Mountains
Black ice on rocks in the mountains is known as verglas (glaze ice), and is a great hazard for climbers and scramblers. Cold weather is common at high altitudes, and black ice quickly forms on rock surfaces. Loss of traction is as sudden and unexpected as on a pavement or road, but can be fatal if the rock is in an exposed position with a drop below. The ice-axe and crampons are of little use in such circumstances, a belay rope being the only protection which can prevent a fall.
Read more about this topic: Black Ice
Famous quotes containing the word mountains:
“It is the sorrow; shall it melt? Ah, water
Would gush, flush, green these mountains and these valleys
And we rebuild our cities, not dream of islands.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)
“We envy not the warmer clime, that lies
In ten degrees of more indulgent skies,
Nor at the coarseness of our heaven repine,
Though o’er our heads the frozen Pleiads shine:
‘Tis Liberty that crowns Britannia’s Isle,
And makes her barren rocks and her bleak mountains smile.”
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719)
“The Mississippi, the Ganges, and the Nile,... the Rocky Mountains, the Himmaleh, and Mountains of the Moon, have a kind of personal importance in the annals of the world.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)