: a pinnacle, sharp ridge, or block of ice among the crevasses of a glacier
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But for more than two weeks, a massive and unstable block of ice, or serac, stalled them from moving farther up the peak.—Pasang Rinzee Sherpa, Los Angeles Times, 12 May 2026 The towering ice block, called a serac, is in the Khumbu Icefall above South Base Camp and nearly 1,000 feet below Camp One.—Janet Loehrke, USA Today, 24 Apr. 2026 There’s good reason for caution: seracs have caused fatal disasters in the past.—Jessie Yeung, CNN Money, 24 Apr. 2026 In 2022, 11 people died when a massive serac on the Marmolada Glacier disintegrated, showering a group of hikers with ice and rock.—Owen Clarke, Outside Online, 16 Aug. 2025 Last week, three Nepali sherpa climbers died after being hit by an ice serac on the lower parts of Mount Everest. Nepal has eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains.—Reuters, CNN, 18 Apr. 2023
Word History
Etymology
French sérac, literally, a kind of white cheese, from Medieval Latin seracium whey, from Latin serum whey — more at serum