Where in the Andean Road System was this picture taken? What are the white formations?

Where in the Andean Road System was this picture taken? What are the white formations?

6/28/2023 3:49:53 PM

Michael Seifert has covered what the formations in the photo are. The location is near the summit of the Llullaillaco Volcano on the border of Chile and Argentina.

Compare the photo in the question with the following photo of the volcano from a similar angle below. This shows the peak with a very similar profile and with snow fields in similar positions. A field of penitentes can also be seen in the foreground.

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Published here, photo copyright Mario Lazarovich

6/27/2023 7:27:12 PM

The white formations are snow & ice formations called penitentes:

Penitentes… are snow formations found at high altitudes. They take the form of elongated, thin blades of hardened snow or ice, closely spaced and pointing towards the general direction of the sun. … These spires of snow and ice grow over all glaciated and snow-covered areas in the Dry Andes above 4,000 metres (13,000 ft).

The precise location of this photo is not clear but it is possible to find many pictures of such formations in other locations as well. There are a couple of theories as to how they get their strange shape; this article summarizes a few of them.

I found this information by doing a Google Image search on the image you posted. While this did not yield more information on this particular picture, I found several like it which led me to the correct search term.

Credit:stackoverflow.com‘

About me

Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

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