“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.

“Kumbh Mela is a mass Hindu pilgrimage in which Hindus gather at the Ganges river. The normal Kumbh Mela is celebrated every 3 years, the Ardh (half) Kumbh Mela is celebrated every six years at Haridwar and Prayag, the Purna (complete) Kumbh takes place every twelve years, at four places (Prayag (Allahabad), Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nashik). The Maha (great) Kumbh Mela which comes after 12 “Purna Kumbh Melas”, or 144 years, is held at Allahabad.

The last Ardh Kumbh Mela was held over a period of 45 days beginning in January 2007, more than 70 million Hindu pilgrims took part in the Ardh Kumbh Mela at Prayag, and on January 15, the most auspicious day of the festival of Makar Sankranti, more than 5 million participated. The previous Maha Kumbh Mela, held in 2001, was attended by around 60 million people, making it at the time the largest gathering anywhere in the world in recorded history”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Sadhus (holy men) smoke at their camp near the ritual site at Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers during the Ardh Kumbh Mela festival (Half Pitcher festival) January 18, 2007 in Allahabad, India. Millions of Hindu pilgrims have flocked to the largest religious gathering in the world which lasts for 45 days in northern India. The festival commemorates the mythical conflict between gods and demons over a pitcher filled with the “nectar of immortality”. Devotees believe that taking a holy dip in the Ganges at this time washes away their sins and paves the path to salvation. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Garbage pickers collect ride on donkey cart while looking for recyclable materials at a rubbish dump in the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq, August 23, 2016. Despite its huge untapped oil and gas reserves and steadily rising oil output and revenue, 23 percent of the population live below the poverty line, according to the Ministry of Planning. (Photo by Khalid al Mousily/Reuters)

Model Kendall Jenner poses on the red carpet as she arrives for the screening of the film “Mal de pierres” (From the Land of the Moon) in competition at the 69th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 15, 2016. (Photo by Yves Herman/Reuters)

A pitch invader is seen on the pitch during the UEFA Euro 2020 Championship Group B match between Finland and Belgium at Saint Petersburg Stadium on June 21, 2021 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. (Photo by Kirill Kudryavtsev/Reuters)

Associated Press photographer Evgeniy Maloletka points at the smoke rising after an airstrike on a maternity hospital, in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022. (Photo by Mstyslav Chernov/AP Photo)

Ruchaya Nillakan (L) and Nuttimon Sanyamast (C), same-sеx couple, attend their marriage registration event at Paragon shopping mall in Bangkok on January 23, 2025. A high-profile gay couple married in Thailand on January 23 as the kingdom's same-sеx marriage law went into effect, an AFP journalist saw, among the first of hundreds expected to do so. (Photo by Chanakarn Laosarakham/AFP Photo)

An Iranian Shiite Muslim prays in Laylat al-Qadr, or the night of destiny, during holy fasting month of Ramadan after midnight, in central Tehran, Iran, early Sunday, June 18, 2017. Laylat al-Qadr is the night when Muslims believe the Quran was first revealed to prophet Muhammad. Worshipers gather in religious ceremonies to pray, ask forgiveness and make wishes on one of the most important nights of the Islamic calendar. Shiite Muslims, the vast majority of Iranians, believe the night happens either on 19th, 21st or 23rd of the holy month of Ramadan. (Photo by Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo)