A city bus stuck on an icy street? No problem!

Montreal – the land of smoked meats, poutine, and Youppi – isn’t exactly known for its tropical climate this time of year. In fact, what falls from the sky in January on La Belle Province is simply not to be believed.

This helps explain the video you see here to anyone not residing in the snow belt. Despite its largesse and a curb weight somewhere north of fifteen US tons, a city bus can often find itself at winter’s mercy when faced with streets covered in a veneer of ice. On occasion, that ice might be paper thin but is slicker than glass, leading to the scene shown above.

Once all hands get their act together and properly take up slack in the tow cables, a hearty amount of wheelspin and bootfuls of right foot get the job done. By the end of the video, the bus is up and over the icy hill, carried through an intersection by the combined might of a Jeep and two Toyotas.

Viciously spinning the baloneys might be a recipe for getting stuck even worse in some instances but it seems to work here. Take this for what it’s worth but more than a few people who’ve gotten themselves stuck on an icy hill swear that the heat generated from a spinning tire is enough to melt a thin layer of ice, allowing the tire to briefly kiss pavement and grab a bit of traction.

How about it? What’s the largest vehicle you’ve hauled out of a jam with your rig?