the magic and power of grip wax

[t-$]

Skiing on waxless skis is like taking a jump with a rubber on, still worthwhile but not as good as it can be.

hahahah, that's great

maybe i am really weird, but this being my first season having waxless skis, i really like them! it's like the opposite of the scenario above where one would ski waxless and then discover wax skis. however, if i have the option and resources, i don't think i would ever go with a completely waxless quiver. it tells you something when the big honkin' usgi's glide better than the country waxless fischers and grip just as well when waxed properly. i get your point about grip being a key part. it's terrible when you are on the slip and slide! the worst!

i guess i agree with you guys on almost everything it seems, except for maybe waxless being better for beginners. i'm gonna stand by that one. i would concede that going with waxable may produce a better, more well-rounded skier in shorter time, but as far as just having the occasional fun that a total novice skier wants to have, waxless every time.

but then again, this isn't a wax vs. waxless thread! i just gonna shut my yapper now

sorry bout the drift again. just hit me next time....

edited to add that i second the notion that waxing effectively is pretty easy after all, and fun! but when you are a science nerd like me you end up walking out the sto' with every frickin wax possible cause you know that one degree makes a difference...

[TimMoffett]

I had some old Fischer Boundless Wax that I did kick wax tip to tail on. It was amazing in the right (colder) snow. You could walk straight up hill and then kick and glide like a mofo. I was faster on the classic track than most on their long thins. They just hooked and then glided so well.

[teleclub]

I had some old Fischer Boundless Wax that I did kick wax tip to tail on. It was amazing in the right (colder) snow. You could walk straight up hill and then kick and glide like a mofo. I was faster on the classic track than most on their long thins. They just hooked and then glided so well.

Very cool. I will try that. Can't remember if the Boundless are single or double camber.

[teleclub]

...edited to add that i second the notion that waxing effectively is pretty easy after all, and fun! but when you are a science nerd like me you end up walking out the sto' with every frickin wax possible cause you know that one degree makes a difference...

I know what you mean. I benefitted by the super-lax education in waxing I got to start with. Before I got to snow country as an adolescent I was in the deep South reading about pine-tar prep in LLBean catalog. LLBean sold wood touring skis in the 70s. I thought "that sounds complicated and possibly ridiculous." What did I know.

Then not long after that on my first touring ski trips I was with someone who loaned me all the stuff, threw a pair of skis down in the snow and said "wriggle your boot toe in so it grabs those pins, then slam that wire thing down." Then he took off and I followed, noting, "hey these skis grip and they glide." They weren't wood skis just regular modern touring skis.

I watched him to try to figure out why he was gliding further, faster, then noticed and copied the timing of his kick and the way he stood on only one ski at a time when kicking... I got immediately faster too.

After a mile, he stopped and had his ski off in a second saying "I need more grip, how 'bout you?" and he pulled a hunk of wax and cork out of his shirt pocket and rubbed wax into the area under his boot and then corked it in. It took only a few seconds and we were off again. I asked him about the wax later and he said, "yeah Blue is good when it's cold like this and the snow is fairly fresh."

Later when I had my own skis and was buying wax at a shop I knew I needed some Blue. Then I learned about green. And then about purple. Makes sense I thought, different snow temperatures. Then I learned about Blue Extra. Hmm, I suppose if you need something that's in between... Then they mentioned Blue Special for the other end and I thought "now wait just a damn minute. I just came in here for some Blue!" They hadn't even gotten to Klister. Or binder. Or irons. Or structure tools. Waxing stands.

All I bought was a couple waxes, a cork, and a scraper. It was a lot of ski trips before I needed anything beyond that. I just got out of that store thinking, wait I minute I think this wax business may be as simple as my friend made it look.

Maybe not that simple all the time, but I think when it comes to wax, less info can be better in the beginning.

[t-$]

ha! great story, tclub, thanks for sharing yes, good waxers make it look soooo easy. then us fools swing and miss left and right, like i did tonight! i might just have to give this whole base kick wax thing a try

[lilcliffy]

My success with Nordic touring and XCDiing grip waxing keeps improving- the more I leave glide wax out of the recipe.

My last test is hard glide wax on the tail only- not sure yet if it is any better than grip wax on the entire base...

[t-$]

yeah, just when i think i am a decent waxer i have a real miss. last night on the eon's i hit em with a good base, a layer of green in the pocket, and then a couple layers of violet. according to my brain and conditions, that shoulda been decent, but man was it slippery. it was fine for hitting a couple laps mostly looking for turns, but i did much more herringboning than i wanted. i should change my handle to herring bone.

after the first few downs last night i gave em another quick shot of the violet and extended the pocket forward a bit. that helped, but still not perfect. i do love it when the wax is right, tho!

anyways, i guess i'll keep learning...

[lowangle al]

Kick waxing is pretty simple, the waxes are labeled for a certain temperature range and you can usually go by that. Sometimes the snow is colder than the air temp and you get fooled, so always start with the hardest(coldest) wax that you think might work. If you get a kick but it's not good enough you probably need more of the same wax. If you get no kick at all try the next softest wax you have. You can put a soft wax on top of a harder wax but not the other way. Sometimes you need to ski a couple hundred yards before the wax reaches it's full potential.

If you find you have plenty of kick but crappy glide you may need to scrape some wax off from the ends of the wax pocket and or cork it really well. You can change how a wax works by how much you cork it. The harder you cork it the harder it will get and glide better in colder snow, but too much and you can loose your grip.

[lilcliffy]

Excellent Master LowAngle!

[Cannatonic]

so true about the snow being colder than the air! You have to be aware of the previous night's low temp, the snowpack stays cold.

Also true about needing to ski a little bit before the wax starts to work right - I assume this is because the base of the ski is cooling down to the temp of the snow for the first minute or two.