The Ski Utah and Winter at Westminster lingo contest challenged word geeks and snow lovers alike: find a better way to say ‘skiing and snowboarding.’

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (Mar. 17, 2008) – The challenge set forth was daunting: come up with one word, one catchall word, to replace the too-long and too-cumbersome term “skiing and snowboarding.”

The 2008 Ski/Snowboard Lingo Contest, sponsored by Ski Utah and Winter at Westminster and hosted on The Addictionary (www.addictionary.org) – an online dictionary of made-up “werds” – ran from Feb. 4 to Mar. 4, 2008.
Hundreds entered their version of the “one werd to rule them all,” vying for the top prize: a Spring Ski Trip to Utah. Hundreds more entered their additions to a general glossary of ski and snowboard lingo, battling it out for prize number two: two lift tickets to The Canyons Resort plus ten t-shirts featuring the best new ski and snowboard werd of 2008.

The werds are in. The celebrity judges – a panel consisting of Annie Fast, Executive Editor of Transworld Snowboarding; Derek Taylor, Editor of Powder; Nathan Rafferty, Ski Utah President; Kendall Card, “Powstash:” and professional skiers Kristen Ulmer and Julian Carr – have considered their options.

Bribes were accepted but then ignored. Cronyism was considered but not committed. After ten epic powder days and long sleepless nights of consideration, the judges have chosen their winners.

The new werd for “skiing and snowboarding,” the grand prize winner of the 2008 Ski/Snowboard Lingo Contest, is:

snowriding: (n) A new winter recreation industry term describing the act of either snowboarding or snow skiing down a slope. (Submitted by: Roberta Stjernholm, of Lakewood, Colo.)

It was a tight race. Runners up include: boardskiing, skoarding and sloping.

And, according to the panel of esteemed judges, the best new snowriding lingo glossary werd is:

gnardonculous: (a) gnarulous and ridonculous. (Submitted by Andrew Howard Johnson, Stamford, Conn.)

Since the definition of the winning werd actually consists of made-up werds, to clarify, gnardonculous is an appropriate synonym for such go-to adjectives as: gnarly, sick, rad and/or ridiculous.

“Gnardonculous has great abbreviation possibilities,” said judge Derek Taylor, editor of Powder magazine. “Like, ‘later, fellow gnards!’”

“I’m with Derek,” said Annie Fast, Executive editor of Transworld Snowboarding. “Gnardonculous took the lead when I tried saying it out loud with a So-Cal accent.”

The other snowriding lingo werds to make the finals include:

Snowcrastinator: (n) One who puts off work and chores intentionally and habitually in favor of skiing;

Glacialis Obsessivus: (n) frozen obsession;

skidgets: (n) those three to seven year old children you see following their ski instructor that look like skiing “midgets;”

snowgasm: (n) the act of participating in pleasurable snow-related activities such as snowboarding or skiing to the point of achieving the ultimate climax; and

Trip the white Fantastic: (v) To gracefully maneuver through frozen particulate precipitation in a coordinated and/or choreographed fashion.

For the full glossary of contest entries, visit http://addictionary.org/Browse/ContestWords/19.

The Addictionary
The Addictionary was created by a bunch of skiers and snowboarders in Park City, Utah, who aren’t as much into slang as they are genuine wordplay – not words, but werds. They built The Addictionary on a whim and continue their labor of love, providing lifestyle and niche versions to those who have their own lingo and want to share it: moms (http://moms.addictionary.org), pet owners (http://pet.addictionary.org), gamers (http://gamer.addictionary.org), politics (http://political.addictionary.org) and more. What’s your werd?

Ski Utah
Ski Utah is the marketing firm owned and operated by the 13 statewide ski resorts that make up the Utah Ski and Snowboard Association. The organization has been creating brand awareness of and demand for the Utah wintersports product since its inception in 1978.

Winter at Westminster
There is no other college semester-away program in the world like Winter at Westminster—a winter program with the perfect balance between the rigors of college and the passion for skiing and snowboarding. College students from all over the country enroll at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah as full-time visiting students. They earn 12–16 transferable credits while riding 70+ days at seven world-class resorts located within 30 minutes of campus. Winter at Westminster allows students to arrange the ultimate class schedule, balancing mid-week skiing and snowboarding with earning transferable credits that will keep them on track for graduation from their home colleges or universities. For more information, visit www.winteratwestminster.com.