Corrie – Armchair-shaped hollow in mountainside

(Pronounced kor-ee)

To remember the meaning of the term Corrie, use the following mnemonic:

The corridor (Corrie) had loads of armchairs in it (armchair-shaped hollow).

Corries are hollows formed by glacial erosion, freeze-thaw weathering and rotational slip (a kind of landslide that occurs in concave-up, or basin-shaped, surfaces). Corries are where glaciers start to form. A corrie can also be referred to as a cirque (pronounced serk – rhymes with "circ" in circle.)

As snow and ice build up on a mountain, the underlying rock is gradually eroded by the movement of the ice and rock debris contained in it, and a corrie is created. Many corries contain lakes, or tarns. Three or more corries formed on the same mountain can give rise to a pyramidal peak.