Can they climb vertical, wet faces of ice, especially when there's no apparent reason for them to except to strike a pose for the camera?
I say the other three pictures weren't suggestive enough for the editors, and the picture with the bears on top of the ice floe is photoshopped.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
"Can they climb vertical, wet faces of ice, especially when there's no apparent reason for them to except to strike a pose for the camera? "
Yes. Ever hear of bear claws? Their claws are a couple of inches plus this is what polar bears do. This is their environment.
Yes, they can climb. Natural athletes.
This assumes that the ice they are pictured on is a flotilla in and of it self. We don't know what's on the right, outside the picture shown.
And as others have stated, yes, Polar bears are more than capable of doing this.
I don't think the picture is Photoshopped, but I do think it was intentionally cropped, for the very effect you're decrying.
In any event, those bears will be fine.
CA....
Yes, they can climb. For strong critters with big claws, that's not very high and not difficult to get up. They probably went up to sun & observe.
The photo looks fine. A bit over-sharpened, and taken with a consumer digital camera, but nothing subversive. Lighting, angles, compression, etc. is all consistent.
What IS of concern is the selection of a conveniently cropped photo of emotional content taken some time ago (obviously not in the last few months) and attached as emphasis to an unrelated story. They've "photoshopped" your emotions, not the picture.