Even now, everything is STILL Tougher in Alaska - the last American frontier.
TOUGHER IN ALASKA
A New Weekly Series on History
Premieres on Thursday, May 8 at 10 pm ET/PT
Geo Beach travels to extreme locations in this giant state, from wind-swept Arctic tundra to rugged coastal mountains - mining for gold, fishing for salmon, and tackling other tough, uniquely Alaskan activities.
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It wouldn't be a tough show without a tough host, and TOUGHER IN ALASKA host Geo Beach is just that. Since moving to Alaska, Geo has worked as a logger, firefighter and medic, and commercial fisherman - including winter crabbing on the Bering Sea. He knows his way around oil spills and industrial kitchens, construction sites and law enforcement. Like most Alaskans, Geo has endured plenty of waves, winds and blizzards while living here. Armed with his own experience and the centuries of Alaskan tradition, Geo reveals the guts, self-reliance, ingenuity and technology it takes to survive and prosper in this challenging land considered America's last frontier.
Each episode of TOUGHER IN ALASKA charts an expedition through the far-flung corners of the huge Alaskan state - from the tops of mountains to the depths of the Bering Sea. It investigates unique aspects of life in Alaska, looks at how Alaskan pioneers got things done in the past, and explores how they overcome harsh conditions to get things done today. Along the way, we meet a lot of plucky Alaskans - all following in the footsteps of the great explorers who originally survived and thrived in the extreme environment.
The first week of TOUGHER IN ALASKA (May 8) finds Geo hunting for gold in the great Alaskan wilderness, something people have been doing since the 1870s, when the promise of gold first lured men north to Alaska. Today, with the cost of gold skyrocketing, the race is on once again and Geo joins in on the chase. He'll see how individual prospectors around the state use ingenious techniques (including a giant underwater vacuum) to get the gold out, and he'll join a team of hard rock miners in the frontier mining town of Wiseman as they blast through 250 feet of rock in the hopes of hitting the mother lode. TOUGHER IN ALASKA: GOLD MINING premieres May 8 at 10 pm ET/PT.
In future episodes, Geo tackles different, demanding adventures and locations - vividly illustrating how living in Alaska is just plain harder than it is in the Lower 48. Some upcoming topics:
SALMON FISHING (premieres 5/15)
Each summer in late June, more than 2,000 fishing vessels converge on Alaska's Bristol Bay to await one of the greatest natural spectacles of the north: the annual run of millions of sockeye salmon to their spawning grounds. Bristol Bay is the most productive and best-managed commercial salmon fishery in the world with an average annual catch of ten million fish valued at more than one hundred million dollars. What follows the fish during the short, three-week run is an altogether man-made spectacle of the highest order: thousands of highly competitive fishermen doing serious battle with one another in their specialized, high-performance boats. Host Geo Beach will be on deck with two crews as they navigate the bay looking for the mother lode of sockeye, or red salmon. It's all about getting the fish in the nets. But staying up all night, avoiding collisions with other boats and confrontations with other fishermen, and keeping the peace with the State Troopers who patrol the crowded fishery by land, sea, and sky just makes it more interesting.
ELECTRIC LINEMEN (premieres 5/22)
What does it take to keep the power on in a state where more than half of its people live off the grid, and plunging temperatures, high winds and heavy snow loads can snap even the hardiest overhead electrical wires and transmission towers? Host Geo Beach flies out to the remote village of Kasigluk to help install power poles and string electrical wire by hand (there are no bucket trucks in the bush) and he'll dig in with the linemen of the Golden Valley Electric Association during the infamously bitter winters in Fairbanks as they brave temps as low as minus 40, just to keep the lights on and heating systems going in the state's second largest city.
Other topics covered include: Deadly Winter (premieres 5/29) ... Railroading ...Logging... Dangerous Earth... Dangerous Roads... Wild Waste... Extreme Salvaging... Fairbanks Winter...Extreme Isolation...Arctic Troopers...and Frozen Freeway. In these episodes, Geo struggles against bitter winter weather to keep the electricity flowing to Alaska's second largest city, triggers a "controlled" avalanche, and tempts fate in one of the most active seismic zones in the world. As always, Alaska dishes up lots of real work, risks, and excitement.
Photo Credit: The History Channel/ Richard Knapp
