Freeski Glossary

Three jumps with the two highest scores added; the two counting tricks must differ (ICR 3502.3.1). Rule 3502.3 limits this kind of format to single-hit events and to short slopestyle courses with one kicker and one rail at FIS level and below. The JudgeMate Big Air Skiing template suggests it as the sum of the 2 best runs. JudgeMate does not compare tricks, so the judges handle a repeat, for example with DNI.

A big air variety rule in which the counting tricks must go in different directions. For freeski the four are right, left, switch right and switch left (ICR 3502.3.1). Straight airs count as their own type, and so do front and back flips until 180 degrees of rotation is added to them. The team captains' meeting before the first training decides between this version and the clockwise and counterclockwise one, and women and men may use different versions.

The scores a judge gives to the first runs of a contest. Every later run is ranked above or below them, which is why the handbook asks judges to establish the range while watching practice (Judges Handbook 9.1). A panel that opens at 80 has little room left for the run that wins.

A halfpipe trick that rotates uphill while the skier keeps travelling down the pipe. Freeski alley-oops go to both sides, and a left alley-oop 5 takes off from the skier's left wall and lands forward after 540 degrees (Judges Handbook 17).

The usual counting rule in freeski phases. In best of 2 the better of two runs counts (ICR 3502.1); in best of x skiers get three or more runs and the single best counts (ICR 3502.2). A phase stands as a result only after at least 2 runs are completed (ICR 3502). The JudgeMate Freeskiing template starts with 3 runs and counts the best.

An axis corked forward, the mirror of a backside cork. Judges spot it at takeoff when the skier sets the cork forward, and a bio that goes inverted borders on a misty (Judges Handbook 17).

Also called true tail. The hand holds the very end of the ski tail, which the handbook generally rates harder than a regular tail grab or an inside tail (Judges Handbook 17).

An off-axis spin set to the skier's backside that never goes fully upside down, as in a cork 720 or cork 900. The handbook notes that corking often adds style without necessarily adding difficulty (Judges Handbook 17).

A grab on the inside edge of the opposite ski, such as the right hand on the left ski. The handbook rates it easier than a mute (Judges Handbook 17).

Two scores from 1 to 10 made for TV graphics, DEAL in big air and DAVE in halfpipe. They break a performance down for viewers and have no effect on the Overall Impression score (Judges Handbook 9.3 and 9.4).

Does Not Improve (ICR 3703.4). When the best run of a phase counts, a run that fails to beat the skier's earlier score is not scored. In big air with 2 best of 3, judges may also give a DNI to a trick tried a second time. In JudgeMate DNI is a run status in the FIS snow category types, offered from run 2 with best-run formats; a judge sets it, nothing assigns it automatically.

Did Not Start (ICR 3703.1). A skier on the start list who never starts gets no rank, and a DNS in a final ranks last in that phase. Once a skier leaves the start after the signal, the run counts up to the point where they stop, with no re-run (ICR 3609).

Two separate off-axis rotations inside one trick, set to the backside and never fully inverted. A dub 10 is a double cork 1080, three turns landing forward; a dub 12 at 1260 lands switch (Judges Handbook 17). It takes big rotation and long airtime.

The skier's FIS number, printed with bib, family name, first name, nation and year of birth on every official list (ICR 3701.1). Freeski lists have no stance column, which the rule asks for in snowboard only. In JudgeMate the FIS code is an organizer field filled from a spreadsheet column; there is no import from the FIS database.

A ranking value under the FIS Points Rules 2026/2027. The winner of an event gets the event factor and the other places a share by formula 5.2, rounded up to one decimal and never below 0.1. A skier's list value is the average of their two best results. JudgeMate does not calculate FIS points.

Also called rodeo. The skier sets to the back and rotates almost parallel to the ground, neither inverted nor corked. The handbook lists flat 5, rodeo 7 and rodeo 9, and an alley-oop flat 5 in the pipe (Judges Handbook 17).

A rail set apart from its takeoff, so the skier has to clear a gap before landing on it (Judges Handbook 15). The handbook's other rail types include the C-rail that curves left or right, the cannon rail that throws the skier into the air and rails with one to four kinks.

With 6 or more scoring judges the highest and lowest scores are dropped and the rest averaged; with 3 to 5 judges every score counts (ICR 3403.2). Seven judges at 90, 88, 87, 86, 85, 83 and 79 lose the 90 and the 79, leaving 429 / 5 = 85.80. The JudgeMate switch Drop extreme scores removes one score at each end from 5 judges upward, so a five-judge freeski panel leaves it off.

Leads the panel, votes on the competition jury and may replace a judge who ignores the criteria (Judges Handbook 3). No score is released as official until the head judge has verified and approved it (chapter 7). In JudgeMate the option Head judge releases scores holds the panel's scores off the board until the head judge publishes the run, and Release with gaps publishes it with whatever scores are in, even if judges are missing.

A group of skiers within one phase. Qualification heats hold 12 to 30 skiers, ideally 25 in halfpipe, 20 to 25 in slopestyle and 25 to 30 in big air (ICR 3501.1.1). Every age category runs as its own heat, and one with fewer than four skiers may join the next older or younger category (ICR 3501.3). A JudgeMate category can be split into heats.

FIS judges hold A, B or C licences, issued separately for snowboard and freeski with no combined licence (ICR 3311.4). For freeski the C licence is national and follows each national association's rules, while the snowboard C licence goes through FIS and WSF (Judges Handbook 5). A C judge may be head judge at any national event.

A heat format for national, FIS level and lower events (ICR 3504.3). The heat gets a time window, skiers take as many runs as they can, and only run 1 follows a start order. The jury fixes heat size, time and counting method before the team captains' meeting. JudgeMate uses a set number of runs per category, so a jam has to be planned as fixed runs.

One leg stretched out and the other tucked up, with the hand reaching around behind the straight leg to grab the ski of the tucked one (Judges Handbook 17). A double japan adds a reverse critical with the other hand.

The top edge of a pipe wall, where skiers take off and land. Lip tricks such as a stall or a handplant stay low and are done on the lip itself (Judges Handbook 17).

Spin directions on skis. Leftside is a forward takeoff turning to the skier's left, counterclockwise; rightside turns clockwise. Every skier has a natural side, so spinning both ways adds difficulty and variety to a slopestyle run (Judges Handbook 17). Snowboard names its directions frontside and backside.

An inverted spin set to the front. The skier throws one hand forward across the body and flips forward while rotating; misty 540, 720 and 900 are the handbook's examples (Judges Handbook 17).

Skis crossed, the grabbing hand reaches across the front of the body to the outside edge of the opposite ski, in front of the binding. In a high mute the hand holds further up, closer to the tip (Judges Handbook 17).

A takeoff in which the skier presses the tips near the lip, turns about 180 degrees on the snow and pops into the rotation off the loaded tips (Judges Handbook 17). Handbook 8.1 names a butter takeoff as the deliberate exception to the rule that starting the rotation on the lip hurts execution.

The FIS method for judging slopestyle, big air and halfpipe. Each judge gives the whole run one score from 0 to 100, placed against the other runs of the day. Runs are compared on Execution, Difficulty, Amplitude, Variety and Progression, which the handbook treats as equal and unordered (Judges Handbook 8). The JudgeMate Freeskiing template starts with these five as weighted criteria, Difficulty at 1.5 down to Variety and Progression at 1.0, and the organizer can change the weights.

A double grab with crossed skis. The right hand pushes the right ski across the front of the body by its outside edge while the left hand holds the left tail. The handbook counts it among the harder double grabs (Judges Handbook 17).

Score bands written for freeski judges only (Judges Handbook 10.1). 1–30 covers very poor runs and full crashes, 30–45 is below average, 45–65 average, 65–85 above average and 85–100 excellent. Inside the crash band, a fall at the start of the course scores 1–10 and a fall at the end of an otherwise good run 20–30. Snowboard judges use a deduction table in chapter 11; freeski has none.

SBS, a slopestyle format with 7 to 9 scoring judges split into section judges, who score single features, and composition judges, who score the whole run. The recommended split is 60% and 40% (ICR 3403.3). Freeski section judges have their own bands (Judges Handbook 10.2): 0 for a skipped feature, 1–10 for a full crash, 85 and up for an exceptional trick. JudgeMate has no SBS mode.

Each judge's written record of the bib, the tricks with their execution and the score for every run. The steno sheet holds the official score; at level 1 events with a results system, a judge's final score becomes official once the head judge approves it (Judges Handbook 7). When a score is questioned, only TV replay or the event's own footage may be reviewed, never video filmed by coaches or athletes.

Spreading skiers across heats by their ranking on the WSPL, FIS points or the WSP for Freeski list (ICR 3501.1.2). The order snakes back and forth, so with three heats heat 1 takes ranks 1, 6, 7 and 12. Tied skiers are separated by draw, and skiers without points are drawn below those who have them.

A halfpipe with 22-foot walls; an 18-foot pipe is the smaller kind (Judges Handbook 15). Skiers drop in from the taller, steeper start at the top, cross the flat bottom between the walls and stop in the finish corral.

Pipe walls are named from the skier's view looking down the pipe (Judges Handbook 15). A forward leftside spin is done off the skier's right wall and a rightside spin off the left wall (chapter 17), so the wall already tells a judge which way the spin goes.

A jump whose deck rises after the takeoff, so the skier flies up and over to land near the top of the arc (Judges Handbook 15). A step-down works the other way, with the landing lower and more drop in the air.

Skiing backwards. A switch takeoff is made looking over one shoulder, and a switch left 7 is 720 degrees to the left from a backwards takeoff. In the pipe a switch spin means a blind takeoff with little view down the pipe, which adds difficulty (Judges Handbook 17).

The hand goes straight down to the same-side ski under the boot. A clean safety holds the side and base of the ski and touches neither boot nor binding (Judges Handbook 17); handbook 8.1 counts boot and binding grabs against execution.

Judges score in whole numbers from 0 to 100, and any result that comes from division is cut to two decimals with no rounding (ICR 3403). Three judges at 80, 79 and 77 give 236 / 3 = 78.666…, published as 78.66. JudgeMate truncates run scores this way in the Freeskiing, Halfpipe Skiing and Big Air Skiing types. Its score field accepts steps of 0.1, so a panel working to FIS rules enters integers.

A ranking used only at FIS level and below (ICR 3404.1). Each judge ranks skiers over all their runs, with variety as the main criterion, and places them in four groups: Excellent, Good, Average and Explorer. JudgeMate ranks by run scores and has no group ranking.

TCM, the meeting before competition where the head judge presents the panel (Judges Handbook 3) and the format is announced. Questions about the course or tricks belong here, so every team hears the same answer (Judges Handbook 1). The number of counting runs in a 2 or more best of x format is announced at this meeting (ICR 3502.3).

Tied skiers share the rank and the higher start number is listed first (ICR 3503). On the last qualifying place every tied skier goes through, so the next phase grows. JudgeMate breaks ties another way: best run, then second run, then best trick if used, then third run, and only a full tie shares the place. The head judge preview shows a tie in red before release.

The curved part of each pipe wall between the flat bottom and vert. The handbook treats takeoffs and landings high on the transition, near the lip, as a sign of good execution (Judges Handbook 8.1).

Both hands grab the outside edges of both skis at once, right to right and left to left, arms straight, in front of the bindings. A bow and arrow is a truck driver with one knee pulled in (Judges Handbook 17).

The top of the transition, where the wall turns fully vertical. Clean vert launches the skier upward on a line that brings them back into the pipe (Judges Handbook 15).

Points for places 1 to 30 at a park and pipe World Cup: 100, 80, 60, 50, 45, 40, 36 and on down to 1 (WC Rules 1.7.1). Rule 1.7.2 has a separate table for moguls and cross. JudgeMate has the park and pipe table built in, shows the points on public results and in the PDF, and gives tied skiers equal points.

A switch straight air: takeoff backwards, no rotation, landing backwards (Judges Handbook 17). In the big air variety rules, straight airs and switch straight airs count as separate trick types (ICR 3502.3.1).