Courageously, She Made it Happen

The Discovery Channel, expanding on its success with "Planet Earth," has made a new television special, "Frozen Planet," which will make its U.S. premiere on March 18 at 8 p.m. Four years in the making, employing 38 camerapersons working in the harshest conditions on the planet for a combined 2,356 days of filming — this seven–part series is a portrait of earth's polar regions. 

Vanessa Berlowitz (above) was one of the producers of "Frozen Planet." Here are some of the feats this daring woman accomplished while working on the series:

Spent three weeks filming female polar bears and their young cubs — while she herself was five months pregnant — in Svalbard, an archipelago in the Arctic.


Camped on the Greenland ice sheet and flew dangerous aerials — the helicopter was nearly sucked into a giant waterfall in the ice. 


Spent 2 1/2 months filming the most extensive library of Antarctic aerials to date, including flying around the crater of a live volcano and capturing the first aerials of the South Pole base.


Lived aboard a Royal Naval icebreaker, HMS Endurance, for four months to film penguins, whales and spectacular Antarctic scenery.