A piste[1] is a marked ski run or path down a mountain for snow skiing, snowboarding, or other mountain sports. The term is European,[2] from the French for trail or track, synonymous with trail, slope, or groomed run in North America.
Increasingly, North Americans employ its common European antonym, off piste, to describe backcountry skiing, especially when referring to skiing outside officially approved areas of a ski resort.
Individual trails on pistes are graded by difficulty using ski trail ratings.
Pistes are usually maintained using tracked vehicles known as snowcats to compact or groom the snow to even out trail conditions, remove moguls, and redistribute snow to extend the ski season. Natural snow is often augmented with snow making machines early in the season or when the snowpack is low.