Adventures on the Edge

This is Extra Point: Fit Cult's weekly guide on what to watch, listen to and read in the world of fitness culture.

Watch

Edge of the Earth. A four-part documentary series, Edge of the Earth follows the thrilling expeditions of four groups of adventure athletes. In the first episode, snowboarder Jeremy Jones travels to Alaska to attempt the first descent of Mount Bertha in Glacier Bay National Park.

The remaining installments feature kayakers who try to run the remote Chalupas River in Ecuador, mountain climbers who attempt the first free climb of a granite wall in Kyrgyzstan and big wave surfers who face massive swells in South Africa. Episode one is streaming now on HBO and HBO Max.

Listen

Wesley. Lyman Wesley Bostock Jr. was an activist turned athlete who became one of the best hitters in Major League Baseball. This eight-part serialized podcast from Fox Sports explores Bostock’s life, career and 1978 murder in Gary, Indiana, along with the shocking verdict that followed. The first four episodes of Wesley premiere on July 18 across all major podcast platforms.

Read

The Disposable Man: A Western History of Sherpas on Everest. There were close to 700 summits during this year’s Everest climbing season thanks to a good weather window and while mountaineers are celebrated for reaching the top, those who help them get there are often overlooked.

Grayson Schaffer addresses this with an in-depth look at the dangerous work of Sherpa teams. “There’s no other service industry in the world,” he writes, “that so frequently kills and maims its workers for the benefit of paying clients.”