A polar bear and a parrot defy death in South America.
Shot in the Andes Mountains in Bolivia and Peru, the second season of “IRT: Deadliest Roads,” which debuted on History Channel Sunday night, put truckers Hugh “the Polar Bear” Rowland and Rick “the Parrot” Yemm in a place they’re unaccustomed to, the same truck.
“Everyone needed a spotter,” said Rowland. “And I told them no one else is riding with me and I won’t ride with no one else. I’ve known Rick for most of his adult life. He’s like my little brother.”
Hugh’s warm, fuzzy feelings didn’t extend to the truck he was driving.
“[Did I like the truck?] No. Not even a little bit. I used to haul cattle in the same trucks when I was 16 years old and these were about that old. They were 20 or 25-year-old trucks and it’s not what should be on them roads,” he said. “These trucks were bigger trucks than what’s been on those roads so when you’ve got an inch to move over that’s all you’ve got. We were breaking mirrors off on the rocks and you were still hanging over the edge so it was pretty wild.”
Animal magnetism: Hugh “the Polar Bear” Rowland (right) and Rick “the Parrot” Yemm inspect their truck before hitting the road.
Rowland thinks viewers of the first season of Deadliest Roads, which he was not a part of due to a prior business commitment, will get much more from season two.
“Everyone said the Himalayas didn’t hold a candle to these roads. The Himalayas were paved and wide enough for trucks to pass and these were not. They were just wide enough to get by and if you meet somebody they’re backing up,” he said.
Last season, the degree of difficulty driving in the Himalayas pushed the truckers close the brink and saw all except Lisa Kelly leave before the final delivery was made.
If anyone can’t take it and leaves early this season, Rowland says it won’t be him.
“I never say no,” he said with a laugh. “If they say I can go up there, okay I’ll drive her. I just told them if I can’t make it I ain’t backing up so the truck’s going over the bank and I’ll just tell you when to jump. They didn’t know if I was serious or not, but I was serious.”
Rowland says the show’s name lives up to its reputation.
“You’ve got switchbacks that were over 180 degrees so you’ve got to back up and do a three-point turn on a corner. It was pretty wild. But my steering broke on one and I thought we were going over the edge anyway,” he said.
“The one road they call “the Death Road” in Bolivia, I think I made nine or 10 trips on it. In the three months we were there, 42 died on it,” he added.
The altitude also gave some drivers difficulty, but one of the trips put Rowland back on thin ice.
“We went over 22,500 feet, and you could barely breathe up there, and we went right through a glacier,” he said.
Rowland, who’s been driving ice roads almost 25 years, says the skill needed to drive on these deadly roads shouldn’t be taken lightly.
“You have to be right on the ball all the time. You can’t take your eyes off the road. You can’t be distracted for one instant or you’ll be over the bank. I’ve never seen roads like that. It was a big adrenaline rush. It was pretty treacherous, but we deal with that and we had a lot of fun,” he said.