I've seen it mentioned in lots of equipment- and technique-related threads, but when I look around me at people on the mountain, I doubt I'd describe any of them as "aggressive". Good skiers to me look relaxed, fluid and "at one with the mountain". If someone asks me how aggressively I ski, I'd say "zero, when I'm skiing I feel happy and calm".
Is it just a word used out of context or does it describe a certain style of skiing?
I'd say it's more about what the skis are doing rather than how smooth the person looks. Watch a racer loading the skis and getting pop out of turns
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Bragging. Probably to justify kit beyond their skill.
One person's "aggressive" is another person's "fast recreational" and another person's "club race slalom"
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This?
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It worries me how good female biathletes are. Cold blooded, merciless killers the lot of them. That's girls in general you realise. The biathletes are just the very fit, skiing subset of the species.
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queen bodecia, aggressive skiing to me is skiing fast and fluidly over difficult terrain. There is a certain amount of mindset in skiing well in dodgy conditions that could be described as aggressive. Rather than pin-balling through terrain you are making it your own. Usually characterised by a bit of muscling through.
Bragging. Probably to justify kit beyond their skill.
Quote:
It means being forceful and attacking what is in front of you rather than being passive and meek.
a somewhat partial definition; "meek" is a very value-laden word. For certain sorts of skiing (the kind that many of us never do) a high degree of "aggression" might well be necessary. But how about the opposite of Layne's "aggressive" skiing being "relaxing and embracing the mountain, not fighting it". Sound better?
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pam w, to me aggressive skiing is quite often in spite of the conditions and/or the mountain. It might mean picking a difficult line over and through conditions, and toughing it out a fair bit - or skiing a bit faster than perhaps is necessarily fluid and smooth. Whenever I make a conscious decision to ski more aggressively that usually means focusing on getting forward and using a lot more movement than perhaps I might if I was just chilling out and pootling down a hill (even though that is probably the most efficient way of getting down the hill, I certainly can't ski aggressively all day every day)
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So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
meh, I'd go with that as well.
queen bodecia, when you see the good guys looking at ease etc... it's their solid technique that is allowing the skis to do thier thing and their inherent balance and posture is allowing them to soak up the hill. However, they're often only skiing at 5/10ths, that's their version of 'punting'. 'Aggressive' for me is when you start to power through stuff. It's getting physical on your termsl. It's not just doing a carved turn, for example, it would be setting a hard edge at the very start of the turn and then driving all of the accumulating forces through the ski with body commitment and extension of the dominant turning leg. It's a wonderful feeling to feel the skies accelerate when you do that - but it takes commitment and you have to be forceful and 'aggressive' otherwise you'll get spat out the other side.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
For me it's getting forward and attacking the Terrain.
It worries me how good female biathletes are. Cold blooded, merciless killers the lot of them. That's girls in general you realise. The biathletes are just the very fit, skiing subset of the species.
We've always thought it would really spice up biathlon if those in front were allowed to nip into the woods and pick off some of the followers one by one. Thin out the pack as it were. Now that would be aggresive skiing for sure.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
DB, Is it a bad thing that I've had the AAS song on my MP3 player for many years?
OK, I'm getting the idea. I guess the word "aggressive" sounds negative to me and I can't think of anything negative about skiing, but I can see how powering through difficult conditions or the committed skiing style of a racer could be described as "aggression". However, I can't help thinking when holiday/recreational skiers apply this term to themselves there must be a little bit of "willy waving" involved.
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If you stop to pick your line, or get bottle up or cos you're knacked that's not aggressive. You also have to be going at a speed above pootle.
Basic hierarchy is Noodle<Pootle<Smoov< Aggressive.
I however use it as a synonym for Agricultural in which case Aggressive<Talented<Adept<Finesse. So I can say quite legitimately I'm an aggressive skier.
Probably another phrase from across the pond polluting our wonderful English language.
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Quote:
I however use it as a synonym for Agricultural
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...is very tiring and can't be kept up for long unless you're a professional racer.
Hence the 10 turns and rest brigade all over the mountain.
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I just think that an aggressively taken run leaves you gasping and sweaty at the bottom wishing that the thigh burn would ease. As in you've totally caned it, used full power on the turns, cut moguls in half and pushed close to your physical limits. Swearing may also add to the experience.
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Perhaps not'agressive' as the word stands, but if you add 'ly' I think it becomes a word that more skiers would recognise because it can be applied relative to to how the mightski at other times. At my low level it is easy enough to ski more passively and to let the skis carry me along. If I put more effort in and flex the skis enough to start to feel them 'pop' out of the corners, then you could say that I am skiing more aggressively, but only relative to another skiing style. At a general level I would say that the more effort you put into it then the more aggressively you are skiing relative to a lower level of effort.
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ScarpaTheAvalanchePoodle wrote:
DB, Is it a bad thing that I've had the AAS song on my MP3 player for many years?
I don't see any problem whatsoever as long as it replaced the Britney Spears tunes you had on there beforehand.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Why, other than casual anti- misogeny, does it have to be about willy waving?
Take 2 skiers of identical techical ability and a small mogul field.
A skis it timidly, lots of traversing and shopping for turns, perhaps stalling after each row but gets down safely in reasonable form.
B has seen the Olympics and tries to take the rut line, gets bounced out after a couple of turns and ends up way bacseat being pinballed off the tops of bumps and barely hangs on to reach the bottom.
B definitely more aggressive but=\= better.
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
I think of agressive = dynamic. And I think dynamic is a better word. Probably implies a little faster, little more fall line, more powerful body position, bit more edge angle, bit more rebound etc
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
jedster wrote:
I think of agressive = dynamic. And I think dynamic is a better word.
That's exactly what I was thinking. As a recreational intermediate skier, I found thinking about being "aggressive" when skiing actually set me back a bit, as I think I started forcing things a bit too much.
I revisited this video very recently (from that series that gets posted on here a lot) as I found it helpful in taking it right back and thinking about commitment and being dynamic rather than dithering, but NOT being "aggressive" as it was counterproductive for a skier of my level.
Do let me know if I'm talking nonsense please - I'm always eager to learn
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miranda, I hardly describe that skiing as aggressive or dynamic - looked like "sleep skiing" to me.
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waynos, yes, I know, very, very slow obviously as an intermediate instruction demo! That's why I said taking it right back and thinking about commitment rather than dithering and getting the word "aggressive" out of my head because, for someone at my level… which is clearly nowhere near your level… I'm not sure "aggressive" is a helpful term.
Much prefer the word 'dynamic'. To me it's a far more positive term than 'aggressive'. Interestingly IO use the term 'dynamic' on their 'what's my level?' guide...
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
I don't think 'aggressive' is necessarily a pejorative term, or something people use to show off, it just depends on your intent. If you want to cruise gently from restaurant to restaurant, or ski some low angle pow gracefully, then your mindset and skiing are unlikely to be aggressive. If in a competitive environment, like a race or freeride comp, aggression can be a way of driving yourself down the hill faster, or through more challenging terrain.
jimmer, I don't see "aggressive" as a show-off term - I see it as an aspirational term because I don't just want to cruise gently from restaurant to restaurant (I couldn't afford to ski like that more than anything!) I think the problem for me was having the half-baked idea of what it meant and taking the idea too far and - as I'm not a very good skier (yet!) - it resulted in a loss of technique in certain situations because I was getting the wrong end of the stick, which is why I was thinking of slowing down and going right the way back to basics.
Can you - or any of the other instructors reading - explain how your idea of "aggressive" skiing could help the recreational skier (not necessarily a cruiser but certainly not a competitor) drive yourself down the hill faster or though more challenging terrain please? Or is there no place for aggressive skiing outside of a competitive environment?
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miranda, I like queen bodecia's "dynamic". I often find myself being a bit tentative - for example in chopped up conditions - and trying to be more "dynamic" - particularly getting up on top of the skis - makes a lot of sense to me. Skiing in some poor visibility in Tignes in October rob@rar told us to use a bit more "oomph", be more decisive in getting onto the outside ski etc. That made a lot of sense (and when I managed to do it it worked well) but none of that feels to me like being "aggressive" which I can see is absolutely essential in some circumstances.
Aiming to be more fluid and dynamic makes loads of sense to me and I don't see a contradiction between the two. But in terms of "skier style" (as they always ask when setting bindings) I am definitely not an aggressive skier. I love watching the ski instructors skiing solo - I recall one guy laying down beautiful arc to arc turns on a steeper section of one of the blue runs in Crest Voland. It was just perfection but not even remotely "aggressive". But taking the zipper line down difficult moguls (something I will never be able to do) he would probably be more so.
After all it is free
After all it is free
Another vote for 'dynamic' over 'aggressive' especially if winning a race is not the goal, when an aggressive approach might indeed be beneficial. And maybe 'dynamic' means no more than driving the skis, rather than letting them drive you.
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Pedantica wrote:
maybe 'dynamic' means no more than driving the skis, rather than letting them drive you.
Yes that's what I thought, but I think I was going the wrong way about trying to get that to happen in an attempt to be aggressive/dynamic as opposed to fluid/dynamic so that's why I was seeking some sort of description of what oomph/dynamism/aggression etc. means in the context of a recreational skier. I think I was trying to force everything too much in a misguided attempt to give it some oomph! Haven't been doing it since I've had a few lessons this season, but I'd like to get it clear in my head. I think I'll have another lesson or two the week after next, so I guess I can ask my instructor then.
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Aggressive, in a skiing context, means to me things like: getting your weight forwards; having a strong stance; using the edges effectively; driving the outside ski forwards. You will probably need to be dynamic to achieve this but, IMV, that's a different thing.
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