Slope difficulty levels and their meaning (2024)

First things first: The colours serve as a rough guideline for winter sports enthusiasts. The difficulty ratings only contribute to a safe experience on the slopes if you combine them with a healthy (self-)assessment of the situation.

Depending on skill level, fitness, and current snow and weather conditions, every skier and snowboarder needs to decide for themselves: Am I able to ski this slope, or should I rather try another, easier descent? Can I ski this slope safely, or am I endangering myself and others? You certainly don’t want to end up in pickle – or worse, mortal danger. And plaster casts and crutches didn’t make it onto the list of this season’s ski fashion trends either.

The following factors should influence your decision:

• tiredness & exhaustion
• wind, rain or snowfall
• cold weather & ice
• fog & reduced visibility

Ski runs are colour-coded based on the motto: the steeper, the more difficult. At least that’s the case in most Alpine countries. For this purpose, the average gradient of the terrain on the respective section of the slope is determined with the help of special measuring devices.

However, please keep in mind: A blue slope can quickly turn from an easy into a difficult one when it’s icy. Weather conditions do not change the colour of the run, so they must always be taken into account before you hurl yourself down a descent. Permanent structural changes, on the other hand, can be a reason to change the colour coding of a slope.

It is actually the gradient and not the difficulty that’s the deciding factor for the colour of a ski run. If you’ve ever gone skiing in the Alps, you’re probably familiar with the common difficulty ratings. However, if you’d like to review them, we’ve listed them below.

Good to know: Colour-coded ski runs are regularly checked (at least daily), groomed and secured against avalanches.

Green:

• very easy, flat slopes, and practice slopes (without exact definition) – not common in Austria
• in France and North America: slopes with a gradient range between 6 % and 25 %
• in Scandinavia and Spain: practice slopes with a gradient of up to 16 %

Yellow, orange or red dashed line:

• ski routes and other itinerary runs: marked and secured, but not groomed
• require experience and confidence in your own skiing ability
• are usually checked irregularly
• exception: In France, ski routes are officially considered “controlled areas”.

Off-piste terrain:

Everything outside the marked ski runs is off-piste terrain – often also called backcountry. These areas are not checked, groomed or secured. They should therefore only be used by experienced skiers and snowboarders.

Other countries = other colours and symbols. This isn’t true for the Alpine region (which shares a common system), but it is for other countries in Europe as well as North America. We have summarised the most important “codes” for you (percentages = gradient).

Sweden and Norway

• green: up to 16 %
• blue: up to 27 %
• red: up to 47 %
• black: more than 47 %
• double black: extremely difficult

North America

• green circle: 6 to 25 %
• blue square: 25 to 40 %
• black diamond: more than 40 %
• double black diamond: extremely difficult, e.g. with narrow bends and lots of moguls

Note: Colour-coded ski run levels in the North American system are only ever in relation to other runs within the same ski resort. This means that a green circle can stand for different levels of difficulty in different ski areas.

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