the.com/rockfall
gravity collecting on the debt every mountain has been quietly accumulating for millennia.
means A rockfall is the sudden downward tumbling of loose rocks or boulders from a cliff or steep slope, usually triggered by erosion, frost, water, or gravity finally winning.
from A plain compound of two old workhorse words: "rock," likely from Old French "roque" or its Latin source "rocca" (of obscure, possibly pre-Latin origin), and "fall," from Old English "feallan," to drop or descend — a Germanic verb with cousins across the northern languages. Together they describe exactly what they say: rock, falling. No mystery, no flourish — the word is as blunt as the event.
- top speed
- boulders can exceed 100 mph downhill
- freeze-thaw
- water in cracks freezes, expands, splits stone
- no warning
- often triggered by nothing visible at all
- fence tech
- steel mesh nets catch tons of falling rock
- yosemite
- its cliffs shed rock dozens of times yearly
yosemite valley 2017 — 134-ton granite slab fell from glacier point in july 2017, the largest in decades
stawamus chief 2015 — massive rockfall near squamish bc killed 2 climbers in september 2015
vaiont dam 1963 — 260 million ton rockfall in italy triggered tsunami killing 2000 people