Alpine Skiing Terms Explained
Alpine: Relating to high mountains.
Bluebird day: A calm and sunny day after a night of snowfall.
Carve: A crisp turn.
Combined: An event with one downhill run, followed by one slalom run.
Downhill: A speed event with the longest course and the fastest speeds.
Fall line: The most direct route down a ski slope.
Forerunner: An athlete who takes a run down the course before a race to ensure that the course is safe.
FIS: The sport’s international federation. It stands for Federation Internationale de Ski.
Gate: A plastic pole used to mark the course for skiers to follow. Closed gates are vertically arranged, and open gates are horizontally arranged.
Giant slalom: A technical event that features fewer and wider turns than slalom.
Hairpin: Two slalom gates set vertically down the hill in succession.
Netting: Padding used to cushion a fall and to prevent athletes from sliding into wooded areas.
Schuss: When the skis are parallel and pointed downward, allowing the skier to move straight and fast down the mountain.
Slalom: A technical event with the shortest course and the quickest turns.
Speed event: The fastest alpine ski events: downhill and super-G.
Straddling: A mistake where a skier passes over a gate with one ski on one side of the pole and the other ski on the opposite side.
Super-G: A speed event that requires more technical skills than downhill. It is an abbreviation for super giant slalom.
Technical event: Events with rapid turns: slalom and giant slalom.
Tuck: A position where the skier squats and keeps his or her arms close to the body. It is used in speed events to reduce wind resistance and maximize speed.
Vertical: The difference in elevation between the summit and the base.
A long list of ski terms with hundreds of tems listed.
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Quizlet.com - flashcards and
matching skiinghistory.org - subscription
needed Other lists of ski
terms
1939 - American
Ski Language
1960 - All
You Schussboomers - Watch Your Ski Language
1969 - Some
Ski Instruction Terms
1978 - Some
Freestyle Skiing Terms
1979 - SKI
Magazine's Encyclopedia of Skiing
2022 - NBC
Sports Olympics Skiing Language
2024 - SnowSlang.com
Ski
Vocabulary Flashcards - 75
terms
Glossary:
More Than 100 Historical Ski Terms
2024 - Snow
Slang's List of Ski Term Lists
