snowfield

American  

[snoh-feeld] / ˈsnoʊˌfild /

noun

Geology.

1. a large and relatively permanent expanse of snow.

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snowfield British  

/ ˈsnəʊˌfiːld /

noun

1. a large area of permanent snow

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snowfield Scientific  

/ snō′fēld′ /

1. A large expanse of snow, usually with a smooth and uniform surface, and especially at the head of a glacier.

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Etymology

Origin of snowfield

First recorded in 1835–45; snow + field

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

snowfield

Above the Swiss village of Saas Fee, a path leading to a mountain hut once passed through a summer snowfield on top of the Chessjen Glacier.

From Reuters ● Jul. 26, 2022

The first time I did this trail — which has an elevation gain of 1,100 feet and caps off at 5,900 feet — I hit a snowfield halfway through and wasn’t prepared with poles.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 21, 2021

We walked to the edge of a snowfield and wandered between the few, weather-stunted trees.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 29, 2021

But he was rarely hurt seriously, a testament perhaps to fine judgments: How to cross a snowfield that might conceal a crevasse?

From New York Times ● Oct. 31, 2017

A long snowfield lay between them and the next gap, and on crossing it they discovered a crevasse so deep that “two battleships could have been hidden in it,” as Worsley said.

From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong