How do I kick wax properly?
Gary Reif
gotten any kind of kick at all (with Klister).
Today I thought I did everything right (27 degree f, 77% humid, 2" of new
powder on top of yesterdays 4" snow; so I used the Swix wax wizard which
told me to Use Blue Extra)
I put on a couple of layers of Swix Polar, then 3 or 4 layers of Extra
Blue. I corked each layer till it looked pretty smooth.
I had no kick at all. I applied from the heel to about 12" in front of the
toe. The skis are pretty soft camber so I don't think it should be difficult
to get contact.
I have no experience with waxable skis except the one successful time so far
(but boy do they glide nice!!) so I have no comparison.
Questions:
1) What am I doing wrong?
-should the wax be rather thick? I am putting it on rather thin and corking
to an even sheen.
2) Could I always just use a warmer temp wax and always get some kick at the
expense of glide and wear?
3) Would a Klister work in everything, even cold and new snow? (well for
kick anyway)
4) What is the easiest possible, always will work, minimum kick wax system I
can use?
Thanks,
Gary
Janne G
Check at the edges of the gripwaxzones did they look like they had been grinded
down a little? If they have then you at least have a suitable skiis with a
chamber.
If not then you probably have to stiff skiis.
If you are a beginner then wax longer than you think, it's easier to skii with
lousy glide but with grip adjust the kick zone accordingly.
Normally a thicker layer of kickwax gives better grip but worser glide so
experiment here also.
Older snow need more agressive kickwax eg softer/warmer, new snow have a tendecy
to ice up the kick wax and therefore it is an compromise what to choose.
As an example: i had -8C new korn snow, loose tracks, i choosed start blue tar
wax, it worked wonderfull until it started snowing big flakes. Now my kick
went down to nearly zero because the new fallen snow iced up my kick wax.
I eneded up with applying a layer with toko blue wich is a little bit less
agressive and the icing went down.
Around 0C Rex powergrip makes wonder in nearly all condition for the
grip but be awhere it takes a little glide out of your skiis also.
--
Forward in all directions
Janne G
Tomas Bystrom
> 1) What am I doing wrong?
> -should the wax be rather thick? I am putting it on rather thin and corking
> to an even sheen.
Apply thin layers, 3-5 depending on your base work and ski flex. Even if
you're quite confident your wax touches the snow you really should try
to find your wax pocket with e.g. the paper test. Short summary of the
latter: 1) Stand on both skis (even weight distribitution) on a hard
smooth surface, get someone to move a paper under the skis and find how
long it can move freely. Mark the front and rear stopping points.
2) Lean on one ski with the whole foot still on the ski, look if the paper
is totally stuck under your toe position. If it is the your skis are on
the soft side. 3) Put your foot in the "kick position", i.e. stand on
your toe on one ski. Here you sure can use something to help with the
balance like a couple of poles. Now the paper should be stuck under your
toe position. Try to keep your toes as near the front of the binding as
you can (you really should have them on the "weight equilibrium point"
of the ski, but that's normally hidden under the front of the binding).
Now, the wax pocket is approximately between the stopping points of step
1. If the paper is stuck in step 2 you should shorten the waxing a bit.
> 2) Could I always just use a warmer temp wax and always get some kick at the
> expense of glide and wear?
To a certain limit, however it is easy to get a lot of snow stuck in the
wax which will glaze and you'll end up with smooth ice surface for
grip.
> 3) Would a Klister work in everything, even cold and new snow? (well for
> kick anyway)
For cold new snow you will end up like the above, only worse - or mayvbe
with huge amounts of snow under ths skis and you won't get anywhere.
For cold coarse snow it is possible (and sometimes needed) with klister,
but try hard wax first!
The trick is to find a wax which is a) soft enough so the snow of the
day can penetrate the wax surface but b) be hard enough so the snow that
wnet into the wax surface will be worn off rather than sticking to it.
Too soft wax, then the b) factor will not be fulfilled and you'll have
either have glazed snow (no grip) or lots of snow (all grip) under your
skis. Too hard wax, then a) isn't fulfilled and you'll have no snow
sticking at all (no grip).
> 4) What is the easiest possible, always will work, minimum kick wax system I
> can use?
Normal hard waxes will get you far if the conditions are below freezing
and fine snow. Get your wax pocket sorted out, and apply wax in thin
layers and cork. If it doesn't grip - add more layer(s), it that doesn't
work try to wax a little longer in the front (you're kicking with the
toe, no the heel), and eventually try a softer wax if the to first ones
doesn't work.
It's also a matter of a technique as is discussed in another thread. If
you know you'll have rock grip (like on on roller skis, and some rare
snow ski cases involving klister) you can slam more or less however you
want - but in most cases you'll have grip only if you work the skis in the
right way.
I hope you'll find something useful in these ramblings.
/Tomas
--
Caps and foobar are normally not parts of my address.
Tomas Bystrom
> The trick is to find a wax which is a) soft enough so the snow of the
> day can penetrate the wax surface but b) be hard enough so the snow that
> wnet into the wax surface will be worn off rather than sticking to it.
Just another thing: This means you really should make a more holistic
judgment of the conditions than just looking at your thermometer. If the
snow is new or fine then the ranges on the cans are OK (try to be on the
warm side of the range so to say), but if the snow is coarse you often
need to use a softer wax than the temp suggests.
hoodoo40
your kick wax.
Anyways, for kick waxing, I match the wax to the temperature and wax the
entire kick pocket like you did. Then under the toe area, about three
inches up and down, I go up one wax temperature, i.e., blue to extra blue.
When I go skiing, I bring the correct temperature wax, and the next two
temperature waxes up (3 waxes). If the higher temperature seems too sticky,
I scrape it off (this seems to happen rarely). If I don't have enough kick,
I try a larger area around the toe with the one temperature up wax, and if
really no kick, I'll use the 2 temperature higher wax.
Also, if your skiing backcountry/making your own trail, you may need to go
up to a warmer wax. Waxing is fun but can be fustrating, especially around
32 degrees F. But when you wax right, its great. And don't be afraid to
experiment some, thats how you learn.
Other problems are where you take the temperature at. I saw the temperature
in town on my way to the woods. It was around 30. I used Red wax. I
started skiing and icing up. Where I was skiing was around 25 degrees. I
ended up scraping most of the Red off.
Good luck and have fun, John
"Gary Reif" <gre...@nospamrochester.rr.com> wrote in message
news:1%288.39204$QG.68...@typhoon.nyroc.rr.com...
Edgar
> Why did you use Polar under your wax? I've never heard of using it under
> your kick wax.
>
Good question. I usually use Swix Extra Blue as my grounding wax when
an iron-in binder is not needed (i.e. when snow is not very abrasive,
but I am usually skiing snow warmer than -7C snow (Rode MG Blue and
warmer).
What is the proper (non iron-in) grounding stick wax used in improve
durability for non-abrasive conditions under colder snow, say -15C to
-10C (i.e. Rode Spec Green)?
>
> Also, if your skiing backcountry/making your own trail, you may need to go
> up to a warmer wax.
Why would untracked skiing need a warmer (softer) wax? Is it because
the track is not firm enough to load the wax pocket zone and the tip &
tail glide zone is taking too much of the weight when "kicking"? The
solution in soft snow may be to wax longer to increase grip while
minimizing picking up ice.
Edgar
Ken Roberts
> increase grip while minimizing picking up ice.
The other reason to wax long in soft new snow is to spread the forward-force
over a wider area of the snow -- to reduce the shear stress inside the
snowpack, and thus reduce the chance of the surface snow getting ripped away
from an underlying layer (in which case I slip even though the grip-wax on
my ski is successfully gripping the snow surface).
Ken