This all makes sense to me.fisheater wrote: Hello Gareth, that is my son Nick. He is as tall as me at fifteen. I mounted a three pin cable, without risers, pins on balance point. I reasoned that there was no need for a riser plate at 62 mm under foot. It was also my thought that at least for kick and glide a ski with a lot of sidecut and relatively narrow underfoot would feel more stable, or at least not tippy if it wandered with my boot flat on the ski. I don't really believe this ski would benefit from the riser. The effective edge is pretty reduced by the rocker. Those are my thoughts, perhaps a different skier would see things much differently.
I have only ever used risers on-piste- the whole experience of riser plates on backcountry Nordic skis is new to me! On the 98mm Kom the riser plate is clearly an advantage downhill skiing- it is going to take me some time to get used to XC skiing with a riser plate...
I have yet to ski my Storetinds yet- the perfect BC snow was at least temporarily disturbed by a freezing rain storm on Monday- but, I have been flexing them- A LOT... The Storetind has significant Nordic rocker, is torsionally rigid, and has a stiff flex. I was squeezing them again tonight- they are really quite stiff- they have the round flex of a single-cambered ski, but they are stiff enough that they are not "easy" to squash together with one hand- they are almost like "camber-and-a-half"...Or, at least a stiff flexing single-cambered ski. Regardless the flex pattern of the Storetind is VERY different than my Koms...On the FT 62, on hard packed trails the "wax pocket" is fully depressed onto the snow, and you feel a bit of wax drag. However, with just 4" on top of the hard pack the experience is quite different. The rockered tip rides up, and planes, the ski feels like it glides on the heel. The cool thing is that in a foot of powder, the ski arcs nicely to the surface, but the way the ski flexes it is solid and balanced under foot.
So- this is my big question...Is the base binder worth it? I find that the base binder certainly extends the life of kick wax- especially if the binder is ironed in. But, I am finding the Polar ironed into the base offers remarkable wax retention and excellent binding to a softer kick wax over top...I am trying to figure out if I can do without base binder...There is not a lot to report on the grip wax, except maybe for my general application. My normal skiing is usually not in perfect snow. I apply a couple layers of base binder from heel to tip. Your reports convinced me to order polar white, which I apply tip to tail. Then I follow with wax of the day in the wax pocket, and very often moving forward as far as the shovel if I slip.
My first day waxing the FT 62 followed my normal routine, however harsh resort snow wiped the bases clean in about three hours. Although I did find place to kick around before the bases were clean. Do to my wax loss on Day 1, I got lazy on day 2 and skipped the base binder. Well the soft snow proved to be a different animal, and I was able to retain a wax pocket without the benefit of base binder. This was 5 hours of riding lifts, with skiing into areas requiring a kick back.
It does work- especially with the hard grip wax over the entire base. That hard wax may not offer optimum grip on warm snow, but it is still offering some grip.The one thing I think I would try, is to try to keep wax pocket wax as "cold" as possible. I think I will try to use one color colder in an attempt to get better glide on hard snow where I get some "wax drag". These skis seem to climb well, it may well work.
My older ski buddies claim that with Polar wax applied to the entire base of a wooden ski, one could get away with an entire color colder than on a kick-waxed p-tex base for kick wax- in the kick zone- when touring. I am getting the same results with Polar on the entire p-tex base.
I think that race-performance waxing has been informing all grip waxing for some time. From a race-performance point of view, the ideal is the perfect kick wax, in the kick zone only- with the perfect glide wax everywhere else.
From a touring perspective- where maximum K&G performance is not important- as long as the wax is not too soft for the snow- it will still glide. I discovered many years ago that- long before I move to a softer wax- extend the hard wax forwards on to the tip.
I still watch performance-obsessed XC track skiers looking on with horror as I grip-wax the tips of my track touring skis- as they fiddle with getting their kick wax just perfect in their micro-measured kick zone- meanwhile I am kilometers down the track ahead of them in no time...
My Dad- who is from industrial south Wales- and had never even seen a ski before he immigrated to Quebec in 1970- was taught by the locals to grip wax the entire base of his touring skis. I did the same- but I do remember being made fun of for doing so when I went to university in the early 90s...
So- it definitely works. Will you win a world cup race? No- but WTF cares? Nordic touring is not a race.
What I am finding is that- at least when it comes to touring- the more I leave glide wax out of the recipe, the better.
What I am trying to decide now is whether base binder is worth it...If your wax and binder were scraped off in a mere 3 hours on abrasive snow- is it really worth it? With a double-cambered ski it is probably worth it in the kick zone, as it is off the snow during the glide phase. But, is it worth it on a less cambered ski, where the kick zone is often dragging on the snow?
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