Waxing skis for spring corn/slush waxing in the field

[gitrinec]

How do you keep the wax up in the field, miles from no where?

[MikeK]

Carry the wax, a scraper and a cork with you and apply in the field.

You can wax soft over hard or vice versa, but I think think once you get to the gooey stuff you might be better off to scrape.

My technique in the past, and in the present has been to buff with the cork until the wax looks clear and isn't lumpy. Thin coats. How many coats and of what is where the real trick is.

If I get frustrated I just scrape it off and start again.

One trick I read for long days is to layer a softer wax as the base, like blue in like two or three layers and then put a layer or two of green over top. When it's cold in the morning the green will work best and then wear off as the day goes. By the time it warms up later in the day the blue should be coming in.

[lowangle al]

I thought the OP was refering to glide wax in which case you would hot wax with the temp appropriate wax and add structure to the base (with a wire brush?) to break the vacum created from the ski base and wet snow. Maybe that is why no wax skis glide well in those conditions. As far as reapplying en route there may be a product you can put on like swix F4. I used this product recently and it slowed my no wax skis way down, maybe I need to read the directions.

[MikeK]

A good hot wax should last a while depending on how abrasive the snow is.

You can rub it in but I don't know how well that actually works. If it's cold I doubt you'll do much of anything.

And yeah, I carry paste wax always. And now, a clean rag to remove moisture. And a scraper to remove ice.

[Cannatonic]

This is what klister is designed for, and this is why I use fishscales

[MikeK]

This is what klister is designed for, and this is why I use fishscales

Yeah I guess I have no idea what the OP is asking. I know he bought a pair of those USGI skis, so I assumed he was talking about grip wax.

I guess slush makes me think above freezing, but certainly could have some waxalble corn.

At any rate, if it's the USGI skis, it's most likely going to be skin conditions.

[gitrinec]

MikeK, yes it is the USGI skis, so do you think that Skins are needed for the whole Ski in, I assumed I needed to put on glide wax, I wasn't sure if using Klister would get me very far, or if it's just Glide wax and slap on kicker skins the whole trip. Forgive my newbness to skiing in general and the whole process of waxing as well, I did finally order some Bindings for these skis, some Voile 3pin traverse bindings.

[MikeK]

Nothing wrong with newb questions, but let's back up a bit and clear some things up so you can get some solid feedback.

First off, you should glide wax your skis no matter what, but how you do so may depend on a couple things. If you stick with the USGI skis, you should hot wax those bases, they will take hot wax very well and should last the duration of the trip. To do this properly you need a few tools, so if this is a one time deal, you may just want to take them to a ski shop and have them do it for you. If you want to DIY, we can go there and there are all sorts of opinions on how to do this.

You could also just go with a rub on paste glide wax like Swix F4 or Maxiglide. That and a cork will get you there. It's not the best wax option and you'll have to carry it with you and periodically reapply.

Now for the actual grip/propulsion phase, you have options there. Just use skins whenever you are not going downhill, or keep them on all the time, in which case waxing the skis isn't even really important. You should wax the skins though. There are all sorts of skin waxes out there for the AT market.

I would not use klister. I never have and all I hear are nightmares about it.

You may want to use a grip wax for most of your skiing and just put the skins on when you need more grip or the wax sticks to the snow. This will depend on your expected temps. If you are going to be skiing in conditions less than 32F, then you have options, if not, stick with the skins, maybe a kicker skin even.

The other option is to get a waxless pattern ski. You'll probably still want the skins for extra grip if you hit a steep climb, but this will ease all your woes thus far. All you need to do with those is slather on some of that paste wax (the whole ski, scales and all) and cork it in, then wipe of the excess. This is by far the simplest solution.

[MikeK]

http://www.rideandglide.bizland.com/wax_101.htm

More than you ever want to know about waxing.

[gitrinec]

MikeK, thanks man, ya I've been reading about waxing, watched some videos on the swix website, this website has some good info too, http://crosscountryskitechnique.com/cat ... ntry-skis/ but it's kind of hard to know what waxes to use, etc so many choices, lol