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Seeking Speed: The 60 Minute Ski Wax (and tune)

By

The High Route Editors

Two methods of applying wax (before ironing it in).

On the left side, wax is dripped on. The right side has the softened wax rubbed onto the base. We'll then run the iron from tip to tail with a few passes to melt the wax into the base.

  Tools not jewels. A ski is just a ski. Words to live by to a certain extent. Keeping ski bases, top sheets, and edges in good condition makes skis last longer. As far as ski bases and speed goes, do some maintenance, wax-em-up. Then be on your way. We’re not looking for World Cup…

Responses

  1. Stevie G

    With the Solda roto brushes I see the width is either 100 or 120mm. How do you reach the whole ski base when presumably you only want to spin it in one direction?
    Would a single holder make it easier to reach? Or maybe the double holder with just one brush and 2 PVC spacers to the brush further from the spinning drill chuck?

    1. Jason Albert

      Good question. Yes, I run the brushes in one direction, tip to tail. But most often I brush the ski in sections, I am not running it in a single pass from tip to tail. I usually do several short passes in the tip area (since it is wide, at least on wider underfoot skis), and then move to the next section to be brushed out. So, the brush does spin in one direction, but unless the ski is on the skinnier side, I don’t brush the ski base in one pass. Let me know if that does not make sense. Thanks for reading.

      1. Stevie G

        Jason, Thanks for the super fast reply. Doing it in sections and spinning in the same direction (tip-to-tail and drill rotation) makes sense, but I’m still a bit puzzled when it comes to reaching full width on a ski like the Corvus Freebird pictured at 144mm at the widest.
        Looking at the picture of the 2 brushes on the drill/handle, how are you able to get the black nylon brush to contact the part of the base that is closest to the red handle? Looks like the brass brush would be getting in the way. Thanks

        1. Jason Albert

          Ah, ok. I brush all my skis outdoors at this point. (Too much particulate, over the years, inside the basement. Which, simply moves the problem.) Wide skis are not an issue for me outdoors as I brush skis on a portable wax bench (leftover from the XC ski days). I can walk around and brush from either side of the bench, and/or pivot the bench if need be. That all said, one would be fine, in my opinion, with a brass brush, or firm nylon/horsehair brush. At least for how I go about this, two brushes might be overkill. For my applications, I’m not spending time on the optimal wax job, I’m just wanting to remove excess wax via brushing (after scraping).

  2. Alex Reed

    Have you ever ran into the following situation;

    You rip skins at the top, give your skis bases a cursory glace – all looks normal – begin to ski down, but alas, you are moving very slowly and you find snow glopping to the ski bases themselves.

    Even after fully removing the skis, doing a few scrapes of the bases with the other ski edge, you still find snow glopping to the ski bases.

    I suspect its the thinnest amount of glue from the skins leaving a little residue behind on the ski base. This situation most often occurs when I’m skiing warm afternoon pow in the Sierras. Is there a wax type you would suggest to help combat this?

    1. Jason Albert

      Alex, a few questions. 1. When you get this glopping, are your skis recently waxed? (In spring, I tend to wax my skis more often—I get better glide and my skins rip a bit easier, and each time I wax, I make sure to clean the ski bases before applying the wax.) 2. I’m curious about the type of skin/skin glue you are using. 3. Have you removed the glue and applied new skin glue recently? Not that any of this will necessarily solve the issue, it’s just how I would initially start thinking about problem solving. Wax type—in spring… I usually use a yellow wax (warmish) and in winter, at least up here, a blue wax, generally, suffices. I have no fidelity to any particular brand.

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