Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Glissade |
GlissadeNoun1. A gliding or sliding step in ballet. Verb1. Perform a glissade, in ballet. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "glissade" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1901. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Glissade is the usually voluntary act of descending a steep slope of snow in a controlled manner either for the sheer thrill of the ride and/or to bypass tedious scree. Glissading is an alternative to plunge stepping and also cuts down on descent time.Types
There are three primary methods of glissading:
- Sitting
- Standing
- Crouching
Sitting glissade
This is the easiest to learn and generally provides the best feeling of being in control. It also works better in softer snow where the standing glissade would be ineffective. Basically, just sit down and push yourself off holding on to your ice axe in a self-arrest position. Push the spike of the axe into the snow on one side and use it as a rudder to control your speed and prevent your body from overextending forward.
To halt your momentum, dig the spike in deeper and gently dig in your heels -- do not do it abruptly or chances are, you will be doing a "heart in mouth" somersault. For an emergency stop, self-arrest
The major drawback to the sitting glissade is your outer layers getting wet. A good pair of nylon coated rain pants really comes in handy.
Standing glissade
The standing glissade is the preferred method if you know how to do it and snow conditions are acceptable. This form allows you a better view of route hazards, provides better maneuverability and cuts down the wet and abrasive forces of the sitting glissade. The standing glissade is best done over firm snow with a soft top layer. Start in a semi-crouched position with the knees moderately bent and your arms spread out for balance. Feet can be together or farther apart as needed but keep one foot slightly ahead of the other to improve stability and prevent nose dives.
To slow down or stop, you can stand up and dig your heels in, crouch and drag your ice axe or turn as if you were downhill skiiing.
Crouching glissade
The crouching glissade is similar to the standing method except the climber sits back and drags the spike of their ice axe (held in self-arrest grip) in the snow. The method is slower but more controlled than the standing glissade.
Cautions
- Glissading is quite hazardous and it is very easy to injure oneself if you lose control.
- Do not try it without an ice axe; a self-arrest when out of control may save your life.
- Only glissade when there is a safe runout -- if you slide out of control, you will not be injured before reaching it.
- Do not wear crampons for a sitting glissade as catching a point in the snow is a very likely consequence.
- On very hard, compacted snow or heavily icy slopes, consider other options. A self-arrest in such conditions may be impossible.
Reference
- Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Glissade."
Crosswords: Glissade |
| Non-English Usage: "Glissade" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. French (gliding, sideslip, slide, slip, slipping), German (glissade). |
| "Glissade" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 75.00% of the time. "Glissade" is used about 4 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 75% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 25% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 4 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
d eau glissade | 67 |
glissade | 17 |
calumet d eau glissade pointe | 15 |
bromont d eau glissade | 13 |
d eau glissade sauveur st | 11 |
glissade sauveur st | 6 |
calumet glissade pointe | 4 |
eau glissade | 4 |
bromont glissade | 4 |
deau glissade | 4 |
cartier d eau glissade val | 4 |
d eau glissade saint sauveur | 3 |
d eau glissade mont sauveur st | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "glissade"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | shkarje (creep, fault, faux pas, Miss, skid, slide, sliding, slip), rrëshqitje (coast, glide, gliding, skid, slide, sliding, slip, slipping, subsidence), rrëshqas (coast, dance, evade, glance off, glide, ride, skate, skid, slide, slip, slither, toboggan). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | спускане по заснежен склон, спускане по заледен склон, глисад, правя глисад, плъзгане по заснежен склон, плъзгане по заледен склон, плъзгам се по заснежен склон, плъзгам се по заледен склон. (various references) | |
Czech | lesknout se (be sparkling clean, gleam, glint, glisten, shimmer, shine). (various references) | |
German | Rutschpartie. (various references) | |
Greek | γλιστρώ (slide, slip, slither). (various references) | |
Hungarian | lecsúszik (to go bust, to slide down), csúszólépés. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | グリオキシル酸回路 (glycerin, glycerol, glycine, glycogen, glyoxylate cycle, grease, Greenwich, grid, gridding, grinding against, grip, rubbing against and turn). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | グリセード . (various references) | |
Manx | skyrraght. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | issadeglay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | escorregar (glide, skitter, slide, slither), escorregão (slide), deslize (glide), deslizar (glide). (various references) | |
Romanian | glisadã, glisa (glide), strecura (edge, filter, fly, insinuate, interject, intermingle, interpose, percolate, slink, slip, squeeze), se da pe gheaţã (slide on ice), pune încet, lunecare, aluneca (glide, slip). (various references) | |
Russian | скольжение (glide, gliding, slide, slip, slipping), глиссе, делать глиссе. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | klizati (skate, slip), klizanje (glide, skating, slide, slip). (various references) | |
Spanish | deslizamiento (glide). (various references) | |
Turkish | kaymak (aquaplane, cream, glide, head, lapse, prolapse, skate, ski, skimmings, slide, slip, slither, slump), dansta yana kayma, aşağıya kayma. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | ковзання (backlash, glide, skidding, slide, slip, slipping), глісе. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "glissade": glissaded, glissader, glissaders, glissades. (additional references) | |
| |
"Glissade" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Elissalde, glisade. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-d-e-g-i-l-s-s" | |
-1 letter: aidless, glassed, glassie, ligases, silages. | |
-2 letters: aisled, aisles, asides, daises, dassie, deasil, gassed, glades, glides, ideals, ladies, lassie, ligase, sailed, sidles, silage, slides. | |
-3 letters: aegis, agile, aides, ailed, aisle, algid, aside, assed, dales, deals, degas, deils, delis, dials, egads, gadis, gales, gases, gelds, gelid, gilds, glade, glads, glass, gleds, glias, glide, ideal, ideas. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-d-e-g-i-l-s-s" | |
+1 letter: glissaded, glissader, glissades. | |
+2 letters: declassing, glissaders, signalised. | |
+3 letters: darlingness, detasseling, digitalises, displeasing, gladioluses, glucosidase, glycosidase, languidness, sanderlings, seguidillas. | |
+4 letters: cladogenesis, detasselling, digressional, disentangles, fiberglassed, galactosides, gangliosides, glucosidases, glycosidases, irregardless. | |
+5 letters: darlingnesses, declassifying, disassembling, galactosidase, languidnesses, slaveholdings. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
