Spring snow/high water content snow base grind

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Harris
Posts: 331
Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2016 4:08 pm

Spring snow/high water content snow base grind

Post by Harris » Wed Dec 06, 2017 9:01 pm

One of the problems I've found using fatter skis in high water content snow is that no matter what wax you use they will suck down with water vacuum in certain conditions that are common mid-mountain here in the PNW. East Coast skiers encounter the same in Spring conditions where the snow isn't quite corn, but it is still flush with water.

A new shop opened up in Seattle that does custom base grinds using what is obviously a very expensive machine and is supposedly the only one of its kind currently in the US. The place is not a ski shop, at least in the typical sense. They manufacture high end composite skis and are trying to sell their services as a top end tuning outfit. The place is more of a MFGing operation than a retail store front. Looking for a wet snow grind I gave them a visit.

I love supporting new businesses that are trying to do something special, and with about 5 employees and a bunch of friendly dogs wandering around and beer on tap, I spent over an hour hanging with the guys after the shop was officially closed as one of the guys worked on my skis at a heavy (trying to get the word out) discount; they didn't have to do that but insisted. They are all hardcore high level skiers and the guy I was hanging with specifically was an ex FIS GS/Downhill skier turned Freeride competitor. In short, these guys knew their shit and were fun to hang with. After much discussion and having been fed 3 draft, craft beers this is what we came up with. He threw in a base wax using their infrared system for free. That in itself is a pretty cool setup, which replaces hot boxing. The whole thing was $60 bucks. The beer was free. It is an experimental grind we came up with, not sure how it will work, won't know until the big wet storms roll in this winter, but the skis were my trashed pair of K2 Pinnacles (ruined by my Meidjo mount that ripped out and then became further highly Swiss cheesed with my now 22 Designs Axel mount; I expect the ski will snap in two at a certain point; despite being plugged well, there are just too many holes in the thing. The point of the grind is to eliminate surface area while pushing excess water out more radically than a typical wet snow structuring. The 6 channels seen are not factory.
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Last edited by Harris on Wed Dec 06, 2017 9:18 pm, edited 2 times in total.

User avatar
Harris
Posts: 331
Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2016 4:08 pm

Re: Spring snow/high water content snow base grind

Post by Harris » Wed Dec 06, 2017 9:11 pm

The place is called "Crosson Ski." I wish I could work on a Telemark ski with them, but I wasn't dumb enough to ask. There is no market there that could support the $1200 per pair price tag and tooling setup investment required. They did offer me some blemishes of their "All Mountain" at production cost, but I have enough skis.

http://www.crossonski.com



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Woodserson
Posts: 2967
Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2015 10:25 am
Location: New Hampshire
Ski style: Bumps, trees, steeps and long woodsy XC tours
Occupation: Confused Turn Farmer

Re: Spring snow/high water content snow base grind

Post by Woodserson » Thu Dec 07, 2017 10:32 am

It reminds me of my snow tires on my car!

I need this out east. Last winter we had several good snowfalls where it warmed up 24hrs after the snow, and then, critically, stayed above freezing overnight. This leads to very wet slush with no crystallization- incredibly slow snow. Wild. Once a season is fine but it happened several times. I ended up pulling my KOMs out at a lift served hill just to use the scales to break the water tension so I could go down the hill. I think, unfortunately, that big deep water channeling base structure is going to be needed more frequently.



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