Mountain: Life at the Extreme

Episode one focuses on The Rockies: the spine of North America, running for 3,000 miles from the southern United States to the edge of the frozen north of Canada.

This beautiful wilderness of snow-capped peaks and hidden valleys is the home to some of the most revered animals on the planet: the grizzly bear, wolf, bison and elk. As the cougar hunt in abandoned ranches, the wolverines search the deep snow for food and grizzly bears hunt in the high mountain meadows, we follow these elusive winter specialists.

The highest mountain range on earth is home to extraordinary animals and remarkable ancient cultures. In the depths of winter, snow leopards creep into isolated mountain villages in search of food. In hiddenvalleys, bizarre-looking monkeys huddle for warmth in a frozen forest. Ancient Buddhist monasteries have age-old rituals creating beautiful works of art made from mountain sand and athletes compete in the gruelling Everest marathon. Strange and exotic creatures live in the Himalaya - the chiru, with the warmest wool in the world, snakes bathing in hot springs and wild yak competing in their annual rut. Breathtaking photography reveals a lost world of surprises in the latest landmark wildlife series from the BBC.

The Andes is the longest mountain range in the world and home to astonishing hidden worlds, extraordinary animals and remarkable people. A female puma and her three cubs hunt in the mountains of the frozen south. Spectacled bears search for water on scorched mountain forests and the descendants of the Inca gather in an ancient ceremony to build a bridge made from woven grass. High in the cloud forest, the newly discovered shape-shifting frog baffles scientists with its superpowers and in the Atacama desert - the driest place in the world - strange reptiles battle for access to precious water. This is the mountain range of surprise and wonder.