Abstract: High rock slope with laminated structure is inclined to generate toppling deformation. Plenty of large size landslides in mountain areas occurred in the toppling rock mass slope. Therefore, it is important for landslides stability evaluation to study on the mechanism of topplinglandslide process. In this paper, the Yangtai landslide is taken as a case to study the toppling-landslide process. Based on the engineering geological survey of the Yangtai landslide, the failure process and triggering factors are studied by combination of qualitative analysis, discrete element and limited element methods. The results indicate that the failure process of the Yangtai landslide include rock mass unloading, toppling deformation, sliding, and secondary landslide.