Skier's Lexicon • SkierNet.com

Know how to "walk the walk" but have trouble "talking the talk?" Would comments like "The old bubble crawled" or "I held a yard sale on that concrete" be readily understandable?

If this makes no sense to you, the following lexicon should prove helpful...

A-Basin

common short form of Arapahoe Basin

ASC

American Skiing Company...and Aspen skiing Company. Confusing, eh? Not anymore; ASC (American Skiing Co) is out of business. At one time this mega-operator owned Sugarloaf, Sunday River, Attitash, Mount Snow, Killington, Pico, Steamboat, and The Canyons. Now it doesn't own any.

Back Side

Refers to the rougher terrain at a ski area: The bowls, woods, or otherwise uncharted territory -- yet still in-bounds. Generally used to describe skiers who take more risks by venturing into the unmanicured terrain. Term originally derived from Vail, with a front side of cut trails and a back side of glades and open bowls. Today, most Western and even a few Eastern ski areas have what is considered a "back side," although it may not be geographically located on the "back" of the mountain.

BAFL

Big Air, Flat Landing. Ouch.

Banging

skiing a mogul field with unquestionable skill...knees pumping like pistons, skis banging on the snow.

Basket

device a few inches from the bottom of a ski pole, designed to help "plant" the pole and ultimately prevent the pole from knifing straight down into the snow. Small diameter baskets work best on eastern ice; wider diameter baskets are more helpful in western powder.

The Basin

Although there are many resorts with Basin in the name, only A-Basin is referred to simply as "the Basin."

Battleship

Trapezoid-shaped rail (up, flat, down) in the terrain park.

BC

the way hip, in-the-know skiers refer to backcountry skiing.

The Beach

parking lot or area at base lodge at the end of the season. After a few runs mashing through mush, most just head to the beach for booze, babes in bikinis, boomboxes, BBQ grills, etc. Some ski areas actively promote this phenomenon. Those that do are usually much ado about nothing. True beaches are spontaneous happenings. The beach that sets the standard is at A-Basin.

The Beast

nickname for Berkshire East

The Beast of the East

yet another nickname for Killington

The Beav

Beaver Mountain, UT

Biffed

wiped out.

The Bird

popular nickname for Snowbird

Birds of Prey

World Cup race trail at Beaver Creek, CO

Blacks

expert trails, also expert skiers.

Blues

intermediate trails, also intermediate skiers. Strong Blues are good intermediate skiers who venture onto expert trails.

Board

Please go to another website. Are any of those piercings infected?

Bode

It's pronounced "bo-dee," and he happens to be the first American in 20+ years to win the FIS Overall World Cup. He's Bode Miller, from Franconia, New Hampshire, 2004-2005 Overall Champion. Top gun, top dog, best overall skier in the world.

Boiler Plate

Super hard icy surface.

Bombhole

Hole in snow after landing "big air"

Boner City

Seeing something on the slopes that makes you very happy.

Boot Clamps

this is what hillbillies call bindings.

Breck

common short form of Breckenridge

Bubble

Originally a chairlift with a plexiglas type cover that would be lowered to minimized windchill. Today it applies to any gondola or otherwise enclosed lift.

Bubble Club

Skiers who have made whoopee on an enclosed ski lift.

Bucket

Open air type of gondola, ski areas often call a cabriolet, that you stand in like canned sardines. The only benefits are that it moves a lot of people up the hill, and -- if you are alone and you really gotta go -- the bottom is usually metal grating.

The Bush

nickname for Sugarbush.

Camber

This is the "upward" curvature in the center area of your skis. Gives the ski the ability to flex, rebound in turns, and provide the skier with more control.

Carhartt

manufacturer of one-piece ski wear popular in the Virginias and Carolinas.

Cement

as in, "Sierra Cement," referring to wet, heavy snow.

Champagne Powder

Used to describe the dry, crystalline powder snow at Steamboat.

Chay

pronunciation of Jay Peak, in Cherman.

Chondola

Unusual type of lift that has chairs and gondolas on the same rope. Only a couple of lifts have been assembled this way.

Chunder

choppy, wet snow.

Clipped

Two meanings. First, to get hit by someone skiing recklessly. Second, to have your ticket cut and lift privileges revoked. Example: After the idiot snowboarder clipped five people, his ticket was clipped.

Concrete

Depends where you are. Hard concrete refers to icy conditions. Wet concrete refers to wet, slushy crud. Cascade Concrete refers to wet, slushy crud. "Concrete" -- used by itself -- is either ice or slush, depends on your point of view.

Corn

Semi-frozen spring snow, or spring snow before it degenerates into wet cement. A desirable spring snow; large granules with just enough adhesion to provide fun skiing conditions.

Cross Country Trail

Older or poorly designed trail flat enough -- or even uphill at times -- requiring poling and walking.

Crud

Soft, mucky, mushy muck that nobody likes to ski in. Usually spring snow in the east, average snow in the Cascades.

Deer Run

Trail name commonly given to long wandering novice or easy intermediate trails that go from summit to base.

Dimensions

measurements across the ski at the two widest and one narrowest part, also known as the tip-waist-tail. The measurements are then expressed as millimeters, such as 114-74-101.

DIN

Deutsche InternationalConfusion Number. German numbering system applied to bindings, boots, etc. in an effort to standardize things, based on the metric system. Hopelessly confuses those of us in the USA. Usually we use the term "DIN rating" or "DIN number" to refer to our weight release setting on our bindings.

Dump

A really big snowfall.

Dumped

When you're skiing with someone and things go wrong and the situation becomes unpleasant and you see a way out and rather than stop and tell your fellow skiers you just take it and they go on and suffer but at least you found an easy way out.

Earn your turns

Not using lifts; hiking or skinning up a mountain and then skiing down.

Face Shots

No, not that. It refers to skiing in deep powder, and you take hits of snow in your face.

Fartbag

Another name for one-piece ski suits.

First tracks

Being first down a trail after a snowfall.

Forest

What passes for a "glade" at Mount Snow.

Formica

Icy conditions that remain after the powder has been skied off.

Found ski area

"Lost" or closed ski area that has re-opened.

Freshies

Same thing as "first tracks" above, but with some expanded usage. Generally refers to anything having to do with new fallen snow; can be noun or verb. Noun: "We were first on the freshies" Verb: "We made freshies in the upper glade this morning."

Front Runner

Skier or skiers sent down a race course to test it out for observers. In FIS competition, these skiers are usually the best local pros. They generally fall and flail their way down the course, which serves to point out (a) how genuinely difficult the course is to ski at race speed, and (b) how much better World Cup skiers are than even the best experts any given ski resort can produce.

Front Side

Refers to the groomed or otherwise regularly maintained trails at a ski resort. Generally used to describe skiers who take fewer risks. Term originally derived from Vail, with a front side of cut trails and a back side of glades and open bowls. A "front sider" stays in the civilized terrain.

Frozen Smoke

Very dry powder snow.

Fruit Boots

Snowblades.

Geze

Former binding manufacturer, bought by Rossignol. No Geze bindings are indemnified any longer. Pronounce "gay-zee."

Gondy

Gondola.

Granular

What machine-made snow becomes as it gets warm. A word ski areas use to call the thick crud that looks like miniature ball bearings that nobody wants to ski on. A euphemism for garbage snow. "Machined granular" is crud the groomers have slopped around. "Frozen granular" is a nice way of saying ice.

Groomers

Has a few different meanings, all related to grooming the snow. The guys who drive the grooming machines are called groomers, and the machines they drive are sometimes called groomers. It can also be used to refer to a vague combination of the two: "The groomers really cleaned up this trail last night." Last but not least, the trails at a given ski area that the groomers groom regularly with their groomers are called...groomers. Example: "Johnny likes the bumps, but I tend to stay on the groomers."

Hahnenkamm

Notorious World Cup downhill race course at Kitzbühel, Austria. Site of numerous career-ending crashes.

Hanger

A liftie's worst nightmare. After a newbie or OOR has trouble boarding a chairlift, they usually get smacked to the side and fall with little harm done. Some, however, hang on for dear life and head up the mountain dangling from the chair.

The Hermanator (Hermann Maier)

Also known as "Das Monster" for being indestructible, besides the fact that he dominated ski racing for almost ten years. Maier went high and horizontal at 70 mph during his downhill run at the 1998 Olympic games in Nagano. After a crash that would've killed most mere mortals, Maier returned over the next couple days to take the gold in slalom and giant slalom. A few years later he was involved in a near-fatal motorcycle accident and, yes, returned to win the World Cup. Hence "the Hermanator."

Hero Snow

Optimum conditions; the stuff that makes everybody look like a great skier. A lot of ski areas claim to have this when in fact they have nothing of the sort.

Hotshot

Skier who skis the toughest trails, usually with a flourish, has a standoffish attitude and generally can't be bothered by the rest of us mere mortals.

Huck

A big, crazy jump or drop, as off a cliff.

Ice Face

Nickname for New York's Whiteface, site of the 1980 Olympic downhill.

Indemnified

refers to bindings; indemnified bindings are those that the manufacturer still supports, and as such your local ski shop will still adjust for you (usually).

J-bar

Surface lift in which a J- or L-shaped bar suspended from an overhead wire pulls a single skier up the slope via his or her behind. J-bar lifts run clockwise, L-bars run counter-clockwise...get it? BUT don't ever refer to an L-bar as an L-bar -- always call it a J-bar, no matter what way it runs.

The Jane

nickname for Mary Jane, popular bumped up mountain at Winter Park.

The Jet

nickname Steve Porino gave himself on the World Cup Tour. As a pro skier, he never lived up to it. But he's extremely knowledgable and an excellent TV commentator.

K-Mart

Killington.

Kicker

A sharply angled jump that effectively "kicks" a skier up in the air, such as a freestyle jump.

Kirkweed

Kirkwood Ski Resort, California.

Klammer (Franz Klammer)

Austrian skier whose no-holds-barred gold-medal run in the 1976 Innsbruck Olympic Downhill inspired a new style and generation of high speed racing. Easily the most breathtaking run ever seen by a worldwide audience at that time. Skiers have since gone faster and to greater extremes, but his 1976 dash to gold will forever be the benchmark. Also known as the Austrian Express and the Austrian Astronaut.

Lifties

Stoners, ski bums, overtired college students, etc. who operate ski lifts. Not all Lift Operators are Lifties...let's be clear on that.

The Loaf

common short form of Sugarloaf, ME

Lost ski area

Ski area that has gone out of business, whether it has become a condo complex or the rusting infrastructure still rattles in the wind. See NELSAP, below.

Madonna

Former name of Smuggler's Notch Ski Area, still the name of the main mountain.

Magic Carpet

conveyor belt-type ski lift; ideal for the pre-school set because you simply stand on it while the lift cranks slowly up the hill.

Mashed Potatoes

sloppy, ungroomed snow, tough to ski in. Also referred to as scrambled eggs, chicken heads and bowling balls, etc.

Midfat

a ski favored in areas prone to powder, but generally suitable for skiing on piste. It began with skis with a waist (underfoot measurement) of 70 mm or higher, but now even that's too narrow. As most manufacturer's reps are known to say, "almost everything's a midfat these days."

Mt. Sneaux

snarky nickname for Mount Snow

MRG

common short form of Mad River Glen

Muppets

skiers who wear one-piece "romper" ski suits

NELSAP

as a noun, it's an acronym for New England Lost Ski Area Project. Catch-all website NELSAP.org is home to info on out-of-business ski areas in New England and elsewhere. as a verb, a ski area is "Nelsapped" when it goes out of business.

Newbies

are the girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/husband who has never skied before, but gamely insists on going along and trying.

Nose Dive

Arguably the most storied ski trail in the USA. One of the original CCC trails at Stowe, used to require a short hike, then a psycho run down one of the narrowest, iciest, most frightening trails ever built. Today's Nose Dive has been significantly tamed.

Noodle

A soft ski designed for beginners, not rigid enough to hold an edge at high speeds.

Nutted

Painful term used mostly in terrain parks. Let's say you're sliding on a rail, and your right ski inadvertently goes off the right side of the rail while the left ski goes off the left side of the rail.

Off-Piste

ungroomed but legal part of a ski area. Usually refers to bowls or glades that are not maintained but approved for adventurous expert skiers.

OOB

Out of Bounds. Area posted as not legal for skiing, but usually has some attraction for adventurous expert skiers.

OOR

Orientals on Rentals (hey, I just report this stuff)

PCMR

common short form of Park City Mountain Resort

Peckerheads

Young male snowboarders with too much testosterone and stupid looking hats who travel in packs, usually to a soundtrack of foul language, accompanied by one or two female snowboarders with an equally slovenly appearance and questionable moral character. Tend to be bankrolled by parents who are all too happy to get them out of the house. "Peckerheads" is derived from their slim physiques and rounded hats or helmets. The combination bears an uncanny resemblance to a part of their anatomy that they frequently exercise manually.

Pinheads

Telemark skiers.

Piste

pronounced peest. Groomed snow.

Platter-pull, also Poma

Surface lift in which a disc suspended from an overhead wire is placed between the legs and pulls a single skier up a slope. Poma is actually a manufacturer of lifts, everything from surface tows to chairlifts to gondolas...but when referred to by skiers, "poma" generally refers to a platter-pull surface lift popularized by the same firm.

Poaching

skiing where you aren't supposed to ski, whether ducking a rope or entering a private resort.

Pooping

sitting down on the back of your skis while going downhill. usually only kids are flexible enough to do this.

Pow

powder snow.

Pow Mow

Powder Mountain, Utah

Powder Hound

Skier who goes to great effort to find and ski in untracked powder.

Puking

Continuous snowfall while skiing.

Quiver

When you have more than one pair of skis, in other words, you own a pair of mid-fats, a pair of racing skis, a pair of freestyle skis, etc...this is your "quiver."

Rodomontade

describes some of the overly optimistic conditions reports from a few eastern ski resorts.

Rollers

a series of bumps, not necessarily big, that are spaced such that they give recreational skiers a roller coaster sensation. These same rollers can throw racers off balance, or ruin their approach to a gate.

Rompers or Romper Suits

goofy, one-piece ski suits -- often with dayglo colors -- popularized in the 1970s and 1980s. These costumes are so bizarre, they are actually regaining popularity as of 2006, being sought in vintage clothing shops, e-bay, etc. also known as fartbags.

Schuss

To ski straight down the fall line.

Scissoring

when your ski tips cross each other.

Scrambled Eggs

sloppy, ungroomed snow, same as "mashed potatoes."

Scraping Buckles

Done by racers who ski "on the edge" and get very close to fences, netting, etc., as if their boot buckles are about to scrape along the fence.

Shovel

the front, upturned part of the ski.

Sidecut

a number based on the parabolic shape, or sidecut of the ski. The number describes the turning radius of the ski if skied on edge; a ski with a 14 meter turning radius has a significant sidecut, while a ski with a 25 meter turning radius does not. The lower the number, the more "turny" the ski.

Sideways

Describes a ski area with the main lodge on the side of the hill, as opposed to the bottom (regular) or top (upside-down). Pennsylvania leads the country in side-ways ski areas, highlighted by Sno Mountain (formerly Montage) and Blue Mountain.

Signature Trail

Whether it's history, reputation, the view, or degree of difficulty...it's the run you have to do, even if it isn't necessarily the best the resort has to offer. The Nose Dive at Stowe. Al's Run at Taos. Ruthie's Run at Aspen. You get the picture.

Ski Bum

Works in a ski lodge, nearby restaurant, rental shop, etc. and lives on the cheap, earning money only so they can afford to ski. They live to ski; their lifestyle and empty wallet reflects it. Usually find ways to wrangle free skiing.

Ski Rundown

snarky nickname for Ski Sundown, CT.

Slow Dog Noodle

old school method of skiing moguls; skier is very much in the backseat and is almost painfully slow.

Snow Bunnies

Really, really attractive young female skiers. They tend to be followed by a crowd of young male skiers. The snow bunnies tend to like these young male skiers. They smile and flirt with young, physically fit, male skiers who don't drive minivans and aren't accompanied by their wife and/or children. Not that I'm jealous or anything like that.

Snurfing, Snurfboard

Forerunner of the snowboard circa 1969-1975. Wide board with a rope attached to the shovel. The snurfer stood on a mesh plate on the board. More akin to today's alpine style snowboard.

Starfish

cartwheeling down the hill. Often referred to as a "screaming starfish."

Stash, Stashes

Often described as "secret stash" or "hidden stash." These are special places such as chutes/runs/powder spots unknown to the average visitor. People usually stumble on these by accident, or learn about them from locals.

Sticks

cool synonym for skis. little kids also call poles "sticks."

Strats

Rossignol Stratocasters, an extremely popular ski from the 1960s through the mid 1980s. When you see an old-timer skiing on Strats, take off your hat and salute. They probably have infinitely more skills than today's carving skier.

Summit County

Grand Central Station of Colorado ski areas; Arapahoe Basin, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, and Keystone are actually in Summit County and pretty much within 45 minutes of each other. Due to their proximity, Summit County is often thought of as "Aspen for the Common Man." Loveland, Winter Park, Vail and a couple others are all reasonably close, so some skiers' concept of "Summit County" includes more than just the main four.

Super Jules

Julia Mancuso; Olympic gold medalist and World Cup skier.

Superstar

marquee trail at Killington, as front and center as it gets. Should you tumble here, everyone on the Superstar chair, the Snowshed chairs, anyone on line at the K1 gondy, the uphill bound on the Access Road, most of the base lodge areas, and about 30,000 condo dwellers will ooh and ahh as you throw a yard sale.

Tail

the back end of your skis.

T-bar

Surface lift shaped like an upside down T suspended from an overhead wire which pulls 2 skiers up the slope via their behind.

Tex

a put-down used by Colorado & New Mexico locals to describe vacationing Texans with less than optimum skills.

Tip/Waist/Tail

measurements in millimeters to describe the parabolic shape of a ski.

Tote

once upon a time, devices used to carry skis, boots, skis and poles, and sometimes all three. Although still the easiest way to schlep skis and poles, Totes are hopelessly unhip these days.

Tow or Town Tow

small, localized ski hills -- usually 50 to 300 foot vertical -- with a semi-permanent rope tow. A New England term, dating from the time nearly every town had a local tow.

Traverse

To ski across a steep fall line instead of straight down it. Akin to a "switchback" on a hiking trail.

Trustafarian

rich kid who lives like a ski bum, probably drives an old beat up Saab, lives on Ramen noodles, looks disheveled. Usually something gives away the truth; maybe they only drink exotic beer, wear $300 sunglasses or have new skis every year.

Tuck

skier bent over skis, poles held close in to the body, a classic racer stance. Most recreational skiers try this at one time or another, but generally point their poles straight up and look like morons.

Tucks or Tuckermans

common short form of Tuckerman Ravine, a glacial cirque on the east side of Mt. Washington NH. Even though this spot has no lifts, it has been a focal point of eastern skiing since the 1930s.

Upside-down

refers to a ski area with the parking lot and lodges at the "top" of the mountain. Common to many of the southeastern ski areas, the two largest of which -- Snowshoe and Wintergreen -- are both upside down. Also found on a few smaller hills in the northeast and midwest.

Utards

Residents of Utah. Again, we don't make these up, we just report 'em.

Visit to the Orange Room

Crashing into the orange catch netting used at ski races.

Wa-Wa

popular nickname for Wachusett, closest mid-sized ski area to Boston metro area.

Waist

measured width of a ski in mm at the center, or right under foot (for male skiers).

Wanderer

somebody who likes ski areas that spread out over a lot of territory, with various hills, slopes, lifts, to maximize variety. Wanderers are happiest if a ski resort has three or more base areas, some miles apart from each other. Jackson Hole is tops for western wanderers; Killington rules the east.

Wedeln

Pronounced "vay-dull." Before carving became all the rage, this was the ultimate form in parallel skiing. It's a series of short, severe but fluid swinging turns, each culminating in a brief hard edge set, straight down the fall line. Legs together...zip, zip, zip, zip. Still the coolest looking move on skis. You may carve with the best of them, but when you see a 60-something skier wedeling, you realize that you have a lot to learn.

Wedgie

term popular in the southeast, used to describe skiers who snowplow down the hill.

Whale or Whales

Snowmakers build large mounds of snow mid-winter, later to be used as a stockpile of snow. Groomers tap into these piles once temps get too warm for snowmaking. Sometimes these whales are built right on the slope, where they serve as huge whoop-de-doos until the groomers push them out late in the season. .

YAN

Lift manufacturer with a notorious reputation for accidents. Some say -- in jest -- YAN stands for "Yet Another Nightmare" or "You're Airborne Now"

Yard Sale

having your skis, poles, hat, car keys, etc. scattered about a ski slope after a wipeout.

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