On August 26, a massive collapse of glacial ice and rock on a mountain near the Nepal-Tibet border sent seven billion cubic feet of debris crashing into a river below. The resulting wall of water, traveling up to 100 miles per hour, destroyed villages dozens of miles downstream, killing more than 1,300 people and leaving thousands missing. While the scale of the disaster is extraordinary, scientists like Mark Carey of the University of Oregon warn that such tragedies are becoming more likely as climate change melts icy landscapes worldwide, destabilizing slopes in unpredictable ways.