A participant kisses a trout after catching it with his bare hands during a trout catching contest at a pool in Hwacheon, South Korea, Saturday, January 7, 2023. The contest is part of an annual ice festival which draws over one million visitors every year. (Photo by Ahn Young-joon/AP Photo)

Allison Callender and Kent Willis, members of Mekanix Gym, a total wellness center, take a cold plunge in ice after a workout at the gym's Shadow Sanctuary facility during hot weather in Houston, Texas, U.S., July 19, 2023. (Photo by Adrees Latif/Reuters)

Alex Sun, left, Peter Simplicio and Matt Connelly jump through a hole in the ice into Lake Andrews on the Bates College campus, Friday, February 9, 2024, in Lewiston, Maine. The annual Bates College Puddle jump started 50 years ago as a Winter Carnival tradition. (Photo by Andree Kehn/AP Photo)

Roman Cervenka #10 of Czechia celebrates with the trophy and gets a beer thrown on him from his teammates during IHF Ice Hockey World Championship gold medal celebrations with fans at Old Town Square on May 27, 2024 in Prague, Czech Republic. (Photo by RvS.Media/Monika Majer/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.

Japan' s Kaori Sakamoto competes in the women' s single skating short program of the figure skating event during the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at the Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung on February 21, 2018. (Photo by John Sibley/Reuters)

Visitors hold ice blocks to cool themselves in hot weather at a water park on June 23, 2016 in Chongqing, China. Citizens and visitors escaped high temperature at a water park in Yangren Jie (also known as Foreigner Street), Nan'an District of south China's Chongqing. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)