Oct 16, 2009 16:26
14 yrs ago
1 viewer *
French term

piste sauvage

French to English Other Tourism & Travel skiing
The complete sentence is: Des surfaces de tout genre, de neige damée aux pistes sauvages.
Termium & GDT provide "packed snow" as an equivalent for « neige damée », but the client didnt like this - I had to change it to "groomed trails". Can anyone confirm if « piste sauvage » is "off-piste", pls.? Also, is this used in Quebec/Canada (another stipulation by the client - sorry for this complication). Many TIA.
Change log

Oct 16, 2009 16:34: Stéphanie Soudais changed "Field (specific)" from "Law: Taxation & Customs" to "Tourism & Travel"

Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

Non-PRO (1): writeaway

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Discussion

B D Finch Oct 22, 2009:
Ungroomed pistes Further to Sarah's point, it is quite important to make that distinction from the conservation point of view. Skiing or snow-shoeing all over the mountain does do damage and disturbs the animals who live there.
Sarah Wood Oct 22, 2009:
Agree with Ellen I know it's late but the questions is still open...

My advice is to be aware of the difference between an off-piste/backcountry run and an ungroomed piste. As Ellen said runs are left ungroomed to add difficulty and interest, and sometime because the bashers can't get up there! But they are still official runs - on the piste maps, insurance is valid etc.


B D Finch Oct 20, 2009:
Agree with thescarid's discussion entry below.
thescarid Oct 19, 2009:
reading it again, I would say this

With slopes for all skiers, from well-groomed runs to off-piste trails

I think this conveys what your client wants to say
Travelin Ann Oct 17, 2009:
I think we may have lost sight of the asker's need to be certain that the term works for Quebecois/Canadian usage.
Ellen Kraus Oct 17, 2009:
des pistes insuffisamment sportifs veut dire que le territoire nést pas bien préparé - avec intention.car les pistes sauvages sont préférés par ceux qui aiment le challenge.
ormiston Oct 16, 2009:
SUNDANCE TO SOLITUDE, Utah -- Utah's Exciting Non-Olypic Venue Resorts - [ Traduire cette page ]Solitude has a nice mesh of groomed and non-groomed runs, along with 400 acres of off-piste skiing in pristine Honeycomb Canyon. Its Nordic Center is Utah's ...
www.highonadventure.com/.../sundance.htm - En cache - Pages similaires
Revelstoke Mountain - British Columbia | What is your Ability Level? - [ Traduire cette page ]You feel that with some new skills you would be able to venture onto a non groomed run, maybe some trees, a Heli or Cat Day or even a Black Diamond Run. ...
www.revelstokemountainresort.com/.../snow_school_ability_le... - En cache - Pages similaires
Northwest Mountain School News/Blog: Dreaming About Skiing the ... - [ Traduire cette page ]The Northwest Mountain School has run a lot of Haute Route trips in the ... of groomed runs, at the intersection of the groomed and non-groomed terrain. ...
mountainschool.blogspot.com/.../dreaming-about-skiing-haute-route.html -
Travelin Ann Oct 16, 2009:
This may help http://www.familytravelforum.com/who/kids/10901-Quebec-Canad...
has a short FR-EN glossary of Quebec ski terms, including ski sauvage.

Proposed translations

+2
1 day 17 hrs
Selected

ungroomed or non groomed (backcountry) runs

if you believe this text, 'off-piste' is less common across the Atlantic. And after all here the asker is searching for a way to describe the ski surface. Maybe too simple ? Backcountry seems to apply to snow on non-controlled slopes:


"" The catch-all term "backcountry skiing" is more commonly used in North America, while "ski touring", "Randonnée" & "ski mountaineering" are more commonly used in Europe.

"Off-piste skiing" typically refers to any skiing a few metres away from or between controlled trails and slopes, whereas ski touring", "ski mountaineering" & "Randonnée" refer to skiing which is not near marked slopes at all, or cannot be accessed by ski-lifts.

"Off-piste" is a British term. Only the marked runs (pistes) in European ski resorts are controlled, with the "off-piste" areas between & beside these runs often holding dangerous backcountry conditions. Since all terrain within U.S. ski resort boundaries is controlled--including the areas between & beside runs--the terms "Slackcountry" or "Mid-country" are often used instead of "off-piste", & refer to skiing that occurs by crossing ski resort boundary ropes to make turns, then returning to the resort to ride the lifts.

Heli skiing or Cat skiing does take place in the backcountry away from ski resorts, but a helicopter or snowcat is used to effectively replace the ski lift, so the uphill travel generally associated with backcountry skiing is not required & standard alpine skiing equipment can be used rather than backcountry gear.
Peer comment(s):

agree cmwilliams (X)
2 hrs
agree Sarah Wood : Agree that backcountry is used instead of off-piste and I also agree that this may refer to ungroomed official runs rather than unofficial runs.
4 days
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "I was torn between this one & "off-track", which is what I finally went with. The client had already rejected "ungroomed". But thanks very much"
+1
14 mins

off-piste run

Peer comment(s):

neutral writeaway : actually after my comment, I saw that a colleague found a Canadian site: http://www.familytravelforum.com/who/kids/10901-Quebec-Canad... Fr + En Canadian can have their own terminology.
15 mins
sorry, i hope the asker can do that!
agree philgoddard : I'm not sure about "groomed trails", though. These are specifically for cross-country skiing. If they're for downhill, they're groomed runs or, as the French says, groomed snow.
41 mins
neutral B D Finch : How can it be off-piste if it is groomed?// Right, confused by phil's comment, to which that was a response. As he points out "groomed trails" are for cross-country or nordic.
6 hrs
no it says from groomed trails to off pist, Des surfaces de tout genre, de neige damée aux pistes sauvages.
Something went wrong...
4 hrs

insufficiently prepared piste

à non avis il y s´agit de pistes insuffisamment sportifs ou pas bien préparés. off-piste would be "hors-piste"
Peer comment(s):

neutral Travelin Ann : from my research, it seems intentional, a bit like an "extreme" sport, so I don't think this works
1 hr
that´s exactly what I wanted to convey, but obviously failed to. Intentionally neglected or unprepared pists for those who like challenges.
neutral cmwilliams (X) : this has a negative connotation and would not be appropriate here imo.
13 hrs
Something went wrong...
7 hrs

Off-piste (snow compacted by previous skiers)

A definition, but Swiss rather than Canadian

"4. Le domaine skiable non contrôlé (y compris les "pistes" sauvages et les variantes)
Tout ce qui n'est pas mis à disposition en tant que descente à ski balisée constitue le domaine skiable non contrôlé.
Sont des "pistes" sauvages et des variantes les voies ouvertes d'une manière générale au public, que les usagers des descentes à ski eux-mêmes ont formés dans un champ de ski non contrôlé. Elle ne sont ni balisées, ni damées, ni contrôlées, ni protégées contre les dangers de la montagne par le responsable de la sécurité.
On parle de "piste" sauvage lorsqu'une descente qui s'est formée spontanément se présente comme une piste après avoir été intensément utilisée, tandis que l'on parle plutôt d'une variante lorsqu'il s'agit de traces isolées. Cela est valable surtout dans la
haute neige lorsque chacun fait sa propre trace du haut en bas de toute une pente.
On parle alors de ski hors pistes."
http://www.skus.ch/pdf/ann1_f.pdf

"7 Dec 2008 ... THE helipad was little more than a flat patch of snow roped off between some ... And there are two more allures: Riksgransen offers easy access to off-piste skiing, ... and the slope well-compacted by other skiers) and immediately .... Transpacific, United States & Canada, US Pacific Coast, World ..."
travel.nytimes.com/2008/12/07/travel/07arctic.html -

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Note added at 7 hrs (2009-10-16 23:37:52 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

So, the slope is not groomed and strictly speaking "dammée" is wrong. These slopes tend to be graded by those who use them according to whether they are compacted in ruts so that your skis tend to track, or criss-crossed so that tracking isn't a problem. When they are very compacted by heavy ski traffic, they can be similar to a groomed run.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 hrs (2009-10-16 23:44:00 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Ignore comment about "dammée". See my note to rir.
Peer comment(s):

neutral writeaway : why is this off-piste better than the 1st off-piste. see the Canadian translation in hooksetts's ref in the discussion box
2 hrs
It is an alternative, not necessarily better. Hooksett's ref. is unreliable; e.g. it gives "cross-country" as "ski de fond". There are cross-country versions of downhill and ski de fond: different techniques and equipment.
Something went wrong...
2 days 12 hrs

off-track

That's what hikers would say. Good luck!
Something went wrong...
3 days 5 hrs

Off-slope

This would be the correct term in English, but you may be surprised to find English-speaking Canadians will say off-piste when speaking English. If you are writing translating into English for Canadians, I would say off-piste - few reader would complain. But if your audience is not Canadian (or for western canada lets say) then I would go with off-slope
Something went wrong...
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