Gendarme : A gendarme is a pinnacle of rock on a mountain ridge. Gendarmes often form on the intersection of two ridges due to the lower erosion of glaciers here. The name originates from the French Alps, where they were seen as resembling the gendarmerie police.
In other words gendarme are a free standing pinnacle on an Alpine ridge. Gendarmes may be quite small or immense.
Cornice : The word cornice is derived from the Italian word for “ledge,” .A cornice is a lump of overhanging ice or snow, typically found on a ridge top or an edge of a glacial ring. Cornices are formed by blowing winds and are extremely dangerous. When Cornice breaks down they form Avalanche , which is responsible for the accidents in the mountains.The gradient of the cornice is usually more than 90 degree.
Bergschrund :A bergschrund (name derived from a German word), is a gap or crevasse that appears near the head of a glacier where the neve field portion of the glacier joins the valley portion of the glacier.This forms frequently near the head of a mountain glacier.
Bergschrund generally resembles the giant teeth of a monster looking animal.
Buttress : The Buttress is generally a steep terrain in the mountains. A rocky overhand or hump from the mountain slide or the mass generally formed between two rocky gullies. But if it is too narrow this may be called a ridge of the mountain.
Crevasse : A crack in a glacier. Formed by melting of the moving ice. It majorly happens when glaciers melts rapidly during daytime. A major navigational difficulty for mountaineers, and a major hazard when hidden by recent snow. When mountaineers fall inside the crevasses, then crevasse rescue technique had to be adopted to get them out of the danger.
Avalanche : An avalanche is a mass of snow that slides rapidly down an inclined slope, such as a mountainside or the roof of a building. Avalanches are triggered by either natural forces (e.g. precipitation, wind drifting snow, rapid temperature changes) or human activity.
Arete — French (arête) — edge or ridge 1. A narrow sharp mountain ridge looking like knife edge. 2. In glaciology, a narrow ridge remaining after glacial erosion from both sides. 3. In rock climbing, a vertical ridge or junction of walls at a convex angle in a rock face.
Massif — A mountain massife is a range or plateau; a “mass” of peaks or mountains. Carries an implication that the peaks or mountains are bunched together, but not in a neat line. Borrowed from French. Like “range”, can be applied on extremely varied scales, from “Massif du Mont Blanc or “Kanchenjunga massif”.
Serac -Seracs are a pinnacle or tower of ice surmounted on the top of the mountains. A large block or peak of glacier ice which is separated by crevasses from the main mass of its glacier, especially a block that is tilted, upthrust, or overhanging. Seracs are found in ice falls and at the edge of ice cliffs. They are unsuitable for climbing and are potentially dangerous, as they fall off periodically.
Mountain Col- [Latin — neck] Col is the low point on a ridge joining two mountain peaks. Glaciologists reserve this term for gaps of glacial origin, but others use it much more generally while passing high altitude passes.
In other simple words, Col is an opening, road, or track, available for passing; especially, one through or over some dangerous or otherwise impracticable barrier such as a mountain range; a passageway Example: Audens Col.
Gully : [Middle French — “throat”] –A Gully is a channel caused by erosion, especially by water running down a slope. The distinction between “gully” and “valley” or “canyon” is one of scale — a gully is usually less than a hundred meters in width. (It is also at least a meter wide; anything smaller would be a ditch or gutter.)
Glacier :A glacier is a huge mass of on the move ice that moves slowly because of its own weight. Glaciers are formed at places where rate of accumulation or deposition of snow is more than the rate of melting of snow.Formed from snowfall deposition, glaciers slides very slowly downhill after melting. It is always changing its position which may not be visible by naked eyes.
Pinnacle : A pinnacle,or in other words is a tower, spire, needle or natural tower in geology is an individual column of rock, isolated from other rocks or groups of rocks, in the shape of a vertical point or shoot.
Moraine : The banks of stones and other debris found at the snout (terminal), sides (lateral), centre (medial) or bare (ground) of a glacier. Moraines are formed of boulders, mud and even old ice, crushed together by the grinding action of the glaciers movement. Mountaineers popularly use the term moraine zone.
Scree — A scree is a surface consisting of small loose rocks or glacial debris, which have slid from above and are likely to slide again when stepped upon. Loose rock eroded from a mountain and found in steep slopes below cliffs. Can be very awkward to climb and descent though scree.
Verglas :A verglas is a glassy thin ice, transparent ice formed by the freezing of rain or meltwater on a hard, smooth surface (ie, rock). Extremely slippery, and sometimes too thin to hold a crampon or ice axe. Verglasses are thin ice lying on rocks and making climbing difficult. Similar to black ice on roads in appearance and effect.
Chimney — A rock cleft with vertical sides mostly parallel, large enough to fit the climber’s body into. To climb such a structure, the climber often uses his head, back and feet to apply opposite pressure on the vertical walls. In other words it is a gap between two rocks which is wider than crack and narrower than a gully. Chimney can be used to climb a rock face.
Snout : A snout is the end of the glacier where melting occurs. A snout is a base of the glacier from where glacier stream starts flowing towards downhill into the formation of river water.
Disclaimer : All photo and image courtesy : Google sources and wikipedia and various websites.
Writing compilation sources : Jawahar institute of mountaineering (jim) pahalgam official website and other external google sources. This is just a compilation of these definitions from various sources, the writer does not declare to own this writing, and have any intentions to claim copyright intent of it.
