Red Bull TV is set to release The Horn, a new original series chronicling the life-saving daily work of air rescue team Air Zermatt. Providing a real-life glimpse into the team and their harrowing rescues, The Horn sheds light on the most virtuous aspects of putting your own life at risk when saving others.
Launching On Demand globally on Red Bull TV on October 17, the six-part original docuseries is shot through the first responders’ eyes and set in the shadows of the most treacherous terrain of Switzerland’s Matterhorn mountain. In each episode of this action documentary series, viewers ride side-by-side with the first responders to experience rescues–from a desperately injured man who fell nine stories inside a dark crevasse to a completely immobile ski racer lying hurt on the freezing slopes.
The Matterhorn’s 14,692-foot crag draws the world’s most daring winter sport athletes, as well as families and tourists who can underestimate the danger behind its beauty. The captivating cinematography of the series brings the viewer into the unforgiving mountain and provides unprecedented access to its most inhospitable domains.
Native to the region, the elite rescuers of Air Zermatt know every rock and boulder. They dedicate their careers to helping others, courageously risking their personal safety with a level of caring that elevates the human spirit. With families of their own, these men are as compassionate as they are skilled, but when standing on the fragile edge of a crevasse or piloting a helicopter through thick mountain fog, they focus squarely on the rescue.
“The Horn was an opportunity to make something beautiful that speaks to the human condition,” commented Red Bull TV exec producer Josh Cole. “It isn’t a show just about mountain rescues, but the rescue scenes are catalysts to learn about our characters, turning a helicopter rescue show into a meditation on what it means to be human.”
The pilots, medical team and rescue specialists featured in The Horn include the following heroes:
- GEROLD BINER, CEO & PILOT: Gerold’s grandfathers were mountain guides, and he worked up from window cleaner to CEO at Air Zermatt, becoming one of the world’s best helicopter pilots along the way. Gerold has logged over 12,000 rescue flight hours, including missions on Everest. With a love for flight – and for his fellow man – Gerold declares he has “the best job in the world,” and running the business side of Air Zermatt doesn’t stop him from taking on perilous missions
- ROBERT ‘ROBBIE’ ANDENMATTEN: A fifth-generation mountaineer whose father climbed the Matterhorn over 850 times, Robbie has scaled The Horn about 70 times himself. But flight is his true calling (“an eagle, that’s what you want to be”), and he’s fearless. Watch this family man and ace pilot – who has logged more than 4,400 rescue missions over 25 years – push the limits to save lives.
- SAM SUMMERMATTER, CHIEF PILOT & FLIGHT OPERATIONS MANAGER: Chief pilot Sam has world-leading skills in flying a helicopter, his dream job ever since watching rescue flights as a child growing up in the region. Today a father with a son of his own, after Sam’s daredevil youth and a life-changing emergency landing, he’s cautious and precise – because “every mistake could be your last.”
- PATRICK WENGER, FLIGHT PARAMEDIC: Inspired to become a paramedic by witnessing his brother’s near-death experience, Patrick’s skills are a lifeline in those tense moments on the mountain and in the air before the helicopter reaches the hospital. He rides a motorcycle to work and says he likes the smell of jet fuel, but with patients he’s a gentle giant, full of compassion that also makes him a natural-born mentor to the next generation of flight paramedics.
- DOMINIK IMHOF, FLIGHT PARAMEDIC: Talented and passionate, Dominik is a paramedic in training, and he thinks it’s “the perfect job” for him. He has a deep respect for nature, hiking to the backcountry for hunting and outdoor photography when he’s not on duty. Dominik is learning fast from his mentor Patrick, but as one of Air Zermatt’s newest members, will he be able to keep it together in life-or-death situations under extreme conditions on The Horn?
- SIMON ANTHAMATTEN, MOUNTAIN GUIDE: One of the world’s best climbers, Simon is the mountain specialist the team trusts for rescues at the limit of what’s possible. He’s a top athlete whose mind adapts quickly to critical situations, and although he’s on call 24/7, he never cracks. With a thirst for adventure, Simon has traveled the globe. Descending 30 meters into “the trap” of a crevasse to save a life is second nature to a man whose greatest passion is exploring the unknown.
The events of the series are the result of unprecedented access to alpine search and rescue operations, as well as to the rescuers’ lives behind the scenes. Advances in technology including the use of GoPro cameras allowed the filmmakers to capture previously unseen views of the mountain, the missions and the real-life heroes, offering a purer form of documentary filmmaking.
Punch Drunk Pictures’ Rob Hill developed The Horn for Red Bull TV, and it is produced by Original Media, with Brian Mandle, Charlie Marquardt and Lisa Bloch as executive producers.
Red Bull TV is distributed digitally across mobile phones, tablets, consoles, OTT devices and Smart TVs.
