scree n.

"pile of debris at the base of a cliff or steep mountainside," 1781, a back-formation from screes (plural) "pebbles, small stones," from Old Norse skriða "landslide." This is from the verb skriða "to creep, crawl;" of a ship, "to sail, glide," also "to slide" (on snow-shoes), from Proto-Germanic *skreithanan (source also of Old English scriþan "to go, glide," Old Saxon skridan, Dutch schrijden, Old High German scritan, German schreiten "to stride").