First Posting
I think one of the errors that we all make in these very difficult conditions is that we tend to head straight for the newest, greatest, fanciest wax. Yesterday Swix special red was as close to perfection as anything out there. The other error we all make on a day like yesterday is going for perfect kick. The best bet is to avoid icing and be tough.
A brief synopsis of conditions for those who weren't in attendence: Temps at 0.3C at 6:45 AM with fluffy new snow in the tracks and light snow in the air. My first test I took out two waxes that have very similar ranges in my experience. One iced and the other never kicked. Uh-oh. Tested hairies on Kris Freeman's factory hairy skis. They iced but seemed very promising with some hand modification. Swix special red was acceptable but not perfect. OK kick, no icing.
By 9:00the temp had dipped below freezing (-0.6) and traffic on the tracks had produced a lot of glaze. But it also started snowing very hard. The cold front had finally arrived. Hairies started icing badly. Swix special red was slick in the glaze, but good elsewhere.
9:30, Kris ruled out Hairies and wanted to improve the special red. We tested two covers: VR60 and XF60. The VR60 stayed freer during his test. But I don't like its tendency to migrate on the ski, so we kept a special red base. By now it was getting on for 10:00.
Waxed up race skis with special red/VR60. The last modification was to go XF50 for speed.
Our mistake - we never tested straight special red against the VR60 top layer.
First lap the lower 5K of the course was totall unskied, so Kris plowed two to three inches of snow and had to be careful to avoid icing. Further back in the pack the tracks were starting to glaze pretty quickly. But it's worth noting that conditions varied dramatically around the course.
Second lap Kris had "perfect" skis. Then, during the third lap the second wave of cold hit and it started snowing again, this time quite a bit dryer. At this point most everybody started icing. Except for the Burke Mountain Academy kids who were on the new Rossi waxless skis and had really good skis all day. Every other pair of waxless skis out there seemed to be about average for waxless skis - you could hear them coming and they were certainly slow at times. Those new Rossis looked awesome. Must have been very well fit to the kids as well. Hunter Karnedy ended up third, I think - not bad for a junior against a pretty good field.
Kris iced for the last three K, but wouldn't have without the VR60. Of course, at that point he was in the lead by 6 minutes or so. I waxed two J2 boys for the 30K with the same combo as Kris. One had awesome skis all day, the other iced early and ran most of the race. Skis were important too.
By the end of the day VR55 was pretty good. But I think Special Red (which also has a hardness factor of 55 on the Swix scale but tends to run a little warmer) was better. No ice and awesome kick.
Over the course of the race special red would have been really good. Kris was happy but we agreed that he'd have been better off with no VR60 in the mix. Other people suffered a lot more. Brayton Osgood had bad skis (thanks to me). And we put straight VR60 on Amy's skis right before the start because it was so glazy and it had stayed free in our tests. Amy iced the whole day, with the exception of about 2K in the middle when her skis were good.
In all, it wasn't the most difficult waxing day I've seen, but it was surely hectic. Lots of fun.
Here's a brief summary of my experience with waxes in those really difficult border-line conditions:
You never know what's going to work. So a "stand-by" doesn't cut it. Crystal shape and moisture content can vary greatly and they really determine the balance of hardness and additive that's appropriate.
The Swix VRs (60 and 70) haven't been too good in new snow. But when it's a bit more sugary their range is impressive. Definitely prone to icing in new snow.
Special Red remains a favorite. It's very stable and reisists icing well. It may be my favorite Swix wax.
Ski-Go special yellow can be really amazing on the warm end of the scale - especially when the sun comes out. But I didn't test it at Bolton because we used it up on the classic day at JOs. Got to get more of that from Rodney.
I've never had astoundingly good success with the Rode line in these conditions, but the Fast (fluorinated) special red can be an asset.
Toko yellow is worth testing.
The old Swix XF waxes can haul your butt out of the fire pretty effectively. I've had better luck with the 50 and 70 than I have with the 60. They're very hard to put on (especially the 60and 70) and they're pretty much only appropriate as a top layer. But they can be amazing.
I haven't used a lot of the Start Tar waxes, and I'm sure there are other exotic waxes out there that I'm not familiar with. But be careful of claims that ANY wax will allways work well in those conditions.
Final trick (definitely not an option yesterday). Have a pair of soft skis with a paper thin coat of Rode Special Rossa klister with no cover. If the sun is out this will often be really good long before the hard waxes stop working. But it can get you ahead of the curve in a situation where things are headed to klister one way or another. Rex red is also good - maybe even a little faster than the special rossa in new snow.
Zach
Second Posting
Hairies. The best thing is to have an abrader. I've got a couple of really old ones made by sandvik, but I haven't found a source for one recently. Swix might have sold one at one point. Might still - I don't know. I've got their catalogue in my truck, I'll have to look.
The abrader is just a piece of metal with really short, sharp little spikes on it, kind of spread out. as if they'd been dusted on with a salt shaker. It works nicely.
Most of the time I can't figure out where I stashed the things after last time, so I end up using 50 grit sandpaper. You really have to go to town on the base material. It's more than just sand from tip to tail a few times. I usually end up going in little circles, about the size of a quarter. It kind of hard to sand up the hairs without sanding them right off - but you get the hang of it.
For the record, I'd like to point out that I stopped to stock up on 50 grit sandpaper on the way up to Bolton (because I can't remember where I stashed the abraders after last time) because the forecast sounding potentially hairy. We ALMOST used them.
To toughen the hairies up and make them a bit more aggressive a good trick is to burn them with a propane torch. This scortches the little hairs back until they're kind of stubby and short and stiff. Perhaps a little more prone to icing, but longer lasting and more aggressive.
Finally, try some liquid fluorocarbon to keep them free. People always used to use maxiglide, and I've seen people carry a spray can of silicone too. But most recently I've just been dosing them with a shot of Helx, or Star F100L or Swix FC200L. It definitely helps to avoid icing. You can buff the stuff in lightly, but be careful not to cork the hairies flat!
And yes, metal scrape to restore. It can be a job to take them all the way out, but it's probably not totally necessary. Take the grabby bits off, and you've got a nicely abraded kick zone. Waxing and unwaxing a few times will mellow the hairies right out.
Zach
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