♪ - [Narrator] We live in a remarkably beautiful world on a planet studded with features that inspire.

And around every corner, it almost seems as if nature is trying to better the best of her efforts.

Millions, and in some cases billions, of years in the making, these are her priceless crown jewels.

A spectacular treasury full to the brim with the world's greatest natural wonders.

♪ The Earth's surface, since it first formed, has changed dramatically.

Continents have shifted.

Oceans have come and gone.

And Earth's fragile crust has folded and buckled and faulted.

Most of these changes have been wrought by the climate, and the movement of the tectonic plates, great slabs of Earth's crust that float on its molten core.

And nowhere are these natural forces more evident than in the world's great mountains.

Mountains are an imposing reminder of just how dynamic our planet really is.

Shaped by epic forces over millions of years, they command our attention and awaken a sense of the sacred in us all.

♪ The Himalayas are one of the youngest mountain ranges in the world, separating the Indian subcontinent from the vast Tibetan Plateau.

They began forming when the Indian continental and Eurasian tectonic plates crashed into one another forcing the Earth's crust to buckle, like the bonnets of two cars caught in an extreme slow-motion, head-on collision.

Tectonic plates only move a few centimeters a year, so even though this is one of the youngest ranges on Earth, it's still taken many millions of years to produce the world's tallest mountains.

Razor-edged ridges, bare rock faces, and thunderous avalanches all attest to the powerful forces shaping the Himalayan terrain to this day.

The monsoonal rains, the incessant wind, and the movement of huge rivers of ice constantly scouring the mountain sides, creating deep valleys below.

The Himalayas are not one, but three parallel ranges that pass through six Asian nations.

A great arc of snow and ice stretching 2,400 kilometers from Pakistan to Bhutan.

(wind swooshing) The mountains are the source of several great rivers, including the Mekong and the Ganges, and are home to 10 of the world's 14 peaks over 8,000 meters high.

The tallest straddles the border between Tibet and Nepal: Mount Everest, or Chomolungma, as it's locally known.

(cart clattering) Penetrating the jet stream, it reaches a daunting 8,848 meters into the sky.

It's a beacon for adventurers the world over and can be climbed from either side... but the devoutly Buddhist Tibetan and Sherpa people, living in the shadows of the mountain, revere her.

(quiet chanting) In their world view, she is the mother goddess of the universe.

The Himalayas are worshiped by followers of no fewer than five Asian religions, so they attract millions of pilgrims every year.

Western trekkers may well be on a different quest, but many become aware of the sanctity that surrounds them as they trek towards the mountains the locals refer to as the throne-room of the gods.

Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first in the world to climb Mount Everest, and when they reached the summit in 1953, news of their feat reverberated around the world.

(speaking in local language) - [Man] He's very happy.

(laughing) - [Narrator] Their success inspired others to follow in their footsteps.

Now as many as 650 climbers reach the summit every year.

In the wake of Hillary and Norgay's achievement, the Sherpa people, who had survived as pastoralists and traders for 400 years, found themselves in new trades, working as porters and guides, and further supplementing their incomes by opening their homes to visitors.

♪ Initially, this collision of cultures must have felt as seismic as the titanic forces that created these giant mountains in the first place.

But in time, the Sherpa people living in the Khumbu Valley that leads up to the foot of Mount Everest, found some balance.

They settled into their new, quite Westernized way of life, all the while continuing to keep many of their traditions alive.

Many Sherpas are multilingual and world-renowned mountaineers in their own right.

Yet they adhere to the rites and rituals of Tibetan Buddhism that have sustained their culture for centuries.

♪ (horns droning, instruments clanging) To protect the cultural and natural values of the Everest region, the Khumbu Valley was declared a national park in 1976.

Three years later, it became a World Heritage Site... putting even greater pressure on the locals to curb the rapid deforestation that was occurring as they struggled to look after so many guests.

As the altitude increases en route to Mount Everest, the vegetation naturally thins... so resources become more and more limited.

Forests of blue Himalayan pine and silver fir give way to rhododendrons, then primulas and gentians.

Beyond 5,000 meters, it's just bare rock, snow, and ice.

There are animals that have adapted to the thin air and freezing temperatures of the alpine zone, like the elusive snow leopard, the musk deer, and yaks, both wild and domesticated.

Yaks are able to survive temperatures below minus 40 degrees.

They conserve heat with a thick fleece of coarse outer hair, and a downy undercoat.

(exhales) Yaks breathe rapidly, taking in large amounts of air.

They make the most of the oxygen content, that, at an altitude of 5,000 meters, is almost half what it is at sea level.

Domesticated yaks do a lot of the heavy lifting for expeditions bound for Mount Everest.

A trend that shows no sign of slowing down, for the world seems at least as obsessed with climbing the highest mountain on Earth, as it was back in 1953.

♪ With an average elevation of just 330 meters, Australia is not well known for its mountains, and yet, it has several ranges that sit comfortably among the world's greatest.

If not because of their stature, then certainly because of their age.

These mountains are a daunting one billion years old.

Mount Zeil is the highest point in the MacDonnell Ranges in central Australia.

At one point in its history, these mountains are thought to have been as lofty as the Canadian Rockies, over 14,500 feet high, but now eons of wind and rain have reduced them to a mere third that size.

(birds chirping) Further east, separating the vast inland from the coast, is the Great Dividing Range.

One of Australia's most important geographical features, it extends along the entire east coast of the continent, the source of the nation's longest rivers and its highest mountains.

It's home to an amazing array of animals that only exist in Australia, kangaroos and koalas, and hundreds of unique snakes and lizards.

(insects chirping) One particularly dramatic section of the Great Divide lies west of Sydney, the Blue Mountains.

The Blue Mountains are named for the intense blue haze that surrounds them, when viewed from a distance.

A consequence of oils released from the leaves of vast eucalypt forests.

Geologically speaking, these are not technically mountains, rather, a plateau, created by an uplift that occurred 170 million years ago.

The plateau slowly rose to its current height, as the tectonic plate beneath it shifted.

It was then dissected over the eons by rivers, and further eroded by wind and rain.

The Three Sisters, towering above the Jamison Valley, are an iconic natural wonder in their own right.

As are these rare Wollemi pines, rediscovered in 1994.

They are a living fossil that dates back to the time of the dinosaurs.

Incredibly, this single grove of pines escaped extinction, and to best ensure their survival, their location is a carefully guarded secret.

Another natural wonder lies deep in the heart of these magnificent mountains: the Jenolan Caves.

This is a huge and complex limestone labyrinth made up of 300 exquisite, often interconnected caverns.

♪ With their imaginations on overdrive, the first Europeans to explore the region in the 1860s gave some caves names that endure to this day.

The Devil's Coach House, Aladdin's Cave, and the amazing Temple of Baal.

Looking up into the ceiling of this natural cathedral, without the benefit of electrical lighting, they must have imagined they were seeing the wings of angels.

What they couldn't have known at the time, of course, was that they were exploring the oldest cave in the world.

Some of the formations, or speleothems, that decorate the walls are hundreds of thousands of years old.

But in 2006, geologists analyzing clay minerals within the cave were surprised to find they were 340 million years old.

In other words, the cave system formed eons before the mountains that now surround them.

The Temple of Baal is an active cave, with stalactites and stalagmites that are still forming, with shawls that glisten like freshly cooked bacon, and hundreds of long, hollow tubes, called straws.

Defying gravity, helictites wriggle sideways.

The water that helped these bizarre straws to form moved slowly and didn't drip, allowing minute crystals to deposit themselves in a wonderfully erratic way.

Perhaps the grandest limestone formations that occur in the Jenolan cave system are its floor to ceiling pillars.

But with a little creative lighting, even the smallest features leave a big impression.

Several hundred kilometers south of the Blue Mountains, snow gum woodlands and open alpine meadows dominate the Australian Alps, or Snowy Mountains... the highest reaches of the Great Dividing Range.

(horses whinnying) The structure of the mountains here is extremely complicated and features granites, schists, limestone and basalt.

Each formation corresponding to a particular event in Earth's geological history.

It all makes for a spectacularly varied landscape, renowned for its beauty, in any season.

(water babbling) (wind swooshing) (horses whinnying) The Snowy Mountains are closely linked to Australia's Colonial past.

But long before the horsemen and women of the High Country began grazing their cattle on the high alpine plains, aboriginal tribes would gather here every year for ceremonies, renewing ties with ancestors and kin.

Many of the larger rocks and peaks here are believed to reflect the deeds of ancestral beings who traveled through the land, reshaping its surface.

One place in the range has a deeper, spiritual significance, particularly for initiated elders who must send their spirits here when they die in order to enter their other world in the sky.

The highest peak in the Snowy Mountains is Kosciuszko, reaching an altitude of just 2,228 meters.

The area between Kosciuszko and nearby Mount Twynam is the only part of the Australian mainland that was scoured by glaciers during the last ice age, some 15,000 to 30,000 years ago.

Hikers flock to the region in the warmer months, and in winter, the whole area becomes a playground for skiers.

♪ In the early 1860s, Australia's humble slopes played host to some of the earliest officially organized ski races in the world, thanks to European enthusiasts who had ventured to the region in search of gold.

There's not much of that left in the soils today, but at sunrise and sunset, there's a wealth of color on the mountains that enrich in a completely different way.

(birds calling) ♪ ♪ Mountains cover approximately 1/5 of the Earth's land surface.

And the longest mountain range on Earth is in South America.

Running along the entire west coast of the continent, the Andes span seven countries: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.

Second only to the Himalayas in height, the average elevation here is just under 4,000 meters.

The Andes form a formidable barrier between the Pacific Ocean and South America and have an enormous impact on the climate.

Condors are the masters of the Andean skies.

They are the longest-living, and largest flying birds in the world, based on their weight and wingspan, which, in an adult bird, is well over three meters.

Taking full advantage of the strong, thermal air currents, their flight appears to be effortless, earning them a place in local folklore as a symbol of freedom or as messengers from the gods, providing a link between heaven and Earth.

♪ Some of history's most extraordinary civilizations have risen and fallen in these mountains.

And they all held their surroundings in the highest regard.

(wind swooshing) The Incas worshiped the Andes as both the home and manifestation, of their gods.

Even the river, tumbling through the gorge below, was held sacred.

To appease their gods, they built the city of Machu Picchu in the 1450s.

With its wide view of the surrounding mountains, this remote and challenging site was deemed the perfect place for their temples, for it allowed the Incas to worship their deities up close, hoping their prayers would lessen the severity of the things they believed their gods created and they themselves most feared, lightning and earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and the curse of infertility.

Abandoned since 1572, Machu Picchu remains one of the great man-made wonders of the world.

♪ Further south, the Andes rise dramatically above the Patagonian Steppe.

These barren, granite towers lend their name to the national park that protects them... Torres del Paine.

Punctuating the range, like three gigantic exclamation marks!

It's a place of wild, and austere beauty where windswept grasslands and thorny thickets provide an unlikely refuge for some unlikely animals, including Darwin's rhea, an ostrich-like flightless bird, and herds of wild guanaco, South America's tallest mammals.

Related to camels, they are swift and sure-footed but regularly fall prey to pumas, the apex predator in this region.

Sightings such as this are rare and as unpredictable as the weather.

(wind swooshing) The locals are often heard telling visitors who don't like the conditions, to come back in five minutes or so.

This changeability is a characteristic shared by many mountain regions in the world, including the Southern Alps of New Zealand... where four seasons in one day are standard fare.

♪ The Southern Alps form the backbone of New Zealand's South Island.

60% of the island is covered by mountains, with 23 peaks over 3,000 meters.

The tallest is Aoraki, or Mount Cook, at 3,724 meters.

It used to be a good 30 meters taller, but in 1991 a massive avalanche knocked about 14 million cubic meters of rock and ice from its top.

This is where Sir Edmund Hillary honed his mountaineering skills before heading off to conquer Everest and where he is honored to this day, inspiring a nation of adventurers.

It is incredible to think that for most of its geological life New Zealand did not have any mountains.

They've only emerged within the last five million years.

Remarkably young in geological terms, they are in a constant state of change.

The Southern Alps are one of the most rapidly rising mountain ranges in the world... but while the movement of tectonic plates continues to push these mountains skyward, rain, snow and ice are wearing them down.

Huge glaciers hang from the permanently snow-capped peaks, deepening and widening valleys as they push down the mountainsides, giving birth to rivers that braid their way through the landscape.

Along with the Chilean Andes, New Zealand's mountains are the only ranges that block the moisture-laden winds that circle the southern oceans.

The air that hits the Southern Alps must rise suddenly, cool rapidly, and shed its great load of water as rain.

(waterfall hissing) The deluge has helped shape the mountains and nourishes the unique plants growing on the lower slopes.

The forest floor here is constantly damp.

Carpets of moss hold huge volumes of water and recycle nutrients into the soil that help larger plants and trees to grow.

A whopping 93% of the plants that occur above the tree line are unique to New Zealand.

Most have either white or yellow flowers, rather than a whole crayon-box selection seen in other mountain meadows.

Botanists think this is because New Zealand's alpine plants didn't depend on birds and bees to pollinate and perpetuate their species, rather colorblind beetles, flies and moths.

So there was no advantage for New Zealand plants to produce more colorful flowers.

This isn't much of an issue for humans.

Given their interest in these mountains, most are too busy taking in the grander views!

♪ There are thousands of kilometers of hiking trails through the Southern Alps.

Tramping is so popular here, it's considered a national pastime... as is skiing.

With many of the grander slopes affording those who venture here a sense of unbridled freedom.

(snow mobiles humming) Larger expanses of snow-bound wilderness are best explored by snow mobile.

♪ Regardless of the mode of adventure, what's really on offer here is an opportunity for the locals to reconnect to nature and draw inspiration from the wonder of this enchanting mountain realm.

♪ ♪ The Rocky Mountains stretch from New Mexico to Canada, some 2,980 miles.

They are the result of not one, but three major mountain-building episodes that span a 170 million year stretch of Earth's history.

These mountains dominate the western side of the entire North American continent, and in some places are close to 500 kilometers wide.

(birds chirping) The Canadian Rockies, in particular, are renowned for their splendor.

Ice fields, lakes, alpine meadows, and no fewer than 50 peaks over 3,350 meters high.

Most have been chiseled by glaciers, pushing their way down the sides of these mountains, gouging deep valleys as they move through the landscape.

♪ (footsteps pattering) Some of North America's first peoples still venture to these mountains on vision quests... seeking power and guidance in a vision or dream or perhaps a direct sign from nature.

(bird screeches) These mountains are their temples, places of hope, where the great spirit speaks to those who seek his wisdom.

The Canadian Rockies are protected by seven national parks that provide a corridor for creatures great and small.

Bighorn sheep and mountain goats forage on the highest crags during the summer.

While black bears and grizzlies make a meal of the salmon that run upstream every year to breed.

It's tricky to tell the two species apart, as the fur of both comes in a variety of shades.

Black bears can be honey-colored, and grizzlies quite dark, and since their size is more relevant to their age and sex, rather than their species, that doesn't help much with their identification, either.

But with black bears far out numbering grizzlies in the Rocky Mountains, it's a safe bet to say your chances of seeing them rollicking in the mountain streams, teaching their cubs to fish, are much higher.

At 3,954 meters, Mount Robson is the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies, the centerpiece of Mount Robson National Park.

But other, equally striking mountains stand out in the range, including Blackcomb and Whistler.

A gondola spans the distance between these two iconic peaks, offering mountain-lovers a shortcut to the rooftop of British Columbia.

Not for the faint hearted, the 4.4 kilometer construction includes the world's longest unsupported span.

With the cars dangling some 436 meters above the valley floor, it's also the highest chairlift in the world.

(wind swooshing) ♪ Eagles and other big raptors, like condors, have perfected the art of thermal soaring in mountainous regions all over the world.

Air currents that rise up the side of mountains create updrafts that birds can ride to gain extra altitude, a technique called ridge lift, or slope soaring.

In the Swiss Alps, humans take advantage of this phenomenon too.

But a far more celebrated mountain breeze here is the foehn, a dry, warm wind that occurs in the lee of the mountain range.

The foehn is valued for the warm and partly cloudy weather it brings to the region in winter, offering respite from the cold and fog.

But it's also dreaded by many residents, who insist the wind makes them feel ill, bringing on headache and mild depression.

♪ ♪ (mooing) Fortunately, the alpine meadows for which the Swiss Alps are renowned are bursting with natural, botanical cures.

The use of herbs as medicines and remedies is deep-rooted in European traditions.

Certainly Otzi, the Iceman, Europe's oldest naturally mummified corpse, used medicinal herbs to treat his many ailments.

Birch fungus with antibacterial properties was found amongst his possessions.

Still popular today, mountain arnica thrives in the alpine meadows of Europe.

Its oil has been used for centuries as a painkiller.

St.

John's Wort is used to treat depression.

And for those suffering from love-sickness?

Well, you really can't beat a little edelweiss.

Just remember to look but not touch.

Forever famous, thanks to the Sound of Music movie, this delicate alpine flower was once picked to the point of extinction by young men to give to their sweethearts.

But since it's been protected, the very symbol of all things alpine in Europe is flourishing once again.

The Swiss Alps are part of a larger range that arcs its way across much of Europe.

There are 82 peaks over 4,000 meters here, and most of them lie on or near Switzerland's border.

They rise like giant turrets from this natural fortress wall, but the Matterhorn is easily the most recognizable.

This colossal, pyramid-shaped mountain, 4,478 meters high is said to be the most photographed in the world.

It straddles the border between Switzerland and Italy and can be climbed from both sides.

Either way, it's a technically and physically demanding exercise that leads, quite literally, to a breathtaking view.

♪ By their very nature, mountain ranges are imposing... creating natural and strategic borders.

Often providing a precipitous stage for the theater of war.

One of the most treacherous battles of World War I, waged between the Italian and Austro-Hungarian armies from 1915 to 1918, took place in the mighty Dolomites.

250 million-year-old mountain range in the northern Italian Alps.

It's difficult to imagine a more challenging combat zone, and the sort of conditions both armies endured as they fought on this unlikely front line made their efforts all the more heroic.

The sheer rock cliffs here are among the highest limestone walls in the world, but these were breached by infantrymen seeking the best positions from which to defend themselves and their respective nations.

In subzero temperatures, they dug miles of tunnels and caverns in the glacial ice... and hauled their arsenals up sheer mountainsides.

They even used the terrain itself as a weapon, triggering avalanches to crush enemy troops as they attempted to advance.

Remnants of the conflict between the Austrians and Italians can still be found at Lagazuoi in the Dolomites, trenches and sniper galleries blasted into the rock, holes left by cannonballs and bullets and crosses built from battlefield debris.

(wind swooshing) Mountains have provided a stronghold for many an army throughout history.

But they have also been a landform of choice for those seeking a refuge for the soul.

♪ For thousands of years, hermits, from all manner of religions, have lived in seclusion from society... meditating or praying in caves that over the course of many centuries became elaborate monasteries and temples.

(vocalizing) ♪ The Pindus Mountains, which form the spine of Greece, appear to be a perfect place for spiritual refuge.

They are cut by deep, inaccessible gorges that offer plenty of scope for those wishing to live and worship in seclusion.

But despite the spiritually uplifting terrain of Pindus, it's nearby Meteora that's captured the attention of the faithful since the 11th century.

At first, hermits made use of small caves eroded into the sandstone formations, but orthodox Christian monks, who arrived in the 14th century, established an entire monastic community on top of the cliffs.

Since the 1920s, steps have made the ascent to the complex far easier, replacing the ropes and ladders used by the monks of old.

Even today's rock-climbers, with all their designer clothing and safety equipment, are challenged by this extraordinary landscape.

So imagine how difficult it must have been for the hermits who first scaled these near-vertical pillars, to live in isolation from the world.

To say nothing of those who followed in their footsteps, in order to build these extraordinary hermitages.

The monasteries are between 500 and 700 years old, but the heavenly columns beneath them, were formed a daunting 60 million years ago.

They are made of sandstone and conglomerate that, over time, have been transformed by earthquakes, wind and rain.

Regardless of whether they are drawn by the geology or theology, travelers and pilgrims alike are overwhelmed by the grandeur of Meteora.

Wrought by nature and humanity's eternal quest to commune with the divine.

They are a man-made wonder, sitting on top of a natural one.

(birds chirping) ♪ From the rugged peaks of the Sierra Nevada to the gently rounded ridges of the Appalachians, America's mountains are remarkably diverse.

And they aptly reflect the free spirit of the people who chose to live among them... (panting) particularly in the wilds of Alaska.

(panting) It takes a special kind of person to live in a place where the winters are perpetually dark, and the sun never sets in the summer.

Where temperatures drop below minus 45, and soar into the mid 30s.

(dogs barking) They are stoic, hardy and unbridled in their love for the last frontier they call home.

(plane engine humming) (birds chirping) The crowning glory of Alaska's wild landscape is the 650-kilometer-long Alaska Range, where the highest mountain is also the highest peak in North America: 6,190 meter Denali, or Mount McKinley, as it was formerly known.

When measured from the base of the mountain to the summit, Denali is taller than Mount Everest, and according to NASA, it's still growing by about a millimeter per year.

Every year, hundreds of climbers attempt the peak... but by far, the majority of visitors are attracted by the diversity of wildlife and the relative ease with which many species can be seen.

(exhales) (wind swooshing) The national park that surrounds Denali was created 100 years ago specifically to protect the animals living on the slopes and in the valleys of the Alaskan Range.

And to this day, herds of Dall sheep, Denali's most well-known mammal, roam freely through the sub-alpine terrain.

They use the steep slopes here for feeding and resting and the crags and rocks to elude predators, such as black bears and grizzlies... (growling) two species that have the run of the entire Denali wilderness.

(wind swooshing) Mountains the world over are magnificent to behold.

But they also offer experiences that are as uplifting as their topography.

(fluttering) They are metaphors for our highest aspirations.

(vocalizing) And whether we choose to walk through life's foothills, or climb to the summit of our dreams, this rugged realm between heaven and Earth fills us all with a sense of wonder!

♪ ♪