Névés

thumb|Névé in a valley of Haute-Savoie, France Névé is a young, granular type of snow which has been partially melted, refrozen and compacted, yet precedes the form of ice. This type of snow can contribute to glacier formation through the process of nivation. Névé that survives a full season of ablation turns into firn, which is both older and slightly denser. Firn eventually becomes glacial ice – the long-lived, compacted ice that glaciers are composed of. Glacier formation can take years to hundreds of years, depending on freeze-thaw factors and snow-compaction rates. Névé is annually observ

Icefield in British Columbia, Canada