Snowboarding Near Zermatt, Switzerland

Photograph by Tero Repo

Getting the Shot
“I really love moments when nothing is planned and then moments later you have captured something great,” says photographer Tero Repo. Repo has been photographing in Zermatt, Switzerland, frequently over the past few years, working with local guide and skier Samuel Anthamatten and
pioneering snowboarder Xavier De Le Rue. “I think every time we shoot near Zermatt with Xavier and Samuel, we get good results,” Repo says.
"This was one of those lines that just happened without a reason. The boys thought that it was good idea to hit that couloir. A few minutes after, I was shooting it. The next step was to shoot from a heli,” where Repo captured this photograph.
“My first thought was, Really? But knowing Xavier, I was comfortable to watch him through my camera,” recalls Repo. The terrain was Repo’s biggest challenge, and he managed balancing the line’s exposure, which was variable due to seracs overhanging the couloir. “It is hard to fight against Mother Nature, and you know you will lose that battle if you are not careful.”
Repo photographed from a helicopter with a Canon 5D Mark III and a 28-70mm, f/2.8 lens.

Skiing Mount Superior, Utah

Photograph by Jay Beyer

“It's always a challenge to wake up and climb in the dark, but the glow of sunrise makes it all worthwhile. These are the moments I live for,” says Utah-based, big-mountain skier Caroline Gleich of this moment on the south ridge of Mount Superior in the Wasatch Mountains. She and her
climbing partner, Nate Smith, had bootpacked up the couloir to gain the ridge, then skied down Suicide Chute. “The snow inside the chute was surprisingly smooth, chalky, and carveable,” recalls Gleich, who is building up her ski mountaineering skills. “The wind tends to buff out the snow within the line, keeping it in good shape, while the rest of the south face of Superior was the texture of frozen coral reef.”
“I love the quiet stillness—it's one of the few times in the day I find true mindfulness,” says the skier, who has been seen ripping on the cover of every ski magazine, including Powder. "Of course, I find the same Zen focus and mindfulness on the way down, but there's something special about the way up. It's slower and allows you to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other, especially on an exposed ridge line like this one.”
Getting the Shot
“The sunrise was amazing that morning,” says photographer Jay Beyer. After a slow winter in Utah, Beyer headed out with Gleich and Smith to cut fresh tracks and capture this photo. “I had this shot in mind, and that's why we woke up at 4 a.m. to go out on a little adventure," he says. “It hadn’t snowed in the last two weeks, so we were just out looking for some decent snow to ski."
With a brilliant sunrise chasing them, Beyer shot all day, but knew this was his image of the session. “This was the height of the sunrise, and so I had a feeling this would be one of the best photos.”
Beyer photographed with a Canon 1Dx and a Canon 24-70mm, f/2.8 lens.

Climbing Cliffbase, Hvar, Croatia

Photograph by Emily Polar

Getting the Shot
“I knew I had the photo when Kori Maughmer’s arm was out—it was the perfect spot in relation to the pitch of my camera and her position on the rock,” says photographer Emily Polar. Polar joined four friends traveling
and climbing in Croatia.
With a local friend and guide, Polar scouted Cliffbase, a climbing center on the island of Hvar, before the climb. “I knew sunset was the best time to shoot this location, so I scouted and saw that the profile of this particular route would be the best to capture the shape of Kori’s body against the ocean, and in such a stunning environment,” recalls Polar. “When Kori was shaking her arm out, I knew it would define her body and give more energy to the photo, so I was really excited that she took a break for those couple of seconds.”
Polar captured her photo just in time. “Right after I got the shot, the route started to move behind the corner and I lost sight of the climber. So I was really glad that up until that point I could see her profile perfectly.”
Polar photographed with a Canon Mark III and a 16-35mm, f/2.8 lens

Snowboarding in the Himalaya, Nepal

Photograph by Andrew Miller

Getting the Shot
"I think this is probably the highest and burliest spine line ever done on a snowboard," says photographer Andrew Miller. Miller had met snowboarder Jeremy Jones, one of our Adventurers of the Year, two weeks earlier while testing snowboards in Chile. Soon after, Miller heard from Jones. "I got a call from Jeremy asking if I had any interest in a trip to Nepal because a spot might open up. A few days later, he called back to see if I was still serious about going. And a few days after that, he called to tell me the spot was mine if I wanted it. I said 'yes.' "
During the 40-day expedition to try to ride two new lines above 20,000 feet in the Everest region of Nepal for his forthcoming film Higher, Jones's production crew mapped out and reconned several different options and angles on the glacier for shooting the wall, as well as the safest spots. "I setup two still cameras for two different options to make sure I nailed the shot and had photos to choose from—we knew this trip would be one, maybe two lines ridden total," recalls Miller. "I was shooting from a barbie angle, adjacent to the spine wall. We had to scramble up a rock face to the toe of the glacier, put our crampons on, and rope up for a three-hour walk across a broken glacier to set up our angle at 18,500 feet."
Knowing that the mountains might not be climbable or ridable, Miller and the team weren’t sure what they would encounter. "The snow conditions went from full Alaskan powder spines to rock-hard, sun-baked, barely edgeable snow in two days. This made the final descent pretty tough, and you can see the in the photo that Jeremy is just barely off belay, snowboarding with an ice axe in hand," says Miller.
Miller photographed with a Canon 5D Mark II and a Canon EF 400mm, f/5.6 lens.

Kayaking Waterfalls in Chiapas, Mexico

Photograph by Alfredo Martinez, Red Bull Content Pool

"This drop is actually tricky, as the entrance is absolutely blind," recalls kayaker Rafael Ortiz of this moment on Bolom Ajau, a series of five drops accessed from Agua Azul, a tourist site in Chiapas, Mexico. "You gotta trust a sequence of waves and finally a last curling one that will put you
in the right spot."
Ortiz dropped this 30-foot fall, then had a few seconds to figure out where he was before the next 50-foot drop. "It's of huge importance to be there with someone you trust 100 percent," Ortiz says, and in this case he was with his brother, Isidro, both from Mexico. "This is a special place to kayak because of the adventure it takes, the fact you are in the core of Zapatistan lands, the difficulty and character of the drops and, of course, the turquoise color of the water," Ortiz says.

Mixed Climbing a New Route in Helmcken Falls, British Columbia, Canada

Photograph by Christian Pondella, Red Bull Content Pool

“The waterfall is both the reason for the incredible spray ice and the main problem in that it sometimes sprays you,” recalls Will Gadd, the prolific climber, paraglider, and kayaker seen here who is always pushing the
boundaries of his sports. Gadd is making the first ascent of Overhead Hazards, which he calls the hardest mixed climbing route in the world, located in the ice-climbing wonderland of Helmcken Falls, British Columbia. “I have never been as cold as I was on this climb,” says the Canadian, who lives in Canmore, Alberta. "It was just brutal."
Learn more about the climb in an interview with Gadd.
Getting the Shot
“All the mist would instantly turn to ice on you, your camera gear, and the ropes,” recalls photographer Christian Pondella. Pondella has photographed many times with Gadd at Helmcken Falls, but this time the conditions were harsh. With temperatures dipping below minus 30ºC at night and only rising to minus 20º during the day, the duo faced extreme cold. “Working in those temperatures was incredibly challenging; just to stay warm, you had to constantly be moving,” says Pondella.
Familiar with the location and route, Pondella knew the shot he wanted, where the route finishes right next to the waterfall. “I knew that the shot was going to be looking down on Will, with a wide-angle lens showing the immense power of the waterfall and the big void below. To get his photo, Pondella rappelled in from the top of the cave about 15 meters. "It put me into the perfect spot to really capture the enormity of the waterfall and location. It also had me hanging pretty far from the edge of the wall because of how overhung the route was.” A seasoned and top industry photographer, even Pondella couldn’t avoid battling the elements while hanging in position. Dangling from his rope, Pondella thought to himself, Please don’t spin in circles! "Plus, I constantly had to keeping wiping the mist off my lens and the eyepiece of my camera so I could get a clean shot.”
ondella photographed with a Canon 5D Mark III and Canon 24-70mm, f/2.8 USM II lens.

Bouldering on Oahu, Hawaii

Photograph by Ryan Moss

“We found this boulder after being tipped off by a local hiker,” recalls Justin Ridgely, owner of the Volcanic Climbing Gym in Honolulu, Hawaii. “It's a short scramble through the jungle up a pig trail. The boulder is
about 14 feet tall, and the problem [the path that a climber takes] is called ‘All Boars Go to Heaven.’” This spot, which is known as Boarlomana, is canopied by a large banyan tree and surrounded by bamboo. “We shot this in the afternoon … the jungle is thicker there, which gives it that eerie light,” Ridgely says.
“I spend a lot of time climbing and exploring Oahu and the outer islands,” he says. “I've spent the past four years here developing the bouldering with the rest of the local climbing community. We've gone from two areas to about 44 in that time. The bouldering scene here is amazing, and the aloha spirit is very present in the climbing community.”
Getting the Shot
“I was standing on a tree with angry ants crawling all over me and was about 50 feet up in the air,” recalls photographer Ryan Moss. Moss found himself balanced precariously in the tree above the Boars Nest bouldering area, after Ridgely convinced him to take a break from editing for some climbing and photographing.
“There was a tree next to the boulder, and I was trying to get some new perspectives and angles,” Moss says. “I climbed the tree, but as I was doing so, realized I was walking through six major ants’ nests as I was climbing up the branches. The actual spot where I shot this photo from had the biggest ant nest of the six.”
The boulder is situated in a dark location in the bamboo forest, so Moss added light to make sure his fight with the ants was worth it. “I used an on-board flash in order to help with the lighting. All the other photos I shot that day turned out pretty average because of all the light being filtered through the forest. I was happy that this one turned out.”
Moss photographed with a Canon 7D and a 10-17mm lens.