Ski Slope Slang Explained: 99 Must-Know Terms for Beginners

Skiers are a humorous bunch. Once they ramble concerning the snow circumstances and what they plan to ski throughout any given day, they typically use typically made-up phrases like “stoke,” “squeeze,” or—our favourite—”chunce.”  After listening in, an uninformed bystander could determine that the messy-haired, foul-mouthed contingent earlier than them is talking a overseas language.Relaxation assured, although, ski slang, as ridiculous because it is likely to be at instances, continues to be English—we swear. These are 99 phrases generally utilized by skiers that can assist you higher perceive conversations on the slopes.Need to sustain with the perfect tales and photographs in snowboarding? Subscribe to the brand new Powder To The Individuals e-newsletter for weekly updates.

A to D

Airplane flip: A small leaping flip the place the skier takes off in a single path and lands in one other path.Aprés: Off-slope, post-skiing actions that often embody consuming, eating, and partying.Backcountry: Areas exterior the boundaries of a ski resort that ought to solely be accessed with avalanche coaching and gear.Banger: A superb shot in a ski film.Beacon: A chunk of avalanche gear that transceivers the person’s location. Used to seek out buried skiers after an avalanche.Blower: Gentle snow that “blows” overhead.Bluebird: Clear, cloudless days.Boilerplate: Exceedingly agency and icy snow.Bolts: To completely land a trick or cliff.Buck: One thing spectacular or harmful, often each.Butter: A trick the place a skier leans into and balances on the noses or tails of their skis.Cascade concrete: A regional time period that describes heavy, moist snow within the Pacific Northwest.Case: To return up brief on a soar and land in a flat space.Cat snowboarding: Backcountry snowboarding assisted with machines referred to as “cats” that use treads to maneuver via the snow.Chalk: A type of snow that is easy and simple to dig your edges into.Chunce: To throw your self off a cliff.Chunder: Tough, blended snow. Usually used to explain avalanche particles.Declare: To have a good time a trick or cliff instantly after touchdown it, often by throwing a fist into the air.Clip: To movie somebody; additionally describes a small chunk of footage utilized in a snowboarding video.Chilly smoke: Weightless, dry snow typically present in colder states like Wyoming and Montana.Wire: Brief for corduroy—refers back to the snow floor of easy, groomed trails which have been manicured by a ski resort and resemble corduroy pants.Corn: A type of sun-baked snow that types within the spring and consists of small snow grains.Cornice: An overhanging wall of snow that’s created by the wind and types on ridge strains.Couloir: A steep, slim gully on a mountainside.Crud: Chopped, inconsistent snow that may be disagreeable or nice to ski, relying on how smooth it’s.Dying cookies: Chunks of frozen snow that always kind in avalanches’ aftermath.Doinger: A small pure soar or cliff.Donkey d*ck: A rail within the terrain park with an abrupt kink on the finish.

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F to L

Face shot: When deep snow blows into the face of a skier whereas they’re making a flip.Fall line: Snowboarding straight down the mountain.FKT (Quickest identified time): A time period for the quickest ascent and descent somebody has fabricated from a peak or line; generally used within the ski mountaineering group.Flat mild: Cloudy or foggy circumstances that make it exhausting to see the contours of the snow floor.Freeride: A type of snowboarding that includes driving pure, unmanicured faces whereas leaping off cliffs and executing methods.Future spin: An aerial trick executed by a skier with a lot of spins, often over 1800 levels.Gaper (see additionally: jerry, beater, gorby, punter): A derogatory time period for somebody who is not good at snowboarding or conversant in its cultural norms; it might confer with vacationers, too. Be good, although.Gnarly: A trick or run that is significantly spectacular. “That was gnarly!” you may say after watching somebody backflip off a big cliff.Goggle tan: A type of lopsided tan that types on the decrease a part of somebody’s face if they have been snowboarding within the solar whereas carrying goggles.Gondy: Shorthand for gondola.Seize: When somebody grabs their skis within the air.Grom: A younger skier.Groomer: A run that is been manicured to have small, parallel grooves. Most newbie skiers will begin by driving “groomers.”Gucci plateau: The flat space far past the touchdown of a soar; greatest averted in any respect prices.Scorching dogging: A type of snowboarding that concerned leaping and snowboarding via fields of moguls.Scorching pow: Heavy, deep snow that is been cooked by the solar, much like Cascade concrete.Hucking meat: Throwing your self off cliffs or jumps in a reckless method.Ice Coast: An affectionate time period for mountains and ski resorts on the East Coast, the place snow circumstances typically aren’t nearly as good as they’re within the West.Jib: A free time period that may confer with hitting small jumps or sliding rails.Kink: Sudden, angular bends in rails within the terrain park. To not be confused with “donkey d*cks,” which solely happen on the finish of a rail.Liftie: Shorthand for chairlift operator; these are the individuals you see serving to others load the chairlifts.Looker’s left or proper: A directional time period used to explain a location on the mountain in case you’re viewing the mountain from under.Unfastened: Uncontrolled, reckless snowboarding.

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M to R

Mank: Dangerous, variable snow.Mashed potatoes: Heavy and moist snow typically discovered when the temperatures enhance after a storm.Mini golf: Small, much less consequential cliffs and pure terrain options, often in a gaggle or cluster.Mobbing: Snowboarding quick.Mother n’ pop: Unbiased, family-owned ski areas.Natty: Refers to pure options or a skier’s most popular path of spinning within the air. For many skiers, left-hand spins are “natty,” though some skiers choose to spin to the correct.Park: The gathering of freestyle jumps, rails, and half pipes at a ski resort. Also called a “terrain park.”Park rat: Somebody who prefers to spend most of their time within the park.Pillow: A mound of snow that’s typically present in cliffy areas. When a skier bounces from one “pillow” to the subsequent, they’re executing a “pillow line.”Piste: A time period that is largely utilized in Europe to explain groomed, avalanche-controlled areas of the mountain.Pizza: To push your skis right into a wedge form and decelerate.Powder: Deep snow.Puking (see additionally: nuking, dumping): When it is snowing closely.Punch entrance: When a skier lands and, after being caught in grabby snow, instantly undergoes an unintentional somersault.Ripper: Somebody who’s good at snowboarding.

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S to Z

Security assembly: To sneak into the timber and partake within the satan’s lettuce.Sastrugi: A type of snow with sharp ridges created by the wind.Scorpion: When a skier faceplants and their heels swing in the direction of the again of their head. Named for the “scorpion” form skiers take throughout these sorts of falls.Sh*tf*ck: Actually, actually unhealthy snow.Sharky: An space of the mountain that is rocky.Shin bang: Bruising that may kind on the entrance of a skier’s legs after carrying ski boots.Shotski: An outdated ski with a number of shot glasses affixed to it in a row. Greatest loved with associates.Shredder: Somebody who’s good at snowboarding.Sick: An acknowledgment that one other skier did one thing cool or spectacular.Sidecountry: A backcountry space that’s accessible from the boundaries of a ski resort. This time period has slowly fallen out of vogue as backcountry and sidecountry are technically the identical factor and carry the identical dangers.Sierra cement: A regional time period that describes heavy, moist Californian snow within the Sierra Nevada.Ski bum (see additionally: skid): Somebody who ekes out a easy residing in a mountain city in order that they will ski as a lot as potential. Rising mountain city prices of residing in North America have made ski bums much less widespread.Ski patrol: The red-jacket-wearing ski resort staff who do all the things from avalanche mitigation to on-mountain rescues.Skier’s left or proper: A directional time period used to explain a location as seen from above, as in case you are making an attempt to ski to it.Skins: Grippy sheets of fabric backcountry skiers affix to the underside of their skis after they climb uphill.Skintrack: The skinny tracks which might be fashioned by skiers touring uphill in a backcountry space.Sluff: Cascades of free snow that path skiers down steep slopes. Giant quantities of sluff can sweep a skier off their toes.Snow snake: A legendary creature blamed by skiers after they undergo an surprising fall.Steeze: A time period that describes a classy skier. “They’ve steeze,” you may say. Or—”They’re steezy.”Stoked: A chorus skiers say after they’re excited or in a extremely good temper. “I am stoked!”Stomp: To land a trick or cliff clear.Swap: To ski backward.T to B: To ski from the highest of a mountain to the underside of a mountain.Texas briefcase: A option to carry your skis that includes utilizing the straps of your ski poles to create a deal with. The ultimate product resembles a briefcase.Practice tracks: The small grooves left in a groomed run by carving skiers.Transition: A steep slope that reduces the impression after a skier does a soar or cliff; it may be pure or artifical.Twin ideas: Skis the place the tip and the tail curve upwards; initially designed for swap snowboarding.Two skip (see additionally: “dos menos uno,” or “two minus one”): One thing a skier may say after they’re about to take their closing run of the day, as saying “final run” invitations unhealthy luck in ski tradition.Weekend warrior: Somebody who works full time between Monday and Friday to allow them to solely ski on the weekends.White room: When recent snow blows into the face of a skier to allow them to solely see white, much like a “face shot.”Wind buff: Snow that is been moved by the wind and tends to have a easy, chalk-like floor.Wind lip: A pure function created by the wind that appears like a cresting wave. Skiers typically use “wind lips” for methods like backflips.Yard sale: When a skier crashes and their gear finally ends up strewn throughout the slopes.

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