“A snapshot from mountaineer's life”. Have you ever wondered how does a mountaineer's day start? I will give you a hint: you wake up at 3 am, set the stove, wake up your partner, pretend it is warm, quickly consume a high-calorie breakfast, watch your friends slowly ascending the icy slopes of your dream summit with their tiny head torches glimmering against perfectly blue ice, and hope for the good weather. One would ask: why all this trouble? The answer is easy: for the love of the adventure and the unknown. Location: Chamonix, Haute Savoye, France. (Photo and caption by Kamil Tamiola/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

ATTENTION! All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture.

A Vietnamese woman, wearing the traditional “ao dai” long dress, poses for photos along peach blossom flowers ahead of the Vietnamese “Tet” (Lunar New Year festival), in a field in Hanoi, Vietnam, February 2, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/Kham)

An Extinction Rebellion protestor holds up a sign saying “You Can Change Climate Change” in St Martin's Lane in London, United Kingdom on August 23, 2021. (Photo by James Veysey/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

“Eye of the Tower” by Mehmet Yasa; Verona, Italy. “The staircase and the bell looks like an eye. Architecture can fascinate us in many ways”. (Photo by Mehmet Yasa/Art of Building Photography Awards 2017)

Mazouza Bouglada, 86, a berber woman from the Chaouia region, who has facial tattoos, poses for a photograph in Taghit in the Aures Mountain, Algeria October 8, 2015. Bouglada was tattooed aged 7 by a nomadic man from the Sahara region. She was advised by her mother to get tattooed. The more she got tattooed the more she showed off. Even if she still remembers the pain, she felt beautiful once it was done, Bouglada said. She was very proud of her stars on her cheeks. Her eldest sister had been tattooed before her and she wanted to imitate her. Bouglada said she has now given away all her silver jewellery to atone for the sin that believers told her she had committed by being tattooed. (Photo by Zohra Bensemra/Reuters)

In this February 20, 2018 photo, fair vendor Noelia Flores holds up a black backdrop behind a small statue of an “Ekeko”, the god of prosperity, for a portrait at her booth during the annual Alasita Fair in La Paz, Bolivia. Every year, thousands of Bolivians head to the feast of Alasitas that is held in his honor to buy miniature cars, houses and toy dollar bills symbolizing their dreams of prosperity. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)

“Sokolica”. Sokolica, Poland. (Photo and caption by Marcin Kęsek/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

ATTENTION! All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture.

“DC3 Wreck”. A capture of a US military DC3 plane wreck at the southern black beach in Iceland. Photo location: Iceland. (Photo and caption by Naian Feng/National Geographic Photo Contest)