Q & As

I sometime receive questions from friends and fellow skiers that I think others might be interested in - and so is born a new post. The following are questions and answers, pieced together from a few emails on ski waxing.

I think you told me you have about a dozen pairs of skis…Do you keep them all covered with wax all the time? I keep reading about travel wax and not letting skis bases dry out. How long would you let a pair of skis stay unused and un-waxed, if at all?

I keep my race skis waxed as much as possible. I do not wax my rock skis each time because it makes them easy to grab when I am late for practice since they are already scraped. I wax them as much as possible however because it is more fun to ski on fast skis!

Of course my race skis don’t ALWAYS have wax on them either. I definitely make sure to put a layer on them when traveling, which protects the bases from scratching more than anything. Sometimes, during busy race weeks, my skis pile up and I end up cleaning and waxing them all at once at the end of the trip.

After I ski on a pair of skis, if the snow is not abrasive and I do not see any oxidation going on, I sometimes leave them un-waxed until I have time. When I do have time and am feeling extra attentive, I will hot scrape skis with a warmer, low-floro wax if they have had high-fluorocarbon wax on them.

I try to keep LF6 on all of my skis so that I can test them against one another easily. LF6 has a usual snow temperature range (10-21°F) and is a great starting point for any wax that is put on over (warmer, colder, high or low floro).

I have 2 pairs of skate skis and a pair of classic. I do one workout each day and I normally rotate the skate skis. So sometimes a pair will sit for 2 or 3 days without a coating. Or if we don't have snow they will sit longer, should I be coating them?

Depending on the snow you might need to wax your skis between uses. They may also be okay to use more than once depending on kilometers put on them and the type of snow. Take a look at the base of your skis after using them to find out. If your bases do not show any sign of oxidation then you probably have a few more kilometers left in them. Oxidation is when the wax wears off the base. The p-tex (base of the ski) will look like dry skin (white) and will occur on the edges and just under or behind the heel first. Snow that is icy or hard tends to oxidize skis faster than new or soft snow.

I think you only really need to wax your skis if they are starting to oxidize. Certain waxes are more durable than others, which will give you more kilometers between waxing. I have found that the Holmenkol matrix blue wax is really good as far as durability, even in really abrasive snow.

Do you do anything special for protecting the kick zone of your classic skis?

I do not protect the kick zone on my classic skis at all while waxing. Some people put tape in the zone, but I find it a waste. I am just careful. Sometimes I sand the kick zone lightly if the conditions are abrasive enough to wear the wax.

Do you clean out the middle groove after you put the wax coating on, or do you leave it and clean it out when you take the rest of the coating off?

I try to remember to clean the groove out after I wax because it is easier when it is warm and also quicker when it comes to scraping it in the future. I do not drip wax on my skis though, so my groove doesn't get filled like it would if I were to drip. This is my take on how to apply glide wax:

The Drip vs. The Rub - Dripping wastes wax although it is quicker. Also, I think there is more danger in burning the base when you drip-wax. When the wax is molten and hits the p-tex (especially the colder waxes) it is really hot, maybe too hot for the base. Then, when you iron, the wax is not covering the whole base so the iron has a chance to hit the base directly - not so good. Lots of coaches drip and say that it doesn't matter...they are always rushed and doing lots of skis. When I buy the wax and they are my skis, I don't mind taking an extra second per ski to save money and reduce the risk of sealing the base (burning it). Everyone is different and I am not saying that dripping is wrong I just don’t do it.