A broad sweep of the Indigirka river, close to the town of Belaya Gora. Despite the pristine landscape most drivers, including Ruslan, toss their trash out onto the ice. (Amos Chapple/RFE/RL)

For 12 days, photographer Amos Chapple, 34, followed the nomadic life of a young Russian ice truck driver during one of the most dangerous times for the profession—in a season when the ice wasn’t always guaranteed to be solid.

Chapple rode in the passenger seat next to Ruslan Dorochenkov, 28, who drove across the frozen Indigirka River to transport groceries that stock the market shelves of Belaya Gora, a small city in Northeast Russia. He carried 12 tons of goods across an over 650 mile route.

“I really thought that I might have made this fatal decision to come to this trip,” Chapple told weather.com. It was late spring when he went. “When you’re driving on ice and your hand is out the window... and it ain’t that cold out, and the ice is slowly disintegrating,” the thought can get overwhelming, said Chapple.

Even if they weren’t driving on the river, the highways were slippery enough to cause fatal accidents. At the start of their journey, Chapple saw a truck that had fallen off the cliff of the highway they were on; the driver was killed. Especially because of the ice, the warmer temperatures meant that some drivers would not be able to complete their trips. Chapple said that during his 12 days on the river, he saw four other trucks that were trapped in the ice. He and Dorochenkov themselves almost had the same problem. One side of the truck fell through a section of slushy ice, but they luckily managed to get the truck out and back on the “road.”

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Still, it was cold enough where frozen engines posed as a risk. While sleeping, the engines and heaters were kept on to prevent the gasoline from freezing. “Even with the engine running, pieces of the engine can freeze solid,” said Chapple. So to prepare, all drivers carry a flame torch, which is used to thaw frozen parts of the engine.

It’s a constant “go” for these drivers. With up to 16 hours of driving a day, the trip was just the usual for Dorochenkov but taxing for Chapple. Along the way, the driver picked up a friend whose truck flipped over in the ice, so three people were confined to the very small cab space of the truck, which is usually just about comfortable for one person.

“Everyone—[Dorochenkov] helped without any question,” Chapple said. “It’s so unusual for working class, hard-living guys to act like that. Kindness can be the difference between life and death.”

Driving these trucks is a good, steady source of income for people in this area, according to Chapple. But oftentimes, these ice-road truckers don’t drive for the money. “In another time, they probably would’ve gone on ships,” said Chapple.

“They really love, not just the danger of it, but also, I guess it’s one of those things where these guys are also very capable and they can set out and do something that nobody else can.”