Waxing Noob Question

[fisheater]

SnickBreck,
In regards to the X-skins, you should be safe with either blue wax.
In regards to wax, my best answer is that it depends. In Michigan I use a lot of red/silver. Red/silver is sticky, it doesn’t go on thin like blue or green. So if I was out on red/silver one day, then it dropped into the low 20’s and I had a few inches of cold powder. Yes I would scrape first. If I had blue on, and it got colder, I would just crayon over a little green and go.
That being said, colder snow is slower snow generally. If the skis seem slow, you can always give a quick scrape and try to make the skis a little faster.
You need grip to ski well. I don’t always follow my own advice, but it is true. Slipping, and sliding takes energy. I believe if you are slipping, because you want fast skis, you will be slower overall.
And finally, backcountry skiing is really a metaphor for life. You have ideal conditions, tough conditions, and you have sunny calm beautiful days, and cloudy snowy days. Skiing like life we keep learning, and the joy is in the journey and in being able to laugh at ourselves or the situations we put ourselves in.

[Ullr]

My best advice after a life of skiing on wax is don’t overthink it. If it doesn't stick, go to a varmer wax. If it sticks too much, go to a colder. A thicker layer of something that doesn’t work in the first place is generally not a good idea. The temperature rating on the box is only your starting point.

Waxless skis are for kids! The sound they make going downhill is like nails scratching on a blackboard. I buy waxless skis for all my kids, but as soon as they start shedding teeth they are transferred to waxable.

[SnickBreck]

Thanks everyone for the great feedback!

I ended up skate skiing today but plan on getting an early start tomorrow with a bit of fresh snow on the ground. I'll reapply and cork (no iron) as recommended. In the middle of the ski now is that hybrid combo of ironed corked Polar + ironed corked Green + ironed corked Blue. I did scrape (but not a lot of wax came up) so hope no issues with corking thin layers over it tomorrow. If I should clean the base and start fresh let me know. Otherwise I'll see how it goes in the morning

[Woodserson]

Thanks everyone for the great feedback!

I ended up skate skiing today but plan on getting an early start tomorrow with a bit of fresh snow on the ground. I'll reapply and cork (no iron) as recommended. In the middle of the ski now is that hybrid combo of ironed corked Polar + ironed corked Green + ironed corked Blue. I did scrape (but not a lot of wax came up) so hope no issues with corking thin layers over it tomorrow. If I should clean the base and start fresh let me know. Otherwise I'll see how it goes in the morning

No, just take what you have, and give it a go. Don't add unless you need to add. Sometimes yesterday's wax works well for tomorrow. As mentioned, sometimes it takes a few hundred yards for things to get settled in... unless the conditions are vastly different and clearly need new wax.

A few days ago I went on a 9 mile tour. Right out of the gate I threw my skis down and they were slipping. 200 yards later, no problem. Maybe it's me adjusting my technique, maybe the wax needs to acclimate.

The Amundsen has a pretty serious wax pocket, so be sure to apply good technique in questionable slippery conditions. In my higher cambered skis I layer more under the boot.

[lowangle al]

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?

That sounds about right to me Stephen, I doubt you are over doing it. I've had the problem when I doing it at home going for perfect glide by hard corking in very thin layers. When I wax on the trail I usually just "cork" it in with the palm of my hand and go. If it's lumpy I'll "backblade" it with the plastic side of my scraper to smooth it and then rub it with my palm. I'm a retired cement mason so your results may vary.

[phoenix]

Go ahead and apply a couple layers over what you have; it's a good foundation for the kick wax. I think not much scraped off 'cause your layers were so well smoothed, and thin.

[dhdaines]

28F (which is what like -3C?) is really warm for blue wax. For backcountry skiing I am always one "colour" warmer than for on-track classic.

Legend has it that one of the locals here only ever skis with Violet wax (presumably Swix V45 or V50) no matter what the conditions. If it's cold, he only puts it right under the toe, if it's warm, he puts it on the entire ski, if it still doesn't work I guess it's time for kicker skins?

Just to say that waxing for off-track skiing isn't complicated, and unfortunately most of the waxing tips out there come from on-track classic racers whose goal is to have *just enough* grip and absolutely no more (and in any case they are double-poling 90% of the time these days)

My personal technique is to wax from the front end of the groove back to the heel, always with Blue Extra if it's colder than -5C outside. If it's really cold then I enjoy the extra grip going uphill and the extra control going down If it's warm then first I try Violet Special, then VR55N, then kicker skins...

[fgd135]

My favorite Colorado wax is Rode Blue Super, which is similar in range to Swix Blue Extra. If it's 28 degress F outside, that's a Super Blue day. If the snow is new, I put on one layer, cork it in, and then another layer on top that is also corked. If I don't get enough grip, I'll extend the wax towards the ski tip. If it's old snow, I don't cork the second layer. If I don't get enough glide, I'll cork it.

[SnickBreck]

Today's grip waxing results- finally some grip!

I added a couple of layers of Blue this morning to the Livs, followed by Blue Extra. But I decided to ski my first ski on the Cecilies (yes, I bought two Asnes pairs- there's much worse habits :/) and just applied 2 layers of blue and 2 of Blue Extra. I didn't add any glide wax on tips or tails, just left whatever they come with on. Once on the trail I did start to slip a bit so I applied and corked more Blue Extra. I was starting to get some grip but not enough. I did have quit a bit of snow stick to my grip wax (wax too warm? ). Since I wasn't sure and still slipping I then applied and corked some Violet Special and ran it farther up towards the tips. After all that I finally had good grip and was able to ski the whole route. Outside temp around 25F with flurries. Consolidated dense old snow with very slight fresh dusting en route.

The Ceciles skied like my familiar Fischer Traverse 78s but better. On today's route there's a sharp downhill turn through narrow trees then across a narrow bridge that spans a frozen creek bed so there's incentive to make the turn and not miss the bridge. The Ceciles turn much easier than the Traverse.

Downhill wasn't as fast as the Livs but assuming thats because I didn't apply any glide wax today (?) and I had more kick wax on. On the whoop-dee-doos once I crested the tops to start the downhill again the skis did "grab" a little. Too much kick wax or extended too far?

All in all a successful grip wax day!

There was a lot of spruce debris on the trail from recent winds. Small bits are embedded in my kick wax. I'm assuming it's time to scrape (?) and re-wax. If you don't get 100% of the wax off is it problematic? Thx!

[riel]

There was a lot of spruce debris on the trail from recent winds. Small bits are embedded in my kick wax. I'm assuming it's time to scrape (?) and re-wax. If you don't get 100% of the wax off is it problematic? Thx!

I tend to just leave small bits of debris in my kick zone from one day to the next.

If they give me some extra grip on the uphill, that's fine with me.

If they impede my glide on the downhill and get rubbed off by the snow I'm skiing on today? That's fine, too. If they didn't get rubbed off, they probably weren't impeding my glide to begin with