured on the hit show Ice Road Truckers.
“I honestly don’t believe the ice roads are as dangerous as the show makes them out to be,” Tooley told the North Bay Nipissing, “but there is a safety factor when you take a loaded truck on the ice. That’s why they take such good care of them. Those roads are flooded every day and constantly maintained. That road will see 7,000 loads in a season.”
Tooley says he’s not a thrill seeker; he drives the route because he loves seeing the beauty of his country– though he does recognize that ice road trucking might not be for the faint of heart. “It’s the cracking sound that gets to people,” he said. “Listening to the ice crack under the truck can be so unnerving that some truckers won’t even finish their first run. But actually, the ice is the safest when you hear it crack. It means it’s very cold.”
From now until the spring thaw, Tooley is hauling for Tli Cho, a company that fans of Ice Road Truckers might also recognize, the North Bay Nipissing reported.
To read more about Tooley, follow this link to the North Bay Nipissing .
To read more about Tooley’s adventures, follow him on Facebook or check out the Please Move Me blog.