Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A crevice between a glacier and the rocky wall of its valley.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Phys. Geog.) The crevasse or series of crevasses, usually deep and often broad, frequently occurring near the head of a mountain glacier, about where the névé field joins the valley portion of the glacier.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Alternative form of bergshrund.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • A large crevasse called a bergschrund usually occurs at the top of the glacier near the head wall.

    Guliya Core #2 and Mountain Glacier Flow « Climate Audit 2006

  • It breaks itself loose from the thinner snows about it, too shallow to share its motion, and from the rock rim which surrounds it, forming a deep fissure called the bergschrund, sometimes a score and more feet wide.

    The Elements of Geology William Harmon Norton 1900

  • Skirting the base of the mountain above us, we came to a gigantic bergschrund, a mile and a half long and 1000 ft. deep.

    South: the story of Shackleton’s last expedition 1914–1917 2006

  • Without the map, we had little certainty of our descent, and though we found our way down the steepest climbing of the trip—through an ice tunnel at a glacial bergschrund a crevasse created where the head of a glacier pulls away from the adjacent rock, down the vertical rock of the Fisher Chimney, and up a grueling finish to reach the Mount Baker ski area—it was dark again before we were off the mountain.

    127 Hours Aron Ralston 2004

  • Without the map, we had little certainty of our descent, and though we found our way down the steepest climbing of the trip—through an ice tunnel at a glacial bergschrund a crevasse created where the head of a glacier pulls away from the adjacent rock, down the vertical rock of the Fisher Chimney, and up a grueling finish to reach the Mount Baker ski area—it was dark again before we were off the mountain.

    Between a Rock and a Hard Place Aron Ralston 2004

  • As Bowman used the north bergschrund and other landmarks to define their initial position and their route upwards, I studied the man's face, surveying the landmarks of his character.

    Analog Science Fiction and Fact 2004

  • Without the map, we had little certainty of our descent, and though we found our way down the steepest climbing of the trip—through an ice tunnel at a glacial bergschrund a crevasse created where the head of a glacier pulls away from the adjacent rock, down the vertical rock of the Fisher Chimney, and up a grueling finish to reach the Mount Baker ski area—it was dark again before we were off the mountain.

    127 Hours Aron Ralston 2004

  • Without the map, we had little certainty of our descent, and though we found our way down the steepest climbing of the trip—through an ice tunnel at a glacial bergschrund a crevasse created where the head of a glacier pulls away from the adjacent rock, down the vertical rock of the Fisher Chimney, and up a grueling finish to reach the Mount Baker ski area—it was dark again before we were off the mountain.

    127 Hours Aron Ralston 2004

  • Twenty-four hours later, I was huddled inside a bivouac sack under the lip of the bergschrund on the Thumb's north face.

    The Greatest Survival Stories Ever Told Underwood, Lamar 2001

  • The depth of the snow made the going slow and exhausting; by the time I front-pointed up the overhanging wall of the uppermost bergschrund, some three or four hours after leaving camp, I was whipped.

    The Greatest Survival Stories Ever Told Underwood, Lamar 2001

Comments

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  • And to make this word even more fun -- it's a synonym for crevasse!

    April 9, 2008

  • In German "berg" means "mountain," and "schrund" means "crack" or "crevice."

    The origin of "iceberg" suddenly snapped into focus--"ice mountain."

    June 3, 2013