Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

I had my first ski on a new pair of Asnes Livs (womens version of Amundsen) yesterday and had no grip at all! After 500 yards or so I stopped and applied more blue to the wax pocket and further towards the tip. Still no grip. I gave up, scraped off the extra blue and put the skins on. Temperature around 28. Softish consolidated snow.

For the post purchase initial wax, I applied Polar to the entire base, ironed and corked. Green (ironed and corked) to the middle of the ski extended a little past the wax pocket and blue in the wax pocket, over the green (ironed and corked). I think where I went wrong is the blue over green ironed in created a "hybrid" wax? Also I might have applied the wax too thinly.

Today I'm going to try again and add more polar to the tips and tails. Then green outside the wax pocket, then blue in the wax pocket; all ironed and corked.

If you think this is not the way to go, I'd greatly appreciated advice!

Here's a photo where I've taped the areas.

It's OK, you can mix and match waxes for different things.

But if you're getting started with waxing, keep things simple. Harder waxes first, and then warmer waxes on top. Did you have any Violet Special with you?

Was it blue or blue extra? IF it was just blue, you were right on the edge, temperature wise. Extra would have gotten you a little... extra.

You can add more Polar today, but at these temperatures of upper 20's it's not going to do anything grip wise anymore, it's more of a glide wax/binder now. Since you've already done it, pass. Keep the blue on and have it go forward. Try it first since it's a new day. IF you are still not gripping try some Violet Special under the boot, and extend forward.

There are much better opinions out there than mine, but since you're going today I'm throwing in my two cents before you head out the door.

DON"T GIVE UP. It's fantastique when you nail it. Don't hesitate to experiment, and read many different opinions. Keept at it, don't forget the skins, and enjoy, you are outside and skiing!

SnickBreck, I realize that you may think you need to precise in wax pocket application to have the speed necessary to keep your Viszla interested. Sadly, the best you will be able to do is astound your ski partner with your downhill speed! The rest of the time the best you can hope for is,” at least when my human has those sticks on the feet they aren’t sooo ridiculously sloooow.
My advice is throw away the tape. I approach waxing from the Dave Mann school of thought. Here is a link:
http://web.archive.org/web/201510021509 ... rtbag.html

My simple method, 2-3 layers in what I call the wax pocket, heel to X-skin slots. Try it out. If you don’t have any grip stop after 10 feet. Go warmer. If you want to X-skin the advice is don’t apply skin to a wax warmer than blue. If I am going to red/silver (red is useless to me) I only wax in the pocket to start. However if I slip, I then apply all the way to the tip. I never apply wax of the day behind the heel.
FGD posted some interesting thoughts on klister. It was well thought out and I agree with my limited experience with klister. I find myself using it more often. Follow his instructions they are good. Do not apply klister to skis without baby powder or toilet paper to scrape it off with afterwards. A klister migration puts lemmings to shame!

My thoughts...
You have plenty of wax on the tips and tails, you don’t need more (and skip the green in the future).
Don’t iron in the wax in the grip zone — like you said, that mixes the Polar/ Green / Blue.
You don’t want a mix in the grip zone, you want just the wax for the conditions.
Like Woods said, maybe you need to go up to violet, but if you do, don’t put the skins over that because the softer violet wax might transfer to the skin adhesive.

Thanks. Your advice is a *lot* simpler than what I did with the taped sections and overthinking things! I was hesitant to put my skins over my ad hoc blue application, hence the scraping first. Good to know not to apply skins over anything warmer. Would this apply to Blue Extra as well?

Since the wax temps are based on snow temp vs air temp, how do you go about choosing the proper wax of the day w/o using a snow thermometer? Today's high will be 26F, cloudy with snow flurries. I'd guess that Blue or Blue Extra would work today. And as you said carry warmer waxes in my pack.

If you apply a warmer wax over a colder one, do you need to scrape it off and reapply if the next day is a colder one?

I'll check out the Dave Mann link as well. Thx!

BTW- in comparison to my waxless Fischers, the waxable Asnes skis fly downhill!

Here is a tip to add to what others have said. If you get some kick but not enough go with more of the same wax. Either more area or thicker. If you get no resistance at all you usually need to go to a warmer wax. Also don't over cork it or it might not work for the specified temps. One other thing, it may take a couple hundred yards of skiing for the wax to get up to it's potential.

lowangle al wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 23, 2021 12:40 pm

Here is a tip to add to what others have said. If you get some kick but not enough go with more of the same wax. Either more area or thicker. If you get no resistance at all you usually need to go to a warmer wax.

I like this subtle distinction!

lowangle al wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 23, 2021 12:40 pm

Also don't over cork it or it might not work for the specified temps.

Is that true? Why would that be?
I tend to be pretty aggressive with corking, thinking that it needs to be an even, uniform coat, so wanting to work it around to get even coverage.

lowangle al wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 23, 2021 12:40 pm

Also don't over cork it or it might not work for the specified temps.

Is that true? Why would that be?
I tend to be pretty aggressive with corking, thinking that it needs to be an even, uniform coat, so wanting to work it around to get even coverage.
[/quote]

"Is this True?" No, it's a crock of shit. Just kidding, back when I started xc skiing I was taught that you can harden your wax by aggressive corking to improve your glide. I have experienced it also, but there may be other variables involved too. Like maybe you can get away with aggressively hard corking if you have a thicker layer of wax or maybe your idea of hard corking and mine differ.

I was a concrete contractor, when I first started waxing I wanted to make it shine like a Home Depot floor. I found I lost grip over corking.

My idea of aggressive corking is:
X-Skin to Heel and back, twice;
Then a sweep X-Ski to Heel , to smooth.
About 30 seconds, total, with hard pressure, except for the final smoothing sweep back.
I’m no wimp, but I wasn’t a concrete contractor, either!
(At least I hope I’m not a wimp!)


Maybe that’s not as aggressive as I think?