LOGGING

Logging is a dangerous and challenging profession anywhere, but in Alaska's Southeast Panhandle, unforgiving coastal mountains, steep valleys and ugly weather make this work downright deadly. Geo will learn first-hand just how risky logging can be when he embeds with veteran loggers in Ketchikan, located in the heart of the Tongass National Forest, the nation's largest. They'll teach him how to fell giant spruce trees with a single chainsaw, "choke and chase" them with a cable-logging machine, and deliver them on teeth-chattering logging roads and rocking barges to the mill. And he'll join the most extreme loggers of them all — heli-loggers — who FLY deep into rugged stretches and steep areas where no roads can go to haul the valuable logs out of the wilderness.

RAILROADING

In the Lower 48, the railroad or subway may not always run on time, but in Alaska, avalanches and earthquakes make pretzels out of train tracks and giant mountains put a strain on even the strongest engines. Deep in the state's Interior, Geo hops on the legendary Alaska Railroad and travels 450 miles through some of the most perilous and unforgiving terrain on the planet. He'll load coal at the Usibelli mine, join the rail gang in Denali, clear snow at wintry Moose Pass, shoot a cannon at the snowy mountainside to trigger a "controlled" avalanche, and visit the spooky, isolated end-of-the-line town of Whittier&all of this to find out what it takes to keep the railroad on track, and supplying Alaskans with what they need to survive.

DEADLY WINTER

Alaska's second largest city, Fairbanks, is infamous for its long, dark and bitterly cold winters. Situated in the center of the state, just 150 miles south of the Arctic Circle, Fairbank's winter temperatures can plunge as low as -50 degrees F. On the shortest day of the year, the sun rises around 11:00 AM and sets around 2:45 PM. That's less than four hours of daylight. How does a major city stay up and running in such an extreme environment? Geo finds out when he spends a week in the Fairbanks metro area during a winter cold snap. He joins the North Star Volunteer Fire Department and finds out how the bitter cold, homemade houses and lots of wood stoves create a situation rife for disaster. He'll go on a hunt for a roaming band of wolves plaguing the city's pet population. And he'll get a tough taste of daily life in Fairbanks, where even basics like getting fresh water and commuting to work are complicated challenges for the city's residents.

ELECTRIC LINEMEN

What does it take to keep the power on in a state where more than half of its people live off the grid, and where plunging temperatures, high winds and heavy snow loads can snap even the hardiest overhead electrical wires and transmission towers? Geo 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.