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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					Canadian Thanksgiving
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					The parenting of a piping plover
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					A tree amid the Tetons
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					Shi Shi Beach, Olympic National Park, Washington
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					Easter
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					Wild and beautiful Alaska
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					World Otter Day
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					Ancient town of Sorano, Tuscany, Italy
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					Where is this gorgeous peak?
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					Lei Day in Hawaii
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					Nature Photography Day
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					Storseisundet Bridge, Norway
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					Detroit Industry Murals by Diego Rivera
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					Big sky at Big Bend
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					African bush elephants in Namibia
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					Once upon a time there was a bridge…
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					Shhh, the movie is about to start
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					Poppies in bloom
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					Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland, England
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					Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
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					Moving as one
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					Splügen Pass, Switzerland
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					Pi Day
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					Quiver trees in Namibia
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					Lake Tekapo, New Zealand
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					Val Gardena, South Tyrol, Dolomites, Italy
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					Celebrating all things Austen
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					Roman bridge of Córdoba, Spain
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					Balloons and camels are two ways to catch a ride here
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					Papa was a flightless bird
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