As climber Colin Haley sought to do the impossible—make the first solo winter ascent of 10,262-foot Cerro Torre—photographer Tyler Lekki embarked on the challenge of documenting the dangerous feat. Lekki recounts what it took to get the unforgettable drone shots of Haley on the world’s wildest tower of stone and ice in a new National Geographic interactive.

Every weekday, we’re sharing breathtaking images from National Geographic’s collection for our Photo of the Day series—and February’s theme is connection. 

From a lavish wedding in Baghdad after war divided the city (above) to a tourist trying to pet a gray whale in Laguna San Ignacio, National Geographic photo editor Allison Hess said she aimed to curate images that “reflected relationships between people and animals and represented serendipitous moments through the world of photography.”

Thanks for reading today’s newsletter, which was edited and curated by Sidney Madden and produced by Alisher Egamov. Did someone forward this to you? Sign up here to catch next week’s Photo of the Week newsletter. 

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