‘Edge of the Unknown With Jimmy Chin’ Examines the Real Stakes of Adventure Athletes (VIDEO)

It’s hard not to wince watching Free Solo, the Oscar-winning doc about rock climber Alex Honnold ascending Yosemite’s 3,000-foot El Capitan vertical face — without a rope — in 2017. The film’s directors, Jimmy Chin and E. Chai Vasarhelyi, now look to the habits of other adventure athletes in Edge of the Unknown With Jimmy Chin, a 10-part series (which moves to 10/9c September 6 and appears on Disney+ September 7).

(Credit: National Geographic/Teague Wasserman)

“What drew me to telling these stories is the commitment level,” says Chin, who is an executive producer with Vasarhelyi. “We want to show people what’s really happening behind [some epic adventures and] understand what the stakes are.”

Viewers will spend time with Sarah McNair-Landry, a second-generation polar explorer who attempted to cross the Northwest Passage during a brutal winter. And there’s big-mountain skier Angel Collinson, who survived a fall that sent her tumbling 1,000 feet down the side of an Alaskan mountain. Then there’s Chin himself, a professional mountain athlete whose encounter with a Class 4 avalanche transformed how he approaches life.

Despite harrowing moments such as these — some of the footage will leave you wondering if an effects team was behind it all — the spotlighted athletes continue striving to master their pursuits. It’s that spirit Chin really wanted to capture in Edge of the Unknown.

“A big part of the series is also highlighting the joy of what we do,” he says. “It’s those transcendent experiences [that only come when you] explore the edge.”

Watch an exclusive sneak peek below!

Edge of the Unknown With Jimmy Chin, Series Premiere, Monday, September 5, 9:30/8:30c, National Geographic

This is an excerpt from TV Guide Magazine’s 2022 Fall Preview issue. For more first looks at fall’s new shows, pick up the issue, on newsstands now.