Après-ski
When reviews of resorts say ‘great après-ski’ they mean that there is a convivial atmosphere in the bars and cafes, with folks enjoying a drink and winding down after the slopes close. It's very informal, and most people are still in their ski gear.

Artificial slopes
Divided into indoor slopes (real snow), and outdoor (bristle, unless it snows!). People are divided about them too – but at the very least both will help you understand how to handle boots and skis, and give you a bit of confidence before you head off on holiday. The real-snow runs have learning slopes, and you can have instruction there, but the runs are short and they are pricy (as with pretty much everything to do with skiing). The benefit is, it’s real(ish) snow so you get a feel for it. The bristles are a different experience altogether and you won’t want to fall over often.  In all, both can be likened to learning to scuba dive in a swimming pool. It’s close to the real thing, but rather missing the point…

Avalanche
Avalanche risk is managed well by resorts, which will set off charges or sound blasts to dislodge dangerous build-ups of snow. Off-piste skiers take various precautions, but even so a few are killed every year. As a beginner, you should be aware of avalanches but not worry too much about them.

Bindings
These ensure your boot stays on your ski. Before you put the ski on, the heel button will be raised and two rubber-ended steel pins will project downwards towards the ground. This stops the ski shooting down the mountain should it come off.  Bindings are set according to weight and skiing ability; if your skis come off too easily when you fall, or never come off no matter how hard you tumble, get them checked by the ski-shop fitter. See the video of how to put skis on, and how the bindings work here.

Black runs
Many beginners are tempted onto blacks by a mix of over-confidence and bravado. If you cannot execute quick parallel turns, do not go on a black run; you are a danger to yourself and others.

Blue runs
All countries and resorts have blue runs; they range from wide, open, low-gradient ‘motorways’ to frankly difficult red runs in disguise (for example the local joke of the “blue” run back to town in Val d’Isere). Ask an instructor about the easiest runs to progress to. They will be pisted every night.

Boots
All modern boots are front-entry, where you push forward the tongue and try to squeeze your foot into resulting gap. The section on BOOTS and BOOT FITTING in BEFORE YOU GO are essential reading.

Button lifts
Also called Poma lifts. The downfall of many beginners. The ‘button’ sits on the end of a long pole; you grab the pole, shove the button bit between your legs from the front so it rests against your behind, and wait for the pulley to take up the slack and drag you up the hill. Three tips: 1. Have your poles ready in one hand, the one furthest from the pole 2. When on, lean forward as you would when you are skiing; 3. Don’t sit down on the button, but let it pull you along. And if you fall off, get out of the way as best you can until the operator stops the lift for you. Pay attention to the signs that tell you when to disengage; pull the button from behind you, between your legs, hang on to the pole for a few seconds if you have to get a bit more distance, then let go and ski away from the and of the lift.

Carving turns
This intermediate to advanced technique relies on the radius of the ski – look at the curve along a carving ski – to effect the turn. The skier digs in an edge and holds the position, and the ski ‘carves’ through the turn as opposed to sliding across the surface of the snow, as with a SKIDDED TURN.

Cable cars
Also called an aerial tramway. Like high-capacity gondolas or telecabins; normally operate on a one-up, one-down counterbalance so if you miss one there will be a wait until the next one comes. You take your skis off and carry them in with you.

Chair lifts
Your skis stay on; you wait behind a barrier until it lowers, you ski-shuffle forwards and time your sit-down onto a chair. When everyone is settled you pull the safety bar down, and rest your skis on the footrests.  Getting off is a learned skill; raise the safety bar a few metres from the end, following the signs, shuffle to the front of the seat, put one hand on the chair to steady yourself, put your skis on the snow, and gently lift off and push away as the chair starts to rise. See VIDEO.

Chalet
A standalone building, which can be in any architectural style. They can be large, with up to 30 bedrooms, with lots of facilities – or like a small cottage sleeping four. You don’t have to hire the whole thing – you can take a bedroom or two and the operator has the job of filling the rest. Most are catered which means staff will prepare breakfast, a light tea, and dinner with one day off per week when you fend for yourself at a local restaurant. You generally eat together, so it’s best described as a house party with one meal sitting.

Cold
Do look at weather and snow forecasts before you go, and pack accordingly (see the BEFORE YOU GO section). During January and February the mountains can be intensely cold, and some North American resorts will even close the slopes if they think it’s too cold for people to be out. If the wind chill takes things down to 20 below zero, think hard about whether you have the right kit.

Drag lift
Generic name for a ski-lift that pulls you up the slope, as opposed to a CHAIR LIFT (telesiege), GONDOLA, or TELECABIN. That means BUTTON LIFTS, ROPE LIFTS and T-BARS. MAGIC CARPETS are altogether different.

Edge
If your ski is flat on the snow, and if you are on a slope, you will slide down it; that’s gravity. If you bring your edges into play, the friction increases and you can make the ski turn, or stop. Bearing in mind what the edges of your skis are doing – generally, delivering grip to help to stop or turn – is very useful. Also, edges should be sharp; blunt edges will mean you cannot turn or stop so well, and need to ask the ski shop to re-edge them.

Fall line
The simplest way of explaining this is that if you rolled a ball down the slope, it would follow the fall line. Instructors use the term because your movement is governed by your relation to gravity, which is trying to push you down the mountain along the fall line.

Freeride
Describes using jumps, tricks, etc incorporated into downhill skiing or boarding; many resorts have designated freeride areas.

Goggles
When it’s snowing or cloudy, goggles can help you see better. The ‘flat light’ when it’s not sunny makes seeing bumps and ridges on the snow very hard, and goggles help. Tip: never wipe the inside of the lens, it’s coated and wiping it will mean you need to re-coat it.

Gondola
Same as a TELECABINE; a 'bubble' lift seating between two and 12 people. Boards and skis generally are stored in bins on the outside of the car.

Green runs
Only some countries mark out green runs, and indeed only some resorts. These are the easiest runs to attempt, but there is no standard classification. These will at least be pisted every night, and in theory offer few problems if you can turn and stop in a snowplough.

Hand and foot heaters
Properly fitting boots, and good gloves, should be adequate but for those who worry about cold extremities, disposable chemical, or even electrically-powered, foot and hand warmers are great. One tip; get them in bulk by mail-order, as they’re 10 times the price in-resort.

Injury
Sadly, injuries happen – but you’re as likely to slip on an icy road as hurt yourself on the slope. Being in control of your speed and direction is the best way to avoid a serious fall. Wearing helmets is a personal decision; some state the stats show the incidence of injury is so low that there’s no point, others just say “Natasha Richardson’.  If you hurt yourself, call for help. All resorts are geared up to get injured skiers off the mountain safely and quickly. If you see someone get hurt, in many places the law requires you to stop and offer help if you are the nearest/only person around.

Lessons
Lessons can be group or private. They are taught by qualified instructors who have normally qualified for a licence in that country. Group lessons might include up to 10 people – try and find a school that offers small groups, then ask exactly what that number is. The fewer the better. Some thrive in the group environment, watching others, while some hate it and will therefore have to cough up for private. A private lesson might mean just you, but they will take your friend/partner too, and maybe up to one more of your group, but will expect an additional payment for each person. Typically a private lesson might be one or two hours, but should you wish there’s no reason you can’t book a whole day or week. Group lessons tend to be a couple of hours, sometimes more, for five consecutive days at the same time.  See SKI LEVEL for how differing abilities are gauged.

Magic carpet
An all-weather version of the flat ‘moving pavements’ found in airports. You shuffle on to the carpet (always in your skis) stay upright and slide off at the end. Considered essential for every beginner’s area at good resorts.

Mogul
A mogul is a bump; advanced skiers like them because they offer a challenge and a chance to have some fun. Popular pistes, especially steeper ones, will often get ‘bumped up’ or mogulled by the end of the day when lots of skiers have carved their paths down them. PIC

Off-piste
This doesn’t really concern beginners, being the areas that the resort deems it is safe to ski or board on, at your own risk, off the marked pistes.

Parallel turns
When you move on from snowplough, this is what you are aiming for. You can either execute SKIDDED TURNS or CARVING TURNS or, most of the time, something in between...

Piste
A piste is a prepared track that is marked out normally with information that may include the name of the piste, the level of difficulty, and an idea of how far it is to the end. (PIC) Piste-bashers are the tractor-like machines that you will see on the mountain at night, smoothing out the bumps and chunks made by skiers and boarder the previous day.

Poles
First-timers will be relieved of their poles by ski instructors – it’s one more thing to worry about at this stage. They can help you balance, time your turns, and be used to shove you along when the terrain flattens out – but you will make do without them for your first few days on the piste

Red runs
Harder, steeper, perhaps narrower, perhaps icier than blues. But remember there is no official definition. Most are pisted every night.

Rope lifts
Some resorts have rope lifts for the nursery slopes. It’s pretty simple; you hang on to a moving rope and get tugged up the hill. Which makes it all the more galling when you can’t work out the physics and fall off.

Schuss
Schussing is going along, as fast as is comfortable, with skis parallel and flat to the ground. Often an instructor will invite you to schuss on safe terrain to prevent you having to pole across flat or slightly uphill territory coming up.

Side slipping
This is a useful but tricky technique for getting down steep bits. Your skis are parallel and at 90 degrees to the FALL LINE; you control the amount of EDGE on the snow and this allows you to skid downwards, in a controlled way. See VIDEO

Ski level
There are various ways of measuring progress, but unless you seek out ski schools that use the same system each time you ski the best way of an instructor deciding your level is to watch you on the piste. She or he will move you to another group if necessary. It’s more use to tell them what you can do when you book – for example, ‘I’ve had one week skiing, I’m confident with snowplough on greens and easy blues’ rather than ‘I’m Euroski Level Blue’ or whatever.

Ski room
The room in a hotel or chalet where you store your skis, boots and poles. Often there will be a boot heater that overnight dries out your boot from the inevitable melted snow and your perspiration; you just pop them on the angled posts. There can be a bit of a crush at peaks times and tempers can start getting tested as people jostle for space in a well-heated room in clothing suitable for very cold weather.

Skidded turns
By shifting your weight and body position, you execute a skidded turn with parallel skis when they skid across the snow, using the edges for grip: See also CARVING TURNS

Skis
You will read a lot about ‘carving’ and ‘piste skis’ and ‘off-piste’ or ‘all terrain’ skis. Talk to the ski shop about what is best for you; normally this will be a ski that is wider at the top and bottom with a definite ‘waist’ at the middle. There are specific skis for women; they tend to be lighter, more flexible, and, frankly, prettier than the all-out sports designs on ‘men’s’ skis. Off-piste skis tend to be wider and with less of a discernible ‘waist’. There is no ‘left’ or ‘right’ ski; if someone refers to either, they are having a (very) little joke at your expense. Of course, once they are on your feet, instructors might say ‘move your left ski this way’ but they mean the ski attached to your left foot…

Slope etiquette
This is a list of the rules of skiing and snowboarding from the governing body, the FIS. See the LIST of rules.

Snow
Perhaps an odd entry, but it’s the basis for what you’re doing. Bear in mind that when the temperature goes above freezing, snow will melt; this is OK for a couple of hours but heavy, slushy, wet snow is no fun and can be a danger to the novice. If the tip of your ski catches on a heavy clump of snow, it’s easy to twist a knee. It will most likely freeze again at night so the next day the pistes will be icy. If it’s warm again they will loosen up a little and this is the best time to ski – before they get slushy again. In very cold temperatures the snow stays in good condition and is ‘bashed’ every night to smooth things over again. You might have to head higher up the resort to avoid slush, or seek out north-facing slopes which get less sun; ask an instructor or other expert. Don’t ski over very worn snow where you can see rock, soil or grass, or where there is no snow cover. The increased friction will slow you down quickly and send you tumbling – and it will wreck your skis.

Snowplough
This is the term used for shaping your skis into a V-shape (with the sharp end in front of you) and gently controlling your progress down the slope. Making the V wider at the back, and putting more of the ski edge into the snow will slow you down. Making the V narrower, towards parallel position, will speed you up. Putting weight and edge on your left leg will turn you right, and vice-versa. See VIDEO

T-bar lifts
Widely loathed, and in the process of being phased out in better resorts. A metal bar goes behind your bum and drags you forward and up; ideally, you'll have someone on the other 'leg' of the T to balance things out.

Telecabine lifts
Smaller ‘bubble’ lifts that might seat between two and twelve; you take your skis off and slot them into the bins on the outside, but bring your poles in with you. Same as a gondola.

Vertical drop
The distance between the top of a run, normally the end of the lift, and the bottom, measured in vertical distance.

Wax
The wax applied to the bottom of the ski helps it slip along the snow better. If someone knowledgeable tells you your skis need waxing, talk to the ski shop to get it done.