The 1985 disaster was precipitated by an ice avalanche.

Ice Avalanches are a hazard that exists in glaciated mountain ranges.

Due to the fact that they are part of a glacier, ice avalanches can have large amounts of rock in them.

Victor begs the Creature's forgiveness; the sound of his shouts sets off an ice avalanche.

Ice avalanches are quite dangerous because they can travel long distances, sometimes as far as 8 km out onto the glacier valley floor.

In the summer of 2007, a portion of Blackfoot Glacier broke off and formed an ice avalanche.

At the time of the ice avalanche, the base was occupied by soldiers of the 6th Northern Light Infantry battalion, a unit "trained in mountain operations".

Ice avalanches are a common everyday occurrence in ranges such as the Alaska Range, Saint Elias Mountains, or Columbia Icefield.

The 1983 expedition to Manaslu ended in disaster when Nejc Zaplotnik and Ante Bućan were killed in an ice avalanche.

Where the slopes are too steep, the snow accumulates to form overhanging seracs, which periodically fall off due to the downwards movement of the glacier and cause ice avalanches.

But there was noise: the distant cracks and growls and splintering crashes of ice avalanches, as great sheets broke away from the rocky faces all around them, a remote, vast, intimidating clamor.

Government officials suspended further aid to about 40 volunteers seeking survivors of an ice avalanche last September in North Ossetia, saying that all hope of finding anyone alive was lost and that melting ice had made the effort too risky.

This multi-day decline brought the two climbers to the limit of their physical and mental strength, and was to end in tragedy when Günther disappeared at the bottom of the Diamir face, most likely killed by an ice avalanche during the descent.

On that expedition, Dr. Russell pointed to an area about halfway up Skaftafellsjokull ("jokull" means glacier) where a fresh scab of glacier had just broken off after a small ice avalanche, revealing virgin layers of ancient ice and sediment.

Around 2:00 am Pakistan Standard Time (PKT) on 7 April 2012, a massive ice avalanche struck a Pakistani military headquarters at Gayari, 30 km west of the Siachen Glacier terminus, near the disputed Siachen glacier region.