Introducing Extreme: Peak Danger

Life Changing

BBC

Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.6 • 735 Ratings

🗓️ 10 February 2025

⏱️ 5 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Natalia Mehlman Petrzela introduces Extreme: Peak Danger.

A mountain of trouble.

In August 2008, around 30 climbers took on K2. Over 2 disastrous days, 11 of those people would lose their lives. This is the story of what really happened.

Sitting on the border between China and Pakistan, K2 is a perfect pyramid that pierces through the clouds. It looks like a kid’s drawing of a mountain…but this terrifying peak is anything but child’s play.

Newlyweds Cecilie Skog and her husband Rolf Bae loved climbing mountains almost as much as they loved one another. In the summer of 2008, they embarked on a honeymoon like no other, when they decided to climb K2. What happened next would change their lives and the lives of everyone around them…forever.

A devastating avalanche scatters high altitude climbers across K2’s steep slopes. Life and death rescue missions quickly get underway. Who can be saved… before time runs out?

Historian and podcaster Natalia Mehlman Petrzela returns with a sky-high story of human vs nature, and of survival against all the odds.

What does it really take to push yourself to the brink of human possibility? How does it feel to stand with the whole world at your feet? And is it ever worth risking death… in order to feel alive?

Peak Danger is Season 2 of Extreme, the BBC podcast about those who chase the impossible... who strive for superhuman status and refuse to accept that life has any limits. Every season tells an unforgettable, action-packed story about people who’ve pushed their minds and bodies to the very edge – but at what cost?

Host and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela Producers: Leigh Meyer & Amalie Sortland Editor: Josephine Wheeler Production Manager: Joe Savage Sound Design and Mix by Nicholas Alexander, with additional engineering from Daniel Kempson. Original Music by Adam Foran, Theme music by Adam Foran and Silverhawk Executive Producers: Max O’Brien & Craig Strachan Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke A Novel production for the BBC

Transcript

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0:00.0	Eleven climbers appeared to have died on the world's second highest mountain K2.
0:06.0	It was one of the deadliest days in mountaineering history.
0:10.0	Rock falls, avalanches.
0:11.0	Huge pieces of ice. All are big enough to kill you.
0:14.0	He just flew out into Devoid and he was gone.
0:17.0	How did it all go so wrong?
0:19.0	And is it really worth risking death to feel alive? Why would
0:23.2	somebody pay to go to a place called the death cell on a vacation? Extreme, peak danger. With me,
0:29.9	Natalia Melman Petrazella. Listen to the full series now first on BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:40.0	Hi, I'm Natalia Melman Petrazella.
0:42.7	Just stopping by this feed to tell you about my new BBC podcast, Extreme Peak Danger.
0:48.5	In 2008, some 30 climbers took on K2.
0:52.2	Eleven of them would never return home. This is the story of what really happened,
0:57.4	over two disastrous days on one of the world's most dangerous mountains, as told by those who survived.
1:04.2	And it ponderes some existential questions. What does it really take to push yourself to the brink of
1:09.5	human possibility?
1:15.8	And is it ever worth risking death in order to feel fully alive?
1:17.5	This is the trailer.
1:24.1	If you like what you hear, and I hope you do, you can listen to the full series right now, first on BBC Sounds.
1:29.6	What does it feel like to stand on top of the world?
1:37.8	In the summer of 2008, 18 climbers found out when they reached the peak of the second tallest mountain on earth, K2.
1:40.5	The most beautiful mountain in the world.
	...

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