avalanches
Slopes suddenly collapsing
Avalanches is the plural of avalanche—a mass of snow, ice, and debris sliding rapidly down a mountainside.
The term extends to any sudden overwhelming quantity: an avalanche of emails, an avalanche of criticism.
As a verb form, avalanches describes the action: Snow avalanches down the slope when conditions are right.
snowpack
Accumulated mountain winter layers
- slabThick flat piece
- backcountrySparsely populated wilderness areas
- powderFine dry particles
cornice · alpine · skiing · glacier · crevasse · snowfield · whiteout · frostbite · hypothermia · blizzard
landslide
Mass of earth falling
scree · talus · erosion · collapse · cliff · gravity · geology · tremor · earthquake · instability
- fatal hazardsaccidents, drowning, falls, poisoning, overdose
- Mountain Climatehigh altitude, thin air, altitude, snowfall, temperature extremes
- runaway effectschain reaction, domino effect, snowball effect, runaway effect, feedback loop
- Swiss AlpsMatterhorn, Eiger, Dom, Grindelwald, St. Moritz
- Alpine historyTyrol, Innsbruck, Austrian Alps, Swiss Alps, Bavarian Alps
- wintersnow, ice, cold, frozen, frost
avalanchesstability
Resistance to displacement
stillness · stasis · immobility · permanence · bedrock
avalanchesslow erosion
weathering · glacial movement · creep · continental drift · geological time
- 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