Useful Ski Lingo Every Skier Should Know

Alpine skiing, après-ski, bluebird... mountain resorts have a language all of their own, and it can be a lot to take in when you first arrive. Here is a quick rundown of the most common ski terms, so you can sound like a local from day one on the slopes.

The mood of the day

• **Bluebird**: a clear blue sky, not a cloud in sight, and full sun on the mountain. The kind of day that always beats staying in bed.
• **Après-ski**: literally "after ski", it covers everything you get up to once you're off the mountain for the day, from a well-earned drink on a terrace to the other activities on offer in resort.
• **Dump**: the word for a big snowfall, as in "it's dumping here" or "it dumped last night".
• **White out**: cloudy, snowy or foggy conditions that leave you unable to see clearly on the mountain, often paired with flat light that makes the snow and sky hard to tell apart.

Pistes and snow

• **Alpine skiing**: downhill skiing on the groomed runs and pistes served by a resort's lifts, as opposed to cross country or "nordic" skiing.
• **Piste**: an area of the mountain that is groomed and marked out for skiing, named on the piste map. Ski within these areas and you're "on piste"; venture beyond them and you're off piste.
• **Freeride**: skiing or snowboarding off piste on ungroomed snow, also known as backcountry riding.
• **Fresh tracks**: riding down an area of untouched snow and laying the first tracks on it. It's worth getting up early for, much like our First Tracks outings.
• **Moguls**: the bumps that form on a piste as snow is pushed around by turning skis. They grow through the day, especially after a fresh dump of snow, and mogul skiing takes real skill to do well.

Style on the snow

• **Carving**: the art of making clean, controlled turns on skis or a snowboard, using the edges to turn efficiently without losing speed.
• **Freestyle**: skiing or snowboarding focused on jumps and tricks.
• **Switch**: riding the opposite way to which you're used to. In snowboarding that means right leg forward instead of your natural left, and in skiing it means skiing backwards. It's also called "fakie", a term borrowed from skateboarding, and it's a tricky skill worth learning if you want to move towards freestyle.

The people looking after you

• **Lifties**: the staff who run the chairlifts, drag lifts and cable cars across the resort. They check your pass and make sure everyone gets on and off safely.
• **Pisteurs**: the team who look after the pistes, by day for your safety on the mountain and, once the lifts close, by driving the piste-bashers that groom the runs overnight.

Ready to put the lingo to the test?

The best way to pick it all up is to get out on the mountain. Check your level and we'll see you on the slopes.