icefall
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7.9
- noun
- /ˈaɪsˌfɔl/
- As we approached the icefall, we could hear the cracking sound of ice shifting beneath our feet.
- climb up the icefall
Examples
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The icefall glistened in the sunlight, resembling a frozen waterfall cascading down the mountain.
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The bad news is that each ascent begins and ends with the Icefall.
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If we know when everybody's planning to summit, for instance, you know, we can avoid the chaos that happened in the Icefall today.
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Icefall on the world's second highest peak that may have killed as many as a dozen climbers.
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We climbed upward along the glacier, marking more points, until we reached the base of what appeared to be a navigable icefall.
Blog text (29) -
The Icefall is always dangerous, but this year many climbers were especially worried because the route, set by a group of Sherpas known as the Icefall Doctors, needed to pass directly beneath a horseshoe-shaped hanging glacier that was prone to calving at all hours of the day.
Blog text (26) -
Normally, during April, each team's Sherpas spend their time carrying loads of equipment and provisions through the Khumbu Icefall, the precarious tumble of frozen blocks between Base Camp and 19,800-foot Camp I.
Blog text (26) -
The climbers navigated carefully over the steep section of the icefall, avoiding the deep crevasses.
How Steep
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307
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Icefall is made of two simple words: ice meaning 'frozen water' and fall meaning 'a drop', just like in waterfall. That's why an icefall is a steep part of a glacier that looks like a frozen waterfall and drops sharply, making it dangerous for climbers.