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* Updated * 2016 CSM Wax Guess
By:  Craig Storey   (2016/02/18)

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Thursday morning update..A waxers nightmare!?

Thursday night is very cold (-20C). That's good. The groomers can pack everything down and it will setup very firm in anticipation of some nastier weather. Friday it warms throughout the day. About 9pm it will be about -2C and start to snow (~10-20cm) and continues all night into Saturday morning with temperatures steady near 0C. Saturday morning around 5am it starts to warm up and snow turns to rain. By midday its +6C and the rain continues all day. Sunday is steady at about +2C.

If you were debating buying some waxless skis for days like Saturday, go get 'em ! There is a good chance that waxless might be the way to go.  THere's also a good chance that waxless stop working at some point because there just is no universal solution like there is no universal wax.  So have klister and hard wax in your pack.

But I like waxing. I don't like skiing on waxless skis that much, they are loud and slow. But given that forecast its hard to forsee one wax working well the entire day. Fresh snow around zero will lead to glazing tracks. Rain on top of the fresh snow will lead to ice then perhaps even slushy conditions. You would be tempted to say universal or red klister..but if the rain holds off until after the start, you might use hard wax, change to a universal klister and then a red klister as the day goes on. But there might be dry spots where your klister needs to be covered with a hard wax too. Messy.

Were it me, here's what I'd do.  (Yeah, I'm not making a real guess!)

Option #1 - waxless (fishscale, mohair, zeros, hairies)

Option #2 - Hard wax (Rode Rot Extra, Vauhti K12/K9)

Option #3 - Universal klister (Rode Multigrade, Vauhti K-Gold)

Some tips for each option. 

  1. If it they work before the start, go with them but be prepared to add klister to them later if needed.
  2. You will need to put klister at some point if it rains all day (Rode Multigrade or Rossa Special, Vauhti K-Gold or K-Red) 
  3. If they ice or drag at all cover them with a hard wax (Rode violet or K9).

Some advice on klister and waxing around 0C..

Its going to be a memorable adventure.  Bring a rain coat and several pairs of dry socks and gloves.  I look forward to hearing all about it.

Good luck!


(Wed)

A real wax guess will appear here on Thursday morning once the forecasts are updated. For now, lets just look at the weather and discuss.

The good news is there's lots of fresh snow, >30cm on Tuesday and possibly 10-15cm on Friday. Depends on when that snow arrives to predict what the trail conditions will be like. Best case it falls in the morning and they groom. Then there's the bad news, warm and rain on Saturday. Worst case is the snow falls Friday night, then it turns to rain Saturday morning as the event starts and they can't regroom. Soft snow, glazing, wet, icing.. Yuck. Double yuck if you think about waxing for that situation. Probably a soft wax then at some point a klister will be your friend. But there will probably be a mix of hard wax and klister conditions for many hours. Buy some universal, purple and red klisters in preparation for the weekend.

Weather Network Forecasts
Env. Canada - Lachute

There's no doubt that waxing will be tricky, and the "right" wax will change several times throughout the day. Fishscales, zero or rub skis might work. But the fresh snow will go through a lot of transforming during the day with all the skiers going over the tracks. Even these waxless skis might be hard to make work all day.

More thoughts tomorrow morning!

 
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