The name: The 2008 Ski/Snowboard Lingo Contest.

The goals: The creation of a single word that describes skiing and snowboarding, and the formation of a word to add to the glossary of skier and snowboarder lingo.

The prizes: A four nights, three days ski or snowboard trip to Utah for two valued at $1,500 that includes airfare, lodging and lift tickets; and two day passes to The Canyons and 10 T-shirts featuring the new addition to the glossary.

The deadline: March 4.

The sponsors: Ski Utah, the marketing firm owned and operated by the 13 statewide resorts that make up the Utah Ski and Snowboard Association (www,skiutah.com), and:

Winter at Westminster, a program that enables college students to earn between 12 to 16 transferable credits at Westminster College in Salt Lake City and, by carefully arranging their class schedule, ski or snowboard at least 70 days at seven world class resorts within 30 minutes of the campus. (www.winteratwestminster.com).

The partner: Addictionary, an online dictionary (www.addictionary.org) of made up "werds."

It was created "on a whim" by skiers and snowboarders in Park City, Utah "who aren't as much into slang as they are genuine wordplay," said Ski Utah spokeswoman Jessica Kunzer.

In an attempt to help defuse the sometimes heated atmosphere between skiers and snowboarders, she said the sponsors hope someone will "come up with that one werd -- the mighty catch-all, the great equalizer, the big peacemaker -- that describes skiing and snowmaking in one fell swoop."

The winners will be chosen by Derek Taylor, editor of Powder magazine; Annie Fast, executive editor of Transworld Snowboarding magazine; Nathan Rafferty, president of Ski Utah; Kendall Card, Ski Utah's blogger and expert "powstash" locator; and professional skiers Julian Carr and Kristin Ulmer.

"The site already has some interesting entries," said Ms. Kunzer, referring to addictionary.org/Browse/ContestWords/19.

The werds and their creators definitions include:

Boardski (verb) Gliding on snow on either skis or a snowboard.

Gravving (verb) Partaking in winter gravity sports like skiing and boarding.

Shusskiboarding (noun) A new term for either skiing or snowboarding.

Skiboarding (verb) The sport of combining Skiing and Snowboarding in one.

Skiboing (verb) Skiing or snowboarding.

Skoarding (verb) To ski or snowboard. Also the noun for the hobby/activity.

Slippysport (noun) A term used to denote either skiing or snowboarding. Slopester (noun, pronounced slope-ster) A practitioner of slope dependant sports like snowboarding or skiing.

Snexercise (noun) Bodily exertion in the snow for the sake of developing and maintaining physical fitness.

Snurf verb) 1) The act of either snowboarding or snow skiing down a slope. 2) surfing the snow.

Sobos (noun) A word to describe snowsports enthusiasts on either skis or boards. Derived from the initial letters of "Skiing Or Boarding On Snow."

The werd has the added cuteness factor of being an anagram. The addition of the suffix "er" or "ing" can modify the word to describe a practitioner or the practice of sobos.

I think Snowsports readers can do better.

Give it a try.

The Hidden Valley Ski Patrol will hold tryouts for new candidates at 9 a.m. Feb. 23. If you're 18 or older, an "above average" skier or snowboarder and are interested in joining the patrol for the 2008-09 season, go to www.patrol.org/hvsp, go to "Why become a Ski Patroller" and complete the online application or stop by the patrol room at the desk.

For more information, e-mail Marty Silverman at hvskier@hotmail.com or call 1-814-771-6300, Ext. 122.