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.

People fly kites during the 2017 Pyostroye Nebo kite festival in Tsaritsyno Park in Moscow, Russia on August 27, 2017. (Photo by Asya Dobrovolskaya/TASS)

“Hippo Chase”. As we approached the camp the Selinda Reserve of northern Botswana our boat passed by a hippo resting in the water. I turned around to look back at the boat's wake and saw the hippo charging after us! The hippo must've been tired from an all-nighter because he was angry. He rose way up out of the water three times trying to chase our boat! He was coming at us with such force that he created a wake of his own. Photo location: Selinda Reserve of northern Botswana. (Photo and caption by Curtis Simmons/National Geographic Photo Contest)

A Colombia fan clearly regrets invading the pitch as she is chased by a large security guard during the International Friendly match between Australia and Colombia at Craven Cottage on March 27, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Getty Images)

A sadhu (Hindu holy man) smokes marijuana using a “chillum”, a traditional clay pipe, as a holy offering during the Hindu festival “Maha Shivaratri” in Kathmandu on February 21, 2020. (Photo by Prakash Mathema/AFP Photo)

A novice Bhutanese monk sleeps after hours of prayer waiting for class to be over at the Dechen Phodrang monastery October 18, 2011 in Thimphu, Bhutan. The monks average about 10 hours of study a day waking up at 5:00am. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

A woman hands flowers to a member of the Wisconsin National Guard standing by as people gather for a vigil, following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S., August 28, 2020. (Photo by Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

A morgue attendant at the Johannesburg branch of the South African funeral and burial services company Avbob keeps the curtain open from inside a refrigerated container where bodies of patients deceased with COVID-19 related illnesses are kept isolated ahead of their burials on January 22, 2021. (Photo by Marco Longari/AFP Photo)