Newbie-ish skiing question

[ctenidae]

I used to ski when I was a kid (in CO and NM), then took a break for (cough) 18 years, and started skiing again this past February- best decision I've made all year.
My problem is with terminology. I know what most things mean, but there's a whole slew of terms I'm not real clear on. Is there a handy-dandy online glossary of ski terms? I don't want to go out and buy Skiing for Dummies (I've got a reputation to maintain), so any guidance would be great.
Many thanks in advance.

 

[ChileMass]

ctenidae -

The good news is that AZ welcomes questions from skiers/riders/hikers of all abilities. In that respect, there are no stupid questions on AZ! Well, except some of my stupid posts, but most of those are in Miscellaneous......

Are there any specific terms that are new to you since your long skiing hiatus? I was off skis for about 10 years at one point myself, and the whole shaped/short ski thing has me up a creek. (Whatever happened to my 207cm Rossi ST650s?)

I'm not aware (personally) of a skiing handbook or glossary of terms, so go ahead and post some terms that are throwing you. Probably someone here knows of a ski glossary, but it will likely be very interesting to see the broad range of responses you'll get. And - since almost everyone here at AZ is as nice as pie, I can guarantee you'll get sincere feedback.....

 

[dmc]

As a snowboarder... I spend the first month of riding just trying to learn the new lingo from the kids... I think I'm going to give up this year.....

 

[ChileMass]

Hey what's a ctenidae, anyway? Were you a Greek major or something - ?

 

[LordHedgie]

This might help with some of the definitions. Source unknown, but probably older than dirt, or maybe even the Internet:

Alp: One of a number of ski mountains in Europe. Also a shouted request for assistance made by a European skier on a U.S. mountain. An appropriate reply: "What Zermatter?"

Avalanche: One of the few actual perils skiers face that needlessly frighten timid individuals away from the sport. See also: Blizzard, Fracture, Frostbite, Hypothermia, Lift Collapse.

Bindings: Automatic mechanisms that protect skiers from potentially serious injury during a fall by releasing skis from boots, sending the skis skittering across the slope where they trip two other skiers, and so on and on, eventually causing the entire slope to be protected from serious injury.

Bones: There are 206 in the human body. No need for dismay, however: TWO bones of the middle ear have never been broken in a skiing accident.

Cross-Country Skiing: Traditional Scandinavian all-terrain snow-travelling technique. It's good exercise. It doesn't require the purchase of costly lift tickets. It has no crowds or lines. It isn't skiing. See Cross-Country Something-Or-Other.

Cross-Country Something-or-Other: Touring on skis along trails in scenic wilderness, gliding through snow-hushed woods far from the hubbub of the ski slopes, hearing nothing but the whispery hiss of the skis slipping through snow and the muffled tinkle of car keys dropping into the puffy powder of a deep, wind-sculped drift.

Exercises: A few simple warm-ups to make sure you're prepared for the slopes: *Tie a cinder block to each foot with old belts and climb a flight of stairs. *Sit on the outside of a second-story window ledge with your skis on and your poles in your lap for 30 minutes. *Bind your legs together at the ankles, lie flat on the floor; then, holding a banana in each hand, get to your feet.

Gloves: Designed to be tight enough around the wrist to restrict circulation, but not so closefitting as to allow any manual dexterity; they should also admit moisture from the outside without permitting any dampness within to escape.

Gravity: One of four fundamental forces in nature that affect skiers. The other three are the strong force, which makes bindings jam; the weak force, which makes ankles give way on turns; and electromagnetism, which produces dead batteries in expensive ski-resort parking lots. See Inertia.

Inertia: Tendency of a skier's body to resist changes in direction or speed due to the action of Newton's First Law of Motion. Goes along with these other physical laws: * Two objects of greatly different mass falling side by side will have the same rate of descent, but the lighter one will have larger hospital bills. * Matter can neither be created nor destroyed, but if it drops out of a parka pocket, don't expect to encounter it again in our universe. * When an irrestible force meets an immovable object, an unethical lawyer will immediately appear.

Prejump: Manuever in which an expert skier makes a controlled jump just ahead of a bump. Beginners can execute a controlled prefall just before losing their balance and, if they wish, can precede it with a prescream and a few pregroans.

Shin: The bruised area on the front of the leg that runs from the point where the ache from the wrenched knee ends to where the soreness from the strained ankle begins.

Ski! : A shout to alert people ahead that a loose ski is coming down the hill. Another warning skiers should be familiar with is "Avalanche!" - which tells everyone that a hill is coming down the hill.

Skier: One who pays an arm and a leg for the opportunity to break them.

Stance: Your knees should be flexed, but shaking slightly; your arms straight and covered with a good layer of goose flesh; your hands forward, palms clammy, knuckles white and fingers icy, your eyes a little crossed and darting in all directions. Your lips should be quivering, and you should be mumbling, "Why?"

Thor: The Scandinavian god of acheth and painth.

Traverse: To ski across a slope at an angle; one of two quick and simple methods of reducing speed.

Tree: The other method.

 

[ctenidae]

Okay, in reverse order:

LordHedgie- You owe me a new keyboard because I just snorked a beer through my nose.

Chilemass- ctenidae is the genus name for wandering spiders. It's a long story. Short form is AOL's crowded and I didn't want to be rogers374857382982747389247879 many moons ago. I started life as a Biology major. Or Geek major. Your choice.

dmc: I hear ya.

Chilemass (II)- To answer your question would probably end up creating the glossary I'm looking for. I know what "sidecut" and "edge hold" and "carving" and such are, but what do they mean? When I see a ski review that says "The XTi-9sR has a hefty sidecut that rewards working the tail. For an All-Mountain Expert ski, this is one sweet ride in the bumps, in the trees or off piste. High energy out of turns, and the ExtraFlex lifter blah blah blah...", I usually think "Oooh, cool colors."

My biggest skiing lesson came from "Better Off Dead"-
"Go that way, really fast. If anything gets in your way, turn."

 

[Attila.T.Hun]

CTENIDAE..
hehe I thought it meant CT (Connecticut) ENI (any) DAE (day)

oops

 

[LordHedgie]

Unfortunately I can't send a whole keyboard via e-mail, but here's a do-it-yourself kit:

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ`1234567890-=[]\;',./abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz~!@#$%^&*()_+{}:"<>?

To answer your other questions,

Sidecut - Modern skis, unlike the straight sticks you and I learned on (yes, I also took a few years off and discovered things have changed!) are wider at the tips then at the center (waist). The gives them as much edge cut, or cutting edge on the side of the ski, while allowing the skis to be shorter. The deeper the sidecut, the more edge the ski has.

Carving is, well, a proper turn. As opposed to the icy slide I generally end up doing, especially if someone is watching. Try this site: http://www.abc-of-skiing.com/carving/

To me, all reviews of equipment is just eye candy. Unless I can touch and feel, I don't relate to it.

Okay, in reverse order:

LordHedgie- You owe me a new keyboard because I just snorked a beer through my nose.

Chilemass- ctenidae is the genus name for wandering spiders. It's a long story. Short form is AOL's crowded and I didn't want to be rogers374857382982747389247879 many moons ago. I started life as a Biology major. Or Geek major. Your choice.

dmc: I hear ya.

Chilemass (II)- To answer your question would probably end up creating the glossary I'm looking for. I know what "sidecut" and "edge hold" and "carving" and such are, but what do they mean? When I see a ski review that says "The XTi-9sR has a hefty sidecut that rewards working the tail. For an All-Mountain Expert ski, this is one sweet ride in the bumps, in the trees or off piste. High energy out of turns, and the ExtraFlex lifter blah blah blah...", I usually think "Oooh, cool colors."

My biggest skiing lesson came from "Better Off Dead"-
"Go that way, really fast. If anything gets in your way, turn."

 

[LordHedgie]

Well, I finally did find a dictionary:

http://www.abc-of-skiing.com/skiing-dictionary.asp

 

[ctenidae]

That's pretty good.
Whodathunk to look at a site called "ABC's of Skiing"? This whole intraweb thingy's pretty neat...

 

[ctenidae]

Okay, I got one:
Corn
I know it's generally disagreeable snow, but of what sort? Grits? Hominy? Corn on the cob? Creamed corn?

 

[JimG.]

Okay, I got one:
Corn
I know it's generally disagreeable snow, but of what sort? Grits? Hominy? Corn on the cob? Creamed corn?

Corn disagreeable? C, we're gonna have to get you out on the hill more! Corn snow forms in the springtime and is the result of snowpack freezing up at night and then thawing in the sun in the day. The top few inches of the frozen snowpack melt creating kernels or pellets of ice that resemble corn kernels. This type of snow is usually smooth and almost like skiing on little ball bearings. It is not slush, but it is no longer snow crystals either.

Oh, and it is alot of fun to ski on!

 

[ctenidae]

See? That's why I need that dictionary. Now I know what that snow's called. Interesting.

Another one- "Yardsale"- is that when you wipe out, and all your gear's scattered around? And "Faceshot"- face full of powder from blasting through a pile?

Inquiring mind(s) want to know!

 

[ChileMass]

See? That's why I need that dictionary. Now I know what that snow's called. Interesting.

Another one- "Yardsale"- is that when you wipe out, and all your gear's scattered around? And "Faceshot"- face full of powder from blasting through a pile?

Inquiring mind(s) want to know!

The first time I heard the term "yardsale" was about 20 years ago at Wachusett riding up the chairlift with a buddy of mine and a younger guy. About halfway up (where the maintenance road crosses the trail), some bomber flew off the lip of the road and wiped out all over the place - hat, goggles, poles, skis, gloves, etc., came off in a huge plume of powder and in every direction. The kid looked down, and in a matter-of-fact voice said, "Whoa. Yardsale.". I laughed so hard I almost fell off the lift.

So a yardsale is a wipeout of epic proportions where all your gear goes all over the place, requiring a lot of scurrying around to collect it, and generally elicits funny comments from bystanders......

 

[dmc]

On par with "face shot" is "white room"..
Being in the "white room" is when you in really deep powder that covers you on every turn.. And all you see is white fro a brief moment... cool..

 

[bvibert]

See? That's why I need that dictionary. Now I know what that snow's called. Interesting.

Another one- "Yardsale"- is that when you wipe out, and all your gear's scattered around? And "Faceshot"- face full of powder from blasting through a pile?

Inquiring mind(s) want to know!

That sounds about right to me

 

[sledhaulingmedic]

On par with "face shot" is "white room"..
Being in the "white room" is when you in really deep powder that covers you on every turn.. And all you see is white fro a brief moment... cool..

I'll have to add "White room" From "Live Cream, Vol II" to the road trip volume of MP3's

 

[ctenidae]

I'll have to add "White room" From "Live Cream, Vol II" to the road trip volume of MP3's

That's only necessary if, after a "white room" you do some "bark eating".
In a white room, with black curtains... I'm reaching here.

It really needs to hurry up and be time to go skiing.

 

[JimG.]

[quote="ctenidaeThat's only necessary if, after a "white room" you do some "bark eating".[/quote]

Unlike corn snow and white rooms, bark eating is not enjoyable. Take my word for it.

 

[dmc]

It really needs to hurry up and be time to go skiing.

It already is!