 You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
OK, I am a relative ski newby, but I have got some second hand skis, which are OK, but need a little P-tex type base repair in one or two spots, nothing serious, that I am fine with. Question is, what wax would people recommend for UK skiing, thinking Scotland, maybe Yad Moss even. Might take them to chill factor to get used to them.
Cheers
Ok wrong forum, sorry! Can this be moved to Chat?
Snow is Snow, Wax is Wax
Wax doesn't matter when skiing over rocks and heather!!
Il faut apprendre a farter.
More seriously, especially if you're new to skiing, you won't notice the difference so just use anything.
Ski Sunday used to get very het up about wax a few years back. But the right wax depends on snow temperature, dryness etc. so is really the realm of racers who have a ski tech and those of us with a crystal ball to know what the snow will be like on the day. Plus teh average recreational skier is out all day on different slopes rather than a 3 minute race
cultsdave - Member
Wax doesn't matter when skiing over rocks and heather!!
POSTED 13 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST
Anyone that grew up racing on dry slope knows that it's cheap washing up liquid ftw in these situations!
For snowboarding wax does matter. Most important thing is temperature of where you ski or board. Get an all purpose wax, the cheap stuff wears off quick, The more expensive stuff has more.... something... in, can't remember what
Cool, thats good to know. So, is this like the what tyre for.... equivalent?
yes exactly. Just looked at my wax now. It's for 'snow type older-aggresive' ..... aggressive snow!
but it for -1 to -12c.
dont forget to clean your skis properly, scrape of the old wax etc. It's quite relaxing i find.
legend - Yes! 😀
I thought the most aggressive was new, cold snow? The older it gets the more rounded it gets.
Maybe I'm reading it wrong.
nedrapier - Member
legend - Yes!
Yes indeed, except the missus has just reminded me about Back To Black as well - but she always was a posh-un!
Legend - Mr Sheen was all the rage when I finished racing dry slope a few years back! That and some mystery blue gunk! It's all gone by the second gate anyway!
As mentioned there's not a lot in it really, you'll want something quite warm for uk skiing but whatever you have is better than nothing. Just make sure you scrape it off properly once you've waxed ..... Unless were back on dry slope again!
Yeah, but back to black dried your bases up (we'll ignore the fact that it was usually raining!)
Forgotten about Mr Sheen, we used that more often than not. Didn't need it at Brentwood, with its fancy built in Fairy rollers at the top.
beefy - just get some cheapy universal temp stuff. As has been said, if you're up early and down in the afternoon, chances are you'll be going right throught the temperature range anyway.
And proper good wax jobs are at their most useful on long, flat groomers, which you won't be seeing much of in the UK, I'd guess?
Legend and Ned
Johnson's industrial floor Polish was de rigeur when I raced in the early 90's. Thighs might just be because we nicked a big tub of it from our uni cleaners cupboard that year 😀
I use Data artificial slope wax, it is seriously hard work to apply but last for a month even on the indoor fridge
I did dabble with Mr Sheen, but always ended up back with washing up liquid - cheaper the better (posh stuff was too thick). There was the added bonus of your gloves foaming up every time they got wet 🙂
I remember a group of youngsters experimenting with the use of hair gel on their bases...... they didn't have a successful night!
On topic, Mrs L works for a ski brand. Her reaction to the question was a raised eyebrow and something along the lines of: "In Scotland? Just run whatever you can get your hands on"
I agree legend. Never found a rock/heather proof wax
Legend - Mr Sheen was all the rage when I finished racing dry slope a few years back! That and some mystery blue gunk! It's all gone by the second gate anyway!
http://www.shef.ac.uk/research/impact/stories/fce/13
I did the lab testing on this system, it's way better than wax on anything abrasive like a dry slope (I imagine heather being similar). Infact the feedback was it made dryslope feel like fresh powder, and the lab results showed it had pretty much the same coeficient of friction. It was better on fresh snow too, but we're talking 1-2% there, not the 50% improvement it was getting on dry slope.
Not sure if I'm allowed to say what the lube was, but it's available in shops (we made better versions in the labs, but the shop stuff was 90% as good), but wasn't Mr Sheen!
Toko silver (one snake or two) and a squirt of Mr Sheen was all I used in dry slope races in the late 80's. Anyone else do the ESF Grand Prix circuit? Then Kings Uni racing '91 to '94.
The smell of Mr Sheen still gives me an adrenaline buzz after all these years! Memories of kicking up a ski for a mate to apply just before my run come flooding back. Great first run then get excited and blow it on the second - Mum always blamed too much Mr Sheen!
Also remember testing Black Magic - a black graphite paste with a working temperature, so it was like a turbo - 2 gates in and it took off! Washing up liquid worked a treat on the grass skis too.
To answer the OP, just get some universal hot wax and bang it on. Remember you don't want it on the base but in the base so apply a few coats, cool, scrape well and repeat if the skis need some love. Brush as well if you want to really fly!
Kings Races, BUDS, BUSC, Club Nationals and Grand Prix's 2005-2010
I forgot BUSC - I was BUSC Committee 1995! Race convenor, booked the Olympic piste in Les Arcs and had the run of it for 8 days, quite cool!
A decent toko/swix/data universal wax is fine
The only time I use temp specif wax is for holidays to
France early January when a blue cold temp wax is ideal
In the uk ( Glenshee at least ) it can start cold then be slush / moist
By the end of the day
Universal wax , scraped back & structured will do you great
( structure is just a copper brush that micro grooves the wax / nylon for dry cold )
gravity-slave - Member
I forgot BUSC
I will never, ever, be able to forget BUSC 😯
A couple of times I've thought about going back just to have a cheap holiday, then the memories come flooding back........
You we doing it wrong. I forgot many, many nights on BUSC! 😉
Year before we organised was mad - Tignes, whiteout every day, one run open, 1500 bored drunk students running riot. Rooms knocked through, ambulance stolen and joyridden to Albertville...
Perfect weather meant our year was awesome - everyone buzzing and knackered, the mayor shook our hands and wrote off the nominal damage bill for the resort and we stayed another week to relax! I got the racing certified for FIS points too!
Nearly the snow season, I can smell the wax already...
gravity-slave - Member
You we doing it wrong. I forgot many, many nights on BUSC!
haha, well yeah that too plus bus journeys to and from (I fell out of our bus once, luckily it wasn't moving at the time)
Good skills. I discovered 8 pints of Tetley on the Dover/Calais makes the road to Bourg pass remarkably quickly! 😉
Gravity slave and legend.... I think we may have met many years ago! If not we probably know people in common. I used to work as a tour op in the student ski industry back then. Wasn't 95 the year of the apartment swimming pool (Scottish committee?)
i use BUTTA Pro wax smells nice too and its "eco friendly"
Sounds like we could well have done. I raced for Sheffield Uni and worked at the ski village 91-94.
'95 was organised by Sheffield to Les Arcs
I was exec committee in '96, the main committee have been Scottish.
You two are too old skool for me. My last one was 2006.... 2 weeks before my final year dissertation had to be handed in 🙂
Les Deux Alpes!
I was at that one, was my first of 9 weeks of BUSC I did during my time at Uni!