[Ger. bergfall fall of a mountain.] The ruinous fall of a mountain peak or crag, an avalanche of stones.
1849. Daily News, 12 March, 6/6. The freshness of the ground where the berg-fall took place some years since is well rendered.
1856. Ruskin, Mod. Paint., IV. V. xiv. § 5. 180. Terrific and fantastic forms of precipice; not altogether without danger, as has been fearfully demonstrated by many a ‘bergfall’ among the limestone groups of the Alps.
1862. T. G. Bonney, in Peaks, Passes, & Glac., II. x. 202. It is the wildest scene of desolation I ever saw: the celebrated bergfall of the Diablerets cannot at all compare with it.
