Piste Piste A piste () is a marked ski run or path down a mountain for snow skiing, snowboarding, or other mountain sports. This European term is French ("trail", "track") and synonymous with 'trail', 'slope', or 'groomed run' in North America. The word is pronounced using a long "e" sound (e.g. rhymes with "beast"). 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. Pistes are usually maintained using tracked vehicles known as snowcats to compact or "groom" the snow to even out trail
Ranks in the French Army can "hold the place" of a colonel in his absence ("lieu-tenant", from "tenir lieu" which means "to hold the place"). The word "chef" or "chief" in English comes from the Latin word "caput" meaning "head". A "colonel" commands a regiment of the army or a "groupement" of the Gendarmerie. During the French Revolution, they were called "chef de brigade". Cavalry arms wear silver. The origin of the difference in metal colour is that infantry officers once wore silver epaulettes, while those of the cavalry and other arms wore gold, and the colour of the rank badge had to differ from