Snow cornice even being on the snow on top of rock exposes the alpinist to hazard in this situation. The best practice in mountaineering is to stay far enough back from the edge so as not to be able to see the drop, as an approximate metric of exposure. In avalanche safety, cornices are a high avalanche danger as they often break and trigger larger avalanches that permeate several snow layers. Cornices are particularly vulnerable to collapse during periods of solar warming. Snow cornice A snow cornice or simply cornice (from the Italian cornice meaning "ledge") is an overhanging edge of snow
Blue Ridge Mountain Bull Run and Catoctin mountains, which lie approximately to the east across the Loudoun Valley, and Short Hill Mountain, located to the east, which runs parallel to the Blue Ridge for near its northern terminus. To the west of the mountain is the lower Shenandoah Valley. Blue Ridge Mountain is noticeably lower in elevation than other sections of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. The southern section of the mountain contains the highest peaks, and the ridge gradually loses elevation as it gets closer to the Potomac. Elevations in the gaps are typically around , while peaks range from to