Wanna go shred the Gnar, catch some face shots or rip the groomer? Maybe we should meet for Après or hunt for those freshies? Sometimes, ski season pros can sound like they’re talking another language. There may not be 100 different words for snow, but there sure are 100 different ways to talk about it.

Whether you’re a rookie ski bum fresh off the plane, or you want to brush up on the lingo before hitting the slopes this winter, I’ve got you covered!

Here are 20 insider ski terms that will help you sound like a Pro. Even if it’s your first time on the slopes, this list of local slang will get you sounding like a local in no time.

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1: Local

So let’s start by explaining exactly what we mean by Locals when it comes to ski hills. Unlike most places, a local at a ski hill is not someone that was born and raised there. Local is simply a term to differentiate between those of us living and working at the mountain and the tourists that arrive every day. You don’t need to be from that town, or even from that country to be a local. At the ski hill, if you’re living and working here, you’re considered a local.

2: Jerry

Jerry is a term used with love, to describe a skier or snowboarder who is doing something particularly stupid. Wearing their helmet backwards, skiing in jeans, clipping in backwards or snowboarding with ski poles… generally anything that makes it very obvious this is their first time skiing. Check out Jerry of the Day on Instagram for inspiring examples of what it takes to become a true Jerry.

3: Yard Sale

We’ve all done it and it’s never pretty; a Yard Sale is when a skier has a spectacular fall and ends up with their gear strewn all over the run. Poles, skis, helmet and goggles littering the snow behind them, just like your local yard sale. This term can also be used for snowboarders, but as our boards stay attached to our feet when we fall, we are saved the indignity of a full yard sale. And the worst part, having to hike back up the run to collect your lost gear.

4: Tomahawks, Scorpions and Tacos

As I said, snowboarders can fall spectacularly too. When you see a snowboarder rolling down the hill in an uncontrolled cartwheel, that’s a Tomahawk. When you fall forward and the snowboard hits you in the back of the head, that’s a Scorpion. And when you fall off a park feature and end up bent over it with the rail punching you in the stomach, that’s a Taco. Isn’t snowboarding swell?

5: First Chair

Now this one might sound self-explanatory, but there is more to First Chair than the name suggests. First Chair is a lifestyle. If a friend says “we’re going to meet at the base for first chair”, they do not mean “turn up to the mountain at the time that the chairlifts start running”. Oh no! They mean “arrive as early as needed to be at the front of the line, so we can catch the literal first chair of the day”. Oh yes! At many mountains, there will be a LINE of people waiting in the morning before the chairlift starts up. If you get there at 0755 for an 0800 chair, you are already late.

6: Après

Coming from the European term Après Ski, meaning ‘after ski’, Après is drinking or going to the bar immediately after skiing. Depending on when you stop for the day, your après can start at 5 pm or 1 pm, that’s up to you. The defining feature of après is that you have to still be in your ski gear. If you go home and change before going back out, that doesn’t count as après. If you end up in the bar at 1 am still in your ski boots, then you’re living the true après experience.

7: Bluebird

These are the days you dream of, the perfect day to ski. A Bluebird day means there is fresh snow on the ground, a cloudless blue sky above and the sun is shining bright. You might only get a few true bluebird days throughout the season, so treasure them when they arrive. More common in Europe, as their mountains sit above alpine, North American bluebird days are few and far between, and they’re almost unheard of in Japan. but don’t worry, what our Japanese resorts miss out on in bluebird days, they make up for in fresh, fresh pow.

8: Groomer

The Europeans call it On Piste, in North America, we call it Groomer, but either way, we are talking about the prefect, hard-packed snow the groomers and snowcats leave behind. Sometimes referred to as Corduroy due to the tiny lines left in the snow, these curated, compacted runs are great for going fast and carving up the slopes.

9: Cat Track

Now interestingly, a Cat Track is different to a run that has been prepared by a Cat. Cat Tracks are long, flat runs that the grooming machines (Snowcats, or Cats for short) use to climb the mountain at night. They are open to ski/ride during the day and can be good ways to travel to different sections of the mountain. But watch out, Cat Tracks are hell on new snowboarders due to their overall lack of gravity assistance, and if you lose your speed, you’re left with a long, flat walk.

10: Powder, Pow Pow, the Fluffy Stuff

If bluebird is the weather we all dream about, then Powder is the snow those dreams are made of. Fresh powder is light, deep, fluffy snow that feels like you’re skiing on a cloud. It’s generally found after a large snowfall on non-groomed runs, or “off piste” for your Europeans out there. Skiing powder requires a different technique and even different equipment if it’s deep enough: powder boards and powder skis being longer and wider, to help you float above the snow. It can be challenging to ski the fist time you try, but once you get that hang of it, you’ll crave nothing else.

11: No friends on a Powder Day

This well used phrase has a simple meaning: “When there’s fresh powder, I’m not waiting for no one”. On a fresh powder day, the lift lines will be full of locals eager to get first chair, so you better get up early if you want a chance at those fresh tracks. And if you start your day with a group of friends, don’t expect that crew to last long. If you take too long strapping your board on or retying your laces, your friends will be gone, out riding hard and fast before that beautiful fresh snow is gone.

12: Face Shot

Get your minds out of the gutter! This is a family show! We’re of course talking about what happens when you make a sharp turn in deep powder. Your tail kicks up the fresh snow and shoots it right into your face, covering your goggles and helmet and making you look like a snowman emerging from your own private snowball. When this happens, you know you’re in for a good day.

13: Fresh Tracks

This is the reason you wait in line at 5 am to catch that elusive first chair. On busy hills, fresh snow doesn’t last long, with runs getting tracked out in the first half hour. This happens when so many people have skied a particular run that the fresh snow, or perfect groomer, is all chopped up and covered in other people’s tracks. Whether it’s fresh power you’re looking for or that perfect corduroy, getting out early is the best way of finding yourself some fresh lines, and the best skiing of the day.

14: Park Rats

You see these riders lapping the terrain park from first chair to last. Well, maybe not quite first chair. These are the freeride kids, the future X-Games pros, the ones who chuck a 1080 as a warm up and have never sharpened their edges in their lives. With the park comes a whole cacophony of new terms: switch, ollie, fakie, grab… but we’ll save that for another post. If you’re interested in riding park, getting to know the park rats and getting a few starting tips from these local riders is the best way to begin.

15: Shred the Gnar

The term GNAR is said to have been invented by two pro skiers in the 90s, and was originally a game they created to assign rad points to each other depending on how gnarly their tricks were. I don’t know if that’s accurate, but I do know that if one claims they are going to “go shred the gnar”, it means you are going to ride some intense, challenging, rad terrain and chuck some sick tricks.

16: Ducking Ropes

This is a term used to describe skiing out of bounds. The ropes refer to the ski area boundary ropes put up by ski patrol to designate the edge of the patrolled ski area. Ducking Ropes is when you intentionally go outside the boundary to ski. This is a dangerous past-time, as the area outside the ski boundary is not patrolled; so if you injure yourself, you’re on your own, and it’s also uncontrolled: meaning you’re entering into dangerous avalanche terrain.

17: Brain Bucket

Cool kids wear lids! Protect your noggin! Break your helmet, not your head! However you want to sell it, helmets save lives on the ski hill every day, and riding with your brain bucket is not just common sense, it’s part of the sport. It’s mandatory in the park, it’s mandatory in ski school, and it should be mandatory everywhere. Keep your brains inside, where they belong, and get yourself a helmet.

18: Bunny Hill

The Bunny Hill is where we all started at one point in our lives. It’s run with the gentlest slope on the mountain, usually located at the base of the hill where everyone loads the first chair. This is where beginners and young kids go to learn how to ski, as it’s the easiest run on the mountain, and it won’t require you to load or unload a chairlift to get to. Because we all know how hard those chairlifts can be when you’re learning.

19: Magic Carpet

Found on and around the Bunny Hill, Magic Carpets are conveyor belts built into the snow that ferry people from the bottom of the beginner areas to the top. Some smaller mountains will make their first-timers walk back up the hill, but the larger hills are a bit kinder to their rookies, assisting them with the walk back up by installing these easy to use (and easy to fall off) lifts.

20: Pizza and French Fries

A term you will hear shouted from sunup to sunset by Ski School instructors everywhere. Pizza and French Fries is a term often used to explain to young children what shapes to make with their skis in order to slow down. ‘Pizza’ is for when you want to slow down, aka make your skis into a snowplow, and ‘French Fries’ is for when you want to go faster, aka point your skis down the hill. Skiing really is as simple as that.

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So there you have it! 20 terms to make you sound like a Pro when you hit the slopes this winter. Now you can talk the talk, it’s up to you to walk the walk. My advice? Spend a few hours with your friendly ski school instructors and they’ll have your skiing matching your new pro lingo in no time.

So, go forth and shred that Gnar! May the snow gods be kind to you, and I wish you all bluebird skies and powder for days!