Peak Danger: 8. Only The Mountain Knows

Summary

Peak Danger: 8. Only The Mountain Knows — Detailed Summary

Extreme Season 2 by BBC delves deep into the harrowing events of the August 2008 K2 expedition, uncovering the relentless pursuit of human limits and the tragic costs that often accompany such endeavors. Episode 8, titled "Only The Mountain Knows," masterfully narrates the series of events that led to one of mountaineering's darkest days, focusing on personal stories, rescue operations, and the enduring impact on survivors.

---

Introduction to the K2 Expedition

The episode opens on August 4, 2008, setting the stage for what would become a catastrophic period on K2, the world's second-highest mountain. Positioned on the China-Pakistan border, K2 is renowned for its treacherous conditions and challenging climbs. This expedition, comprising around 30 climbers, embodied the spirit of pushing human limits, but fate had a different plan.

---

The Onset of Disaster

A devastating avalanche struck the team, leading to immediate chaos and loss. Amidst the turmoil, notable climbers began to face severe conditions:

• Wilco Van Rooyen's Emergency Evacuation
  As the avalanche unfolded, Wilco Van Rooyen, a Dutch climber and adventurer, was airlifted to a Pakistani hospital with severe frostbite.

  "All my toes were frozen, there was some kind of glass and now it's going to defreeze and then the pain will start." — Wilco Van Rooyen [01:23]

• The Korean Team's Dilemma
  The Korean team, led by Mr. Kim, contemplated a helicopter evacuation. This decision was met with mixed reactions from fellow climbers, some of whom felt that the resources could instead support families of those lost.

  "We were already mentally exhausted. In the midst of losing people who are more precious than brothers, we didn't have the strength to walk for a week." — Mr. Kim [01:58]

Despite initial hopes for a miraculous recovery, the grim reality set in as more climbers failed to return, leaving only a fraction of the original team to navigate the perilous descent.

---

Personal Stories Amidst Tragedy

The narrative weaves through the personal experiences of several climbers, highlighting the emotional and psychological toll of the disaster:

• Cecilie Skog and Rolf Bae's Tragic Loss
  Newlyweds Cecilie Skog and Rolf Bae embarked on their honeymoon with aspirations of conquering K2. Their bond strengthened through shared challenges, but the expedition ended in tragedy with Rolf's untimely death.

• Lars Nessa's Reflection
  After ensuring Cecilie’s safe return, Lars Nessa, a Norwegian climber, remained behind. His reflections reveal the profound loss felt by the team:

  "We had lost Rolf, so the fact that we had summited and also had a really good time together as a team before the accident was meaningless." — Lars Nessa [03:29]

• Frederik Strang’s Emotional Turmoil
  Swedish climber Frederik Strang describes his solitary moments post-disaster, grappling with grief and the burden of survival:

  "There was this humongous rock... I just fucking cried for an hour or so alone around this panorama, this vista of jagged, stunning peaks around us." — Frederik Strang [04:19]

---

Rescue Efforts and Media Frenzy

As survivors attempted to descend, rescue operations intensified. Helicopters became a crucial lifeline, yet their presence sparked debate over resource allocation. The media swiftly descended upon the scene, turning the personal tragedy into a global spectacle:

• Media Intrusion
  Frederik Strang recounts the overwhelming media presence, which added pressure and obscured the survivors' ability to process their trauma:

  "Once the media started picking up our private satellite phone numbers, they were quite aggressive. None of us was media trained." — Frederik Strang [06:34]

The relentless media coverage caused additional anguish for families awaiting news of their loved ones, often without a clear account of the events that transpired.

---

The Aftermath: Coping with Loss

The episode delves into the profound personal impacts on those who survived:

• Cecilie Skog’s Journey Back Home
  Returning to Stavanger, Norway, Cecilie grapples with overwhelming grief and public scrutiny. She confronts the unbearable reality of losing her husband and the expectations placed upon her:

  "I was scared that people would come up to me and tell me that they have thought about me. I didn't want people to look at me." — Cecilie Skog [11:26]

  The weight of responsibility and the absence of her adventurous partner left her questioning her purpose and the path forward.

• Frederik Strang’s Haunted Return
  Frederik finds himself tormented by memories, struggling with fear and the imperative to move beyond his trauma:

  "I experienced 10,000 more fear at home than I did on the mountain... we have to move on." — Frederik Strang [14:15]

• Pasang Lama’s Grief and Continued Resilience
  As the climbing Sherpa for the Korean team, Pasang Lama mourns the loss of his cousin and a family friend. Despite his grief, he returns to the mountains, channeling his sorrow into assisting others and honoring the fallen:

  "I was feeling like tiredness, mentally tortured. I wanted to come back home, wanted to meet my family." — Pasang Lama [15:08]

---

Rebuilding Lives and Seeking Purpose

Survivors find unique ways to cope and rebuild their lives:

• Cecilie’s Quest for Healing Through Adventure
  In a bid to reclaim her sense of self, Cecilia embarks on arduous expeditions across Greenland and Antarctica. These journeys symbolize her struggle to find freedom and purpose amidst loss:

  "When you look at the world map, it doesn't take very long to find the biggest and widest area. That's Antarctica. I wanted to cross the whole continent to be out there and to pull my sled for three months." — Cecilie Skog [23:39]

• Wilco Van Rooyen’s Determination to Overcome Adversity
  After surviving severe frostbite and losing multiple toes, Wilco faces the bleak prognosis of never climbing again. Undeterred, he embarks on a remarkable recovery, pushing past physical limitations to reclaim his passion:

  "I think what fascinates me about the mountain environment... it's what you make of what happens during that experience that defines both you and the experience." — Wilco Van Rooyen [18:28]

  Wilco's relentless spirit leads him to achieve feats that defy expectations, including running a half marathon and summiting an 8,000-meter peak despite his injuries.

---

Enduring Legacy and Reflections

The episode concludes by reflecting on the enduring impact of the K2 tragedy:

• Lingering Grief and Memories
  Cecilia continues to live with the profound loss of Rolf, often confronting her grief through vivid dreams and nostalgic memories.

  "So many years, so many nights... He came back." — Cecilie Skog [27:37]

• Community and Continued Losses
  The climbing community remains tight-knit yet plagued by further tragedies, underscoring the inherent dangers of their pursuit:

  "I consider Lars as one of my really, really good friends... he unfortunately died two years ago in an avalanche." — Lars Nessa [24:17]

• Philosophical Insights on Adventure and Sacrifice
  Through the survivors' stories, the episode explores the complex relationship between human ambition and the perilous pursuit of glory:

  "But in learning about this story, I've also been struck by the fact that a mountain like K2 holds so many truths at once... it's about small trips." — Natalia Melman Petruzella [25:55]

---

Conclusion: The Duality of Extreme Endeavors

"Only The Mountain Knows" encapsulates the duality of extreme mountaineering—the exhilarating quest for greatness juxtaposed with the ever-present shadow of mortality. The episode poignantly illustrates how individuals navigate the aftermath of disaster, seeking meaning and healing in the face of unimaginable loss. It raises profound questions about the human spirit's resilience and the lengths to which one will go to find purpose and redemption.

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• "All my toes were frozen, there was some kind of glass and now it's going to defreeze and then the pain will start." — Wilco Van Rooyen [01:23]

• "We were already mentally exhausted. In the midst of losing people who are more precious than brothers, we didn't have the strength to walk for a week." — Mr. Kim [01:58]

• "There was this humongous rock... I just fucking cried for an hour or so alone around this panorama, this vista of jagged, stunning peaks around us." — Frederik Strang [04:19]

• "Once the media started picking up our private satellite phone numbers, they were quite aggressive. None of us was media trained." — Frederik Strang [06:34]

• "I was scared that people would come up to me and tell me that they have thought about me. I didn't want people to look at me." — Cecilie Skog [11:26]

• "I experienced 10,000 more fear at home than I did on the mountain... we have to move on." — Frederik Strang [14:15]

• "When you look at the world map, it doesn't take very long to find the biggest and widest area. That's Antarctica. I wanted to cross the whole continent to be out there and to pull my sled for three months." — Cecilie Skog [23:39]

• "I think what fascinates me about the mountain environment... it's what you make of what happens during that experience that defines both you and the experience." — Wilco Van Rooyen [18:28]

• "So many years, so many nights... He came back." — Cecilie Skog [27:37]

---

Final Thoughts

"Only The Mountain Knows" is a compelling exploration of human endurance, the bonds forged in extreme adversity, and the lingering shadows of loss. Through meticulous storytelling and authentic personal accounts, the episode invites listeners to reflect on the profound costs of chasing the impossible and the indomitable will to find meaning beyond tragedy.

Transcript

[Narrator]

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the uk.

[Advertiser]

Scam Factory, the explosive new true crime podcast from Wondery exposes a multi billion dollar criminal empire operating in plain sight. Every suspicious techs you ignore masks a huge network of compounds where thousands are held captive and forced to scam others under the threat of death. Follow Scam Factory on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

BBC Sounds Music Radio podcasts.

[Wilco Van Rooyen]

We're looking at helicopter evacuation sometime Tomorrow morning on.

[Narrator]

The 4th of August 2008. Two helicopters appear on the horizon. They weave and wind through the snow topped peaks of the Karakoram range. The late summer sunlight glints against the spinning blades. They're heading for K2. Dutch climber and professional adventurer Wilco Van Rooyen is airlifted out to a local Pakistani hospital to begin treatment for his severe frostbite.

[Wilco Van Rooyen]

All my toes were frozen, there was some kind of glass and now it's going to defreeze and then the pain will start.

[Narrator]

The Korean team is also planning to leave by helicopter. This gets mixed reactions from the other climbers. Some balk at the expense. They say that for what they're spending on this ride, they could provide for some of the lost workers families. The climbers should walk out how they came in. But for Mr. Kim, the leader of the Korean team, the expedition that suffered the greatest loss of life, it's not that simple.

[Mr. Kim]

We were already mentally exhausted. In the midst of losing people who are more precious than brothers, we didn't have the strength to walk for a week.

[Narrator]

Shortly after Wilco leaves, the Korean team all pile into their own aircraft, kicking up dust and icy mist as they ascended. As the remaining climbers have been busying themselves with dismantling tents and packing up gear, there's been a tiny shred of hope that maybe, just maybe, a miracle might happen.

[Wilco Van Rooyen]

There were several people that were unknown and missing. There was this hope that day were headed down under their own steam some other way.

[Narrator]

So far no more bodies have been recovered. And with each passing day it becomes increasingly depressingly clear that those still lost are gone forever. One by one, the team set off, backpacks full heavy feet crunching against rock and ice. After making sure Cecilia Skog made it off the mountain safe and sound, Norwegian climber Lars Nessa stayed behind. Now walking out, there's nothing more to distract his thoughts.

[Lars Nessa]

We had lost Rolf, so the fact that we had summited and also had a really good time together as a team before the accident was meaningless.

[Narrator]

Among Those making the six day trek out from base camp are American climber Dr. Eric Meyer and his teammates.

[Wilco Van Rooyen]

In that process, we were able to download our feelings and sort of rebond as a team in a way that was important to each one of us. We had experienced a lot of tragedy.

[Narrator]

Swedish climber Frederik Strang was the last of Eric's teammates to leave. He made the first part of his trek alone. About two hours in the reality of it all comes crashing down.

[Frederik Strang]

There was this humongous rock, beautiful, almost perfectly squared like a cube. I sat down beside this rock and I just fucking cried for an hour or so alone around this panorama, this vista of jagged, stunning peaks around us. And I had to just make amends and peace with the notion that we had lived through a war so. And that we were the survivors. We would never hear the voices of those who lost their lives on K2. The only thing we could do was to honor their names.

[Narrator]

Rolf Baja of Norway, Dren Mandi of Serbia, Jehan Baek and Kareem Mehraban of Pakistan, Kim Hyo Gyong Hwang Dong Jin and Park Kyung Hyo of South Korea, Gerard McDonnell of Ireland, Hugues d'Aberet of France and Jumik Bote and Pasang Bote of Nep.

[Frederik Strang]

I cried so much that there was no more left. And then I just left and I caught up with my friends. We came to this gorgeous valley where there are patches of grass and wildflowers and I sat down on my knees and I pressed my face into the dirt and I sniffed the dirt and the flowers and the grass and it was like coming back to life.

[Narrator]

But this moment is short lived because with each step that the climbers take, they get further away from K2 and closer to a full blown international media circus.

[Frederik Strang]

Once the media started picking up our private satellite phone numbers, they were quite aggressive. None of us was media trained. This was beyond our capacity.

[Narrator]

News organizations were lapping up every detail and were spilling it across the world for all to see. Which included, of course, family members of the lost climbers.

[Frederik Strang]

You're thinking that you're doing everyone a favor by telling the truth.

[Narrator]

But these climbers were exhausted and traumatized. They didn't have perfect recollections and some even had conflicting accounts. There is no one truth in situations like these. For family members back home desperate to understand exactly what happened to their loved ones, it was agony.

[Frederik Strang]

We were not prepared for the scale of the tragedy. No one was.

[Narrator]

Mountaineering's darkest day.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Climbers are feared to have died.

[Narrator]

The toll is now 11 dead, swept to their deaths on the second highest mountain in the world.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

It was a terrifying moment for those corporations.

[Narrator]

It's thought they were caught in an avalanche during their descent.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Everybody in the world knows that there are many climbers lost on the mountain.

[Narrator]

I'm Natalia Melman petruzella from the BBC. This is Extreme Peak Danger episode 8 Only the Mountain Knows.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Coming home from K2 is very difficult.

[Narrator]

In August of 2008, Cecilia Skog takes her first few steps back into her small blue house in Stavanger, a city on the southwest coast of Norway. She's lived here for five years, but as she walks through the doorframe now, it must be like walking into a stranger's home. Maybe the colors are less vibrant or the space seems smaller, but it's not so much what is there as who isn't. The trip to K2 began as a honeymoon, but Cecilia is returning home a widow.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Rolf. He made people around him think that everything was possible. And now, suddenly, it was so hard to get out of bed in the morning because there was nothing to wake up to. I didn't have a normal job. My job was to go away on expeditions and guide with him. So why would I get up in the morning?

[Narrator]

With the news of the tragedy and of Rolf's death making headlines all over, Cecilia now has to deal with having the eyes of the world on her. The judgment weighs heavy.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

It felt so hard to take responsible for a decision that me and Rolf made together, of climbing one of the most dangerous mountains in the world and standing alone and taking that full responsibility. Alone without him was so hard.

[Narrator]

Flashes of TV newscasts cut through the darkness of Cecilia's empty home.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

The worst climbing disaster in the history of the world's second tallest mountain. Norwegian newlyweds were part of the team trying to scale the mountain. But sadly, Rolf was one of those who died. People expected from me that I was prepared from this outcome. How could I not be prepared to lose my husband? And I understand people thinking that, but that's not what we're prepared for.

[Narrator]

Her team's focus had always been about safety, not about the risk. They'd arrived at K2, their bags full with oxygen tanks and 9,000ft of rope.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

We prepared for all the centimeters of climbing. I think it's impossible to prepare for something so hard to lose someone. How can you prepare for something like that?

[Narrator]

No matter how much she might want to, Cecilia knows she can't avoid the world forever. Her life has to go on. But now even going to the supermarket feels completely overwhelming.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

My sorrows and My mourning were very public. I was scared that people would come up to me and tell me that they have thought about me. I didn't want people to look at me. I felt like it was my fault that I was 32 year old widow.

[Narrator]

Did that ever happen? Were there specific interactions where people did come up to you or you had difficult conversations?

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Yes, people did come up to me quite a few times. And it was really difficult because then when I finally got into that store and maybe even picked out a liter of milk and was standing in my line to pay for it, I built up so much confidence to be able to be there in that line and then being recognized as that widow. And how did you get down from the mountain? Or can I give you a hug? It was so hard because right then I just wanted that liter of milk. I didn't want to be that person.

[Narrator]

The enormity of her loss doesn't just consume Cecilia's present.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

It was difficult to think about the future because me and Rolf, we thought that we would share our future. And now thinking about the future, it was. It was very hard because he was not in it anymore.

[Narrator]

There's a beach just under 10 miles away from Cecilia's house. On days where the prying eyes and hushed whispers in the supermarket aisles become too much to bear, Cecilia drives out there.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

It was easier to breathe when I was outside and I sat there in the sand dunes.

[Narrator]

I imagine Cecilia in this moment, digging her hands into the grainy white sand, the salty wind whipping her curly hair across her face. She's looking out at the ocean, wondering where the hell she goes from here.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

What I can think about is the next wave, it's gonna land on that beach somewhere. And that's the perspective I can have right now.

[Narrator]

As Cecilia struggles to put the broken puzzle pieces of her life back together, her fellow climbers from that fateful K2 expedition are also trying to rebuild. When he returns to Sweden, Frederick Strang finds himself haunted by the memories.

[Frederik Strang]

I experienced 10,000 more fear at home than I did on the mountain, which is ironical and crazy. I could wake up soaking wet in my bed, crawling to the toilet, puking because I was trembling with fear. But we have to move on. I don't think that any one of these poor souls who left us would want us to go around living life in fear and in regret and in remorse.

[Narrator]

Pasang Lama, the climbing Sherpa for the Korean expedition, is deep in grief over losing his cousin Jumik and his family friend Big Pasang.

[Pasang Lama]

I was feeling like Tiredness, mentally tortured. I wanted to come back to home, wanted to meet my family.

[Narrator]

But pretty much right away, he's back working the mountains once again. For Mr. Kim, the leader of the.

[Pasang Lama]

Korean team, immediately we went for the Manasolu Mountain.

[Narrator]

Pasang Lama uses some of the money he makes from these trips to help Jumik and Big Pasang's families. He even climbs with Shiring Dorje from the American team, who also continues working on the mountains.

[Pasang Lama]

Never give up the mountain. Mostly I do. Nepal.

[Narrator]

Kiting Shiring had helped Pasang down the deadly bottleneck section when Pasang had lost his ice axe. The media heralds Shearing as a hero for this. They also praise the actions of Irish climber Jair McDonnell and Nepali Sherpa Pemba Galje. But Pasang finds this hard to stomach. He doesn't see this as a story about heroics.

[Pasang Lama]

In the case of Ketu, there should not be heroes. You know, like there is a disaster. People died. How people can be hero, I don't understand. You know.

[Narrator]

Mr. Kim, Pasang Lama's boss, does think there's a hero in this story, although it's not the one the media has latched onto.

[Mr. Kim]

The person we should really be calling a hero is Jumi Xerpa, who stayed with our team members until the end. That's what makes him a true hero.

[Narrator]

Mr. Kim meets with the families of Big Pasang and Jumik, both of whom died trying to save others on the mountain. Jumik's widow has just given birth to their first son. Mr. Kim says he offered his condolences and a sum of money to help them bear the loss. Mr. Kim also relives his own tragic loss often when he thinks of his three fallen teammates.

[Mr. Kim]

When someone dies in an accident, they have no memories. The living bear the pain, even though it's impossible. I sometimes wish I could go back in time and that it had been me instead of them.

[Narrator]

Dr. Eric Meyer also returns to the mountains with his good friend Shiring Dorje. Sherpa Shiring is even there when Eric proposes to his girlfriend on the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

[Wilco Van Rooyen]

I had to struggle to reach and locate the ring that was somewhere down in the bottom of my pack. When I'm on bended knee on the summit of Kilimanjaro, and thankfully I didn't lose the ring or forget the words, you know, one of the big thrills of my life was having that all unfold with such great friends like Siri.

[Narrator]

You might like me find it kind of shocking that someone would voluntarily return to the mountains after living through such a tragedy. But for Eric, it's more important to look forward, not back.

[Wilco Van Rooyen]

I think what fascinates me about the mountain environment, about extreme environmental endeavors, is how can you adapt to the circumstance. It's not so much what happens, it's what you make of what happens during that experience that defines both you and the experience. And whether that's going to be meaningful going forward in life or whether that's going to kind of weigh you down later in life. And really that's at the heart of what adventure really means, right?

[Narrator]

And then there's Wilko van Royen. After his miraculous survival, he suffered severe frostbite to his feet. When he was airlifted to the hospital, nine of his toes had to be amputated.

[Wilco Van Rooyen]

They said, you won't run anymore, you won't climb anymore because you have no toes. So I was crying in my bed believing those guys.

[Narrator]

But this is Wilco Van Rooyen we're talking about. The man who survived two nights in the death zone. He's not prepared to give up step by step.

[Wilco Van Rooyen]

I was coming out of my wheelchair fight for the first steps to go to the toilet, running my first half marathon, climbing my first 4,000 meter peak, finally climbing my 8,000 meter peak.

[Narrator]

Wilco is not going to spend the rest of his life missing out on the mountains.

[Wilco Van Rooyen]

If you have to miss something, the best part you can miss are probably your toes.

[Advertiser]

Scam Factory, the explosive new true crime podcast from Wondery, exposes a multi billion dollar criminal empire operating in plain sight. Every suspicious techs you ignore masks a huge network of compounds where thousands are held captive and forced to scare scam others under the threat of death. Follow Scam Factory on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcast.

[Narrator]

It's February 2009, six months after Rolf's death on K2, Cecilia finds herself back on the beach. In the distance. Ahead of her, gentle waves are rolling in and out.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

In February in Norway, it's still pretty dark most of the day. But this was a day when that early sun hit my face and I could feel the warmth, just a slight little bit of warmth on my cheek and also at the same time, like the wind lifting my curls. And I was like, am I allowed to think that this is nice because I'm sitting here and I'm supposed to be mourning all the time. But I couldn't help myself but enjoy that one day when I was sitting there in the sand dune hiding a Little bit. It just got to me that how much I miss to just be inside a tent with the walls blowing in the wind. And that's when I thought. Now I ask two of my best friends if they want to come and cross Greenland with me. That was a big change. Suddenly I could walk on that beach, run on that beach, and even run these really steep sand dunes. I could go to bed in the evening and send a text to my friends. Wow, good job today. Because we started to pull tires on the beach together. We were working hard to be strong to cross this big glacier. 600 kilometers.

[Narrator]

In May of 2009, Cecilia and her two friends make the 1800 mile journey to Greenland. The trio spend the month skiing across the vast frozen tundra, hauling their kit behind them.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Being there on Greenland, standing in front that heavy sled, you have to make yourself big and strong. Being back where I used to belong made me feel good again.

[Narrator]

This taste of adventure, this tiny spark ignites something in Cecilia.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Coming home from Greenland, I wanted more.

[Narrator]

Cecilia flips through an atlas looking for a new world she can escape to.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

When you look at the world map, it doesn't take very long to find the biggest and widest area. That's Antarctica. I wanted to cross the whole continent to be out there and to pull my sled for three months. It's a feeling of freedom.

[Narrator]

In January of 2010, Cecilia completes the world's first unassisted crossing of Antarctica. By the time she's done, she feels more like herself again. Over the years, Cecilia has kept in touch with her teammate Lars Nassa.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

I consider Lars as one of my really, really good friends. He will always be that. He's very special to me.

[Lars Nessa]

Now I live at the farm where I grew up. I work as a rescue paramedic on an ambulance helicopter. I have a wife and two beautiful kids.

[Narrator]

Cecilia has kids now too, two daughters. Sometimes they all meet up and the kids play together. But more often than not, when she and Lars do see each other, it's not a happy occasion.

[Lars Nessa]

Unfortunately, we have met in funerals mainly. Rolf's death was the first of many among friends in the climbing community.

[Narrator]

Their teammate Oystein is one of them.

[Lars Nessa]

He unfortunately died two years ago in an avalanche.

[Narrator]

Cecilia is forever changed by what happened on K2.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

I used to love ice climbing before, but when I hear the ice break when I climb, I am back there on K2, so that's too difficult. I felt that this doesn't belong to me anymore.

[Narrator]

Now as a mother, Cecilia's life is a lot Different.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

Sometimes I can miss being in a tent in Antarctica or just on my way somewhere. But just very briefly, because I want to stay close with my kids. I don't want to go away. And now my life is about just small trips.

[Narrator]

I've always been fascinated by this wild, unique world and the people who inhabit it. But in learning about this story, I've also been struck by the fact that a mountain like K2 holds so many truths at once. In one way, its lofty heights and stunning natural beauty offer a total escape from society's demands. A way to drop the mundane daily routines and reconnect to the primordial spirit of adventure. It's the same risk taking impulse that has pushed human beings across vast oceans and up into outer space. But in other ways, Ketu is inextricably tangled up with the world as we know it. Where glory often goes to those with power and influence on the backs of those without it. Up in these mountains, the stakes are life and death. With every step you take, you're pushing yourself to the brink. But within that danger is also opportunity to challenge yourself. To literally rise to the occasion, to push past your limits in a way you didn't think was possible. Your reward? If you make it to the top, you get to stand with the world at your feet. Not gonna lie, I'm still never planning to scale one of these peaks. But I will say, after making this series, I can appreciate why those who've chased life this high up can't stay put with the rest of us down at sea level for too long. It's been over 16 years since the events on K2. But for Cecilia, they're ever present.

[Natalia Melman Petruzella]

So many years, so many nights. Over and over again, I've had this same dream that Rolf found a way out from the mountain. He came back. In this dream, I always come back to my parents in law's house. I open the door and they're like, Cecilia, you have to come and see who's here. Yes, now it's happening. He came back. And I run up the stairs to the kitchen where we always were, around this round table. And then he's there until I wake up.

[Narrator]

Peak Danger is produced by Lee Meyer and Amalia Sortland. The editor is Joe Wheeler with additional production from Keith. Ken Young Park Sound design and mix by Nicholas Alexander. Original music by Adam Foran. Our theme music for Extreme Peak Danger is by Silverhawk AKA Cyril Poirier and Adam Foran. Our production managers are Cherie Houston and Joe Savage. Story development by Amalia Sortland. Our commissioning editor at the BBC is Dan Clark. Max O'Brien and Craig Strachan are executive producers. And I'm Natalia Melman Petruzella, your host and executive producer. Extreme is produced by Novel for the BBC. If you've enjoyed our show, we'd be really grateful if you'd recommend it to your friends, your family, strangers on the street, anyone. And if you haven't heard it already, make sure to check out season one of Extreme. Another gripping story of humans pushing their bodies to the limit. This one's called Muscle Men where I tell you the sweat drenched story of the biggest steroid dealing ring to rip through 1980s America. It's the 1980s and a young bodybuilder named William Dillon leaves rural Illinois behind for sun drenched California in search of a super sized American dream to get absolutely jacked. When you're muscular, when you're big, you get respect. But he's about to discover the secret to why so many of the bodybuilders around him are getting ripped quick. This is the story of the biggest illegal steroid operation the United States had ever seen. Literally hundreds, if not a thousand needles came down like the heavens were falling. I'm Natalia Petruzella from BBC Radio 4. This is Extreme Muscle Men. Listen first on BBC Sounds.

[Advertiser]

Scam Factory, the explosive new true crime podcast from Wondery exposes a multi billion dollar criminal empire operating in plain sight. Every suspicious text you ignore masks a huge network of compounds where thousands are held captive and forced to scam others under the threat of death. Follow Scam Factory on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.