The second episode, “Raging Torrent,” follows kayakers Ben Stookesberry, Nouria Newman and Erik Boomer as they try to attempt a descent of the potentially impassable Chalupas River in the vast Ecuadorian jungle.Įpisode III, “Reaching for the Sky,” sees climbers Emily Harrington and Adrian Ballinger, who were married earlier this year, attempt to accomplish the first individual free climb ascent of a daunting free route on Pik Slesova.Īnd in the final episode, “The Great Unknown,” surfers Ian Walsh and Grant “Twiggy” Baker pursue never-before-ridden big waves along the remote West Coast of South Africa. The production team-which, including the edit teams, counted 60-plus people-underwent a rigorous testing regimen to ensure the athletes and filmers didn’t bring Covid into any of the locations and also had to navigate major ports of entry and travel bans. “It was quite the exercise in operational movements and getting everything coordinated,” Holt said with a chuckle. In April 2021, the team traveled to Alaska to film the first episode-but then the production of all four episodes stacked up as the crew traveled to Llanganates National Park in Ecuador, Pik Slesova in Kyrgyzstan and the West Coast of South Africa. When Covid-19 exploded a couple months later, filming was put on hold to ensure it could be done safely and successfully.
In January 2020, one of the first planned shoot locations was in China. But the team behind the series never could have imagined what was to come in those early planning days.