Slalom is a form of alpine skiing. Slalom involves skiing in between sets of poles that are spaced at great distances, but not as great as that of Super G. Slalom races for women can have 46-58 gates, while men’s races have 56-70 gates. Slalom and giant slalom are the technical events in the alpine ski racing categories. The vertical drop for giant slalom courses for men must be 250-450 meters for men and for the women; it’s 250-400 meters. In a giant slalom course, there must be an 11-15% number of direction changes. Giant slalom skis are a little longer than regular slalom skis, but shorter than downhill and Super G skis. To decrease risk, the FIS increased the sidecut radius to 21 meters for giant slalom skis; they also started to impose ski lengths; 180cm for women and 185cm for men.