White Words
The many ways to say "snow."
A while ago, I spotted an article in Outside which discussed the numerous words in the Inuit language for “snow.” The editors of the magazine were impressed that the members of the far northern tribes would have so many descriptive names for frozen water, which as I recall was around 40. Since I was pretty sure I had heard more than that, I compiled a list and sent it to them. My letter was published later that year, and once my friends started sending me new words, and I added descriptive terms relating to the quality of snow, the list grew from 70 to 171, three of which are too trashy to print. (Editor’s note: given inherent space constraints, we’ve included only the most relevant 124 here.)
One of the entries is especially notable. “Deathly deep” resulted from the tragic death of Mike Cavanna, who died when he hucked a cliff at Bridger Bowl in the massive storm of 2003 (98 inches in four days) and landed so deep he couldn’t get out of the snow before suffocating. The patrol didn’t find his body until two days later. RIP, brother.
ball bearings
base candy
blizzard
blower
blue ice
boilerplate
bottomless
buffed out
cake frosting
carvy
cascade cement
champagne
chicken heads
chocolate chips
chop
cold smoke
corduroy
corn
corn flakes
cream de mint
cream deluxe
cream on mean
creamy
crippler crust
crud
crust
dank fluffies
death cookies
death corn
death crust
death glaze
deathly deep
diamond dust
drift ice
dust on crust
dust on death
epic pow
feathery
finger drifts
fluff
fluff on buff
flurries
freshies
frosted concrete
frozen pleasure crystals
frozen raspberries
frozen volkswagens
funky death slab
glazed
glop
goose downy
grabby molasses
grits
graupel
groomed
hardpack
hero snow
hoarfrost
ice
machine-groomed
mashed potatoes
milk ice
moulin
mountain speed
packed powder
penitentes
phat pow
pillow drift
pinwheels
pixie dust
pleasure pocket
pooder
popcorn
pow
powder
rime
ripples
sastrugi
scoured
scratchy moguls
sierra cement
silky
slab
sleet
slide for life
slush
slurpy
snirt
snow
snow cookies
snow pellets
snowfall
snowflake
sticky
styrofoam
sugary
sun crust
sun dogs
super hero
surface hoar
talus pow
thundersnow
tracked out
unbonded
uncut
untracked
virgin powder
watermelon snow
wet cement
white ice
white rain
white smoke
white stuff
white zone
whiteout
wind butter
wind crust
wind deposit
wind groomed
wind loaded
wind ridges
wind ripple
wind slab
zipper
Tom Anderson helped compile this list. If you have additions, email us at [email protected] and we’ll add them.
