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Waxing for Nordic Ski Touring

This article is not written for racing enthusiasts, it is intended as guidance for the less knowledgeable touring skier who may view the art of waxing as some form of mystic process. For more info on which particular skis are best for different conditions, also take a look at our nordic touring skis advice article.

Why Wax? Many will ask, why wax at all when you can use fishscale skis. Put simply, in cold conditions below freezing point, waxed skis work better. The skis will glide more easily and speed will increase because there is less friction. This means that the skier will be able to turn more easily, something that most of us desire.

Know Your Skis Having made the decision to use wax, your first step is to identify the wax pocket or kick zone on your skis. Do this by holding the skis together, base to base, in one hand. Squeeze the skis together firmly and look at the small gap left between the bases in the middle section, this is the area for your grip waxes, referred to as the wax pocket or kick zone. The area can be marked on the side of the ski with a marker pen or paint. On a new pair of skis, some people would sand this area to provide a key for the grip wax to bite onto.

Glide Wax Your next task, before you go on a trip, is to hot wax the base of the ski, either side of the kick zone. This is to help the ski slide smoothly on the snow, a rough dry base will create drag. You need an iron (not the one you iron your shirts with) - a small travel iron is good for this - and a piece of base preparation wax. Lay the skis down, base up, hold the hot iron above them and hold a piece of wax against the iron so that it melts and drips onto the base. Do this along the bases to leave a liberal number of wax drips all over them. Then place the iron on the ski base and move it along gently, so that you melt the wax drops into an even film all over the base. Keep the iron moving, do not allow it to stand still in one place.

After this, leave the skis for 10 or 15 minutes to allow the wax to cool down and set on the base, then you need to scrape it all off. Use a scraper that covers the base, plastic preferred, and scrape away, always working along the length of the ski from tip to tail, applying even pressure. The idea is to scrape off all the wax sitting on the surface, this can be reused if you can keep it clean, until you are left with what has been fused into the base material. Some people repeat the hot waxing process on the basis that more wax will fuse into the base each time.

Grip Waxes You are now ready to set forth into the wilderness, but you need to collect a waxing kit with grip waxes first. Grip waxes come in handy little containers - Swix have them colour coded: red for warm conditions, green for cold and blue for the mid range, approx – 1 to – 8 degrees. Blue waxes are the most widely used. Wherever you go in the world, you are unlikely to need more than five waxes and for the most of us, three will suffice. Your kit should consist of a small pouch to carry the bits in, grip waxes, plastic scraper, cork, thermometer and sometimes a wax solvent to help you clean it all off.

Whilst Out Skiing All you have to do is select the right wax for the snow conditions, crayon it on, scrape any lumps down and polish with the cork. We do not advise this procedure for your lipstick. To help you get started in the mornings, many mountain huts will have a thermometer outside the door. You will often start the day off with a cold wax, changing to a warmer one as the sun rises, hopefully - but on some days you will be on the same wax all day. You will know when to reapply it or change the type when you feel the skis starting to lose grip or stick to the snow. To clean the waxes off completely, you either scrape, scrape and scrape, or use the wax solvent which allows you to remove the wax easily.

NB No mention has been made here of a type of wax called ‘klister’. This is used in place of standard grip waxes when the snow has thawed and refrozen, which changes the crystal structure of the snow. You will find these conditions common in Spring, or most of the time in Scotland. Please ask for advice if you need help with klister.