Latest posts on skiing, snowboarding, and snow science
Welcome to SnowSlang!
SnowSlang.com is an illustrated glossary of snowboarding and ski terms and lingo.
B is for Bomb Cyclone
From a meteorological perspective, a bomb cyclone really is the bomb.
Shred the gnar: meaning and origin of the saying
You won’t spend much time on the slopes without hearing the quintessential slang phrase.
D is for Deicing
Deicing is the process by which ice and snow are removed from an aircraft’s surface so that the frozen contaminants don’t mess with the plane’s aerodynamics.
Face shot: powder nirvana and a staple of ski porn
What is a face shot? A face shot occurs when snow sprays a skier or snowboarder’s face on a powder day. The snow must be deep and light enough (e.g., blower, Champagne Powder®) and the rider must have sufficient speed to elevate the snow to face level. I took the shot above with a GoPro camera attached to the end of my ski pole. I was skiing the Mine Dump trail at Copper Mountain and found the tops of the moguls to be
Graupel, a “supercooled” type of precipitation
Is it sleet? Hail? No, it’s graupel, a relatively obscure form of precipitation that resembles balls of Styrofoam.
