More April Skiing and Going Faster: Tidbit 1

The ski days continue. And they continue to be good. And it's April 15th. Memorable tours in the last 10 days or so include (a)a tour with my two brothers up Superior, laps on the north face and then an exit on the south face just as the crust got soft,

From April 7, 2009

(Aaron with Monte Cristo in the background. Yes, those are tele bindings.)

From April 7, 2009

(Cardiff reminds me of the Alps.)

From April 7, 2009

(Skiing on Superior.)

and (b) a tour with Bart up Solitude, a nice powder run into Twin Lakes area, up to the pass, up the cat track to Davenport, dropping into the East Bowl of Silver Fork, up the West Bowl of Silver Fork, homerun out of the Meadows, and back to Solitude.

From April 7, 2009

(Bart doing business standing on top of the Meadows with East Bowl Silver Fork is in the upper left.)

A tour that will be memorable for reasons other than the skiing was good was this morning's tour with Jon and SBJ's crew. Suffice it to say that I got several people lost a few hundred yards from the parking lot. My embarrassment was slightly mitigated by the fact that it was dark and blizzard-ing, and the fact that although we lost some time, the run out was pleasantly decent. But any mitigation was cancelled out by the exacerbating fact that it was my first outing with the SBJ crew, and I had to use my compass a few hundred yards from the car -- a nice lasting impression.

As we were skinning up some gloppy snow, I think most everyones' skins got soaked, and as we gained elevation and the snow got drier and powder-i-er, the snow started sticking to most everyones' skins. One of the guys described it as having to carry two children on each leg. My skins, however, remained clean, hence Going Faster: Tidbit 1 is wax your skins.

Waxing skins is a technique I've picked up in rando racing, but I'm sure savvy tourers have been doing it for a long time. BD produces a soft wax that can be used for this purpose. I think you're supposed to rub it on your skins. What works best for me, however, is using a low fluorinated wax that I iron into my skins. This technique seems to make the wax less gloppy on the skin, last longer, and give better glide.

Here's how I do it:

1) Crayon/rub wax on the skin with the grain. I like LF red wax because it is somewhat hard but goes on easy enough.

From April 16, 2009

2) Run an iron over the skin, melting the wax into the skin. Set iron to lowest setting. Unplug your iron and wait a bit if it seems too hot.

From April 16, 2009

You'll notice that your skins will glide better and be less prone to glop.

BONUS: If you use a brush to strip wax from your skis, brush the top sheets and bindings with the brush, and it will aid in preventing top sheet/binding glop.