How do you ski this spring snow???

[JohnSKepler]

We still have lots of snow. Lots and lots of snow. Over ten feet up in the mountains! But I went out yesterday on my Voile V6 and tried to ski and it was crap!

Okay, conditions weren't the best. Bright sunshine. 3:30 or so in the afternoon, sun directly on the slope. Temperature in the mid 60's. Altitude about 5,000 feet, The surface was consolidated but soft. I wouldn't say slushy, but it wasn't snow anymore, either, nor was it corn. I had earlier waxed the skis with Toko Blue glide wax and Toko Green kick/base underfoot. I was in a hurry because I've been out of town so I just scraped the ski pretty thoroughly and went back with Toko Yellow glide wax over the whole length, dripped it on, ironed it in, scraped, brushed, and rushed out.

The hill varies between 25 and 15 degrees. Not super steep but not flat at all. I skinned up and didn't sink too badly. But coming down... very slow. So slow I was unable to really turn at all. I could feel the skis sticking somehow and there was a lot of popping/crunching that sounded like sticking and releasing.

Was it the kick wax that I didn't fully remove? Is there just no way to ski this stuff? I invested in waxing equipment in the hope it would extend the ski year but do I need to just put them away? We'll have plenty of depth for weeks and, in the mountains, months. And what kind of skis are best for this stuff? I was thinking a wide ski because it is soft but then again, maybe a narrow ski for less surface area? I have the Voile V6, FT62, and Gamme 54 and might even pick up something on sale. I can imagine that the skinny Gamme might work better since there is some chemical interaction between the waxed-base and the snow. Making that surface area smaller might give me less of whatever is holding on to the ski - suction perhaps?

Thanks for any insight on waxes and skis!

[Manney]

Could be grip or glide wax. Confirm your conditions match Toko recommendations. Both waxes. Match wax precisely. Don’t rely on intuition, bs on forums. Follow the wax maker instructions 1000%. Best you can do.

Oh… clean your bases too. Dirt sticks to everything. Unpredictable af.

[fgd135]

60°F? Very warm slushy conditions? Clean your bases completely and use that Toko yellow, or Zardoz Notwax, which btw, works perfectly in warm wet snow. If you were touring and needed kick and glide options, I'd recommend a warm klister like Swix Red or Universal.
Old dirty snow, and transitioning from shadow to sun in warm weather can be a bit stop and go/herky-jerky/wha-hoo skiing.

[connyro]

Scales work good in conditions like you describe, providing you've applied warm weather glide wax to your bases, including the scales.

[spopepro]

The tips are correct—but also there is some aspect to early melt just sucking a little. There haven’t yet been enough freeze-thaw cycles to get the moisture out so everything is just so heavy and sticky right now. You can mitigate it some… but it’s not going to be “good”.

[Montana St Alum]

When I bought my Rustler 10's, DPS was having a sale on their Phantom 2.0 process, so I had it done on the theory that skin residue would be reduced.
It has worked well for 4 or 5 years, even after a couple of base grinds. IDK how it works with kick wax, but my understanding is that it's compatible.
It works as well as the temp specific wax I use on other skis in the spring, which is, pretty good.

[bauerb]

I'd by using my Rossi r-skins in warm mush. I would also be glide waxing for warm weather

[lowangle al]

John, if I were going to use skins, I would have skipped any kick wax at all. It would be a nightmare for me to kick wax that size ski in those temps. It would be either skins or scales. As far as going slow on the downhill you need to add structure to the base to break the vacuum of your ski to the snow. I don't ski those conditions so I never had to do it.

Last spring I went to an East coast resort on a warm day. My new, hardly skied origional 180 vectors were much slower and grabby compared to my 7 year old scratched up 170 vectors. The rough base breaks the vacuum.

Corn snow skiing is all about timing and aspect. South facing slopes soften earlier than north facing. Corn snow forms after the snowpack goes isothermic. It warms up to 0c and looses it's layers becoming homogeneous. The hope is that it freezes at night turning solid. The sun melts the top surface creating the good skiing. If you wait too long it can be too soft. This is not only bad for skiing but it starts to slide, wet loose slow moving snow. It's part of cycle and happens every year. The rule of thumb is to be off the snow when you start to get ankle deep penetration.

[turnfarmer]

Coarse Base structure and not wax for the win

[turnfarmer]

Coarse Base structure and not wax for the win