Re: Considering the Gamme
Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2022 8:15 am
@tkarhu
Asnes Rago- sweet!
I LOVE my Amudsen- I think it is Asnes' best kept secret.
Asnes Rago- sweet!
I LOVE my Amudsen- I think it is Asnes' best kept secret.
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There is definitely something here-tkarhu wrote: ↑Mon Jan 31, 2022 3:33 pmBy the way, I notice two topics repeat above:
1) Ski length 10 cm longer than Åsnes recommends (200 vs 210 cm Gamme)
2) Full length Polar grip wax
I came to think — do the two ideas go together? Could polar wax bring some grip besides glide? @lilcliffy and @fisheater do I remember correctly that you both do long skis and polar base wax. What do you think?
Corking, buffing a grip waxed base will always work.fisheater wrote: ↑Mon Jan 31, 2022 6:22 pmI just cork it in, and have for a few years with good success. The guys that wax it in tell me they get better durability. Really I’m cheap and don’t want to waste wax by using the iron. Now I’ve been doing it long enough that I have a system, that works for me.grizz_bait wrote: ↑Mon Jan 31, 2022 4:21 pmSo if you’re corking in polar wax for the length of the ski, you wouldn’t even need an iron huh. Trying to get into waxing without spending an arm and a leg, so this is appealing.
Just picked up an assortment of kick waxes, a scraper, and cork...
How do you find the very hard glife wax (e.g. CH4) works when the snow warms up?Smitty wrote: ↑Mon Jan 31, 2022 2:08 pmFor sure, the tip-to-tail Polar works great in a lot of scenarios. I didn't grow up skiing, I'm a wide open, flat-land, southern Saskatchewan farm boy. Moving to Alberta for college and meeting my wife is what introduced me to Nordic touring. Her parents (now 65) and grandparents (now 85) toured extensively in the Alberta Rockies. And they are in the same camp - always waxed tip-to-tail Polar and then apply wax of the day underfoot. Same story - it harkens back to how they used to prep their wooden touring skis and they carried it over to their synthetic skis in the 80's.lowangle al wrote: ↑Sun Jan 30, 2022 9:57 pmI haven't glide waxed in almost 20 years. Polar is my glide wax.
It's what we did with wooden skis, that's where I got it. I think I'm the first one to promote it here, and people were skeptical.
Where this really didn't work for me was when my wife and I were living up in northeastern Alberta. Often skiing in -25 to -35 degree C temps, no sun softening or moisture in the snow, crystals were sharp and hard. When Polar is the wax of the day, you're shuffling. The best I could find for somewhat reasonable glide at those temps was hot waxing tips and tails with Swix CH4 (their polar glide wax; extremely hard, terrible to get it to melt/spread and even worse to scrape, avoid if possible haha).
Now that we're back down into the west-central country, this technique likely becomes more relevant for us again. But at the same time, I don't mind hot waxing either (you know, as long as it's not CH4).
I meant to add here- perhaps more relevant- that kick wax alone is almost never enough grip alone to climb many of the hills on my local turs. Skiers that are only using kick wax constantly need skins on a tur.
Kick wax is grip wax.freedom glider wrote: ↑Tue Feb 01, 2022 11:03 am
wait - there is a difference b/w grip wax and kick wax?
wait - there is a difference b/w grip wax and kick wax?freedom glider wrote: ↑Tue Feb 01, 2022 11:03 am[quote=tkarhu post_id=47814 time=1643661232 user_id=3400
Grip wax always offers some grip- even if it is not enough grip to work effectively as a kick wax.
And to take this thread-line further-lilcliffy wrote: ↑Tue Feb 01, 2022 9:17 amI meant to add here- perhaps more relevant- that kick wax alone is almost never enough grip alone to climb many of the hills on my local turs. Skiers that are only using kick wax constantly need skins on a tur.
With the extra grip of a grip-waxed base I rarely need skins at all in the heart of my winter touring.