Fall line (skiing)
Encyclopedia
In alpine skiing
, a fall line refers to the line down a mountain
or hill
which is most directly downhill. That is, the direction a ball would roll if it were free to move on the slope under gravity. A skier is said to be "skiing the fall line" if he is skiing a line with his skis pointing generally down, rather than traversing across it.
Mathematically the fall line, the line of greatest slope
, is the negative of the gradient
(which points uphill) and perpendicular to the contour line
s.
Alpine skiing
Alpine skiing is the sport of sliding down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. Alpine skiing can be contrasted with skiing using free-heel bindings: Ski mountaineering and nordic skiing – such as cross-country; ski jumping; and Telemark. In competitive alpine skiing races four...
, a fall line refers to the line down a mountain
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
or hill
Hill
A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. Hills often have a distinct summit, although in areas with scarp/dip topography a hill may refer to a particular section of flat terrain without a massive summit A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. Hills...
which is most directly downhill. That is, the direction a ball would roll if it were free to move on the slope under gravity. A skier is said to be "skiing the fall line" if he is skiing a line with his skis pointing generally down, rather than traversing across it.
Mathematically the fall line, the line of greatest slope
Line of greatest slope
In topography, the line of greatest slope is a curve following the steepest slope. It is always orthogonal to the contour lines. Mathematically it is determined by the gradient of the height, taken as a potential field, so the lines of greatest slope are the analogon of lines of force.If inertial...
, is the negative of the gradient
Gradient
In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar field is a vector field that points in the direction of the greatest rate of increase of the scalar field, and whose magnitude is the greatest rate of change....
(which points uphill) and perpendicular to the contour line
Contour line
A contour line of a function of two variables is a curve along which the function has a constant value. In cartography, a contour line joins points of equal elevation above a given level, such as mean sea level...
s.