Jägerbombed
(
verb) yay-grr-bom-bd
A true Alpine après-ski rite of passage,
defined by the consumption of several
Jägerbombs and an ensuing of merriment.
As in “I was totally Jägerbombed last
night”. Although it’s thought to have
started in Austria, the precise origins
of this one-stop step to gaiety are
unknown – largely because nobody was
sober enough to remember. Made by
combining Jägermeister, a German spirit,
with the Red Bull energy drink, it’s best
enjoyed in wild dives such as the Krazy
Kangaruh bar in St Anton (
krazykanguruh.
com)
,
ideally while wearing a furry animal
costume (please refer to our entry for K).
Not to be confused with a
Bombardino
,
the
thing to drink in Italy’s
mountain refuges – made from egg
liqueur, brandy and whipped cream – or
Chartreuse, the traffic-light bright herb
bomb of the cocktail and digestif world,
made from 130 mountain herbs. It’s one
hell of a hangover-giver.
Leg-burner
(
noun) leg-bur-ner
A seriously long or wickedly steep ski
run. Your ego says Bond, your legs say
spaghetti, your common sense says bottle
out now, but somehow you don’t. One of
Switzerland’s most fearsome is the
pitch-black Tortin, in Verbier, a mogul-
riddled monster that becomes a slippery
dance with death when icy; or try
Mayrhofen’s Harakiri, Austria’s steepest
piste with a 78% gradient – it could
squeeze expletives from a stone. Over
in the French Alps, the terror mounts on
Courchevel’s Grand Couloir, Avoriaz’s
Swiss Wall and Val d’Isère’s Face
Olympique de Bellevarde. For bragging
rights, though, little beats Europe’s longest
black run, 16km La Sarenne, in Alpe d’Huez.
“
The first 500m are the biggest adrenaline
pump of the whole run,” says Olivier
Sebbar, co-owner of Stance Snow (
stance-
snow.com
),
a local ski school. But, for a
“
hard black run”, he prefers Alpes d’Huez’s
breathtakingly steep and bumpy Le Tunnel.
Kigu
(
noun) kee-goo
Preferred abbreviation of
kigurumi, a Japanese word
which translates as costumed
animal character. Already
hugely popular in the East,
these onesie-style costumes are
becoming the uniform of choice
for skiers looking to make an, erm,
individual fashion statement by
dressing as giant pandas, huge
Pokemons or even Winnie-the-
Pooh. In short, the 21st-century
equivalent of a jester hat. For a
slightly less wacky way to make
an impression, you could try
creating your own customised
board. SPURart (
spurart.at
),
based
in Innsbruck, runs weekend
courses to make your own
customised equipment, which you
can then test on the local slopes.
PHOTO
GETTY, ALAMY
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