Snowdome/fridge scene people: wax?

A snowHead

For those of you that ski at MK, Chillfactore etc. what wax do you use and how often do you wax for training/free skiing? The snow is pretty weird and abrasive at these places I want to make sure I'm not excessive wear on the bases of my skis. I've heard of people using wax for -25 because its hard and protects the bases, does this help?

A snowHead

Definitely worth using a harder wax, such as Polar X. Once a month.
Teflon (Zardoz Notwax) helps.

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At MK I use mainly ice wax and teflon. However I occasionally add an over layer with a softer universal wax but always, after scraping, finish off with teflon.

I keep the teflon handy in case of high humidity and sticky snow. Also for when they've had a "dump" and snow tends to be a bit sticky.

I haven't skied recently at Castleford and never at Braehead or chillfactore. Snow making at the various sites may vary slightly so there may be other ideas out there.

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Incidentally: I give the skis a full going over once a week and top up with teflon as and when needed. (Usually every time I go out onto the snow.)

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Thanks guys. Have ordered some Polar X and will stick some Zardoz Notwax over it and see how it goes. I really don't want to damage my SL12s.

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Would anyone be able to help? I've just bought new skis, will I be ok to ski on them straight away at MK?

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CSki, you might find a wax gets you from top to bottom in 10 seconds not 11..

After all it is free

Har har. As long as I'm not going to damage my beauties in the process!

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I took my new Missions to MK just to get the manufacturing wax off them so I could get them waxed up properly for real snow. No problems apparent.

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narc, if you use that PolarX stuff - scrape it whilr it's still hot.

It sets into a weird form of mild steel.

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Mosha Marc, yeah i know what you mean... one thing i do is use greasepaper between the iron and wax to help smooth out the polarwax and i dont bother scraping afterwards just let the snow wear it off....

Dude, it's all about the scrape, if you don't scrape the wax flakes off and is absolutely useless. It doesn't get into the pores properly and it pretty much negates waxing them. As a ski tech I'll always recommend using a warm wax at tam and cas but a cold wax at cfe. The snow conditions vary greatly, cfe has cold hard snow, tam and cas have floury sticky snow, protection of bases isn't even an issue, you don't get rocks or gravel on artificial. If your so worried about scratching up your skis, don't throw them down a hill with you attached, put them on a shelf and look at them...

You know it makes sense.

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There is no metal, nails or concrete on an indoor artificial snow slope, at least there aren't at cfe, I'd lose my job if there were.

A snowHead

Bigpantsjayke, There is concrete at CFe, the nails and other bits of metal are at MK.

A snowHead

The only bits of metal I've found at MK has been the rails, which I generally avoid as I don't want to destroy my edges. Sometimes the dry-slope plastic matting shows through on the lift tracks, though.

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snowball, Last summer the matting had worn away in places and there were screw heads sticking out from underneath. It may have been fixed by now, I avoided the race there last month.

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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I waxed my slalom skis recently (with PolarX) but didn't have enough time to scrape and brush them, so just left them as they were. Big mistake. They were horrid to ski on, and just didn't glide nicely. Did half a dozen runs hoping they would improve, but eventually gave up and switched to another pair of skis. I won't do that again.

After all it is free

dulcamara, I refer the Hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave earlier Wink

With a wax which is softer than Polar X I don't think leaving it unscraped is a big deal. But Polar X sets so that it's hard as concrete and even abrasive indoor snow seems to take ages to wear it off.

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rob@rar, of course, i'm thinking more for mountain snow and when not using silly-hard melted plastic on your skis. It's always played on my mind that maybe skiing off the loose wax could rip the stuff out of the pores?

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dulcamara, that's what I've read. Occasionally I don't bother scraping/brushing with all-temp wax and to be honest it doesn't seem to make much difference to me, either in glide or longevity of the wax unless the snow conditions are very abrasive (eg very cold, wet, manmade, etc). Having said that, how long does it take to scrape and brush? Just a few minutes per ski, so why not finish the job properly?

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rob@rar, possibly you underestimate how lazy i am, even at FIS races i never used a brush! its wax, scrape, shuffle in the start gate, jobs a good'n

You know it makes sense.

rob@rar, Ahh, but when riding bullet proof ruts of ice the skis are usually running fine as I was generally wetting myself the whole way down!

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dulcamara, ah, I see. A built in ski lubricant system. Very clever!

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A snowHead

altis, so if wax is not absorbed into the base of a ski, how does your research fair to the fact that a wki runs faster with wax on it and faster still if the wax is applied then the ski is hot boxed to allow extra absorbsion Little Angel

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altis, I always believed that the wax produced a much more efficient transition of the snow into liquid form - hence the greater glide. I never considered the wax to protect the bases, (other than perhaps as a convenient side-effect). I do however believe that the fluorinated ski wax helps create a much more efficient water barrier, between the crystalised snow and the ski base, along which the ski will travel.

The different properties of some of the more cutting edge race wax R&D tests appear to be focused on this dual, solid-to-liquid and selectively hydro-phobic co-efficient.

(oh, and I suppose piling something that sets near like concrete - e.g. Polar X, would partially lengthen the life of your bases. I dont see how it couldn't if you strike something which deflects partially off the heavy wax, and not the ski base. It would depend upon the type of strike, and the angle etc.)

I've never been too set on backing up any argument with information from Wikipedia to be honest;

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Most racing is done on artificial snow so I can't see the need for something like Polar-X indoors over waxes designed for the typical temperature range found in a snowdome.

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rjs, that's an interesting point. I know my bases dry out much quicker indoors than they do in resort. I was shocked at how grey and dry my skis were after three or four days skiing.

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beequin, I'm fairly sure that Polar-X was designed to be used on snow, it is similar to CH4/LF4.

After all it is free

dulcamara,

there may not be "pores" but hot boxing definately impregnates (if that is the right word) ski bases better than ironing and gives a longer time between waxes. My bases get dried out and grey quick indoors. if the wax isnt permiating the base why does the ptex or uhmwpe turn grey and fuzzy?

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rob@rar, Most racers wax every day for outdoor skiing. There will probably still be a strip of wax down the centre of the skis but nothing near the edges.

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Snowdome/fridge scene people: wax?

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