Peak Danger: 1. Welcome to Base Camp

Extreme · 2025-01-20

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 PetrzelaProducers: 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 StrachanCommissioning Editor: Dan Clarke A Novel production for the BBC

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

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?

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?

Where can you listen?

Episodes