hanging glacier

British  

noun

1. a glacier situated on a shelf above a valley or another glacier; it may be joined to the lower level by an icefall or separate from it

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Example Sentences

In 1985, Nepal’s Dig Tsho lake, in the Everest region, burst after part of a hanging glacier fell into it, destroying houses and infrastructure below.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2026

In 2021, the area experienced a deadly flood after a section of rock and hanging glacier fell down a steep slope.

From Washington Post • Jan. 12, 2023

This hanging glacier – compressed from ancient snowflakes into cerulean-white, gem hardness – was one of many encircling and guarding the upper half of the mountain.

From The Guardian • Nov. 8, 2018

He then rappelled approximately two-thirds of the way down the face, where he strapped in and made turns down a 250-meter, 50-degree, hanging glacier, below which was nothing but 500 meters of crisp Alpine air.

From Time Magazine Archive

I’d gained nearly seven hundred feet of altitude since stepping off the hanging glacier, all of it on crampon front points and the picks of my axes.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer