Scott Crady
At Michigan’s Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Bridalveil Falls pours over 150-foot-high sandstone cliffs into Lake Superior. In the winter it freezes, attracting climbers willing to risk sketchy ice and a possible plunge into the half-frozen waves below. Crady and fellow Northern Michigan University student Joe Thill decided to brave the conditions last February. They set up anchors and rappelled down the cliff to the base, with a third friend belaying. Then Crady jugged back up his rope, better positioning himself to shoot Thill, who was scaling ice so thin that when his pick went in he was often sprayed by the still flowing falls. “Climbing above Superior, you’re up against the elements and getting battered by snow and ice blowing off the lake,” says the 21-year-old photographer. “It’s an awesome place to climb.”
The Tools: Canon 7D Mark II, Tokina 11–16mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 100, f/4, 1/2,000 second