Today we’ll learn some vocabulary related to skiing. This article is part of the more comprehensive article on winter sports in general from issue 2 (1/2023) of Your American English Magazine. In the magazine I also present vocabulary related to other disciplines than skiing, like skating (including figure skating, speed skating, ice hockey), sledding (including luge, skeleton, bobsledding), snowboarding, biathlon and curling.
But here we’re going to focus on a couple disciplines that are commonly classified as skiing.
Table of Contents
Skiing Equipment
There are many skiing disciplines you can choose from, but what they all have in common is that you need skis to do them.
But the skis themselves are not the only equipment you need. Let’s have a look at the basic equipment each skier needs.
So, as just mentioned, you need a pair of skis (A). There are a lot of types of skis, which we are going to talk about in a minute. You also need ski boots (B) and ski poles (C). The main part of a ski pole is called a shaft (D) and the part for holding the pole is called a grip (E).
You need bindings (F) to attach the boots to the skis.
You will also need a ski suit. This is what you wear when you go skiing.
If you can’t ski, you may need a ski instructor, so a person who will teach you to ski. If you’re ready, you can now go to a ski resort, which is a place where people go skiing, often somewhere in the mountains.
Alpine Skiing
Alpine skiing, also known as downhill skiing, is a group of disciplines that you can do in high mountains. Here belong the following disciplines:
– Downhill – This is the basic Alpine discipline. Your task is just to go down a hill as fast as you can. A downhill event consists of one or two runs. The courses are marked with gates.
– Slalom – This discipline involves skiing (and turning) between poles or gates.
– Giant slalom – This discipline also involves turning between poles, which are spaced at a greater distance than in slalom, but less than in super giant slalom.
– Super giant slalom (also known as super-G) – In this discipline racers must pass through widely set gates. They must turn more than in downhill, although the speeds are higher than in giant slalom.
– Combined – This is a competition that in its traditional form consists of one run of downhill and two runs of slalom.
– Super combined – In this competition there’s a speed race (downhill or super-G) and one run of slalom.
– Parallel events – These are competitions where two or more competitors race simultaneously side by side down two or more courses that should be as identical as possible.
In Alpine skiing you ski down the ski slope, which is the slanting part of the mountain. If you want to go up the hill, you can carry your skis on your shoulders and just walk up the hill, but usually you will take a ski lift, which is a series of seats or handles that are attached to a moving cable and that are used to carry skiers up a mountain.
Nordic Skiing
Nordic skiing is a discipline, or rather set of disciplines that differs from Alpine skiing in how the boot is fixed to the binding. In the latter the whole boot is attached to the ski, whereas in Nordic skiing only the toe of the boot is and you can rise the heel off the ski.
Nordic skiing is not a uniform discipline, though. Here belong cross-country skiing and Telemark skiing.
In cross-country skiing you have to rely on your own locomotion rather than a ski lift or other forms of assistance. In classical skiing you move by striding forward, in freestyle skiing you move as if you were skating, so from side to side, pushing the ski poles against the ground.
In Telemark skiing, also known as telemarking or cross-country downhill skiing you will find elements of Alpine and Nordic skiing.
Cross-country courses range from 1 to 50 kilometers and they are marked with arrows, ribbons, etc. They contain uphills, so portions that you have to climb, downhills, and rolling terrain, so portions with short climbs and downhills.
There are many cross-country competitions, like sprint, team sprint, individual, relay and more.
Cross-country skis must be at least as long as the height of the skier minus 10 centimeters. There are also regulations regarding the front parts of the skis, so tips, as well as the rear parts, so tails. The former must be curved at least 3 or 5 centimeters for classical and freestyle skis respectively. The latter must not rise more than 3 centimeters.
Ski Jumping and Ski Flying
Ski jumping is a discipline in which skiers first slide down a curved ramp and then jump and glide through the air as far as they can. The distance they cover before landing, so the jump length, as well as their aerial style are, among other things, the factors that affect the final score.
As just mentioned, the skiers slide down a ramp. We call it a ski jumping hill. The first part of the hill is called in-run. It’s steep because this is where the skier must gain speed. At the end of the in-run is the jump or takeoff table where the skier takes off and starts gliding. After being airborne for some time the skier lands on the landing slope. The last part of the hill is called out-run. It’s usually flat or slightly uphill. This is the area where the skier stops.
The distance between the takeoff table and the end of the landing area is called hill size. Depending on the hill size we differentiate several types of hills, like, in increasing order, small hills, medium hills, normal hills, large hills and ski flying hills. Ski flying hills are used for ski flying which is like ski jumping, but the skiers cover much larger distances as if they were flying in the air.
The basis for granting points, however, is a line across the hill, known as the construction point, K-point or K-spot.
The most widely used jumping technique today is the V-style. The name comes from the way the skis are oriented in the air. The preferable landing style is called Telemark. This technique involves landing with one foot in front of the other with knees slightly bent.
So, this is it. You’re now ready to talk about all aspects of skiing in English. Make sure to purchase issue 2 (2/2022) of Your American English Magazine where you will find also vocabulary related to the other aforementioned winter sports.