22 Stunning Adventure Photos from Around the World

A hiker stands inside a glacial cave in Vatnajökull, Iceland.

At 27,142 feet, Križna jama, aka the “Cross Cave,” is nearly as long as Mount Everest is tall—yet it’s still considered a moderately sized cave for Slovenia. Križna jama is a beautiful and heavily protected cave system (fewer than 1,000 permitted entries per year) filled with interconnected emerald green pools that are mainly fed by the Bloke plateau. Križna hosts a rich biodiversity that makes it one of the largest single ecosystems in the world.

A sailboat floats through the ice in Svalbard, Norway.

"I was speechless and overwhelmed by the beauty of my hometown and how we were able to show it in such a unique way," says photographer Catherine Aeppel, who took this photo of highliner Pete Thompson setting a line over Mushroom Rock in Carbondale, Colorado. “The location is special because it is the ultimate lookout point for the town of Carbondale, with Mount Sopris majestically rising in the background.”

Campers sleep under the stars in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France, along the GR5. The Grande Randonnée, or 'great trek' runs through the Alps and is roughly 1,500 miles long, traversing from the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg into France, ending in Nice. The route from Switzerland into the French Alps is particularly popular—and beautiful.

A hiker treks down an icy slope outside an ice cave on the Athabasca Glacier inside Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada.

Matterhorn mountain is illuminated for the 150th anniversary of the peak's first ascent. The path was gradually lit to mark the trail of the first climbers to reach the top.

A man stands on a fallen tree under the stars on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

A horse trainer holds the rope of his steed near the crater of Indonesia's Mount Bromo.

A freediver floats inside Nay Yah Cenote, an underwater sinkhole on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

Light reflects off the ice inside Crystal Cave on Iceland’s Vatnajokull glacier as a man leaps off a snowy hill at an entry point.

While Postojna is the most heavily touristed cave in Slovenia, photographer Robbie Shone and his team gained permission to visit locations off the beaten path. Here, in a spot deeper in the cave, one of Shone’s assistants swims while holding a single-use magnesium flash bulb that emits five times the light output as a standard battery-operated camera strobe—power that’s needed to showcase the emerald-green color of the pool. Shone says his decision to include figures in his cave landscapes adds a sense of scale for the viewer, while here it also has the benefit of blocking the blinding, white flash bulb.

A climber pulls himself up the ice on the High Tatra mountains in Slovakia.

“Shooting in water is always challenging, especially for a guy like me who didn’t grow up around the ocean,” says photographer Jussi Grznar, who took this photo of surfer Blake Thornton, duck diving under a wave in Teahupoo, Tahiti. “To be able to read how the waves break can take a lifetime of experience. Shooting at Teahupoo can get extra challenging as it gets really shallow when the sets come in.”

A skier hikes through the Siberian mountains.

Athabasca cave is located on the edge of Canada's Athabasca Glacier, near the Columbia Icefield. During the day, visitors experience sculptural, blue-hued ice formations. Those who brave the cold night can sometimes see auroras above the sprawling ice.

A skier climbs a steep slope above Ophir Pass in Colorado’s San Juan National Forest.

The moon and a roaring campfire light the way for climbers at Malta's Ghajn Tuta Cave.

A snowboarder carves through the snow above Canada's Peyto Lake in Banff National Park.

Shining waters inside Reed Flute Cave in Guilin, China, reflect images of the cave’s eerie rock formations.

Rafters pause along the Colorado River to see dazzling stars in the night sky.

Visitors soak in the night sky and views of the northern lights in Norway.