Mina Arsanious, Trepidation amid Cumulonimbus (PEOPLE WILDERNESS 2023)

Working as an expedition doctor for a group summiting Mt. Kinabalu in Malaysia I was able to capture a unique moment in the charity expedition. Following 3 days of trekking in the jungle and another long gruelling hike ascending 3000m in one day, the participants dropped their bags in front of the summit basecamp. In this photo you see the charity participants, all of whom have never scaled anything over 1000m, look up at the challenging route that awaits them before the peak. The swollen plumes of cumulonimbus cloud that pillar behind them show how far they have come, but their expressions betray how far they have yet to go.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.