A man checks his footing as he wades through the Morris Canal Outlet in Jersey City, N.J., as the sun sets on the lower Manhattan skyline of New York City, Tuesday, May 31, 2022. (Photo by J. David Ake/AP Photo)

Partygoers in United Kingdom flocked to bars and clubs across the nation on Friday as they drunk in the 34C scorcher. Revellers were pictured in Leeds on June 17, 2022 necking drinks and going wild as the sun set on the hottest day of the year so far. (Photo by Nb press ltd)

A woman dressed in pagan attire watches the sun rise during the Summer Solstice festivities at Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England, Tuesday, June 21, 2022. After two years of closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Stonehenge reopened Monday for the Summer Solstice celebrations. (Photo by Andrew Matthews/PA Wire via AP Photo)

The sun rises this morning behind the 173ft spire of St Mary's church in the market town of Whittlesey in Cambridgeshire, UK on February 17, 2024. The church dates from the 13th century with the Ashlar faced tower added in the 15th century. (Photo by Andrew McCaren/London News Pictures)

The winter sun rises over the Somerset Levels viewed from Glastonbury Tor on December 10, 2011 in Glastonbury, England. After being hit by winter storms this week, the UK is experiencing colder temperatures but high winds are forecast to return. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

The sun sets over the sea looking towards Lands End viewed from Gwenver beach near Sennen Cove on February 7, 2011 in Cornwall, England. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Penitentes, or nieves penitentes (Spanish for “penitent-shaped snows”), are a snow formation found at high altitudes. They take the form of tall thin blades of hardened snow or ice, closely spaced with the blades oriented towards the general direction of the sun.

The name “Aiguille du Midi” translates literally as “Needle of the Noon” or “Needle of the South”. It gets its name from its tapered form and from its position when viewed from Chamonix: it approximately indicates noon when the sun passes over its summit.