Amundsen Icefall () is a steep and turbulent

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 t ...

where the

Axel Heiberg Glacier The Axel Heiberg Glacier in Antarctica is a valley glacier, long, descending from the high elevations of the Antarctic Plateau into the Ross Ice Shelf (nearly at sea level) between the Herbert Range and Mount Don Pedro Christophersen in the Que ...

descends from the polar

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

between

Mount Fridtjof Nansen Mount Fridtjof Nansen is a high massive mountain which dominates the area between the heads of Strom and Axel Heiberg Glaciers, in the Queen Maud Mountains of Antarctica. Discovered by Roald Amundsen Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen ...

and

Mount Don Pedro Christophersen Mount Don Pedro Christophersen () is a massive, largely ice-covered, gabled mountain, high, surmounting the divide between the heads of Axel Heiberg Glacier and Cooper Glacier, in the Queen Maud Mountains. It was discovered in 1911 by Roald Amun ...

, in the

Queen Maud Mountains The Queen Maud Mountains are a major group of mountains, ranges and subordinate features of the Transantarctic Mountains, lying between the Beardmore and Reedy Glaciers and including the area from the head of the Ross Ice Shelf to the Antarctic P ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

. Named by the Southern Party of the

New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition The New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition (NZGSAE) describes a series of scientific explorations of the continent Antarctica. The expeditions were notably active throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Features named by the expeditions 1957 ...

(1961–62) for Captain

Roald Amundsen Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (, ; ; 16 July 1872 – ) was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He was a key figure of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Born in Borge, Østfold, Norway, Amundsen bega ...

, who ascended Axel Heiberg Glacier en route to the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...

1911 A notable ongoing event was the Comparison of the Amundsen and Scott Expeditions, race for the South Pole. Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory ...

References

* Queen Maud Mountains Icefalls of the Ross Dependency Amundsen Coast {{RossDependency-geo-stub