death cookie

n. especially in skiing, a chunk or clump of ice that makes a sport difficult. Subjects: English, Environment, Sports & Recreation, Slang

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Citations: 1986 Craig Medred Anchorage Daily News (Alaska) (Jan. 23) “Great Day At Alyeska Is Best Ski Day Departing Alaskan Ever Had” p. F10: On any given day, the top of the mountain can be littered with the frozen snowballs called death cookies. 1989 Anita Latner Toronto Star (Toronto, Canada) (Jan. 7) “Skiing thigh-high in powder You don’t have to be an expert; you need guts and few brains”: The waiver releases McGowan from all liability should I fall victim to any kind of accident, including a sudden avalanche, “death cookie” (the ice-packed snow that build up on top of the trees here) or tree-well (a hole that forms under a light cover of snow just around the tree trunks). 1989 [Erik Wettersten] Usenet: rec.skiing (Dec. 20) “Re: Snowboards…”: Boards are also great for crud;—corn-snow, death-cookies, and crust-on-powder conditions are actually fun on a board. 1991 Andrew Slough The Traveling Skier (Aug. 1) p. 176: Me following him down the Sunrise area green runs then cutting turn across to the Flying Dutchman, which was rolled the night before and is now littered with death cookies. 2003 Barbara Lloyd New York Times (Feb. 27) “Finding Uniformity in the Lexicon of Snow” p. D5: Golf-ball sized chunks of frozen snow on a trail are often referred to as death cookies in the East; Westerners tend to call them chicken heads. 2006 The News (Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada) (Oct. 10) “Traffic concerns pepper town”: Meanwhile, cyclist Dave Davies said the junction of Nootka and Village Way is designed in such a way that gravel is spewed into the intersection. These “death cookies,” as he called them in his letter to council, build up and make cycling dangerous.

Posted 19 Oct 06 | Permalink | Tell a Friend