Penitentes on Nevado Sajama, Bolivia High Point

We awoke for the summit at 2:00 AM, donning crampons and climbing through the dark. After negotiating our way up a relatively steep wall we hit the penitentes. The method for traveling over them involved breaking off the tops of the penitentes with an ice axe and then bridging two of remaining ice blades per foot, carefully transferring your weight forward. It was a tedious, time-consuming task made all the more difficult by the altitude.