Ski Racing - February 8, 2010

BACKSHOP

Hot Hot

Why you should warm up to hot waxing BY JACK MOORE

HEAT

FORGET THE COLD. Heat may be the extra ingredient you need to land on the podium this season. It has the power to melt race wax deep into ski bases — rather than just sitting on the surface — to deliver greater speed and durability.

Here’s how heat, and the power of thinking in threes, can improve your race times.

Three Winning Reasons to Hot Wax

Deep wax penetration has three benefits.

First, it makes ski bases more water-repellent (hydrophobic) to better combat friction created by moisture in the snow.

Second, it allows full exposure of your base structure to help bust drag-inducing suction created by water that forms underfoot when skiing. Third, it protects bases from drying out (oxidizing), which reduces their ability to absorb wax. These factors can all add up to more speed under your feet.

Three Winning Ways to Bring on the Heat

1. A cork block (made of natural cork or synthetic foam) or a Wax Whizard (cylindrical aluminum tube with a fabric covering) are the most basic and economical tools for melting wax into ski bases. First, crayon a thin layer of race wax directly on the base, then rub it in by hand using one of these tools. Apply lots of elbow grease to create friction and heat as you bear down, since the more energy and pressure you use will determine how warm — and therefore how deeply — the wax will melt and penetrate into bases. At a minimum, continue rubbing until the base looks dark, glossy and smooth. This application method will usually provide adequate wax durability for one or two race runs.

2. Hot waxing with an iron is the preferred and most popular method used by most racers. Use the iron to initially drip wax on your base, then heat it in (like ironing clothes) by moving the iron slowly but steadily along from tip to tail. Stop when the topsheet of the ski starts feeling warm and your base is completely covered with a melted layer of wax. This application will usually provide adequate wax durability for at least two race runs.

3. Hot boxing is the most thorough (and expensive) way to wax. Race skis are first hot-waxed using an iron, then placed base-up in a large box (or thermal bag) for two to 12 hours. The interior heat of the box is determined by both the type of wax and length of heating cycle in order to keep the wax in a near-molten state. This also warms the ski, enabling the base to open and absorb wax deeper, but not overheat to cause ski or wax damage. Hot boxing can provide greater wax durability, making it better suited for long nordic ski races (longer than 15 kilometers) or multi-run events like ski cross, snowboardcross, or technical snowboard races. Teams and factory race departments also hot box to help prep stacks of speed skis. In fact, the Rossignol factory has an entire room designed to hot box dozens of World Cup speed skis simultaneously.

Three Winning Letters to Remember

W, S and B stand for wax, scrape and brush — a time-proven formula that’s critical for winning results. Always follow any wax application with scraping (using a plastic scraper) and brushing (brass, nylon and/or horsehair brush) to remove all excess wax from the base surface. This also exposes and pol-ishes the base structure — patterned recesses (like tread on a tire) that break up unwanted water suction underfoot.

Three Winning Reasons to Let Your Skis Chill

Always allow freshly waxed bases to cool before scraping and brushing. Race bases tend to “squeeze out” some wax during this contractive phase, depositing unwanted excess on the base surface after your scraping and brushing efforts. Letting wax cool and harden after application also allows it to set up and establish a better foundation in the ski base for greater durability. Lastly, scraping a warm ski will actually pull out too much wax. While this is an efficient technique for cleaning dirty bases (called hot-scraping), it will not leave enough wax in the base to propel you to one of the top three places on the podium!

Jack Moore is the founder of Tognar Toolworks ( tognar.com), a worldwide purveyor of ski tuning tools and waxes.

Hot Box Services If you don’t find a hot box at your local ski shop, here are a few that offer hot boxing by mail. Prices run about $30 to $50, depending on the wax type, number of hot box cycles, etc. Call for details.