icefall

[ ahys-fawl ]

noun

1. a jumbled mass of ice in a glacier.
2. a mass of ice overhanging a precipice.
3. a falling of ice from a glacier, iceberg, etc.

icefall

/ ˈaɪsˌfɔːl /

noun

1. a very steep part of a glacier that has deep crevasses and resembles a frozen waterfall

Word History and Origins

Origin of icefall¹

First recorded in 1810–20; ice + fall

Example Sentences

The post Legendary Alpinist Corrado Pesce Dies During an Icefall on Patagonia’s Cerro Torre appeared first on Outside Online.

From Outside Online

The traditional pathway leaves Everest Base Camp and then enters the Icefall.

From Outside Online

As they entered the Khumbu Icefall, the route became increasingly congested with guides and clients all sharing a single fixed rope.

From Outside Online

Still, bottlenecks in the Khumbu Icefall and different teams clustering together at higher camps on the mountain remain an inevitability, and whether the government can prevent pictures of those scenes from being shared publicly seems unlikely.

From Outside Online

Sadly one Sherpa, from another team, has now been killed in the Icefall.

From The Daily Beast

Coming back through the Icefall on Friday the boys missed two rock falls by no more than three minutes.

From The Daily Beast

It had always seemed improbable that these were sracs such as one meets on an Alpine icefall, and clearly they were not.

From Project Gutenberg

Even as we entered the icefall our feet had occasionally broken the crust; as we came out of it we were stamping a trail.

From Project Gutenberg

In ten minutes we came to another corridor like the first, which brought us out above the icefall.

From Project Gutenberg

Some way up or by the side of the icefall of the Lobbia Glacier is yet to be found, but is probably possible.

From Project Gutenberg

Changed "icefall" to "ice-fall" on page xxvi: "part of ice-fall."

From Project Gutenberg