BERGSCHRUND, a gaping crack in the upper part of a snowfield or a glacier. It is near the rock wall and roughly par allel to the rock-face of the upper edge of the glacier basin. It usually extends downwards to the solid rock beneath the glacier, and at the bottom of the huge crevasse thus formed there are blocks of ice and large pieces of rock from the rock wall and from the floor. It is caused by the snow mass moving bodily away from the rock face either when being compacted by its own weight or when moving down hill as a glacier.