Ski & Fitness Glossary

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D
Dehydration
The abnormal depletion of body fluids, easily detected by dark, concentrated urine. Prevented by drinking water or sports drinks before, during and after exercise. When you are fully hydrated, urine is plentiful, pale and odorless.

Deltoids or "delts"
The triangular, 3-part muscles that wrap around the tops of the shoulders. They allow you to raise your arms forward, backward and out to the sides, and also rotate them inward and outward. Rowing, rock climbing and swimming work the deltoids.

Diagonal sideslipping
Skidding sideways on skis down a hill, at an angle to the fall line, but not directly down it.

Diagonal side-stepping
Climbing up a hill, at an angle to the fall line, but not directly up it - sometimes used in conjunction with diagonal stride for ease of movement.

Diagonal skating
Also known as diagonal V-skating, or single-pole skating, or herringbone skating, this is skating with a diagonal stride style of movement, except that the legs skate instead of stride along the direction of travel (arms work as per normal striding).

Diagonal
Striding in which the skier's opposite arm and leg move simultaneously, as when walking on foot. Each stride achieves a gliding phase when executed efficiently.

Direct descent
Skiing directly down the fall line with skis parallel.

Direct method
A contemporary alternative to the Fan method of learning ski turning, whereby the skier skis directly down the fall-line, and on each successive run begins to make a greater deviation (in both directions, forming an 'S' pattern on the snow) away from the fall-line, but with the same number of turns.

Diverging
When the tails are closer together than the tips, as when herringboning, scissor turning, or skating. See also converging.

Double Black Diamond
Double Black Diamonds are used to mark very advanced ski trails that are difficult to ski and have expert terrain.

Double camber
A ski with a stiffer mid-section than tips and tails. See camber.

Double-pole kick
A perhaps ambiguous term to describe stride double-poling.

Double-pole stride
Stride double-pole.

Double-poling
A method of propulsion by planting both poles into the snow, with skis parallel, and using the upper body and arms to lever oneself forwards.

Double-skate double-pole
See two skating.

Double-stride double-poling
Simply two strides prior to a double pole action, instead the more usual single stride.

Down-neighing
Sinking down (by compressing the legs) to neigh the skis prior to turning. A more advanced technique than up-unweighting, and not always easily done on stiffer-cambered skis.

Downhill skating
See free skating

Downhill skiing
Able to be performed by both Alpine and Nordic skiers, and therefore not to be confused with Alpine skiing, although often is - mostly by Alpine skiers.

Downhill traversing
Descending a slope diagonally, at an angle to the fall-line, not to be confused with traversing or uphill traversing.

Downhill turning
Making a downhill turn towards the fall-line, and thus increasing the angle of descent, and the speed.

Dumbbell
Weights attached to a short bar that can be held in one hand. (Often used in pairs.)