# Need some definitions that I don't understand :)



## Dim Mak 1470 (Dec 7, 2011)

Hey guys,

Didn't see anything anywhere but since I started snowboarding last season, I read descriptions of terrain and type of snow that I don't understand what they mean exactly. For example: "Steeps", "chutes", "corn", etc. Anyone nice enough to make a run down of what all these mean?


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## ETM (Aug 11, 2009)

Snowboard Terms


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## jely1990 (Dec 30, 2011)

Steep - steep slope
Chute - It's a narrow steep slope with boundaries on either side. 
Like this: 








Corn - Coarse, granular wet snow
Like this:


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## Dim Mak 1470 (Dec 7, 2011)

ETM said:


> Snowboard Terms


Mmm, not the terms I'm looking for. I just want to know the different type of terrain and snow.

Ohhh! That helps a lot, jelly. Are there any more? Those 3 were all that came to mind, I might have heard more. I know "pow", of course. I drool over that stuff. 
Groomed=


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## Toecutter (Oct 11, 2009)

Sastrugi: A long wavelike ridge of snow, formed by the wind.


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## Toecutter (Oct 11, 2009)

Coral snow:


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## ShredLife (Feb 6, 2010)

Toecutter said:


> Coral snow:


more commonly known as rime.


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

snow terms...chowder, chunder, mashed, sugar, creamy, cream cheese, ball bearings, scoured, blower, ice, dust on crust, fluff, wet and heavy, slush, glazed, concrete, firmed, packed, groomed, pow=8+, deep=18+, epic=24+, bottomless, with bottom, boot, knee, thigh, waist and chest=titty, snorkel

terrain...trees, bowls, gullies, drops, windlips, ridge, cat, moguls, traps, rollers, walls, cliffs, tree wells, pillows, widow maker, 

visibility...fog, pea, overcast, flat, bluebird, puking, vertigo, blind, blower

Eh, ur a smart guy and can figure out the definitions and I'd imagine every region or even hill has a slightly different definition/description of each...these are commonly used at Baker.


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## Dim Mak 1470 (Dec 7, 2011)

Toecutter said:


> Coral snow:





ShredLife said:


> more commonly known as rime.





Snowolf said:


> And just like real Coral, hurts like a mofo to fall on.......


Woah, I don't want to ride that stuff at all! That would kind of complete the feeling of surfing on snow, though  Really, really useful info here thanks!


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## Dim Mak 1470 (Dec 7, 2011)

wrathfuldeity said:


> snow terms...chowder, chunder, mashed, sugar, creamy, cream cheese, ball bearings, scoured, blower, ice, dust on crust, fluff, wet and heavy, slush, glazed, concrete, firmed, packed, groomed, pow=8+, deep=18+, epic=24+, bottomless, with bottom, boot, knee, thigh, waist and chest=titty, snorkel
> 
> terrain...trees, bowls, gullies, drops, windlips, ridge, cat, moguls, traps, rollers, walls, cliffs, tree wells, pillows, widow maker,
> 
> ...


When it snowed the other day, my local resort mentioned ' bluebird' and I wasn't sure what that meant.


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## Toecutter (Oct 11, 2009)

Dim Mak 1470 said:


> When it snowed the other day, my local resort mentioned ' bluebird' and I wasn't sure what that meant.


"Bluebird" simply means a clear, sunny day with blue skies overhead. People usually associate it with a powder day, and for a lot of people this is the Holy Grail.


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## IdahoFreshies (Jul 9, 2011)

Toecutter said:


> "Bluebird" simply means a clear, sunny day with blue skies overhead. People usually associate it with a powder day, and for a lot of people this is the Holy Grail.


what? how often is it bluebird and a powder day. for the most part if its good pow itll be stormy or atleast overcast. i have had one epic bluebird pow day. last winter it snowed a foot over night, and the next morning when i was trying to get up to the hill and there was a bad crash on the road and nobody could get to the hill and it was also too windy so they didnt open the backside, and during the day it snowed another foot. So the next day the storm passed and bluebird day without a cloud in the sky with 2ft of untouched snow on the backside....that was a perfect storm of epic conditions.


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## Leo (Nov 24, 2009)

IdahoFreshies said:


> what? how often is it bluebird and a powder day.


Hence Toecutter said "Holy Grail". Wouldn't be so holy if it were a common occurrence.


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## snowklinger (Aug 30, 2011)

Bluebird pow days are not uncommon here in CO, when we actually have pow days. Storms tend to move out pretty decisively, often dumping the night before and leaving a clear bluebird pow day. We don't tend to have a rainy season here, where it can be overcast for a long time. In Denver u can get a foot of snow in the morning and have bluebird/melting in the afternoon.


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## Toecutter (Oct 11, 2009)

IdahoFreshies said:


> what? how often is it bluebird and a powder day. for the most part if its good pow itll be stormy or atleast overcast. i have had one epic bluebird pow day. last winter it snowed a foot over night, and the next morning when i was trying to get up to the hill and there was a bad crash on the road and nobody could get to the hill and it was also too windy so they didnt open the backside, and during the day it snowed another foot. So the next day the storm passed and bluebird day without a cloud in the sky with 2ft of untouched snow on the backside....that was a perfect storm of epic conditions.


It doesn't happen very often but when it does it usually makes it onto the resort's YouTube page. 

Mt Bachelor Pete #7 Blue Bird Summits - YouTube!


I almost prefer storm days when the tracks fill in between runs, like the mountain is on "auto-refresh" mode. Those days are often less crowded too, since some people only get out on sunny days.


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## davidj (May 30, 2011)

Toecutter said:


> I almost prefer storm days when the tracks fill in between runs, like the mountain is on "auto-refresh" mode. Those days are often less crowded too, since some people only get out on sunny days.


+1

/10char


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## onefutui2e (Jan 25, 2011)

Toecutter said:


> It doesn't happen very often but when it does it usually makes it onto the resort's YouTube page.
> 
> Mt Bachelor Pete #7 Blue Bird Summits - YouTube!
> 
> ...


agreed. the fact that you have the mountain to yourself on the stormy, cold, windy days (where 5 layers won't cut it) makes the suffering worth it. pretty much the reason i enjoy tackling the hardest trails and glades. i may struggle through them a bit, but i have the entire space to myself!


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## Dim Mak 1470 (Dec 7, 2011)

Toecutter said:


> It doesn't happen very often but when it does it usually makes it onto the resort's YouTube page.
> 
> Mt Bachelor Pete #7 Blue Bird Summits - YouTube!
> 
> ...


Had to 'favorite' that video. Super nice.Guess my resort was too lazy to put a video up haha.


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## jdang307 (Feb 6, 2011)

I never understood

Chunder
Death Cookies


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## Toecutter (Oct 11, 2009)

Death cookie: patch of ice hiding within/under soft snow.

You're riding along making perfect s-turns all smooth and quiet in 6" of fresh pow, then all of the sudden you lose your edge on this unseen ice and BLAM! You're flat on your back.


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## Dim Mak 1470 (Dec 7, 2011)

Ah, one thing I just heard on a snow report: Packed powder. 

What's the 'packed' mean exactly? Not as fluffy anymore because of the sun melting it a bit? The resort sort of grooming it?


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## jdang307 (Feb 6, 2011)

Dim Mak 1470 said:


> Ah, one thing I just heard on a snow report: Packed powder.
> 
> What's the 'packed' mean exactly? Not as fluffy anymore because of the sun melting it a bit? The resort sort of grooming it?


That's it. It's still soft, just not fluffy. and not ice.


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## Toecutter (Oct 11, 2009)

Snow Surface Definitions

http://skiing.about.com/od/typesofsnow/a/snow-terms.htm

One other term we use around here is "chicken heads." It describes the nodular ice we get high up near the summit. Imagine looking across a crowded chicken coop and seeing all the little chicken heads sticking up. That's what it resembles but it's formed by ice. I've never seen it or heard the term elsewhere, but maybe other mountains get it too. Sucks to ride, obviously.


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## Bones (Feb 24, 2008)

Toecutter said:


> Death cookie: patch of ice hiding within/under soft snow.


Hmmm...death cookies around here are rock hard chunks of snow/ice left by the groomers. Looks just like a soft snowball until you hit it.

"packed powder" usually an Eastern Canada term used by resorts that won't admit that all they have is ice. You will never see ice listed as a condition in the East. All you read is "packed powder" meaning that the groomer didn't slide down the hill or "machined groomer granular" meaning the the groomer did slide down the hill and managed to break up the top layer of ice into pellets. "Natural grooming" means we didn't have enough snow to groom.


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## CheeseForSteeze (May 11, 2011)

Toecutter said:


> Death cookie: patch of ice hiding within/under soft snow.
> 
> You're riding along making perfect s-turns all smooth and quiet in 6" of fresh pow, then all of the sudden you lose your edge on this unseen ice and BLAM! You're flat on your back.


Death cookies are the same thing as hitting a pebble when skating. It's just corned up snow that balls together and freezes. The marble sized stuff isn't bad, it's the random softball sized chunk that will fuck your world up.


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## CheeseForSteeze (May 11, 2011)

Dim Mak 1470 said:


> Ah, one thing I just heard on a snow report: Packed powder.
> 
> What's the 'packed' mean exactly? Not as fluffy anymore because of the sun melting it a bit? The resort sort of grooming it?


Snow that has been tracked out but hasn't gone a thaw freeze (and sometimes windpacking) cycle to turn it into frozen granular, or worse, ice yet.


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## designfemme (Mar 12, 2010)

CheeseForSteeze said:


> Snow that has been tracked out but hasn't gone a thaw freeze (and sometimes windpacking) cycle to turn it into frozen granular, or worse, ice yet.


Then is loose granular the stuff that looks like sugar? Seems easy to shake off your board? (I'm learning this stuff too.)


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## CheeseForSteeze (May 11, 2011)

Granular or corn snow, depending the moisture content and how it arrived at that condition. Granular was high moisture content to begin with and develops quickly after being tracked up and broken up by groomers or subsequent skiing. Corn develops from special conditions and a cyclic thaw and freeze cycle from the sun and night temperatures and once it thaws on those mid-late spring bluebird mornings, it's some of the most fun you can have.


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## Toecutter (Oct 11, 2009)

CheeseForSteeze said:


> Death cookies are the same thing as hitting a pebble when skating. It's just corned up snow that balls together and freezes. The marble sized stuff isn't bad, it's the random softball sized chunk that will fuck your world up.


I don't know a thing about skating but the softball-sized chunks you're describing are what we call "baby heads."


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## AIRider (Dec 25, 2010)

ICEANITY


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## RJRJRJ (Feb 12, 2012)

Dim Mak 1470 said:


> Had to 'favorite' that video. Super nice.Guess my resort was too lazy to put a video up haha.





Toecutter said:


> It doesn't happen very often but when it does it usually makes it onto the resort's YouTube page.
> 
> Mt Bachelor Pete #7 Blue Bird Summits - YouTube!
> 
> ...


That cauliflower looking mountain at the end is freaking insane.


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## Toecutter (Oct 11, 2009)

RJRJRJ said:


> That cauliflower looking mountain at the end is freaking insane.


Yeah, those warty-looking outcrops are weird, aren't they? They're all over the backside of the mountain. If you don't pay attention you could suddenly find yourself on top of one looking down at a 20' drop.


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

Baker's death cookies basketball to trash can sized...frozen chunder chunks.


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## davidj (May 30, 2011)

CheeseForSteeze said:


> Death cookies are the same thing as hitting a pebble when skating. It's just corned up snow that balls together and freezes. The marble sized stuff isn't bad, it's the random softball sized chunk that will fuck your world up.


Not to mention, what it may do to your base... similar to riding over rocks - base gouges and edge burrs. :thumbsdown:.


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## snowklinger (Aug 30, 2011)

snowklinger said:


> Bluebird pow days are not uncommon here in CO, when we actually have pow days. Storms tend to move out pretty decisively, often dumping the night before and leaving a clear bluebird pow day. We don't tend to have a rainy season here, where it can be overcast for a long time. In Denver u can get a foot of snow in the morning and have bluebird/melting in the afternoon.


Sorry to quote and bump myself, but this happened the VERY next day. Got about 10 inches in 4-5 hours here starting about 3.30a

By noon almost all the clouds were gone, the sky was deep blue and the snow was melting fast.


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