A terrain park is a dedicated area at a ski resort built with man-made features — jumps (kickers), rails, boxes, and other obstacles — where skiers and snowboarders practice and perform freestyle tricks. Parks usually offer progression from small to large features, and safe use relies on scoping features first, following park etiquette, and not overreaching your ability.
Breakable crust is a surface layer of hard, refrozen or wind-formed snow that's strong enough to partly support you but breaks under your full weight, dropping you into softer snow beneath. It's one of the most difficult and frustrating conditions to ski, because the skis catch and break through unpredictably; jump turns and survival skiing techniques are often needed.
Crud is heavy, inconsistent, chopped-up snow — the variable mix of tracked-out powder, wind-affected snow, refrozen chunks, and crust that forms as fresh snow gets skied and weathered. It's one of the more challenging snow types, demanding a strong, balanced, adaptable technique to handle the unpredictable grabbing and releasing underfoot.
Corn snow is the loose, granular, kernel-like snow that forms in spring through repeated melt-freeze cycles, when daytime melting and overnight refreezing turn the snow surface into rounded grains. When it softens to just the right point mid-morning, corn offers smooth, forgiving, enjoyable spring skiing — but timing the 'corn cycle' matters, as it's icy too early and slushy (and wet-avalanche-prone) too late.
A groomer is a ski run that has been mechanically smoothed and packed by a snowcat (grooming machine), leaving a firm, even surface often textured with parallel ridges called corduroy. Freshly groomed runs offer predictable, grippy snow ideal for carving and for skiers of all levels, and are the backbone of resort skiing.
Off-piste means skiing or riding on ungroomed snow off the marked, prepared runs. Within a resort's boundaries, off-piste terrain is often still patrolled and avalanche-controlled; beyond the boundary it becomes true backcountry with full avalanche risk and no control or rescue. Off-piste offers powder and variable snow but demands stronger skills and, outside the ropes, avalanche preparation.
A piste is a marked, maintained ski run within a resort's boundaries, typically groomed and patrolled, where most resort skiing happens. Pistes are usually graded by difficulty (green/blue/red/black, varying by country). Skiing 'on-piste' means staying on these prepared runs, in contrast to 'off-piste' skiing on ungroomed terrain.
Powder is fresh, light, dry, low-density snow that skiers and riders prize for the floating, effortless sensation of riding through it. The driest, lightest powder (sometimes called 'blower' or 'champagne' powder) falls in cold, dry climates. Deep powder calls for wider, more rockered skis and a slightly different technique to stay afloat.
The Barryvox is Mammut's well-known line of avalanche transceivers (beacons) used to transmit and search for signals during avalanche rescue. A modern three-antenna digital beacon operating on the standard 457 kHz frequency, it's a popular choice among backcountry travelers — but like any beacon, it's only effective with practice, partners, a probe and shovel, and avalanche education.
A tree well is the void or pocket of loose, deep, unconsolidated snow that forms around the base of a tree, hidden beneath the branches, in deep-snow conditions. A skier or rider who falls into one can become trapped head-down and suffocate — a danger called snow immersion suffocation (SIS). It's a serious deep-snow and tree-skiing hazard, mitigated by skiing with a partner in sight and avoiding close tree wells.