Fall Line

The fall line is the line a slope falls away along: the most direct route from where you are standing to the bottom, and the direction gravity would take a loose object. It is not a marked feature but a property of the terrain, and it moves as the shape of the hill changes, so the fall line at the top of a run is rarely the same as the fall line halfway down.

It is the reference every snow-sport instruction is given against. Pointing down the fall line builds speed; turning across it sheds speed. Skiers and snowboarders describe turns as crossing the fall line, and traversing means travelling roughly at right angles to it. Reading where the fall line actually runs is one of the first things that separates a rider who looks comfortable on varied terrain from one who does not.