SICKTIONARY: Your guide to Snowboarding Terms

Sicktionary is a monthly column in SNOWBOARDER Magazine in which we define snowboarding terms, lingo, and slang. In SNOWBOARDER's July 2007 Summer Issue we highlight terms from the glory years of snowboarding. Keep reading to learn some shredtacular vernacular.

Jimmy Halopoff showed up on the glacier at Mt. Hood wearing DayGlo Quimbola Man bibs, ripping a stick with duct tape on the ankle strap of the bindings. He didn’t care. He just dropped right into the hand-cut pipe, rode across the grease in the flatbottom, and pulled the most aggro method off the highway hit. The diggers were stoked. Then he went to the base lodge with Randy Walter and gave some poor camper a South Shore birthday party. Righteous!

Aggro [ag-gro] adjective
Anything that is tweaked, contorted, and aggressive. Pretty much the opposite of grandparents and Ted Martin.

Bibs [bib zuh] noun
Snow pants that have fabric rising above the midsection to keep powder and anything (or anyone) from penetrating below the waistline. Suspenders are attached to keep pants supported. Cinematographer Dave Seoane was notorious for pissing in his bibs.

Digger [Dig Grrrrr] noun
An underpaid employee who shapes jumps and pipes in snowboard parks. They usually travel in packs and scare all things undiggerly with their rakes and sweet-ass tans. The Outsiders of snowboard camps. Watch for huge biceps, big balls, cheap wieners, and tats. DFL—Diggers For Life!

Duct Tape [duhk teyp] noun
Gray adhesive tape that can be used to add support to boots, mend delaminated topsheets, connect gear to the roof of a car, subdue the unwilling, and fix anything else that needs a convenient, durable connection.

Glacier [gley-shr] noun
A mass of ice formed after hundreds of centuries of cold temperatures and snowfall. Often found at higher elevations. Global warming has caused all glaciers to recede. Mt. Hood is a volcanic glacier. Look carefully in the ice now and you might find your ancestors, or Dave Dowd.

Grease [grees-uh] noun
The viscous layer of abrasive debris that collects on top of the snow in late spring and in other warm conditions. This phenomenon is caused when the microscopic refuse released from a season of snowmaking and Sno-Cat exhaust collects on the snow and not only becomes denser, but rises to the surface during a meltdown and runoff. Your own body can also create “grease” in your shorts if the snow gets too “greasy” to clear the jump.

Handcut [han d kuht] adjective
A sculpted feature of snow created without the use of machinery. Digger’s handiwork.

Highway [hahy-wey] adjective
A high-traffic section of a halfpipe, quarterpipe, hip, bank, or jump that gets over-ridden until a noticeable track appears. Pretty bitchin’ for backies. Yow! Get verted, bro!

South Shore Birthday Party [Souf Sh ORE Burf DA Pah ur tay!] noun
A boozy, fraternal kind of friendliness that is a slaphappy spin-off the traditional “birthday”. Requires a violent Tahoe local to induce black and blues with feet, hands, bottles, and bindings.