Welcome to the segment of our podcast called Disaster Strikes.

While our regular episodes focus on survival stories where people overcome incredible odds,

this biweekly segment examines adventure and situation that ends in tragedy.

These stories are meant to paint a clear picture of how quickly things can go wrong, and the

cascade of decisions often small and seemingly reasonable in the moment, they can lead to devastating

outcomes. By studying these incidents respectfully and thoroughly, we can learn valuable lessons

that might save lives. The stories are difficult, but the education they provide is invaluable.

I'm Casey McIntosh, and today we're going to place where only the most experienced dare to venture,

the death zone of a 24,000-foot peak, where every breath is a struggle, every decision is life

or death, and where the mountain shows no mercy to those who underestimate its power.

And I'm Julie Henningson. Today's story will take you to one of the most unforgiving places on earth,

over 23,000 feet above sea level, where the air is so thin it can barely sustain life, and where even

the smallest mistake can become a death sentence. Julie, when most people think of deadly mountains,

they picture Everest or K2. But today we're traveling to a peak that many consider even more

dangerous. Victory Peak in Kyrgyzstan. At 24,406 feet,

it's not just tall. It's brutal. And this isn't just any mountain. This is what mountaineers call

a snow leopard peak, one of five 7,000 meter summits in the former Soviet Union. Only about 700 people in all of history

have climbed all five. Fewer than 30 of them have been women. That's right. And Victory Peak

has earned a particularly savage reputation. It's the world's northernmost 7,000 meter peak,

which means it gets hit by some of the most extreme weather conditions imaginable. So what I'm

talking about is temperatures that can drop to minus 30 degrees Celsius, winds that can tear apart

your shelter, and avalanches that can bury entire climbing

...