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 look through the front windshield of a damaged trolleybus in Donetsk, January 22, 2015. At least seven civilians were killed on Thursday when a shell or a mortar hit a trolleybus stop in the rebel-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, a Reuters witness said. The Reuters cameraman said he saw six bodies on the ground near, and inside, a trolleybus in a southern district of the city. Windows of shops nearby had been blown out by the blast. (Photo by Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

Belgium's Elise Mertens, left, and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus celebrate with their trophy after defeating Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the women's doubles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, February 19, 2021. (Photo by Hamish Blair/AP Photo)

Members of the Hitler Youth who are trained to report airstrikes repaining their bicycles. Published by: “Die Sirene”. 1942. (Photo by Herbert Hoffmann/Ullstein Bild via Getty Images)

The Royal Air Force aerobatic team, the Red Arrows, perform during The Royal International Air Tattoo at the RAF in Fairford July 11, 2014. (Photo by Stefan Wermuth/Reuters)

Yalena Leuliette, 7, of Greenbelt, Md., throws seeds from a cattail plant up in the air as she plays while visiting the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in northeast Washington, on Sunday, August 9, 2015. Leuliette visits the public garden with her parents a few times a year. (Photo by Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo)

Mourning woman. (Photo by Rich Legg/Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Charles Manson plays up to the camera during a 1988 interview with reporter Geraldo Rivera at San Quentin prison in 1988. Authorities say Manson, cult leader and mastermind behind 1969 deaths of actress Sharon Tate and several others, died on Sunday, November 19, 2017. He was 83. (Photo by AP Photo)