1. Climbing in Kootenay National Park, Canada
“They are magical and lovely,” says ice climber Jen Olson of the ice stalactites and stalagmites seen here in Caveman cave located a half-hour hike from Upper Haffner Creek in Kootenay National Park, British Columbia. “It’s so fun to take pictures of them, as well as the gigantic hoar frost on the roof of the cave.”
Olson is seen during a difficult section on a route called Neolithic. “This is a big move, and when you release the lower tool, your body responds by swinging past horizontal to compensate. Controlling the swing is the crux of the route,” says Olson, who lives in Canmore, Alberta, and works as a mountain guide and climbs competitively. “On this route, you have all your weight on your arms for long periods of time, so the clock is ticking. You need to keep moving to keep holding on.”
Getting the Shot
“Jen had already been out to Haffner earlier in the year and mentioned that the ice stalagmites were really big - maybe too big. I had to see for myself,” recalls photographer Paul Bride. When Bride arrived at the cave he found himself battling harsh shadows, wet conditions, and fluctuating temperatures. “The difference in temperature within the mouth of the cave and ten feet outside was incredible. My camera kept fogging up and I was getting soaked from the dripping water.”
As Bride explored the cave to find the images he wanted to shoot, he saw this frame. “Looking back, I remember thinking how cool the composition looked through my viewfinder. I felt like it could be a special image.”
When sun began to burn off the morning clouds, Bride knew he needed to get his shot before shadows overtook the scene. “By hiding the forest behind the stalagmites, taking a reading from the natural light on the wall behind Jen, and a second reading from the ice stalagmites, I was able to create a balanced look throughout the image.”
Bride photographed with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II and 16-35mm, f/2.8L USM lens.
2. Surfing Namotu Island, Fiji
"I hope I get under this," was the thought going through surfer Sean Woolnough's mind as he rose on this wave, named Love Shacks, off Namotu Island, Fiji. Woolnough had just paddled out for the first wave, missed it, and turned around to face the one in the picture. "I got sucked over the falls and rag-dolled over the reef," the Australian says.
Woolnough was not fazed by his precarious position. "I saw that the wave was quite large, but all was good because I had been in that position many times before," says the Sydney local who has been surfing for 30 years. "I surfed the rest of the day getting some bombs and some more floggings."
Getting the Shot
“Nothing out of the ordinary, other than driving a Jet-Ski with US$5,000 worth of camera equipment not in a water housing into huge waves,” says photographer Stuart Gibson of taking this shot. On this “average day,” Gibson captured a photo of Woolnough floating atop a massive wave that has earned Gibson a spot in the prestigious Red Bull Illume Photo Contest’s Top 50 finalists list.
After watching this break with Woolnough for years, the duo got the glassy-wave day they were looking for. “I shot about 10 or 15 photos of this wave. I was kind of worried for Sean, but I knew he's good in big waves. I was more focused on taking a cool photo of a wave that we have chased for so long.”
Gibson photographed with a Canon EOS 7D and 300mm lens.
3. Climbing El Chorro Gorge, Spain
"It was very cold and windy and damp, but we were in a really memorable location," recalls climber Blake Herrington (in green) seen here with Scott Bennett at 150 feet above the water in the El Chorro Gorge, Spain. The 400-foot, fully-bolted sport-climbing route is on the limestone Africa Wall.
On their six-week trip to Spain, Herrington's closest calls came not on rock walls, but while driving. "We had some driving adventures on narrow streets in the big cities - and in Basque country, where all the road signs are written in the Basque language," says Herrington, who lives in Leavenworth, Washington.
Getting the Shot
“I had been eyeing this part of the gorge for the better part of two weeks," recalls photographer Forest Woodward. “To get this shot, however, I had a very specific vision for the frame I wanted, so I positioned myself accordingly and stayed there for the duration of the climb.”
“For me this was one of those moments that you hope for as a photographer,” says Woodward. Fortunately, he had the opportunity to get the shot he’d been planning for. “I watched as Blake and Scott became specks, framed by the steep converging lines of the gorge and the river below. Working in unison their smallness echoed my own feelings of awe for the majesty of the gorge, and in the moment I snapped the shot it felt right.”
Woodward photographed with a Canon EOS 5D Mark III and a 16-35mm, f/2.8 lens.
4. Surfing Monument Beach, Australia
“This moment was pure joy,” says surfer Dion Atkinson of getting in the barrel of the popular Monument wave break located along the Great Australian Bight in South Australia. “This wave is a very dangerous, heaving barrel very close to the cliff and on an extremely shallow reef. I was extremely focused at coming out of the other end!” This unique wave should only be surfed by expert surfers. “I have spent a lot of time here, and it is not for the faint-hearted when the wave starts to get some size,” say Atkinson, whose main goal is to qualify for the ASP World Tour.
"There almost isn't a day that goes by over here when you don't get to share a few waves with a seal or a pod of dolphins,” says the 19-year-old Aussie who lives in Adelaide and has been surfing for a decade. “I love it when they are around - especially when the dolphins surf the waves with you and jump all around you.”
And, in Australia, marine life is followed by its apex predator - sharks. “The region is known for sharks, and there have been a few fatal attacks in the area in the past 10 to 15 years. But I always tell myself I have more to worry about on the drive over than a shark in the water bothering me,” says Atkinson.
Getting the Shot
“In South Australia the thought of sharks is nearly always present,” says photographer Andrew Shield. “This coastline is famous because of the great white shark documentaries filmed here. This day the swell was as big as the wave can handle and was beyond the skill of average surfers, but these are the conditions that pro surfers, like Dion, crave."
To get a photo that captured the wave, surfer, and coastline, Shield went wide. “I chose to shoot this session with a 10.5mm fish-eye lens to try to get inside the barrel with Dion and also to include all of the rock formation,” he says.
“I was feeling good and fairly confident of having shot some decent images when a huge seal popped up next to me. After getting over my initial shock, I felt relief that the huge grey shape was not a shark! This was short lived, as the seal started swimming at me and barking at me!” recalls a surprised Shield.
Shield photographed with a Nikon D300 and a Nikon 10.5mm, f/2.8 lens.
5. Kayaking the Stikine, British Columbia, Canada
“I was glad I made it through without getting beat down by this monster,” says kayaker Gerd Serrasolses on paddling these rapids, known as the Hole That Ate Chicago, in the Grand Canyon of the Stikine River in British Columbia, Canada. Serrasolses did a total of four runs down the canyon and claimed the second descent of the Site Zed rapids, becoming the second person to run all the rapids on the legendary river. “The Stikine is considered the Everest of kayaking and is one of the best big-water runs in the world,” says Serrasolses. “It offers a three-day trip down one of the most beautiful canyons you can imagine, through wild and untouched nature, with the best rapids you can think of. It's a paradise.
“Most important of all though, I had a great time with all my friends and discovered one of my favourite runs of all time!” Serrasolses was joined by other members of the Adidas SickLine Team.
Getting the Shot
“I knew that if Gerd swam, he wouldn't be able to get out before V Drive, another of the crux rapids on the Stikine, and only a hundred meters downstream,” recalls professional kayaker and photographer Barny Young. Shooting from a small rocky outcrop along the river, Young was able to get close to the rapids and paddler thanks to a keen understanding of how kayakers navigate rivers such as this. “I anticipated having Gerd in the foreground of the photo punching this huge hydraulic at its weakest point. Instead, he was thrown off-line by a large lateral upstream and dropped into the meat of the hole, backwards,” says Young.
“From a photographic perspective, this frame is great, as the size of Gerd in comparison to the hole gives justice to how big it actually is," says Young. Towering rock walls line the Stikine, drowning out most sunlight before it reaches the canyon’s rushing river. “Often, the lack of sun can be an issue due to the sheer-walled nature of the river. Normally in this situation I would lower my shutter speed to let in more light. On the Stikine, however, the river and subject are moving so fast that this could lead to motion blur, so I find myself lifting my ISO to account for this,” he says.
Young photographed with a Canon 550D and 18-55mm lens.
6. Snowboarding Near St. Bathans, New Zealand
"It was a pretty surreal moment, and I can say strongly that I have never heard of anyone else snowboarding here before," says New Zealander Mitch Brown, seen near St. Bathans, an old gold- and coal-mining town in central Otago, New Zealand. The two-time Olympian is doing a tail-grab jump over some of the clay banks that surround a reservoir called the Blue Lake.
"With so much snow at the start of the 2013 Southern Hemisphere winter, our mission was to find an unusual place to go snowboarding and make the most out of the amazing snowfall," says Brown of this trip with photographer Tim Pierce. "We achieved more than we set out to do." Brown spends his winters in New Zealand's top ski town, Wanaka, then chases snow around the globe.
Getting the Shot
“It is very unusual to see this much snow in St. Bathans,” recalls photographer Tim Pierce. When the storm hit the region, Pierce jumped into action. “This was the frame I had in mind. I headed to this location, as I had seen mountain bike photos from around the lake and wanted to shoot a snowboarder there,” says Pierce.
Working with snowboarder Brown, Pierce took advantage of the morning light. “It was quite challenging getting into position to shoot this, hiking in deep snow, up slippery clay cliffs, with a lot of camera kit.” The duo targeted a curvaceous gully. "It had a lot of amazing shapes and forms and a good line for Mitch to snowboard," recalls Pierce. "We found a little roller that Mitch could pop off, and he completed the image with a stylish tweaked tail grab.
"It was a game of waiting for the right light and the clouds to disappear. After a few hours in this zone, the clouds parted, light popped, and there was not a breath of wind, which resulted in the lake mirroring its surroundings. It was surreal!”
Pierce photographed with a Canon 5DMK II and a 24-700mm lens.
7. Heli-Skiing near Seward, Alaska
“Alaska is the best spot, hands down, to ski steep, in a lot of snow,” says French skier Richard Permin, seen here doing a powder turn as he came off a 50-foot cliff he’d just jumped. The Gulf of Alaska is in the distance. “But we struggle with the weather. Sometimes we camp in Alaska for three weeks with only one day on skis - or sometimes none.”
“I skied five different lines,” recalls Permin of this day near Seward, Alaska, with skiers Cody Townsend and Markus Eider. “It was the most productive day of the trip. We starting skiing at sunrise, and we were done at sunset.” The trip was so productive, in fact, that both Permin and Townsend got injured (see more details below).
Scenes from this trip will appear in a Matchstick Productions film called Days of My Youth coming out in fall 2014.
Getting the Shot
“I really wanted to capture something that showed the amazing location and gave the viewer a sense of place, rather than focus strictly on the ski action,” says award-winning photographer Grant Gunderson of this shot. “For this shot, we decided to post-up on a knife-edge ridge, where we would have our best chance to capture some great ski action with the amazing backdrop that Seward provided."
Though the landscape is alluringly beautiful, the skiers were fighting injuries and tough conditions. “The biggest challenge we had shooting in Alaska was athletes getting hurt. Early this day Cody Townsend injured his knee, ending his trip and season. The next day Richard was caught in an avalanche - pretty damn terrifying too - which ended his trip and season. The conditions where absolutely perfect for the skiers to really push the limits this year, but anytime they are pushing it that far there is always a risk of injury,” says Gunderson.
On heli-ski shoots, Gunderson always carries two Canon 1DX camera bodies, and an assortment of Canon L lenses, “everything from 8mm to 400mm. I tend to ski with a very heavy pack as I always want to make sure I have the best tools to capture the moment,” he says.
8. Climbing the San Rafael Swell, Utah
"It's a great challenge to try a climb that not only you haven't done but that hasn't been done by anyone," says Salt Lake City local Mike Friedrichs, seen here making the first ascent of Blood on the Tracks on the Dylan Wall in the crowd-free northern San Rafael Swell, Utah. "It provides an opportunity to use one's experience in route finding, gear, patience, resting - all the things that years of experience help." Friedrichs is seen at the crux of the climb, about 60 feet above the ground with 20 feet to go.
"I called the wall the Dylan Wall, and this may be the jewel of the entire crag," says Friedrichs, a chronic disease epidemiologist and frequent climber in the San Rafael Swell. "And the route is named after the title of one of the best, if not the best, Bob Dylan album. The route is also a west-facing corner that catches the alpenglow in the evening and turns brilliantly red."
Getting the Shot
“Last November I spent a couple of weekends at the Swell, with the intention of making photographs that would capture the feel of the place,” says photographer Louis Arevalo. Arevalo met Friedrichs the morning of the shoot. “My only plan for that day was to shoot late, when the light would be better.”
To get his shot and capture Friedrichs climbing in the stunning desert landscape, Arevalo climbed and photographed along a fixed route, about a hundred feet to the left of Blood on the Tracks. Arevalo’s late-day planning came together for this photo. “When the light really began to pop Mike actually volunteered to climb Blood on the Tracks without being asked. I was super lucky.”
Arevalo photographed with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II and an f/4, 24-105mm lens.
9. Backcountry Skiing Mount Hood, Oregon
"It felt like I was flying," recalls skier Tommy Ellingson, seen here launching off a jump at 8,000 feet on the White River Glacier on Oregon's Mount Hood. "The jump had a little pop on it so we went up before we started to fall so that we could match up with the landing. There was a weightless feeling, for sure."
Ellingson and skier Josh Larkin hiked up to this feature from the Timberline Ski Area boundary line, about a 45-minute trek. "I definitely appreciated my friend Josh for hitting the jump first, which took off a lot of pressure and allowed me to really take everything in." Each time a skier hit the jump, he would have to hike back up, which took 30 minutes each time.
"Immediately after the moment the photo was taken, I aired into the transition, where I landed and prepared for a small bump then a superfast traverse to slow down through sun-cupped dirty snow, but looking into a beautiful sunset," recalls Ellingson, who has lived in the Hood River area for 13 years. "The speed for the jump got faster and faster, which was kind of scary because I didn't want to overshoot the landing."
Getting the Shot
Photographer Richard Hallman and Ellingson work together year-round, often at Mount Hood. “In order to get more and more creative, we spend a lot of time climbing high on the mountain, going to very hard-to-reach places,” says Hallman. “I summited Mount Hood for the 50th time last year, and fittingly it was with Tommy. There is no other person who can fill that frame quite like Tommy. His passion and skill are unmatched on Mount Hood, or anywhere."
Ellingson, Larkin, and Hallman were working with warm conditions, and the group faced melting snow and widening crevasses. “The mountain was very precarious and extremely dangerous,” says Hallman, an experienced mountaineer and volunteer search-and-rescue team member.
Ellingson and Larkin had started working on the ski jump the day before the shoot. “That night, Tommy sent me a message to get up to the mountain the next day to shoot," says Hallman. I was so exhausted, but when I saw an iPhone photo of what they were planning, I thought, OMG - what a couple nutty buddies.”
To get the shot, Hallman worked a few different angles on the treacherous mountainside. “The first couple jumps I shot from the uphill side. After that, I went around the other side and got a glimpse of what they were landing on - an A-frame house that looked like it could collapse at any moment,” he recalls.
Hallman photographed with a Canon EOS-1Dx and a f/4, 24-105mm lens.
10. Paragliding the Big Lost Range, Idaho
"There were insane vistas for 7.5 hours," recalls paraglider pilot Gavin McClurg of this record-setting flight over Idaho's imposing Big Lost Range. "Imagine flying over some of the largest terrain in the American West - at between 9,000 and 18,000 feet - underneath a piece of highly engineered plastic and some impossibly skinny lines. It was surreal."
McClurg flew from Sun Valley, Idaho, for 240 miles, breaking the previous North American Foot Launch record of 204 miles. "The conditions that day were the strongest I'd ever flown in," says McClurg, who lives in Sun Valley and has been been paragliding in Africa, the Himalaya, Europe, and over the Pacific. "When I was low, it was frightening, extremely stressful, and, of course, dangerous; but when I was high, it felt like the world was in my hands."
"Sun Valley is one of the best spots in the world for paragliding because of the huge mountain ranges, a vast desert to the south, very strong thermals, and long summer days," says McClurg. "We have only just touched the surface. Much larger flights will be done from here in the years ahead, I am sure."
Getting the Shot
Photographer Jody MacDonald often finds herself soaring in the clouds taking photographs from a paraglider, such as this shot of McClurg. “It makes it easier to be flying with the other pilots because then you are in the same air as them and know where they can and can't fly depending on the conditions. You end up working together,” says MacDonald.
“I don't really know the specific photos I want to capture until I'm up there and see the geography of the landscape and what the light is doing,” says MacDonald. “The flying in this part of North America is unique in that it has a combination of huge mountain ranges, strong conditions, and remoteness which makes the exposure very high and the flying very committing.”
MacDonald photographed with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II and a f/4, 24-105mm lens.
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