Viability of Waxable Skis

[pacificnomad]

Hi all! Does anybody here ski exclusively on waxable skis and live in a climate where both the air and snow temp will often be around freezing? I was recently gifted with two new pairs of waxable skis, a Fischer Transnordic 66 (lightly used) and a new pair of Asnes Kongsvold's, after my beloved S Bound 98's were retired after 4 years of near daily use Nov-May. What does daily use of waxable skis look like when you're using klister day in and day out? Do you strip the klister with a citrus cleaner every night and reapply klister again the next day, assuming conditions warrant klister? Or do you just leave the old clean klister in place and apply more as needed? Often where I ski (west side of the Central Cascades in Oregon, generally below 5,000 feet in elevation) there is often a freeze thaw cycle that occurs, with breakable crust in the AM that'll dramatically soften up by the afternoon hours. Or should I just go with the softest of the hard waxes and scrape that off and use a kicker skin instead of klister when needed? Or dedicate one ski (prob the Transnordic) as a klister ski? I have the spare time to clean and tune my skis daily, but would prefer hearing about more simplistic methods. Thanks!

[Musk Ox]

For the Kongsvolds, I'd immediately buy some X-Skins... the narrowest mohair ones or a pair of the Race ones and a pair for pulking and climbing. They love those conditions! At their best, they're almost indistinguishable from wax, and what you lose to friction (which isn't much around freezing, especially for the narrow one) you gain on sheer convenience.

Although it's not massively convenient scraping off soft wax to put on the skins... you could probably just keep the skins on all day.

[fisheater]

I scape klister off with the aid of baby powder. If conditions are warm you don’t need to go beyond scraping unless you are going to apply a skin. In southern Michigan temperatures go up and down. I use citrus cleaner if it gets colder to prevent sticking

[fisheater]

It sounds like a kicker skin would be better for big swings in temperature during the course of the day.

[Stephen]

+1 on the X-Skins for the Äsnes skis.
Do the Fischer skis have the traction pattern and/or the attachment point for the Easy Skins?

[pacificnomad]

For the Kongsvolds, I'd immediately buy some X-Skins... the narrowest mohair ones or a pair of the Race ones and a pair for pulking and climbing. They love those conditions! At their best, they're almost indistinguishable from wax, and what you lose to friction (which isn't much around freezing, especially for the narrow one) you gain on sheer convenience.

Although it's not massively convenient scraping off soft wax to put on the skins... you could probably just keep the skins on all day.

Great recommendations! All the years that I owned and skied my S-Bound's, I never ended up needing to purchase the kicker skins as the scale pattern gripped fairly well. Yeah, seems like a good plan to get a couple of skins for the Kongsvolds and open up more options!

[pacificnomad]

+1 on the X-Skins for the Äsnes skis.
Do the Fischer skis have the traction pattern and/or the attachment point for the Easy Skins?

The Fischer's are a waxable aka patternless ski, but they do have the Easy Skin attachment point! Think I'll get a skin for the Fischers too. Thanks!

[pacificnomad]

I scape klister off with the aid of baby powder. If conditions are warm you don’t need to go beyond scraping unless you are going to apply a skin. In southern Michigan temperatures go up and down. I use citrus cleaner if it gets colder to prevent sticking

If you find yourself skiing multiple klistery days in a row and find that you still have some klister left on the skis after an outing, do you clean off the remaining klister or just apply more klister over the old stuff? Thanks!

[phoenix]

"If you find yourself skiing multiple klistery days in a row and find that you still have some klister left on the skis after an outing, do you clean off the remaining klister or just apply more klister over the old stuff? Thanks!"

I leave it on, and add if necessary (and you're not trying to put a cold klister over a warm; think basic waxing principles). You may find it lasts a lot longer than you'd guess.

[fisheater]

I scape klister off with the aid of baby powder. If conditions are warm you don’t need to go beyond scraping unless you are going to apply a skin. In southern Michigan temperatures go up and down. I use citrus cleaner if it gets colder to prevent sticking

If you find yourself skiing multiple klistery days in a row and find that you still have some klister left on the skis after an outing, do you clean off the remaining klister or just apply more klister over the old stuff? Thanks!

I open a beer at the trailhead, apply baby powder and scrape. There will be a klister residue when I finish. I don’t like to put the skis in the back of the truck without scraping klister first. As @phoenix mentions, it does provide a good base.
As long as we are talking about klister, when conditions are right for klister, skiing on klister is awesome! Kind of like prime Swix Blue wax conditions, just magic when it’s right. That goes for blue ice klister too. All glazed over and icy, yet good grip and stupid fast glide, and lots of fast survival turns!