The post Cross Country Waxing Basics appeared first on Snow Sports Canada.
]]>Joel Jaques is a wax technician with Canadaâs national cross country ski team, supporting all the skiers as well as acting as personal wax tech for Perianne Jones and Ivan Babikov. Â Currently with the team for World Cup races in Europe and preparing to head off to Sochi for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, Jaques took a few minutes to pass on his waxing tips for recreational cross country skiers.Â
JJ: Keep it simple. On the World Cup circuit weâll do pretty complicated things to make sure our skiersâ skis are the best and fastest, but at a recreational level this isnât necessary. Donât try to over complicate the waxing â just make sure you have good skis, and then follow the guidelines on the wax that you buy.
JJ: You need the following basics:
JJ: In classic skiing, waxing gives you grip for going up the hills. No one likes to ski with no grip! Glide wax allows you glide faster. Both are important, because thereâs no greater feeling that skiing on a well-waxed pair of skis.
JJ: For classic waxing it is best to wax every time you go out. This allows you to have the ideal grip wax for the snow and weather conditions. Glide waxing is something that you can do less frequently, but in an ideal world you would wax before every ski. Donât let this hinder you though â the most important is that you get out there and enjoy the trails.
JJ: There are skate skis, which are stiffer and need glide wax applied to the entire surface.   Then you have classic skis â these are a little bit longer and softer. You can get waxless classic skis, which are convenient because you can just put them on and go. They work well in most conditions, but are generally slower than a well-waxed ski. And of course waxable classic skis require to you apply wax yourself.
JJ: For glide wax you want to apply it using an iron. The most important thing is to keep the iron moving on the ski so that it melts the wax but doesnât burn your ski base. Then let the ski cool, scrape the excess was off with a plastic scraper, and finally, brush the remaining wax off with a brush. This will allow the structure of the ski base to be clean.
For classic waxing, itâs best to melt a base binder on with either an iron or heat gun. You want to let this cool before you apply the kick wax. Pick one that has an appropriate temperature range. Apply the wax and smooth it out with the cork until itâs uniform, then repeat.  Usually 4-6 layers should be enough.
JJ: Weather is the biggest factor in waxing. We also consider humidity, snow type and sun on the track. There are different waxes for different conditions. For classic racing we use hard wax in colder conditions and klister in really warm and icy conditions.
JJ: At the end of the season itâs good to put a layer of wax on your skis and leave it without scraping it off. This will protect your bases over the summer. In the fall you can scrape the wax off and youâll be ready to hit the trails.
The post Cross Country Waxing Basics appeared first on Snow Sports Canada.
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