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.

Ivan Shamyanok, 90, shaves in his house in the village of Tulgovichi, near the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, Belarus March 15, 2016. “My sister lived here with her husband. They decided to leave and soon enough they were in the ground ... They died from anxiety. I'm not anxious. I sing a little, take a turn in the yard, take things slowly like this and I live”, he said. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

Deputies of the opposition fight with deputies of the majority for a second time in two days, during the second session of the newly elected Ukrainian parliament in Kiev on December 13, 2012. (Photo by Sergei Supinsky/AFP Photo)

A young boy plays with soap bubbles near Hofburg Palace at Heldenplatz, one of the top tourists attractions in Vienna, Austria, January 26, 2016. (Photo by Christian Bruna/EPA)

In this photograph taken on April 28, 2018, Afghan children work at a coal yard on the outskirts of Jalalabad, Afghanistan. (Photo by Noorullah Shirzada/AFP Photo)

Aerial view of people circling around bonfires to celebrate the Torch Festival on Axilixi Prairie on August 12, 2023 in Bijie, Guizhou Province of China. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

Air France airplane from Air France-KLM Group arrives at Princess Juliana international airport on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin at Maho Beach, Sint Maarten on February 12, 2023. (Photo by Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A fox pounces on a mouse in the snowy hills on the border of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. (Photo by Johnny Krüger/Mediadrumimages)