Key:piste:difficulty

Used to define the difficulty of a ski run, including downhill, nordic and others.

How to map

This property is used with piste:type=* on ways or areas and route relations of route=piste.

If possible, describe the difficulty of each part of the run if it is not homogenous.

In addition, piste:grooming=* can be used for the type of runway preparation and do not forget that incline=* is a well established tag beyond pistes and with more possible values than up and down.

Note: For showing signposting color of pistes (notably for crosscountry skiing and snowshoeing), user may wants to use the route=piste with a colour=*, and keep the difficulty tag to give information on the actual difficulty of the way.

Downhill / Alpine

Value	US/Canada/Oceania	Europe	Japan
novice	"bunny hill"	green
easy	green circle	blue	green
intermediate	blue square	red	red
advanced	♦ black diamond	black	black
expert	♦♦ double black diamond	orange (Alps), double-black (Scandinavia)
freeride	orange oval	yellow
extreme

Note: While piste:difficulty defines a progressive scale for other type of pistes (skitour, nordic,...), when used with piste:type=downhill, piste:difficulty=freeride is used more or less interchangeably with piste:type=downhill + piste:grooming=backcountry. Both denotes an 'Off-piste' ride.

For these runs, it is important to specify patrolled=yes or operator='Resort name' if the piste is part of the official pistes of a resort or patrolled.

Nordic / Crosscountry

This tag is optional for Nordic skiing. In many countries, for example the Nordic countries, there is not a tradition for providing an official difficulty grade such as in downhill skiing.

Note: For showing signposting color of pistes (notably for crosscountry skiing and snowshoeing), user may wants to use the route=piste with a colour=*, and keep the difficulty tag to give information on the actual difficulty of the way.

Value	Nordic (crosscountry)	Nordic (crosscountry), Europe
novice	Strictly flat terrain, no effort needed	green
easy	Soft hills, short steep sections	blue
intermediate	Steep sections are present in the piste, or short narrow on average slopes. User gets away with sweat. Used for the relevant sections only	red
advanced	Steep sections are present in the piste, with narrow steep passages or sharp turns in steep passages, often icy pistes. Used for the relevant sections only	black
expert	Steep sections are present in the piste, with narrow steep passages or sharp turns in steep passages, often icy pistes. Dangerous terrain surrounds the piste. Used for the relevant sections only
freeride	Not relevant
extreme	Not relevant

Skitour

Value	Skitour- Swiss Alpine Club Scale
novice	L: inclination <30 degree, no sliding, soft hilly terrain, no narrow passages
easy	WS: inclination 30-35 degree, short sliding areas, open terrain with short steep passages and easily avoidable obstacles, short narrow passages
intermediate	ZS: inclination 35-40 degree, longer sliding areas, terrain with steep passages that cannot be avoided, short narrow but steep passages
advanced	S: inclination 40-45 degree, long sliding areas with scarps below (life danger!), steep terrain with many obstacles, long narrow passages (short swings still possibe)
expert	SS: inclination 45–50 degree, long sliding areas with scarps below (life danger!), steep rocky terrain with many obstacles, narrow passages may require some crossjumps
freeride	AS: inclination 50–55 degree, very exposed terrain, no spot to rest during descent, narrow passages require many crossjumps. (e.g. off-piste).
extreme	EX: inclination >55 degree, extremely exposed terrain, need to use ropes to go downhill. Climbing equipment required.

Sled

Value	Europe
novice
easy	blue
intermediate	red
advanced	black
expert
freeride
extreme

Maps

• OpenSnowMap.org
• XCTrails.org
• Waymarked Trails: Winter Sport Slopes also with OpenTopoMap as background

See also

• Piste Maps – for a summary and description of tags for mapping pistes and ski resorts

• piste:type=*
• piste:grooming=*
• incline=*
• mtb:scale:imba=*