A ski slope groomer in Stowe, Vermont, says he and his colleagues use vehicles that make corduroy, the packed, parallel, ridged surfaces of snow that are perfect for skiing. Another term for corduroy, or someone who wears it, is whistle britches, because of the sound corduroy pants make when the wearer is walking. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Snow Corduroy”
Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hey, my name’s TJ. I’m calling from Stowe, Vermont.
What can we do for you? So, I am actually a groomer, and I’m pretty new.
But I’ve been learning a lot of really good techniques of laying corduroy, which is what we do up on the slopes at night, is perfect that whole slope for everyone and lay down some really nice corduroy so people can enjoy it the next day. And that’s kind of the term I wanted to call about. I wear corduroy. I’ve always worn corduroy since I can remember.
And that’s the term we use when we’re grooming the slopes. I always listen to your guys’ show when I’m out there grooming in the mornings. So I just wanted to call in about it. I love that, TJ.
I didn’t know that that’s what the people were called who take care of the slopes, the groomers. You’re not grooming animals. You’re grooming the snow and the ski slopes, right? Exactly.
Very cool. Well, tell us about creating corduroy. Yeah, what is that? What does that look like? If I go out there with my skis strapped on, what do I expect?
Imagine if you took a really, really close-up photograph of wearing corduroy pants or a corduroy jacket. That’s pretty much what we put down. You use a tiller, which is dragged behind your snowcat, and you’re in this big machine that’s about 15, 20 feet wide and about the same length, and you drag this big mat that chops up all the snow and has texture on the back, and it lays a nice, beautiful corduroy on the groomed snow surfaces up on the hill.
Okay, so it’s like little grooves that you then ski down, correct?
Exactly, yep.
You ski parallel to the groove, not across the groove.
Yes, exactly.
So for the most part, we’re going up and down the slopes, taking uphill and downhill passes, and, yeah, it creates parallel lines, so it kind of mimics the terrain and mimics the natural flow of the terrain in a parallel way.
-huh. And I think that the reason that Grant was asking if it’s parallel or perpendicular to the route that the skiers take is that this term comes from the idea of a corduroy road, which is laying logs perpendicular to the path.
Say you’re trying to get over a boggy surface and you make a little bridge out of logs and that’s a corduroy road.
But they are perpendicular and not parallel like your lines.
That’s interesting.
Yeah, I had no idea.
And, you know, that’s something we have up here in Vermont all the time, you know, hiking trails everywhere.
It’s a familiar sight and I had no idea it would harbor back to bridges.
That’s pretty amazing.
Yeah, and the etymology of the word corduroy itself is a little bit squishy.
There’s a folk etymology that it might have to do with the word for king in French, but we don’t think that that’s really the case.
No, there was a fabric called duroy that was probably made by the English, and they called it after a French name to make it seem classy, and they added the duroy on their own.
And it was really interesting.
Then the French borrowed the term back into French and basically call it the king’s cloth or something similar to that.
But that’s the 1700s.
Is that jive with what you know, Martha?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, 1700s.
And TJ, I have another term that you can call yourself besides a groomer.
Yep.
Whistle britches.
Do you know this term?
Whistle britches.
Yeah.
I’ve not heard that one.
Yeah, whistle britches is a term for corduroy pants or somebody who wears them.
That’s the sound your legs make when you’re scissoring, when you’re walking and your pants go zzz, zzz, zzz.
Whistle britches.
I’ve got to write that one down.
That’s pretty good.
TJ, thanks so much for calling.
Yep, have a good day.
Thanks, TJ.
Take care now.
Bye-bye.
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There’s lots of slang surrounding skiing, snowboarding (usu. “riding” or “shredding”), and snow conditions there. Resorts spend a fortune grooming slopes every night, to make the snow consistently smooth (not too firm, not too soft), with a fresh corduroy pattern on top (ref images like this one, here in Tahoe: http://www.skinastc.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/northstar%20corduroy.jpg), because it is the easiest surface to ski. That’s a favorite with lots of folks, especially beginners or anyone who wants a cruising day, and very popular with resorts who can report daily “freshly groomed” slopes a lot more often than “fresh snow” in a dry year, but it’s not the only type of snow on the hill.
The un-groomed is a bit more work, but definitely worth seeking-out. Snow on a cold day falls as fresh powder (light, easily moved around, good to float through), but in warmer weather can fall or pack-down into heavier “mashed potato.” If you’re first off the lift or find an undiscovered spot, you make fresh tracks, but after everyone has taken a run or ten, it’s all tracked-out. Snow which is tracked-out, especially tracked mashed-potato, is known as “crud” because the unevenness makes for more of a challenge. Skier traffic or weather variations can make snow icy and hard, difficult to carve a turn into, and if new snow falls which is too thin to add good traction onto that, it’s “dust on crust.” Resorts nowadays will supplement the weather with man-made snow, pumping water out of jets on cold nights, but if conditions aren’t ideal, the manmade can form into more of a hail than snowflakes, so you’re skiing on “corn” the next day. In springtime, it all turns to slush by the afternoons.
If you only ski when there’s fresh powder, you’re a powder hound, and will want to be first after the rope drop, when ski patrol first-allows folks to get to the lift or onto the hill. If the snow is fresh and new, especially on a bluebird day when the sky is calm and clear, it’s a powder day: town has otherwise shut down, because all the local business owners have headed out to enjoy the conditions. If you worry less about snow conditions, but like to play on terrain features like jumps, boxes, and rails, you’re headed into the (terrain) park, which has its own complete dialect of slang because… youth.