While counting down the days to ski season, I decided to do some serious research into funny ski run names! When skiing in French, Austrian, Italian and Swiss ski resorts, we very often find it hard to pronounce the names of the ski lifts and ski runs, but these names rarely make us chuckle. For a bit of light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek fun, you have to cross the Big Pond and venture to ski resorts in North America and Canada. I’ve made a selection of funny and unusual ski run names from the best of the American and Canadian ski resorts featured on Snowplaza.
Even though Aspen may be one of the most famous and luxurious ski resorts in North America, it certainly has its fair share of funny and unusual ski run names: With names like Turkey Trot and Coffee Pot and Sneaky’s, Naked Lady and Willy’s, you’re likely to be giggling all the way down the slopes! Hanging Valley Wall and The Edge sound like they must certainly be for the less faint-hearted! With names like Sheer Bliss and Velvet Falls, it doesn’t take much to imagine how wonderfully gentle these blue runs could be.
If you’re looking for some thrills then in Breckenridge, your adrenalin levels will go sky-high just looking at the ski map! If the names of the black runs Lower Psychopath, High Anxiety and Shock don’t get your heartbeat racing, then maybe it’s time to find another extreme sport! Breckenridge also has a nice selection of good old traditional American names: Stampede, Rustler, Mule and Outlaw!
If you’re a beginner skier on your first ski holidays in Vail, names like Tourist Trap, Compromise and Chaos Canyon are likely to make your legs turn to jelly! I think Vail wins first prize for the just simply ridiculous names such as Tin Pants and Hairbag Alley! If anyone happens to ski there in the near future, could you ask some locals the origins of these rather intriguing names?
If you’re a fan of birds of prey, then you’ll be a happy bird in Beaver Creek. Golden Eagle, Peregrine, Kestrel, Goshawk and Harrier are among the names chosen for the section of the Beaver Creek ski area. Piece O’ Cake, Easy Come Easy Go and Meander sound like the perfect runs for beginners and kids.
Whistler's piste names are all over the map. You have to wonder where they got names like Ratfink, Cougar Milk, Cockalorum and Chunky's Choice - how rude! On a more whimsical note, you could take a trip through Frog Hollow, Shale Slope or Porcupine. If you're feeling fruity, take a whirl along Banana Peel and Orange Peel. Or, dare your friends to tackle the very aptly named "Watch Out"!
Are you feeling in The Sticks? How about, oh, I Dunno, are you having a Mid-Life Crisis? Sun Peaks has a piste for each and every situation! It's even got a whole section dedicated to doing the laundry - Static Cling, Wrinter, Tumble Try, Spin Cycle, and the very sad In Tatters. Not to worry, it's not all depressing here - the other side of the mountain has cheerier names like Sundance, Three Bears and Cowabunga to match the wonderful views from these long green runs.
Take a moment to browse the American and Canadian ski resorts on Snowplaza and find other funny and unusual ski run names on the ski maps – there are plenty!
For full piste maps, please click on ski area pages.
Being lucky enough to have parents who were crazy about skiing, my love for the mountains started when I was 4 years old on our first family ski holiday to Austrian ski resort of Obergurl. One ski holiday a year was never enough and tears rolled down my face as I looked out the back window of the car on the drive down the valley on the way home!
