�����ԹϺ���

High concentrations of calcium carbonate turn the water a vibrant blue-green in Havasu Creek, a tributary of the Colorado River, near Grand Canyon National Park. Peacock captured his wife, Sabina Allemann, and expedition guide Jon Imhoof on inflatable SUPs last June during an 18-day, 278-mile journey from Lees Ferry to Lake Mead. “That section is one of the world’s iconic river journeys,” says Peacock, who lives in Santa Barbara, California, and Queensland, Australia. “The color was screaming out to be photographed.”

THE TOOLS: Canon 5D Mark III, 16-35mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 640, f/6.3, 1/800 second

Last year, February storms dumped about six feet of snow over the Coast Mountains in western British Columbia just days before world-champion free skier Josh Daiek arrived to heli-ski for the first time, with plans to descend a 3,500-foot line on a local glacier. “For some people, dropping off a glacier is crazy, but Josh has the experience, and only a small section of it wasn’t covered in snow,” says Gunderson, who lives in Bellingham, Washington. “Once he dropped back into the powder, he was definitely amped up.”

THE TOOLS: Canon 1D X, 70-200mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 100, f/6.3, 1/1,000 second

To capture his friend Michael Shen climbing the Red Dragon route on Moon Hill, outside Yangshuo, China, Manelis traveled 7,000 miles, braved freezing December winds, and chambered a few guards who didn’t want to let them onto the 164-foot limestone arch. “We told them how far we’d come, and they said, ‘OK, but the minute you see other tourists, you have to come down,’” says the Palo Alto, California, photographer. “Getting there was like meeting a celebrity you’ve been obsessed with for years. I was above the clouds.”

THE TOOLS: Canon 5D Mark II, 16-35mm f/2.8 lens, ISO200, f/5, 1/125 second

Last July, Griffith’s longtime friend Ueli Steck, the elite alpinist, invited him to scale four peaks in the Mont Blanc massif, on the border of France and Italy, in a single day—part of Steck’s attempt to climb all eight-two 4,000-meter summits in the Alps. They were done by noon, with Griffith having captured Steck at the top of Grand Pilier D’Angle around 8 a.m. “When you’re with Ueli, there’s no hanging around,” says the British photographer, who lives in Chamonix, France. “You have to shoot quite literally from the hip.”

THE TOOLS: Canon 5D Mark III, 16-35mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 200, f/14, 1/250 second

Gavelda was among the first to ride the newly built Peak to Creek trail on Reco Mountain, in British Columbia’s Selkirk range, when he joined pro mountain biker Darren Butler there in August. “I hadn’t had a trail start at the literal peak of a mountain before,” says the Durango, Colorado, photographer, describing the 360-degree view and 100-foot shale face on either side of the path. “The rest of it is an alpine pump track—you can just float through it. I’ve never ridden another mountain-bike trail like it.”

THE TOOLS: Canon 5D Mark III, 24-70mm f/2.8L lens, ISO100, f/7.1, 1/200 second

Growing up next to 14,295-foot Dent Blanche in Hérémence, Switzerland, mountain guide Gilles Sierro always wanted to ski the mountain’s remote east face. Last April, when conditions became safe enough, he finally got the chance. Carlier captured him from a helicopter on a morning run. “He said he couldn’t deny feeling some apprehension when he got to the top,” says the photographer, who lives in nearby Aubonne. “He’s been gazing at it all his life, but once you’re on the face, you realize how steep it really is.”

THE TOOLS: Leica S Type 006, 35mm f/2.5 lens, ISO 100, f/4.8, 1/4,000 second

Last May, Kelley spent four days on the Colorado River in a 40-year-old wooden dory with photographer Ryan Heffernan, �����ԹϺ��� senior editor Grayson Schaffer, and OARS crew member Blake McCord. Halfway through the third day, the group stopped at the Vishnu Basement Rocks—at 1.7 billion years old, the Grand Canyon’s most ancient—and McCord set to work. “I got the sense that Blake likes climbing even more than he likes guiding,” says Kelley, an associated editor at �����ԹϺ��� Online. “When climbers see rock that unique, they can’t help themselves.”

THE TOOLS: Canon 5D Mark III, 16-35mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 160, f/5.6, 1/250 second

In 2014, Moss, who lives in San Jose, California, overcame his fear of heights while solo-hiking the two-foot-wide paths of Hawaii’s Koolau Range in five days—record time. Last February, he captured his friend Hunter Williams summiting the steepest peak of the nearby Olomana Trail. “Just as he reappeared, the clouds parted,” Moss says. “Seeing him along that crumbly, dangerous ridge line reminded me of what I’d gone through and of everything I was doing as a mountaineer in Hawaii.

THE TOOLS: Canon EOS 7D, Tokina 10-17mm f/17 lens, ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/250 second