Photo Gallery

Penitential snow is a phenomenon associated with the high mountains of the subtropical and tropical dry zones of the Old and New Worlds. Snow cover that has formed during the wet season is subject to selective melting processes during sunny summer and autumn weather; these are governed by irregularities on the original snow surface and sculpt out closely spaced yet completely isolated firn spikes, which resemble a procession of figures in white penitential robes (penitentes). The photograph was taken at an altitude of 4,900 metres on the Huaitiquina Pass, which leads from Salta (Argentina) to San Pedro de Atacama (Chile). - Book: Picture 8 - Chile - 1975

From the Argentine city of Salta, an old mule track – now a poorly maintained track – leads over the Huaitiquina Pass to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. In the past, herds of cattle were driven over this pass to supply the Chilean port city of Antofagasta with Argentine beef. When the dreaded Viento Blanco – the ‘white wind’ – blows, the plateau, situated at an altitude of 5,000 metres, is covered within a few hours by a metre-thick blanket of snow, and it was not uncommon for people and animals to perish in such ‘blizzards’. This is evidenced by the sun-bleached cattle skeletons in this desolate wasteland with its salt lakes, dominated by the towering cone of the Lascar volcano. - Book: Picture 157 - Argentina - 1975