avalanche
Slope's white fury
An avalanche is a mass of snow, ice, and debris sliding rapidly down a mountainside.
The word extends to any overwhelming quantity arriving suddenly: an avalanche of mail, an avalanche of criticism.
As a verb, to avalanche is to descend or accumulate like an avalanche: Letters avalanched into the office.
Accumulated mountain winter layers
- slabThick flat piece
- powderFine dry particles
- corniceOrnamental upper trim
- slideSmooth continuous movement
chute · gully · couloir · runout · debris · fracture · trigger · slope
Severe overflow of water
- floodOverwhelming water overflow
- onslaughtFierce, overwhelming assault
- barrageSustained, overwhelming attack
- torrentViolent rushing flow
cascade · wave · overwhelming · inundation · bombardment · surge · influx · blitz
Severe widespread destruction
- debrisScattered broken fragments
- destructionAct of completely ruining
- catastropheDevastating, large-scale misfortune
- disasterSudden ruinous event
impact · force · power · crushing · path · swath · damage · obliteration
Mass of falling stone
- debrisScattered broken fragments
- erosionGradual wearing away
- slopeAngled terrain or steepness
- gravityMutual mass attraction
talus · scree · boulders · sediment · instability · terrain · fracture · trigger
Placing deceased underground
- beaconGuiding light source
- transceiverDual-function communication device
- probeThorough examination or tool
- shovelTool for moving earth
airbag · survival · victim · asphyxiation · suffocation · hypothermia · excavation · recovery
snowpack
Accumulated mountain winter layers
slide · chute · gully · couloir · runout · debris · fracture · trigger · slope · backcountry
deluge
Severe overflow of water
- floodOverwhelming water overflow
- onslaughtFierce, overwhelming assault
- barrageSustained, overwhelming attack
torrent · cascade · wave · overwhelming · inundation · bombardment · surge · influx · blitz · outpouring
devastation
Severe widespread destruction
- debrisScattered broken fragments
- destructionAct of completely ruining
- catastropheDevastating, large-scale misfortune
disaster · impact · force · power · crushing · path · swath · damage · obliteration · aftermath
rockslide
Mass of falling stone
gravity · talus · scree · boulders · sediment · instability · terrain · fracture · trigger · seismic
burial
Placing deceased underground
- beaconGuiding light source
- transceiverDual-function communication device
- probeThorough examination or tool
shovel · airbag · survival · victim · asphyxiation · suffocation · hypothermia · excavation · recovery · locate
danger
Exposure to harm
forecast · rating · advisory · unstable · precaution · safety · prevention · avoidance · exposure · vulnerability
- natural phenomenaaurora, northern lights, southern lights, eclipse, solar eclipse
- earth scienceatmosphere, earthquake, geology, volcano, crust
- AlpsAlps, Swiss Alps, Mont Blanc, Matterhorn, Austrian Alps
- Disaster Films2012, Armageddon, Deep Impact, The Day After Tomorrow, The Towering Inferno
- Mountain Wordspeaks, summits, cliffs, valleys, glaciers
- natural disastersearthquake, tornado, hurricane, tsunami, volcanic eruption
avalanchestability
Resistance to displacement
stillness · immobility · equilibrium · stasis · anchorage
- avalanche dangerSnowslide threat rating
- avalanche zoneSnow-collapse danger region
- avalanche warningNotice of sliding snow risk
- avalanche dogCanine finding snow-buried victims
- electron avalancheMultiplicative ionization cascade
- avalanche beaconSnow burial locator device