Definitions

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  • noun Plural form of icefall.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • In past decades, there had been many reports of icefalls from the glacier, but in recent years the Great Serac on K2 had been quiet.

    'No Way Down' 2010

  • On the mountain are patches of obstacles: icefalls, awkward traverses, headwalls, stretches subject to avalanches and falling rock.

    The Nature of Technology W. Brain Arthur 2009

  • They were approaching the crazy terrain of crevasses and icefalls heralding the gateway to the Beardmore Glacier.

    The Greatest Survival Stories Ever Told Underwood, Lamar 2001

  • I wondered a little less after coming across an article by Beckey in which the distinguished mountaineer cautioned, "Long, steep icefalls block the route from the Baird Glacier to the icecap near Devils Thumb," but after studying aerial photographs I decided that Beckey was mistaken, that the icefalls weren't so big or so bad.

    The Greatest Survival Stories Ever Told Underwood, Lamar 2001

  • This great ice-cliff with its crevasses, towers, bastions and cornices, was a never-ending source of delight to us; it forms the snout of one of the many glaciers which slide down the slopes of Erebus: in smooth slopes and contours where the mountain underneath is of regular shape: in impassable icefalls where the underlying surface is steep or broken.

    The Worst Journey in the World Antarctic 1910-1913 Apsley Cherry-Garrard 1922

  • Wilson and myself to prepare to form a sledging party with him to penetrate the Erebus icefalls and reach Cape Evans.

    The Worst Journey in the World Antarctic 1910-1913 Apsley Cherry-Garrard 1922

  • But the crevasses and icefalls have been overcome, the travelling is better, and with nothing but the hard, white horizon before us, thoughts wander away to the homeland -- sweet little houses with well-kept gardens, glowing fires on bright hearths, clean, snowy tablecloths and polished silver, and then the dimpled, smiling faces of those we are winning our spurs for.

    South with Scott Edward Ratcliffe Garth Russell Evans Mountevans 1918

  • To reach the glacier we were faced with two alternatives: either to march right round the icefalls, as we had done coming south, and thus waste three whole days, or to take our lives in our hands and attempt to get the sledge slap over the falls.

    South with Scott Edward Ratcliffe Garth Russell Evans Mountevans 1918

  • In youth the glacier develops icefalls, as a river in youth develops waterfalls, and its bed becomes terraced with great stairs.

    The Elements of Geology William Harmon Norton 1900

  • There were once icefalls in a box canyon just past town limits.

    The Daily Utah Chronicle RSS 2009

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