Snow cornice

This article is about the snow formation. For the architectural use, see cornice.

A cornice of snow about to fall. Cracks in the snow are visible in area (1). Area (3) fell soon after this picture was taken, leaving area (2) as the new edge.

The summit of San Jacinto Peak covered by a cornice formed by wind-blown snow.

A snow cornice or simply cornice is an overhanging edge of snow on a ridge or the crest of a mountain. They form by wind blowing snow over the crest of the mountain, so they often form on the leeward sides of mountains. Cornices are extremely dangerous and travelling above or below them should be avoided.

When a cornice collapses, it breaks in from the cornice to the top of the peak; even being on the snow on top of rock exposes the alpinist to hazard in this situation. The best practice in mountaineering is to stay far enough back from the edge so as not to be able to see the drop, as an approximate metric of exposure. Of course, this is not always possible. A good test for safety (in sunny weather) is to insert an ice axe and see if a blue glow comes out of the hole. This indicates the ice is being lit from underneath, and that the climber should retreat to a safer location.

In avalanche safety, cornices are a high avalanche danger as they often break and trigger larger avalanches that permeate several snow layers. Cornices are particularly vulnerable to collapse during periods of solar warming.

See also

• List of climbing topics
• Zastruga, a simlar snowform in Arctic

External links

• Cornice from the Avalanche Encyclopedia
• Climber found dead in Mount St. Helens crater after falling through cornice