Just like any sport, skiing has its own culture. With that culture comes a language.
For skiing, that language is ski slang
Over the years this slang has been thoroughly refined by mountain employees, ski bums, and locals alike.
So to you help blend in with this culture, here is the ultimate guide to ski slang.
An Ultimate Guide to Ski Resort Slang
1 – Short for 180 degrees. This refers to the rotation of a skier, usually used when describing spins.
3 – Short for 360. Same as above
5 – Short for 540. Same as above
7 – Short for 720. Same as above.
9 – Short for 900. Same as above.
10 – Short for 1080. Same as above.
Alta Bomb – The only thing guaranteed to make you ski better.
Backy – Backflip.
Bird – Helicopter. Usually referenced during heli-skiing.
Blower – Great powder snow that is very light and is deep and easy to ski. The best type of powder day.
Bluebird – A day with clear blue skies and sun. Typically used to describe a bluebird day or a bluebird powder day.
Bomb – An explosive device used to set off avalanches. Patrol uses bombs or is bombing the morning after a big snow. When you hear the bombs going off you know it’s going to be a good day.
Bomb Hole – A hole created in the landing of a jump or cliff, typically during powder days. Oftentimes bomb holes are created when people crash in the landing.
Bonk – Touching an object, usually a pillow or tree, with your skis when you are in the air.
Booter – A jump that gives you a lot of air time.
Bumps – Short for moguls.
Butter – Skiing with all of your weight on the tips or tails of your skis. This is typically used for describing tricks. For example, a nose butter 3.
Cat – A snowcat used for either grooming or backcountry skiing.
Cat track – Typically a flat run used for snowcats to get around.
Chair – Short for chairlift.
Charging – Skiing fast and aggressively. “Tim was charging yesterday.”
Chatter – Rough snow that is tough to hold an edge on. This snow will kick your skis around and make repetitive chattery noises.
Cliff – A rock face that you can jump off. Big cliffs are typically roped off by patrol, you don’t want to fall down one.
Cork – An off-axis rotation. “Did you see Sean’s cork 3?”
Cornice – A hanging pile of snow on the top of a steep run, usually formed by the wind. Make sure to wack your pole.
Corn – Spring snow before it becomes slush.
Crust – Hard sun affected snow.
Death Cookies – Very hard balls of snow that are kicked up by groomers or refrozen sluff. They are the size of cookies and if you hit them you can crash.
Dollar Sign – Going straight down a run.
Dub – Short for double, used to describe tricks. A dub backy.
Dump – A big snowstorm that produces a lot of snow.
Dust on Crust – Conditions that have a little bit of fresh snow on top of hard pack sun affected snow. This snow looks really good and the first part of your turn is soft, but then your edges will grab the hardpack.
Eject – Coming out of your ski bindings. Used when referring to a fall. “I ejected on the landing.”
Face – Used to refer to a part of a mountain, typically combined with a compass rose direction. “I ripped that face.” “The west face is skiing pretty good.”
Feature – A general term used to describe anything you can jump off of.
Flat – A spin that is more off-axis than a cork. It is very close to a black flip. Typically referred to as a flat 3.
Flat Light – Light conditions that are poor and make it tough to spot terrain undulations.
Fresh – New snow.
Fronty – Frontflip.
Fun Police – Ski patrol. Usually said by skiers who are ducking ropes or ripping groomers. Much love for our patrollers though.
Gaper Gap – A gap between the front lip of your helmet and the top of your goggles. Friends don’t let friends ski with gaper gaps.
Gaper – Someone is not stylish and or is new to skiing.
Gaping – In shock. Your mouth is open and gaping at what someone just did.
Gap – Refers to how far you have to jump. It can either be the distance between the takeoff and landing. Or the distance you need to jump to get over a feature.
Glade – An off-piste run in the trees.
Gnar – Exciting and tough terrain. “That run out looks gnar.” Also, a movie you need to watch.
Gnarly – Used to describe something that is exciting and scary. “Dude, Tyler’s 3 off that cliff was gnarly.”
Gondy – Short for gondola.
Groomer – A fresh grated or groomed ski run. Runs that resurfaced overnight.
In Run – The skiing right before a jump. “Dude how many turns do you make on the in run?” “I dollar signed it.”
Jerry – Someone who is new to skiing.
Kicker – A jump.
Left – Used to describe the direction of a spin, it refers to which shoulder you are spinning over. A left 180.
Liftie – A person who runs the lifts and wishes they were skiing.
Lift Line – The line to get on the lift or the run directly under the ski lift.
Line – The route you ski down a run.
Lip – The last/top part of a jump. What puts you into the air.
Loose – Out of control. Wild. “That landing was very loose.”
Maching – An adjective to describe going very fast. Mach 1 is the speed of sound. “Kyle was maching down that groomer.”
Nollie – Short for nose ollie. This is a form of a pop into the air where the tails of the ski come up first and the noses leave the snow last. This is a very stylish move.
Nose – The front of your ski.
Nugget – A piece of snow that stands out by itself. Used as an adjective to describe something you will jump on, over, or bonk. “I’m going to gap that little nugget.”
Nuking – Either snowing very hard or going very fast. “Dude it was nuking all day, it was great skiing.” “Man I was nuking through those bumps.”
Pillow – When snow stacks up on top of a boulder. You typically ski down or jump onto a pillow. British Columbia is known for its pillow lines.
Pole Wack – Using your ski pole to break a cornice. Quality ski slang.
Pop – The act of jumping off of something. Can also be used as an adjective to describe skis or a jump. “I popped off that cat track and went large.” “These skis aren’t really poppy.”
Power Hour – The last hour the lifts are running and everyone has gone home. The best time for skiing fast.
Pow – Short for powder.
Press – Weighting a part of your ski. Similar to butters but typically used to define a rail trick.
Pro Call Out – A reference from the movie GNAR, when you tell a pro skier “Hey [insert name], I can’t believe you’re a pro skier, I am so much better than you.”
Punch Front Flip – When you land an air and your skis punch through the snow and stick. This caused you to quickly go head over heels into a front flip.
Right – Referring to the direction, used when describing a spin.
Run Out – The area you ski after you have landed a jump. You want jumps with a good runout. “That runout looks loose.”
Send – Doing something crazy. Typically used for going big off a jump. Now it has become more mainstream and just refers to anything wild.
Shark – A rock hidden under the snow. Typically found during early season conditions. “It’s still a little sharky out there.”
Shifty – A trick where you turn your skis perpendicular to the direction you are traveling while in the air.
Sketchy – Anything that is not calm or smooth. Can be used as an adjective or personality trait. That cliff is sketchy.
Ski Bunny – A girl skier, or someone who comes to the mountain just to dress up, take pictures, and drink.
Ski Bum – Someone whose sole objective in life is to ski. Learn how to be a modern day ski bum here.
Slarve – A type of turn that mixes a slash with a carve. Done in powder or by park skiers.
Slash – A quick turn in powder that sprays the powder over your head.
Slush – Spring snow that is melting. Nothing like some good slush skiing.
Sniper – A very tough or slight tap of something with your skis when you are in the air.
Spine – A line down the ridgeline. There is little room for error on this line as both sides of the spine are usually straight down.
Squirrely – An adjective synonymous with loose or wild. “I got squirrely on the landing.”
Stomp – A clean landing. The name comes from how it looks like you are stomping down as you land. Use these workouts to stomp your next landing.
Straight Line – Skiing without turning.
Sun Affected – Snow that was melted in the sun and then refrozen. Not great skiing.
Switch – Skiing backwards.
Tail – The back of your ski.
Tap – Touching something with your skis while you jump over it. “I tail tapped that tree.”
To Bolts – A way to describe a perfect landing that lands directly in the center of your skis where the bolts of your binding are.
Tomahawk – A crash that involves you going head over heels. It references how a tomahawk spins when thrown.
Traverse – A sideways route across the mountain usually to get to more runs.
Trees – A ski run that goes through the trees.
Unnatural – A spin that goes the opposite way you typically spin.
Whiteout – Skiing conditions where snow is flying and it’s tough to tell the difference between the snow and the sky. Probably the most common ski slang phrase.
Wind Buff – When a run gets smoothed out by the wind blowing snow up. Nothing beats a wind buffed High T lap, if you know, you know.
Wind Lip – A natural jump formed by wind blowing snow.
Did I miss your favorite ski phrase? If so reach out and I’ll add it!
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