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Serac
A serac (from Swiss French ''sérac'') is a block or column of glacial ice, often formed by intersecting crevasses on a glacier. Commonly house-sized or larger, they are dangerous to mountaineers, since they may topple with little warning. Even when stabilized by persistent cold weather, they can be an impediment to glacier travel. Seracs are found within an icefall, often in large numbers, or on ice faces on the lower edge of a hanging glacier. Notable examples of the overhanging glacier edge type are well-known obstacles on some of the world's highest mountains, including K2 at "The Bottleneck" and Kanchenjunga on the border of India and Nepal. Significant seracs in the Alps are found on the northeast face of Piz Roseg, the north face of the Dent d'Hérens, and the north face of Lyskamm. Incidents * On a 1969–1970 Japanese expedition to Mount Everest, Kyak Tsering was killed by a falling serac. * In 1990, an earthquake caused a block of serac to fall off Lenin Peak, trigge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2022 Marmolada Serac Collapse
On 3 July 2022, a serac collapsed on the mountain of Marmolada, in the Dolomites at the regional border between Trentino and Veneto, Italy. Eleven people were killed and eight were wounded. The large-scale collapse of the serac led to one of the most serious accidents in the Alps in recent decades. Background Prior to the collapse the area had seen an early heat wave, with the summit of the Marmolada recording abnormally high temperatures of around . The collapse occurred near Punta Rocca at the height of , a route utilized by climbers to reach the top peak. Serac collapse On the afternoon of 3 July, around 13:45, a massive avalanche was triggered by a serac that collapsed due to the high temperatures, which reached 10 °C the day before the tragedy. At an elevation of 2800 metres, the lower end of a glacier snapped off. The break-off had a width of 80 metres and a height of 25 metres approximately. The detached volume was estimated to be 65,000 ± 10,000 cubic meters. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Livingston Island
Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of Antarctic islands north of the Antarctic Peninsula. It was the first land discovered south of 60° south latitude in 1819, a historic event that marked the end of a centuries-long pursuit of the mythical ''Terra Australis Incognita'' and the beginning of the exploration and utilization of real Antarctica. The name Livingston, although of unknown derivation, has been well established in international usage since the early 1820s. Geography Livingston Island is situated in West Antarctica northwest of Cape Roquemaurel on the Antarctic mainland, south-southeast of Cape Horn in South America, southeast of the Diego Ramírez Islands (the southernmost land of South America), due south of the Falkland Islands, southwest of South Georgia Islands, and from the South Pole.L. IvanovGeneral Geography and History of Livingston Island.In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bottleneck (K2)
The Bottleneck is a location along the South-East Spur (also known as Abruzzi Spur), the most-used route to the summit of K2, the second-highest mountain in the world, in the Karakoram, on the border of Pakistan and China. The Bottleneck is a narrow couloir, which is overhung by seracs from the ice field east of the summit. The couloir is located only below the summit, and climbers have to traverse about exposed to the seracs to pass it. Due to the height of , and the steepness of 50 to 60 degrees, this stretch is the most dangerous part of the route. According to AdventureStats, 13 out of the last 14 fatalities on K2 have occurred at or near the Bottleneck. Despite all the dangers, the Bottleneck is still technically the easiest and the fastest route to the summit. Most climbers choose to use it to minimize time required to spend above (the "death zone"). The standard route, the Abruzzi Spur (SE), as well as the Cesen route (SSE Ridge, which joins SE Ridge), and the America ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mount Everest
Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow height) of was most recently established in 2020 by the Chinese and Nepali authorities. Mount Everest attracts many climbers, including highly experienced mountaineers. There are two main climbing routes, one approaching the summit from the southeast in Nepal (known as the "standard route") and the other from the north in Tibet. While not posing substantial technical climbing challenges on the standard route, Everest presents dangers such as altitude sickness, weather, and wind, as well as hazards from avalanches and the Khumbu Icefall. , over 300 people have died on Everest, many of whose bodies remain on the mountain. The first recorded efforts to reach Everest's summit were made by British mountaineers. As Nepal did not allow foreigners ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2008 K2 Disaster
The 2008 K2 disaster occurred on 1 August 2008, when 11 mountaineers from international expeditions died on K2, the second- highest mountain on Earth. Three others were seriously injured. The series of deaths, over the course of the Friday ascent and Saturday descent, was the worst single accident in the history of K2 mountaineering. Some of the specific details remain uncertain, with different plausible scenarios having been given about different climbers' timing and actions, when reported later via survivors' eyewitness accounts or via radio communications of climbers who died (sometimes minutes) later in the course of events on K2 that day. The main problem was reported as an ice avalanche occurring at an area known as "the Bottleneck", which destroyed many of the climbers' rope lines. However, two climbers died on the way up to the top prior to the avalanche. Among the dead were people from France, Ireland, Korea, Nepal, Norway, Pakistan, and Serbia. Expedition goal: K2 K ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glacier
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as Crevasse, crevasses and Serac, seracs, as it slowly flows and deforms under stresses induced by its weight. As it moves, it abrades rock and debris from its substrate to create landforms such as cirques, moraines, or fjords. Although a glacier may flow into a body of water, it forms only on land and is distinct from the much thinner sea ice and lake ice that form on the surface of bodies of water. On Earth, 99% of glacial ice is contained within vast ice sheets (also known as "continental glaciers") in the polar regions, but glaciers may be found in mountain ranges on every continent other than the Australian mainland, including Oceania's high-latitude oceanic island countries such as New Zealand. Between lati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Icefall
An icefall is a portion of certain glaciers characterized by relatively rapid flow and chaotic crevassed surface, caused in part by gravity. The term ''icefall'' is formed by analogy with the word ''waterfall'', which is a similar phenomenon of the liquid phase but at a more spectacular speed. When ice movement of a glacier is faster than elsewhere, because the glacier bed steepens or narrows, and the flow cannot be accommodated by plastic deformation, the ice fractures, forming crevasses. Where two fractures meet, seracs (or ice towers) can be formed. When the movement of the ice slows down, the crevasses can coalesce, resulting in the surface of the glacier becoming smoother. Ice flow Perhaps the most conspicuous consequence of glacier flow, icefalls occur where the glacier bed steepens and/or narrows. Most glacier ice flows at speeds of a few hundred metres per year or less. However, the flow of ice in an icefall may be measured in kilometres per year. Such rapid flow cannot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marmolada Glacier
Marmolada (Ladin: ''Marmolèda''; German: ''Marmolata'', ) is a mountain in northeastern Italy and the highest mountain of the Dolomites (a section of the Alps). It lies between the borders of Trentino and Veneto. The Marmolada is an ultra-prominent peak (Ultra), known as the "Queen of the Dolomites". Geography The mountain is located about north-northwest of Venice, from which it can be seen on a clear day. It consists of a ridge running west to east. Towards the south it breaks suddenly into sheer cliffs, forming a rock face several kilometres long. On the north side there is a comparatively flat glacier, the only large glacier in the Dolomites (the Marmolada Glacier, ''Ghiacciaio della Marmolada''). The ridge is composed of several summits, decreasing in altitude from west to east: Punta Penia , Punta Rocca , Punta Ombretta , Monte Serauta , and Pizzo Serauta . An aerial tramway goes to the top of Punta Rocca. During the ski season the Marmolada's main ski run is opened f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tangra Mountains
Tangra Mountains (in Bulgarian ''Тангра планина'', 'Tangra planina' \'tan-gra pla-ni-'na\) () form the principal mountain range of Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. The range had been nameless until 2001, when it was named after Tangra, "the name of the ancient Bulgarian god." Composite Antarctic Gazetteer. Tangra Mountains are long between |
Catalunyan Saddle
Catalunyan Saddle (Katalunska Sedlovina \ka-ta-'lun-ska se-dlo-vi-'na\) is a saddle of 1260 m height in the Friesland Ridge of the Tangra Mountains on Livingston Island, in the South Shetland Islands. The saddle is bounded by Lyaskovets Peak to the east and by Presian Ridge to the west. The saddle was named in honour of the Catalans Francesc Sàbat (q.v. Sàbat Hill) and Jorge Enrique (q.v. Enrique Hill) from Juan Carlos I Base who established the first route via the saddle to Mount Friesland on 30 December 1991. Location The saddle is located at which is 11.5 km east of St. Kliment Ohridski Base and 3.4 km south of Kuzman Knoll. Part of the saddle is occupied by an amazingly shaped ice-covered feature called the Sphinx. The saddle was occupied by a bivouac of the Bulgarian Tangra 2004/05 Survey team ( Lyubomir Ivanov and Doychin Vasilev) during 14 December–16 December 2004 and was mapped in 2005. Maps * L.L. Ivanov et al. Antarctica: Livingston Island an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tierra Del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of the Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, with an area of , and a group of many islands, including Cape Horn and Diego Ramírez Islands. Tierra del Fuego is divided between Chile and Argentina, with the latter controlling the eastern half of the main island and the former the western half plus the islands south of Beagle Channel and the southernmost islands. The southernmost extent of the archipelago is just north of latitude 56°S. The earliest known human settlement in Tierra del Fuego dates to approximately 8,000 BC. Europeans first explored the islands during Ferdinand Magellan's expedition of 1520. ''Tierra del Fuego'' and similar namings stem from sightings of the many bonfires that the natives built. Settlement by those of European descent and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cordillera Darwin
The Cordillera Darwin is an extensive mountain range mantled by an ice field that is located in Chile. Description Cordillera Darwin is located in the southwestern portion of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, entirely within the Chilean territory. It is part of the longest Andes range and includes the highest mountains in Tierra del Fuego, with elevations reaching over ; The ice field of the Cordillera Darwin covers an area greater than . The Darwin Range extends in a west–east direction from the Monte Sarmiento (located in the vicinity of Magdalena Channel) to Yendegaia Valley. It is bounded by the Almirantazgo Fjord on the north and the Beagle Channel on the south. The range is named after Charles Darwin and is the most important feature of Alberto de Agostini National Park, which includes a number of well-known glaciers including the Marinelli Glacier, which is now under prolonged retreat as of 2008. In October 2011, a team of French mountaineers from the French Army's Grou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
