The most dangerous waves on the planet are a combination of sheer, jaw-dropping awe and power. Only the world’s most talented (or foolhardy) surfers would dare approach waves such as these.

Even by Teahupo’o standards, the XL swells of August 5 and 6 were extra-large. Extra perfect. Extra petrifying. Extra ‘place of skulls’ as the Tahitian name translates in the local French Polynesian ...