Glossary of downhill skiing and cross country skiing terms, including definitions.
Adaptive skiing enables skiers with disabilities to participate in alpine skiing by using special equipment.
Alpine skiing is skiing downhill on a mountain.
Après-Ski refers to the end of the day when the mountain has closed and the restaurants and bars are open for socializing.
Average Annual Snowfall is the amount of snow a mountain gets during a year.
Backcountry skiing is skiing on terrain that isn't marked, mapped, or groomed. It offers skiers a chance to brave more challenging terrain in a more natural setting, and sometimes even make the first tracks in fresh powder.
The base is the average amount of snow that is on a ski trail, typically measured in inches.
Bindings attach your boots to your skis. They are set to skier classification, height, and weight and should only be set by a certified technician.
Black Diamonds are the color and symbol used to mark advanced ski trails. Black Diamond ski trails are often difficult to ski and have advanced terrain.
A blackout day is a day when, while using a season pass, your season pass is not valid and you must purchase a normal lift ticket if you wish to ski that day.
A blue bird day is a beautiful sunny day after an overnight snowfall. It's a perfect skiing day with a clear blue sky, bright sun, and fresh snow.
Blue squares are the color and symbol used to mark intermediate ski trails.
The bunny slope is a ski area with a gentle slope where beginner skiers are taught to ski.
Carving is when you ski a turn with very little skidding, using the edges of your skis.
Catching air is going fast enough to have both lift skis off the snow after skiing over a bump.
Catching an edge is a fall or near-fall where the edge of your ski digs into the snow, usually catching a groove made by the ski of another skier.
A chair lift is a mechanized, cable-suspended, aerial chair device used to carry skiers up a mountain slope.
Super combined (super combi) ski races includes a single slalom race and either a shorter than normal downhill run or a super G race. In the super combined, the times of each race are added together and the fastest total time determines the winner.
Corn snow is a wet snow usually found in springtime that has gone through a series of melt – freeze cycles. These cycles start with a night freeze causing a crust of frozen snow with wet snow underneath.
Cross country skiing is skiing over level ground or small hills.
Crud is snow that is a combination of powder snow and patches of ice or snow that is slippery or crusty on the surface and soft underneath.
Crust is soft snow that has a layer of harden, frozen crust (hence the name) on the top. Freezing rain, direct sunlight, or the melting and refreezing of the top layer of powder can result in crust.
Diagonal stride is the equivalent of walking in cross-country skiing.
The DIN (Deutsche Industrie Normen) setting determines how easily the binding will release the ski boot from the ski when a skier falls.
Double Black Diamonds are used to mark very advanced ski trails that are difficult to ski and have expert terrain.
Downhill ski races are designed to be the longest and ultimately generate the highest speed from the skiers. Each skier makes one run only. The skier with the fastest time is the winner. As in all Alpine events, skiers are timed to one hundredth of a second and any ties stand as that.
The fall line is the line on the mountain down which water would flow if poured down the slope (the straightest and the steepest line down the mountain).
Freestyle aerial skiing competition require the competitors to ski a ramp leading to a high kick-off jump. Each "kicker block" is built to a varying formula of rate-of-rise to distance of the initial rise to the top. This allows the competitors to pre-choose 2 of the collection of back flips, twists and turns they will perform based on their own style and technique. What they choose combines to a…
Freestyle moguls competition includes a course which is a set of manmade moguls, or bumps, on a steep slope that will provide 3 or 4 lines or paths down. The goal is to ski down through the bumps as fast as possible doing the tricks off the two jumps.
Freestyle skiing is a type of skiing where skiers do tricks or jumps. From skiing on halfpipes to getting air and soaring over jumps (and then doing tricks in the air), freestyle skiers also ski moguls. While skiing down close set moguls, freestyle skiers race through moguls and then ski over a jump.
Glacier skiing is downhill skiing or crosscountry skiing in glaciers. Most glacier skiing is done in the summer, when mountains in the northern hemisphere are closed.
Glade skiing is skiing back and forth through trees.
Goggles are tight–fitting glasses that are used to protect the eyes from snow, wind, and glare.
A gondola is an enclosed structure suspended from a cable that transports skiers up the mountain.
Granular snow is snow with the consistency of small pellets. types of granular snow includes loose, wet, and frozen granular snow.
Grass skiing is sometimes considered summer’s equivalent to winter snow skiing. While not as popular as its cold weather counterpart, skiing on grass instead of snow has made a name for itself, especially in Europe.
Green circles are the color and symbol used to mark beginner trails (the easiest trails to ski).
Heli-Skiing is off-trail, downhill skiing that is reached by a helicopter.
Moguls are a series of bumps on a trail that a skier skis around, formed naturally after many skiers travel down the slope on the same path or man-made by machine.
Mountain casual attire is the norm at many ski resorts. Mountain casual dress is basically casual attire. If the restaurant dress code says mountain casual, jeans, corduroys, and other casual pants, plus a sweater or shirt, is fine. For nice mountain casual, you may want to dress it up a little with a collared shirt.
Off piste skiing is on ungroomed terrain that is not marked into trails.
Packed powder snow is now that is compressed and flattened either by skier and snowboarder traffic or by grooming equipment.
Powder snow is freshly fallen, loose and fluffy snow.
The Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA) is the premier organization offering training and certification for U.S. Ski Instructors.
Randonee skiing, also known as Alpine Touring (AT), is a form of skiing in which athletes ascend the mountain under their own power through the use of specialized bindings and "skins."
A season pass provides discounted ski resort lift tickets throughout ski season.
The ski binding attaches the ski boot to the ski.
Ski boot footbeds are inserts (orthotics) molded to bring the load bearing parts of the foot in sync with the gravitational force of the skeletal system. A ski boot footbed is molded from a semi-rigid material which distributes the forces developed on the foot during a ski turn.
Ski Cross is a skiing competition event where skiers race in a mass start group of four on a course of bumps and turns best described as a vertical snow covered motorbike "motocross" venue.
Ski Cross is a skiing competition event where skiers race in a mass start group of four on a course of bumps and turns best described as a vertical snow covered motorbike "motocross" venue (from which the official name Ski Cross and similar monikers "skicross" amd "ski-X" are derived).
A ski lift is the transportation that gets skiers up the mountain. Aerial ski lifts include chairlifts, gondolas, and trams.
Ski-In / Ski-Out accommodations are mountainside lodging where you can ski-in and ski-out from the hotel or condo directly to the slope.
Skiboards are short skis - typically 130cm or less. . Some are available with releasable bindings and others with non-releasable bindings, usually they are not fitted with brakes but require runaway straps.
Skijoring is the sport of being pulled on cross country skis by a dog or dogs in harness.
Slalom ski races are traditionally the shortest race. They are comprised of close together turns or gates. Each competitor makes one run, then the course is reset on the same slope, but, with position of the gates changed.
Slush is snow that is starting to melt, and it's very heavy and very wet. Some would say that slush doesn't even look like snow, and those who've seen slush during spring conditions know how difficult skiing in slush can be.
The snow plow is one of the first techniques a beginner skier learns. The front tips of the skis are almost touching, which slows the skier and helps maintain control.
Snowblades are short shaped skis, typically 90-130cm, and are also called skiboards. Snowblades use traditional bindings, so you can use your own boots to ski with them.
Speed skiing is the art of going downhill through a straight measured course with the object of attaining the highest speed possible.
Super G is short for super giant slalom. Races are run on a course shorter than the downhill, but, longer than the GS. The skier with the fastest time over one run is the winner.
The uphill capacity is the number of skiers that can be transported to the top of the mountain at a certain time.
The vertical drop is the distance straight down the mountain (measured in feet).
A yard sale is when a skier falls and loses his skis and poles, which end up scattered across the mountainside.
