If these frozen formations were named by more literal minds, we might know them as simply "reverse icicles." But the Andes, including this mountain pass rising above Chile"s Atacama Desert, were mapped by poetically inclined Spanish explorers. They likened formations like these to a congregation of penitent parishioners kneeling at mass: hence the common name "penitentes" for such packed-snow pinnacles.
A throng of ice and spires
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
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Mont-Saint-Michel
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Three cheers for polar bears!
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A path into history
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The birth of Bauhaus
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And you thought moths were boring
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World Space Week begins
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Red squirrel
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Wild scene on the Merced River
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Rock of ages
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Get the bear facts
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Indigenous Peoples Day
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Salmon return to the Copper River
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The village of Castelluccio above the Piano Grande, Umbria, Italy
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Beethoven s 250th
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Islands of the Salish Sea
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Flowers by the sea
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Manatee Appreciation Day
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Happy World Meteorological Day
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Aït Benhaddou, Morocco
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Old City of Dubrovnik in Dalmatia, Croatia
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Indian Independence Day
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American Eagle Day
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Moose, Denali National Park, Alaska
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Walruses in Svalbard, Norway
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Behold the blood moon
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Wildebeest on the move
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Drop in on International Surfing Day
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Happy New Year! (Again!)
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It s Tolkien Reading Day
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Río Negro, Amazon basin, Brazil