Let's Talk Wax!

[Nitram Tocrut]

10” new snow over dirt? Stay off it. First it has to consolidate. Second, when it does, it will be 5” and turn icy early in the season. Third, it will be so dirty. Mess things up.

Patience.

@Manney you just burst my bubble When will I use my brand new rock ski kit

Seriously, if I get even 2 cm of snow I will ski on my neighbor hay field... yes, I am that crazy

[Manney]

Skiing stubble on a field will add structure to any ski… works best on other peoples skis.

[timpete]

To the OP, surprised to hear that 25 F is a tough spot. Usually 25 F is excellent on swix blue - unless the snow is wet slop that fell at 30-32 F. If the latter case you’re in the notoriously difficult area to kick wax for and what racers often use “zero” skis for.

As laymen xc skiers that need to kick we often wait for clumping 32 F snow to either 1) warm and consolidate and use Klister or 2) cool and consolidate and use e.g. swix hard wax line.

Keep in mind that a warmer temp kick wax should usually stick at all temps below it’s designed for. Sometimes it sticks too much, though. So if you’re below freezing and not getting kick the usual approach is go a temp up in kickwax and extend your kickzone a few inches. Usually a couple inches further on the toe will feel much different; if you go too far never fear it will wear off with dragging soon enough.

I don’t know anything about the polar on the tails/tips but that’s for sure not kicking at 25 F.

[Manney]

I don’t know anything about the polar on the tails/tips but that’s for sure not kicking at 25 F.

It seems this started out as some kind of forum legend that grew. Its roots were likely wooden ski users who were raised on the notion of “any wax will do” to help protect bases against water (sort of true insofar as some kind of water blocking is better than nothing when dealing with wooden skis). It became popularized by folks who either didn’t own a wax iron or were hesitant to use one. Understandable because a good iron costs $ and nobody wants to ruin their ski bases.

Common defences of the practice range from “is, isn’t” style arguments, claims that wax companies are part of a global conspiracy, assertions that Swix, Rex, Toko et all don’t know what they’re doing, and dismissals under the rubric of “glide wax is only for racers” from the same people who seek out the highest performance gear for the lowest performance tasks.

[Capercaillie]

Another happy Swix V40 Blue Extra user here. Vauhti GS Carrot is also supposed to be very good in that temperature range. Got some on sale from Varuste but haven't tried it yet.

How good are the current Toko warm waxes? I have a tin (well, it's really a plastic tube) of their older +2°C to -2°C red wax, and it sucks.

I do not notice any improvement from full-length Polar grip wax. Glide waxing tips and tails is easier and will never cause problems.

Putting on thin, really smooth layers of continuous wax film is really where it's at. Then you can layer different waxes for expected temperature changes, put on hard wax over warm waxes or klister to keep it from icing, and never have to bother with stripping wax unless you are changing from klister.

To the OP, surprised to hear that 25 F is a tough spot. Usually 25 F is excellent on swix blue - unless the snow is wet slop that fell at 30-32 F. If the latter case you’re in the notoriously difficult area to kick wax for and what racers often use “zero” skis for. As laymen xc skiers that need to kick we often wait for clumping 32 F snow to either 1) warm and consolidate and use Klister or 2) cool and consolidate and use e.g. swix hard wax line.

For me, that "notoriously difficult area" is magic time and some of the most fun skiing, since I discovered Swix V60 Red Silver (apply with a klister spreader). So much better than skin skis.

[timpete]

Good to hear @Capercaillie ! I’ll have to try that wax next time I’m trying to not clump on fresh wet snow.

I do love a good warm snow kickwax, really fun when you get it right. T-shirt and bomb kick is tough to beat on skinny skis!

[The GCW]

25°? Dry?! When it hovers around the 25°range.

That's often been the easiest. Memories of weeks of Swix Blue. Start to finish. Get the skis out with what was on the day before and go, put 'em away and repeat.

Wishin' it was all that easy.