I’m at the wheel of the diminutive 1,800-pound Smart ForTwo and I’m doing 70 on an iced gravel road 15 feet wide. It would be harrowing under the best of circumstances, but I’m coming up on an 18-wheeler carrying 20 tons of oil pipes. Snowbanks on either side of me stand 6 feet high, so there’s nowhere to go but straight ahead.
I’m about to meet the most dreaded monster on the Dempster Highway — an ice trucker hell-bent on making it to Inuvik. There’s no time for contemplation. I ease off the gas and hug the snowbank. It’s a delicate balancing act. Go too far and the the tiny Smart’s tiny wheels will bog down in the slush. It’s an adrenaline-pumping split second and then the monster barrels past me in a cloud of icy powder.
I just survived another encounter with a Dempster monster during a wild drive from Inuvik, Northewest Territories to Dawson City, Yukon.
