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Glossary
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GLOSSARY OF MOUNTAINEERING TERMS
Their Meanings as Used in Literature Relating to
the Alpine Tracts of Canada.
Compiled by Arthur O. Wheeler
Aiguille—A needle-like rock-tower or pinnacle, isolated from a central mass.
Alpenstock—A long stout staff, shod with a sharp steel point, used by mountaineers.
Alps, Alplands—The open grasslands, meadows or slopes above timber-line; usually clad wtih heath, heather and beautiful mountain wildflowers.
Amphitheatre—A natural circular area, surrounded by rising ground, usually rock or snow masses.
Arête—The sharp ridge, edge or rocky spur of a mountain; used in connection with snow as well as rock.
Avalanche—Falling bodies of snow or ice, loosened from their hold by the heat of the sun.
Berg—The integral rock mass rising above a snowfield; also, in the absence of snow, above the slopes of debris, or the alplands at its base.
Bergschrund—The crevasse formed between the edge of a body of snow and a rock berg; one of the chief difficulties and dangers to be overcome in mountaineering.
