Kick Wax
Hard Wax vs Klister - or - New Snow vs Old Snow

Most people aren't using kick wax these days. They are either using climbing skins with their tele skis, using ski lifts, have waxless skis or are skate skiing. Wimps.

For those few of us left, I want to pass on the wisdom of waxing. Who knows, you may find yourself at a ski swap and want to pick up a pair of racing skis for cheap, but realize there are no fishscales on the bottom. Or you want to do some easy backcountry skiing, but hate having to put climbing skins on your skis every time you come across even the tiniest of hills. For those of you, I sense kick wax in your future.

Okay, kick wax. There are two kinds -- hard wax and klister. Hard wax is for new, fine grained snow and klister for older, coarser snow. Hard wax comes in little tubular tins and you rub in on your bases like a large crayon. Klister comes in a squeeze tube and is nasty stuff. Klister is incredibly sticky and will get everywhere -- on your hands, your clothes, the car, your lunch, the dog, etc. Put klister inside a zip lock bag, then in a Tupperware container, then in a combination safe and the stuff will still leak out. It's like the Blob. But once you resign yourself to having it on your hands, life gets better. 

The rule of thumb for hard wax versus klister is "Is there snow in the trees?" If there's snow in the trees it means a recent storm and new snow conditions. The best advice I've heard is "If there's snow in the trees, leave the klister be." No tree snow means it has gone through a couple of melt/freeze cycles and all the fine snow crystals are now little granular clumps.

Anyway, when you put klister on your skis, lay down a SMALL bead of it and spread it out really THIN with the wax spreader that came with the wax. Remember, use LESS than you think. You can always add more, but trying to take klister off out on the trail is a pain. And if you have been reading these articles in order, you now know how to find the optimal kick pocket for your skis. Missed that part? Go back to the Waxing page.

I usually carry three waxes with me when I am skiing at a groomed ski area on the west coast -- a purple (Swix VF50) and red (Swix VF 60) lo-fluoro hard wax and universal lo-fluoro klister (Swix KF2). I invested in the more expensive lo-fluoro kick waxes because they are less likely to ice up and one tin/tube lasts me a long time. During the spring months I ditch the purple hard wax and bring silver klister (Swix KF5) instead. Silver is good when there is lots of dirt and pine needles on the trail. I also carry a couple of scrapers and spreaders in a plastic zip lock bag, a burnishing cork and a small roll of Swix Fiberlene (or Toko Base Tex). This strong, lint free paper makes cleaning clumps of wax off the scraper when I have to change waxes a lot easier. Just don't litter and leave on the side of the trail, that's what the zip-lock bag is for. Having something to help clean wax off the bases makes life better when you are using klister. Lastly, I carry a BIC lighter to melt hard wax. Let me explain.

The trouble with klister is if there is any new snow or colder snow, than all of a sudden you find yourself walking DOWNHILL because the snow is building up under the klister. When this happens you start thinking about waxless skis, skating or golf. Don't despair. My secret weapon is to apply a real thin layer of klister, then let it cool, then use a pocket lighter to melt just the end of a hard wax and rub it over the klister. It is like applying peanut butter over the jelly -- just be sure you don't mix the two layers. The hard wax helps keep the klister from icing up, but you should still get enough grip.  Swix just revamped their kick wax line, blending their VF and XF waxes into the new VR series. Keep your eyes open, you may be able to pick up a $30 tin of hi-fluoro XF kick wax for next to nothing at close out prices. The new VR is new for 1999-2000 so I won't be able to find out how well it works until we get some snow. By the way, both the Swix and Toko websites (www.swixsport.com and www.tokowax.com) are great resources for information about waxing.

And if after reading this it sounds like way too much work, I don't blame you. But there's nothing quite like a good wax day with a fast pair of skis -- the skies just seem bluer and the snow looks fluffier...