Dear Grégoire Bobillier,

based on two reviews of your manuscript, I would like to invite you to incorporate your "Discussion" replies for referees' suggestions and submit a modified version of the paper.

Best regards,
Evgeny Podolskiy

Dear Grégoire Bobillier,

Based on outcomes of two rounds of reviews and my own reading of your manuscript, I am pleased to accept it for its publication in The Cryosphere. Before submitting final publication files, please, incorporate the following technical corrections into your draft (shown below).

Best regards,
Evgeny Podolskiy

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p.2
Line 21
16Go -> 16Gb

p.3
Line 14
…are shown Figure 2.
->
…are shown {in} Figure 2.

Line 16 (and elsewhere)
Please, put a comma after each i.e. (or e.g.)
i.e. -> i.e.,
e.g. -> e.g.,

p.4
Line 22-23
(not shown) could go to the end of the next phrase. ->
…the loading rate did not affect the results (not shown).
Because the first phrase is logical, while the second is based on your analysis, which you decide not to show.

p. 9
Line 4
with 2nd order polynomial->
with {a} 2nd order polynomial

Line 4
[Pa] is in blue now

Line 5
dash-doted -> dash-dotted

p.10
Line 3
an almost perfectly brittle behaviour
Please indicate where was it ->
an almost perfectly brittle behaviour (Fig. 6)

Similar suggestion to Lines 25-26, where you could refer to (Fig. 9).

p.12
Line 10
One of the referees was not anonymous (Chris Borstad).

Fig. 1
I find a mix of [bond] - as noun - in combination with [unbounded] - as adjective a bit confusing; especially after lengthy normal-mechanical-parameter. Could it be rephrased, say:
“Normal mechanical parameters for bonded and unbounded states”. Similar applies for b) Shear …

v_u ?

Fig. 2
Put spaces after “||S..||_as” and “||M..2||_as”, which are missing now.

c)-d) Where in the paper did you explain the meaning of terms “I” and “J” ? Am I missing something?

Fig. 3
a weak layer, (green) ->
a weak layer (green),

Fig. 5
(b) Weak layer macroscopic strength as a function of slab particles strength …
->
… a function of {weak layer} particles strength …?

Fig. 6
The blue line shows the normal stress, the violet line corresponds to the bond breaking ratio are shown as functions of the normal strain.
-> better as ?:
The blue line showing the normal stress and the violet line corresponding to the bond breaking ratio are plotted as functions of the normal strain.

Fig. 9
The grey dotted line represents ->
The grey dotted line{s} represent

Fig. 12
The green dash-dotted line corresponds to the corresponding fit … ->
The green dash-dotted line{s} {indicate} the corresponding fit{s} …

Fig. 13
The orange lines shows
plural - > show …