Piste

Groomed, un-skied piste in Seibelseckle, Germany

A piste^[1] is a marked ski run or path down a mountain for snow skiing, snowboarding, or other mountain sports.

This European term is French^[2] ("trail", "track") and synonymous with 'trail', 'slope', or 'groomed run' in North America. Pronunciation varies slightly in English, with British English using a long "e", (e.g. rhymes with "beast"),^[3] and American pronunciation using a short "i" (e.g. rhymes with "list").^[4]

Increasingly, North Americans employ its common European antonym, 'off piste', to describe backcountry skiing, especially when referring to skiing outside officially approved areas of a ski resort.

Individual trails on pistes are graded by difficulty using ski trail ratings.

Piste maintenance

Pistes are usually maintained using tracked vehicles known as snowcats to compact or 'groom' the snow to even out trail conditions, remove moguls, and redistribute snow to extend the ski season. Natural snow is often augmented with snow making machines early in the season or when the snowpack is low.

Ratings

Typically, grading is done by the resort, and grades are relative to other trails within that resort. As such, they are not classified to an independent standard; although they are likely to be roughly similar, skiers should be cautious about assuming that grades in two different resorts are absolutely equivalent.

North America, New Zealand and Australia

A typical sign indicating ski slopes and their difficulty

In North America, a color–shape rating system is used to indicate the comparative difficulty of trails (otherwise known as slopes or pistes). Australia and New Zealand also share the same rating system.

Ski trail difficulty is measured by percent slope, not degree angle. A 100% slope is a 45 degree angle. In general, beginner slopes (green circle) are between 6% and 25%. Intermediate slopes (blue square) are between 25% and 40%. Difficult slopes (black diamond) are 40% and up. However, this is just a general "rule of thumb." Although slope gradient is the primary consideration in assigning a trail difficulty rating, other factors come into play. A trail will be rated by its most difficult part, even if the rest of the trail is easy. Ski resorts assign ratings to their own trails, rating a trail compared only with other trails at that resort. Also considered: width of the trail, sharpest turns, terrain roughness, and whether the resort regularly grooms the trail.

Ski trails are measured by percent slope, not degree angle.

Ski trail difficulty ratings in North America

Trail Rating	Symbol	Level of difficulty	Description
Green circle		Easiest	The easiest slopes at a mountain. Generally, Green Circle trails are wide and groomed, with slope grades ranging from 6% to 25%[5] (a 100% slope is a 45 degree angle)
Blue square		Intermediate	Intermediate difficulty slopes. Generally, Intermediate trails are groomed, with grades ranging from 25% to 40%.[5] Blue Square trails make up the bulk of pistes at most ski areas, and are usually among the most heavily trafficked.
Black diamond		Advanced	Amongst the most difficult slopes at a mountain. Generally, Black Diamond trails are steep (40% and up)[5] and may or may not be groomed.
Double black diamond		Expert Only	These trails are even more difficult than Black Diamond, due to exceptionally steep slopes and other hazards such as narrow trails, exposure to wind, and the presence of obstacles such as steep drop-offs or trees. They are intended only for the most experienced skiers. This trail rating is fairly new; by the 1980s, technological improvements in trail construction and maintenance, coupled with intense marketing competition, led to the creation of a Double Black Diamond rating.
Variations		Various	Variations such as doubling a symbol to indicate increased difficulty, or combining two different symbols to indicate intermediate difficulty are occasionally used, as is often in Colorado at Winter Park resort and other Colorado ski resorts. One example is a diamond overlapping a square to indicate a trail rating between a Blue Square and a Black Diamond. Many resorts throughout Colorado use a double diamond with an "EX" in the center to mark a run with extreme terrain, even more difficult than a double diamond. Other resorts, such as Smugglers' Notch, Vermont, Le Massif, Quebec, and Mt. Bohemia, Michigan, use triple black diamonds. The combination of symbols is comparatively rare at U.S. ski areas; most ski resorts stick to the standard 4-symbol progression (with the exception of the common EX runs in Colorado). Non-standard symbols for standard ratings may be encountered at some ski areas. Bogus Basin, a resort near Boise, Idaho, uses orange diamonds on trailhead signs considered to be more difficult than double black diamonds; however, those trails are indicated on the trail map as double black diamonds.[6] Jiminy Peak, MA uses two variations of normal trail ratings; one is a blue square with a green circle inside of it used to represent an easy-intermediate trail. The other is a blue square with a single black diamond in it, used to represent an intermediate-hard trail.
Terrain parks		Various	Terrain parks are whole or portions of trails that can offer a variety of jumps, half-pipes, and other special "extreme" sporting obstacles beyond traditional moguls. The trails are typically represented by an orange rectangle with rounded corners. Usually, the terrain park will carry its own trail rating, indicating the level of challenge. A terrain park with a Black Diamond or Double Black Diamond rating would contain greater and more challenging obstacles than a park with a Blue Square rating.

Europe POU

Red slope in Park Snow Donovaly, Slovakia

Sign for a black expert slope in Flaine, France

In Europe, pistes are classified by a color-coded system. The actual color system differs in parts for each country - in all countries blue (easy), red (intermediate) and black (expert) are used. Shapes are not always used - sometimes all ratings are circles as being defined in the basic rules of the German Skiing Association DSV.^[7] The three basic color codes of the DSV have been integrated into the national standards DIN 32912 in Germany and ÖNORM S 4610 f in Austria. The ratings are:

  Green

(Spain, France, Scandinavia, UK, Poland) Learning or Beginner slopes. These are usually not marked trails, but tend to be large, open, gently sloping areas at the base of the ski area or traverse paths between the main trails. Can sometimes be marked as a Green circle.

  Blue

An easy trail, similar to the North American Green Circle, and are almost always groomed, or on so shallow a slope as not to need it. The slope gradient shall not exceed 25% except for short wide sections with a higher gradient. Sometimes described as a blue square.^[7]

  Red

An intermediate slope, similar to the North American Blue Square. Steeper, or narrower than a blue slope, these are usually groomed, unless the narrowness of the trail prohibits it. The slope gradient shall not exceed 40% except for short wide sections with a higher gradient. Sometimes marked as a red rectangle.^[7]

  Black

An expert slope, equivalent to the North American Black Diamond or Double Black Diamond. Steep, may or may not be groomed, or may be groomed for moguls. In Austria, Italy and Switzerland black pistes are nearly always groomed, as non-groomed pistes are marked as skiroutes or itineraires (see section below); in France, some black pistes are groomed, but most are not. Black can be a very wide classification, ranging from a slope marginally more difficult than a Red to very steep avalanche chutes like the infamous Couloirs of Courchevel. France tends to have a higher limit between red and black. Sometimes marked as a black diamond.

Double or triple black diamond

(Scandinavia) Very or extremely difficult piste.

Orange

(Austria, Switzerland, certain other areas) Extremely difficult.

Yellow, orange square, red diamond

In recent years, many resorts reclassified some black slopes to yellow slopes. This signifies a skiroute or itineraire, an ungroomed and unpatrolled slope which is actually off-piste skiing in a marked area. Famous examples are the Stockhorn area in Zermatt and the Tortin slopes in Verbier. In Austria, skiroutes are usually marked with orange squares instead. It is also common to mark those pistes with a red diamond or a red diamond with black edges (the latter being more difficult).

Alpine slope classification in Europe is less rigidly tied to slope angle than in North America. A lower angle slope may be classified as more difficult than a steeper slope if, for instance, it is narrower and/or requires better skiing ability to carry speed through flatter sections while controlling speed through sharp hairpin turns, off-camber slope angles or exposed rock.

Japan

Japan uses a color-coded system, but shapes do not usually accompany them. Some resorts, mainly those catering to foreigners, use the North American or European color-coding system, adding to the confusion. When in doubt, check the map legend. The usual ratings are:

Green

Beginner slopes. These are usually near the base of the mountain, although some follow switchback routes down from the top.

Red

Intermediate slopes. At most ski areas in Japan, these constitute the majority of the slopes (40% to 60%, depending on how the slopes are accounted).

Black

Expert slopes. These are the steepest and most difficult slopes at the ski area. The difficulty of these compared to like-classified slopes at other ski areas is heavily dependent on the target audience.

Japan has more than 1000 ski areas (115 in Nagano Prefecture alone),^[8] many of them small and family-oriented, so comparisons between slope classifications in Japan and "equivalent" slopes in Europe or North America are minimal.

References

1. Oxford Dictionaries definition of piste
2. English language Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS) website
3. McMillian Dictionary pronunciation of piste
4. Merriam Webster Visual Dictionary Online's pronunciation of piste
5. "Appendix G: Mountain Specifications Summary, Draft Environmental Impact Statement for The Timberline Express Proposal" (pdf). USDA, U.S. Forest Service, Mount Hood National Forest. March 2005. p. 26. Retrieved 2006-12-10.
6. Bogus Basin Mountain Recreation Area. 2010. Alpine Guide
7. "Die Markierung von Pisten und Loipen", Deutscher Skiverband, Journal, 8. August 2005
8. Ski areas and resorts in Japan