Crevasses in the French Alps

February 11, 2003

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Provided by: Erin Keller, University of California Santa Barbara
Summary authors & editors: Erin Keller; Jim Foster

This photograph was taken while dangling more than 600 m (about 2,000 ft) in the air. Suspended from a cable, in a four-person car near Mont Blanc, France, views of the glacial crevasses shown above were breathtaking. Crevasses are usually caused either by ice that moves over an obstacle or results from ice that is "stretched" as its velocity increases. At 4,807 m (about 15,800 ft), Mont Blanc is Europe's highest mountain and a popular tourist destination. Observing the picturesque scenery from the cable-car, which was swaying considerably with the wind, was an unnerving yet amazing experience. Despite the frigid appearance of the photo, it was actually captured in the middle of the summer (July of 2002).

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