Brigitte Muir's dream to climb the seven highest mountains on each of the seven continents took much longer and cost her more than she expected, but she also discovered more about herself than she could have imagined (R)

Brigitte Muir fell in love with the outdoors and adventure as a teenager in Belgium.

Initially she was exhilarated by going caving, deep in the earth, and then rock-climbing, until she made her way closer and closer to the heavens and became a mountaineer.

In her thirties Brigitte became fixated on a big dream — to climb the seven highest mountains on each of the seven continents.

To achieve what she set out to do, she pushed her mind and her body to their limits, and was even left for dead near the summit of Mount Everest.

Brigitte lost loved ones along the way, but also found some unexpected truths about herself.

This episode of Conversations explores epic adventures, explorers, expeditions, extreme conditions, the Himalayas, Nepal, the lives of Sherpas, grief, death, natural disasters, avalanches, nearth death experiences.

Anton Howes, “Arts and Minds: How the Royal Society of Arts Changed a Nation” (Princeton UP, 2020)