Grip waxing fishscale bases?

[Verskis]

I have never owned fishscale skis (apart from the kids' skis in my childhood), but reading that the fishscales work best in warm wet snow but not so much in cold and dry snow, I have wondered if you could use grip wax even with the fishscales?
Maybe the traditional hard waxes would be difficult to add onto the fischscaled section, but the liquid quick-add waxes could be easy to add, I think. Then you could use the hard wax on the tips and tails if you needed even more grip.
Has anybody tried this? Any reason why it wouldn't work to extend the effectiveness of fishscale skis into colder conditions?

[iBjorn]

I usually ski on old and cold snow i northern scandinavia, the issues I had with fishscale bases is rarely lack of grip, but a very mediocre glide. Today I only tour with Madshus intelligrip skins or Fischer easyskins and not fishscales due to the issues with glide.

[Verskis]

Do the Intelligrip skins really have better glide than fishscales?
I have the Intelligrips and I think they glide ok but not great. If the fishscales are worse, I am not interested in fishcales anymore!

[Telerock]

I never wax the scales, but have used blue wax just in front and behind (during green wax conditions). I know people who have waxwd scales, and never got the wax back off; effectively ruining them.

[t-$]

so this season is the first time i have owned and skied on waxless. we get heavy, wet, warm snow here often in michigan, and i have experienced great climbing ability with them in the 10 times or so i have used them. never slipped when i expected them to grip. and as far as reduced glide, i'm not sure. i would say that they do seem a bit more sluggish on the glide than my waxed skis.

the real problem i have had with them, even in the few times i've used them, is icing up on the scales. typically i glide wax the entire base and when i have done that i have had zero issues with them. but once or twice when i have forgotten or been too lazy to put a fresh coat of glide, the scales have collected so much ice they become almost unskiable. and the scales don't seem to shed buildup like a smooth waxable...they just keep collecting more ice.

anyways, not super experienced with them but this is my 2 cents. haven't heard of anyone putting kick wax on the scales, that would seem like a nightmare but if you try it let us know how it works!

[Johnny]

I never do... Because I prefer to zig-zag my way up with scales... (on any slopes up to 45 degrees...)

Wax would be hard to cork in waxless base... What I do when I need more traction or I don't feel like zigzaging is just add kickers... But not on the scales or the kick zone, but rather in front of the scales, starting from the tips... So I have the scales + a small strip of narrow skin in the front...

[Rodbelan]

If you put kick wax on fish scales, you won't ruin anything... Just a little tricky to peel of; a good wax remover and a little brush is the way to go. And if you have small residue, it will go away after a while... I did that to my old Pavo when required...

[satsuma]

Waxless bases will grip on anything but ice. In snow that sticks, use a liquid wax like Swix F-4 on the waxless pattern to prevent sticking. What will help on ice is ice klister. I have not used it, we don't get those conditions around here, I only saw them on one of my trips to New Hampshire. It would be best to apply it in front of or behind the waxless pattern, I think, but others here may have more experience. Kicker skins may work on ice., I don't know.

[iBjorn]

Do the Intelligrip skins really have better glide than fishscales?
I have the Intelligrips and I think they glide ok but not great. If the fishscales are worse, I am not interested in fishcales anymore!

Your mileage might vary, as well as any opinion. I did some semi-scientific testing 2 years ago on a slightly rolling terrain cross-country skate track with approx. 2cm fresh cold snow on top of the packed track, temperature minus 7-8 decree C. Logged/checked my heart rate during the laps to ensure I was skiing with the same effort. The average speed during the laps with different skis was:

Volkl Qanik 170cm + intelligrip: 7,7 kmh (lo-fat piste skis)
Qanik 170cm + BD full width nylon skin: 5 kmh
Fischer Rebound Crown 180cm: 6,9 kmh (fish scale)
Fischer E99ST Wax 200cm + intelligrip: 9kmh

[greatgt]

^^^^ Good! 10o and anticipating heading up and out into the Gonz.....Broke most of two days ago in below zero F and it was good....Wax put on was green and waaay to heavy...needed polar but the cold snow made things slow anyway....Have put a dash of kicker wax on scales as the scales are kinda old and starting to slack when going up...Probably break those skis anyway so might as well...Yesterday was the best ski of the year on a small orb with fast snow...Those oldie e109's were dynamite....Turning machines....easy on the up..(green again)....and fast maneuverable on the down...gtt