The Demoiselles Coiffées of Pontis in the Hautes-Alpes department are actually fairy chimneys or hoodoos. Unlike the iconic fairy chimneys of Cappadocia in Turkey, these are not of volcanic but glacial origin. They form a row of several meters high columns surmounted by more or less voluminous rocks. These glacial moraines with friable rocks have been eroded by wind, runoff water, and snow, but their harder summit blocks have resisted the onslaught of time. The evaporation of the water rising in the columns while depositing mineral salts there contributes to their cementation and induration.