There are lots of words which are only ever heard in a ski resort, so if it’s your first time skiing be prepared for some new and strange vocab.
While it’s important to learn the basic terms before navigating a ski resort, there are also some much more nitty gritty words you’ll rarely hear unless you hang around with some pro skiers who live and breath riding.
But first let’s start with the basics, and the most important terms to know for your ski holiday:
Green run – The easiest run in resort, for first time riders
Blue run – The next level up, but still quite steady slopes
Red run – Intermediate level ski run
Black run – Advanced level ski run
Backcountry – Non-pisted areas of the slope which doesn’t have avalanche control in place
Cable Car – Enclosed ski lift, also known as a bubble lift
Cross-country Skiing – A type of Nordic skiing where a rider uses narrow skis which have heel releases
Gondola – Similar to a cable car but usually smaller
Magic Carpet – A conveyor-belt style ski lift typically found on bunny slopes
Avalanche – When loose snow falls down the mountain, gathering other snow on its way. These can be lethal if you are caught by one
Off-piste – Non-pisted, backcountry parts of the mountain
Snow park – A roped off freestyle zone filled with jumps, rails, fun boxes, and other assorted obstacles
Drag Lift/pommel – A type of ski lift which drags you up the mountain while you are on your skis or board
T-bar lift – Like a drag lift, but with a T-bar shaped arm suspension
And here are some less essential but still quite common skiing terms:
All-mountain skis – Skis designed to work in all conditions
Alpine Ski – Downhill skiing, the opposite of Nordic skiing
Avalanche Beacon/Transceiver – Avalanche equipment worn by a skier or border. If the individual is caught in an avalanche, it sends out a signal out so that rescuers can locate them
Avalanche Control – Triggering avalanches through artificial means
Baseplate/Binding Plate – The bottom section of a ski or board binding
Basket – The round or starshaped part at the bottom of ski poles which prevents the poles going too deep in the snow
Binding – The part that connects the boot to the board or skis
Boot Board – The platform inside a boot shell that the liner sits on top of
Bowl – Large mountain basin popular among skiers for doing long sweeping turns
Bumps/Mogels – Bumpy parts of a slope which make for trickier skiing
Camber – Upward curvature on base of board or skis
Cant – The lateral angle of the boot in relation to the ski or snowboard
Carving – Turning technique using the edge of skis or snowboard to reduce slowing down
Carving skis – Narrower skis designed for carving
Cat Tracks – Relatively flat paths created by the Snowcats
Chatter – Vibration of skis or board caused by riding at high speeds
Cirque – similar to a bowl, but steeper
Cornice – an overhang of snow caused by constant wind. These are broken during avalanche control
Couloir – A gorge or gully on the side of the mountain, often skied down by off-piste skiers
Crevasse – A deep and often hidden crack in a glacier or permafrost
Dampening – A tool used to reduce chatter
DIN Settings – The amount of tension needed on a binding to release the skis in a crash
Edge – Sharpened metal strip on side of skis or snowboard designed to make better turns
Effective Edge – The length of the edge that is in contact with the snow
Fall Line – The most direct route down a slope
First tracks – First marks made in fresh snow
Flex – The stiffness of the outer shell of a ski boot
Footbed – Removable sole in a ski boot
Freestyle – A type of skiing focused on tricks
Frozen Granular – Old snow that has been frozen together
Grab – Holding on to any part of your skis or board while in the air
Granula surface – A surface of snow which has been very packed down
Grooming – The most common form of trail grooming
Halfpipe – A U-shaped channel with smooth walls used by freestyle skiers and snowboarders to do aerial tricks
Heliskiing – An advanced form of skiing which involves a helicopter dropping the skier on to a very difficult part of the mountain. Illegal in France but is still done in other places
Indy Grab – Grabbing in between your board bindings when jumping, otherwise known as a safety grab on skis
Method Grab – Front hand grabs the back of the snowboard
Jib – Riding across anything that isn’t snow
Kicker – A triangular wedge shaped jump
Liner – The soft inner part of a boot
Micro-fleece – An improved form of fleece with a tighter, less dense knit
Monoski – A single ski with both boots attached
Mute Grab – Grabbing the toe edge of your snowboard between the bindings with your front hand
Packed Powder – Relatively new snow which has been flattened
Pit Zips – Zips under your armpits for ventilation
Pole Grip – The handle on a ski pole
Powder Skis – Skis designed to float atop powder
Power Strip – The strap on top of a ski boot
Quarterpipe – A halfpipe divided in half lengthways and used for a single, often massive, aerial trick
Racer Skis – Typically longer, thinner, and stiffer skis designed for racing
Racing Boot – Typically narrower and stiffer boots designed for racing
Rail – A bar, typically metal, used by freestylers to slide across
Reverse Camber – The downward arc created in skis or a board made by the pressure from the rider’s weight
Schussing/ Straight-lining – Skiing straight downhill without turning
Shell – The hard outer plastic part of the ski boot
Shovel – The front end of a ski which bows up to avoid sinking into the snow
Sidecut – The inner curvature of a ski or snowboard
Ski Boards/Snowblades – Extremely short skis
Ski Brake – An attachment for ski bindings designed to stop a ski from shooting downhill after detaching
Ski Patrol – Skiers and boarders responsible for slope safety
Ski-in Ski-out – Accommodation which can be skied up to and straight out of
Skins – Strips of material that can be temporarily attached to the bottom of skis, used for climbing up hills
Snowcat – A tracked vehicle used for moving around snowy, mountainous areas. Also used to groom runs
Snowplough – A beginners technique for slowing down on skis, by turning the tips of each ski in to each other to make an upside down V
Snowskate – A skate board without wheels used on snow
Superpipe – A larger version of a regular halfpipe
Tail – The backend of a ski
Telemark Skiing – A mix between alpine and cross-country skiing which uses detaching heel binders to allow for traversing, but also has wide enough skis to handle high speeds and sharp turns
Transitions – The section of a halfpipe linking the vertical walls to the flat floor
Traverse – Skiing across a slope in a zig-zag pattern
Tree Line – The altitude at which trees stop growing on the mountain
Twin Tip – Skis where both the tail and the tip are curved upwards, allowing for backwards skiing
Vertical Drop – The distance between the base of the mountain and its tallest point
Wax – Used on skis or a board to keep them gliding smoothly
Waxless Skis – A type of cross country skis with a crosshatch or fish scale pattern on the base which means it has no need to be waxed
White Out – When visibility is so poor you basically can’t see anything
Wind Packed – Snow which has been flattened by the wind
