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Small lake way high up on a mountain. Tarns are usually not much larger than a field you would play sports on and, because they are so high up, they are frozen and covered in snow for most of the year. When summer finally comes and they turn back to water, they are very cold and very clear.
tarn
Rain-proof sheet that can be used as a roof or to cover things. If you don't have a tent, you can hang a tarp between two trees and sleep under it and be dry if it should rain--the only problem is that you have no protection from bugs. Tarps can also be used to cover things, like a backpack, overnight while you are sleeping.
tarp
(say TELL-uh-mark skeez)
Tough, all-purpose skis that can be taken almost anywhere. You don't need to be on a ski trail to use telemark skis. In fact, they were invented so that people could ski in rough places where there are no trails. Some people take telemark skis into some pretty scary places!
telemark skis
(say TER-me-nus)
The end of a glacier. At the terminus, the snow and ice melt and create a stream. As the snow and ice melt, a lot of rocks and dirt that were trapped inside fall out, so there are a lot of stones at the terminus of a glacier.
To melt. Snow thaws in the spring.
Part of China which is at the northern side of the Himalayas. One side of Mt. Everest is in Tibet. For many centuries, Tibet was an independent country, until China took it over in the 1950s.
Small insect that lives on animals in the wilderness and can jump on to humans. Sometimes when ticks bite people they give them Lyme Disease. Most ticks are so small they are about the size of a dot on a piece of paper!
The point on a mountain where the trees that are growing are no longer any good for being used as wood. Above timberline some trees still grow, but they are usually small and not usable by people...except to look at!
Type of leather that is the best. When you buy good boots for using in the outdoors they should be top grain leather or they won't last very long.
System used by rock climbers to make sure they are safe when they climb. A top rope is a rope that is dropped off the top of the cliff they are trying to climb and tied securely to something at the same time. The climbers then attach themselves to the rope and, if they should fall, the rope will catch them.
(say TOE-po map)
Map with lines on it that show how high or low the land is. It is important to know how high or low the land is when you are travelling outdoors because you don't want to find yourself someplace you don't want to be--like at the bottom of a cliff wondering how to get around it!
Way of making a map to show how high and low the land is. A model of a mountain range uses topography to show people the tops of the mountains, the valleys are and everything else.
Leading the way down the trail at the front of a group. If there is no good trail to follow, trailblazing becomes a little harder. Then you have to be sure you are leading your group where you want to go--so you better know where you are going!
(say trail ee-RO-zhun)
Damage caused to the area around a trail by people not walking on the trail. Cutting corners to shorten a trail or walking outside of the trail to avoid something in the middle, such as a puddle, cause trail erosion because all of the footprints make a mess! Also, plants growing near the trail that get stepped on get killed. Always stay on a trail!
Same as gorp. Mixture of foods like raisins, nuts, dried fruit and even candy that are good to take outdoors because they don't go bad and are an easy way to eat when you don't have a kitchen.
Bumps and "holes" in the bottom of a boot. Boots with a heavy tread are better in muddier and messy places than boots with very little tread, kind of like a tire for a car.
The point up on a mountain where trees stop growing. Trees stop growing high up on a mountain because the winters are too long and the weather is too nasty. The weather is nastier in some places than in others. In many places, trees grow as high as 9000 feet/2700 meters or higher while in other places, such as the White Mountains in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, trees stop growing at about 4800 feet/1460 meters.
Trip into the wilderness where people hire other people to carry their equipment and make their food. Usually the walking in a trek isn't usually too difficult or steep.
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