From the fine frost of the surface, a small, soft ball takes shape. A cluster of neighboring crystals is drawn together by static attraction, and begins to coalesce in a light wind. Then like a tiny frost tumbleweed, the cluster breaks free from the surface and begins a wind-impelled odyssey. In its brief peripatetic existence, this tiny ball will roam its downwind environs, gain size, and eventually find a small depression in which to settle.
Each a centimeter or two across, the yukimarimo are a bizarre and delightful phenomenon. Pushed onward by the constant wind, they move with speed and direction, evading terrain features with seeming intelligence. At a glance, their movements are eerily similar to those of a quick, task-bound beetle, or perhaps a crab on the beach.
At a small pocket, where the terrain offers shelter from the wind, passing yukimarimo may be captured. Delicate nests form in these quiet nooks. The slight change in air motion caused by walking near a cluster of yukimarimo will flush the spheres into the open, where they resume their downwind traverse.
