Extreme

In the aftermath of the tragedy that claimed 11 lives, the surviving climbers leave K2 behind. As they do, they’re walking into a worldwide media frenzy.

Everyone wants to know what happened? What went wrong? And most of all - was it worth it?

A heartbroken Cecilie Skog tries to put her life back together and forge a new future.

Her fellow climbers deal with the trauma and fallout of what’s happened. Some of them will never return to the mountains again.

But will Cecilie?

Featuring climbers Cecilie Skog, Lars Nessa, Wilco van Rooijen, Pasang Lama, Fredrik Sträng, Eric Meyer, Chhiring Dorje Sherpa and Kim Jae-Soo. Also featuring June Yoon as the voice of Kim Jae-Soo.

Special thanks to Fredrik Sträng for providing archival footage.

Host and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

As dawn breaks on a new day, it’s August 2nd 2008. There are nine climbers who are all either trapped, injured…or unaccounted for.

Dutch climber Wlico van Rooijen finds himself lost and alone on the mountain. He’s spent one night out in the Death Zone. Can he survive another?

The rest of the group is up against the clock as they mount a bold rescue mission. But as they battle for the survival of their fellow climbers, recent tragic history is about to repeat itself.

The results will be catastrophic.

Featuring climbers Wilco van Rooijen, Pasang Lama, Lars Nessa, Eric Meyer and Kim Jae-Soo. Also featuring June Yoon as the voice of Kim Jae-Soo as well as the journalist and author Amanda Padoan.

Special thanks to Fredrik Sträng for providing archival footage.

Host and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

What was first a tragedy now morphs into a full blown catastrophe. In the aftermath of the avalanche, stranded climbers are battling their way back to Camp.

What they don’t know is that they’re searching for a path down K2 that no longer exists.

Some will risk it all to climb down in total darkness, while others wait out the night on K2’s slopes.

Rescue missions are being planned. Who can hold on long enough for help to reach them?

Featuring climbers Wilco van Rooijen, Pasang Lama, Chhiring Dorje Sherpa, Eric Meyer and Kim Jae-Soo. Also featuring June Yoon as the voice of Kim Jae-Soo.

Special thanks to Fredrik Sträng for providing archival footage.

Host and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

When Cecilie Skog met Rolf Bae, it was love at first sight. A whirlwind romance quickly followed, as they climbed the world’s tallest mountains, shoulder to shoulder.

Now recently married, she and Rolf wanted to tick off a K2 summit before settling down and starting their family.

But as they descend, darkness is falling - and before long they’ll find themselves caught in the crosshairs of a devastating avalanche.

Featuring climbers Cecilie Skog, Lars Nessa, Eric Meyer, Fredrik Sträng and Wilco van Rooijen.

Special thanks to Fredrik Sträng for providing archival footage.

Host and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

In the chaos of the Death Zone, this group of climbers begins to splinter apart. Some have turned back but others have caught Summit Fever. They want to push upwards at all costs. Even if time is against them.

Cecilie Skog aims to make history as the first Norwegian woman to stand on the top of K2. Standing with the world at her feet, up above the clouds, it will feel like a dream come true.

But she has no idea of the nightmare that is about to unfold. Everything is about to change. And everyone is in terrible danger.

Featuring climbers Cecilie Skog, Lars Nessa, Eric Meyer, Fredrik Sträng, Pasang Lama and Kim Jae-Soo. Also featuring June Yoon as the voice of Kim Jae-Soo, as well as journalist and author Jennifer Jordan.

Special thanks to Fredrik Sträng for providing archival footage.

Host and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

Once you get beyond 26,000 feet, your body can no longer acclimatise to the extreme high altitude. This is called the Death Zone.

Cecilie Skog and her fellow climbers are in the Death Zone, their eyes trained on the top of K2. They’re approaching one of the most dangerous parts of the mountain - but things aren’t going according to plan.

As the climbers scramble to keep their summit dreams alive, things take a devastating turn.

Featuring climbers Cecilie Skog, Lars Nessa, Eric Meyer, Fredrik Strang, Predrag Zagorac and Chhiring Dorje Sherpa.

Special thanks to Fredrik Sträng for providing archival footage.

Host and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

The climbers at Base Camp come up with a plan to help everyone reach the top. Professional Adventurer Wilco van Rooijen and his team take one route. Cecilie, her husband Rolf and many of their fellow climbers take another.

But while nearly everyone reaches Camp 4, over 25,000 feet in the air, one vital member of the group is in terrible danger. He needs rescuing - but there’s nobody around to help. Or is there?

Featuring climbers Cecilie Skog, Lars Nessa, Eric Meyer, Predrag Zagorac, Wilco van Rooijen as well as journalist and author Amanda Padoan.

Special thanks to Fredrik Sträng for providing archival footage.

Host and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

It’s the summer of 2008. Cecilie Skog, her husband Rolf Bae and their teammates are aiming to become the first Norwegians to reach the summit of K2.

When they arrive at Base Camp, they find it full to bursting with climbers from all over the world - Serbia, France, the U.S.A., South Korea, Nepal and more.

But bad weather is keeping everyone from reaching the top of this mammoth mountain. Each of the climbers is impatiently waiting for their chance to summit.

All they need are a few days of perfect weather. Will it come before it’s too late?

Featuring climbers Cecilie Skog, Lars Nessa, Fredrik Strang, Eric Meyer, as well as author and journalist Jennifer Jordan.

Special thanks to Fredrik Sträng for providing archival footage.

Host and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

New episodes are released on Mondays. But if you’re in the UK, you can listen to the full series now, first on BBC Sounds https://bbc.in/3ybDcHO

A mountain of trouble. In 2008, 30 climbers took on K2. Over two disastrous days, 11 of those people would lose their lives. This is the story of what really happened.

K2 is a perfect pyramid that pierces through the clouds of Northern Pakistan. 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 August 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?

Extreme: 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 Melhman Petrzela

In the wake of the steroid ring’s downfall, the headline-grabbing prosecutions combine with sports scandals and anxieties about steroids making it into high school locker rooms. Lawmakers decide to take action. The Steroid Control Act of 1990, spearheaded by none other than then-Senator Joe Biden, promises to deal with steroids once and for all.

But the USA already had a taste of what it felt like to get ripped - really ripped. And it’s hard to stuff the genie back in the bottle once it weighs 240 pounds of pure muscle.

Today, as millions of Americans take steroids with the aim of bulking up, host Natalia Mehlman Petrzela reckons with the enduring legacy of the steroid ring, and an era which transformed our ideas about fitness and beauty.

Featuring former bodybuilders William Dillon, Shawn Ray and Sandra Blackie; Mike Zumpano, co-author of The Underground Steroid Handbook; Professor of Sports Studies at Stirling College-Chengdu University, Daniel Rosenke; Dr Harrison Pope, Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School; and Daniel Supnick, a former special agent with the US Customs Service.

Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

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Episodes are released weekly on Mondays. If you’re in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode, a week early, first on BBC Sounds https://bbc.in/3ybDcHO