A couloir (pronounced KOOL-whar) is a dreamy, skiable gully. A chute (shoot) is, according to mountaineering glossaries, "a very steep gully. So why is Mammoth's landmark dubbed Star Chutes, while Jackson Hole's Corbet's is a couloir? read more
Chute is a sliding slope or a part of a machine through which you slide the material into the machine for processing. Slough is the skin that reptiles like snakes cast away. It also means deep slope, a sort of marshy place. read more
Slough (pron. “sluff”) refers to cast-offs, such dead plant debris (e.g., dried fruit or seed-pod shells/skins). like decaying leaves that breaks down to form topsoil. Due to commonality in various latitudes and locales, it is perhaps the least likely to fit in a list of this type (most of the other terms are unique to lowlands). read more
As nouns the difference between river and slough is that river is a large and often winding stream which drains a land mass, carrying water down from higher areas to a lower point, ending at an ocean or in an inland sea or river can be one who rives or splits while slough is the skin shed by a snake or other reptile or slough can be (british) a muddy or marshy area. read more