Icefall, Nepal

This picture shows the Khumbu Icefall, part of the approach route to Mount Everest in the Himalayas. The glacier ice in an icefall moves down the steep gradient by flow rather than spilling in a loose avalanche, but it becomes more heavily fractured and has many more crevasses. That is why it looks more precarious for climbers than it really is, although the conditions are still hazardous.