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US Nationals on an Olympic year generated added
excitement. Add the fact that the US
Olympic slots have initially been set at eight and you have a situation where
the smaller details become increasingly important.
We arrived on December 28th to provide the
athletes the opportunity to get familiar with the race venue and test
skis. This time frame also presented our
coaches and technicians to test wax and structure.
Last year was COLD.
The waxing each day for last season was quite straight forward - apply
the coldest waxes to the base as possible.
We found that Toko X cold powder was a critical contributor at every
base layer and Toko blue Fluoro block excelled in the old and cold snow.
The conditions were once again cold upon our arrival and the
results in testing were the same. Kincaid
Park is right on the ocean. Cold temperatures tend to bring in fog and
cover the ski surface with hoar frost.
The hoar frost is extremely slow and speeds rapidly as it gets skied in.
Toko X cold dramatically improved glide
in the hoar frost and slightly improved glide once the snow got skied in. The sharp crystals generated from the hoar
frost made wax durability an issue. The
snow was also very dirty. We found again
that HF blue was running considerable faster than LF blue and mixing X cold
powder into our base paraffins enhanced the glide characteristics of all
layers. We also wanted to get as much
molybdenum into the base to assist in dirt resistance. The initial layer of wax was HF grey mixed
with X cold powder. The second layer was
HF blue with X Cold powder and then layered with JetStream blue powder ironed
in and block over the top.
The skate sprint and distance skate races were relatively
cold. The distance skate race air
temperature was warmer, but the snow was still relatively cold. In both scenarios however - the base layers
were the same. The top layers were the
same for all the skate sprint events and the early starters for the distance
skate.
Waxing for the distance classic races was dramatic. The temperatures were in the upper twenties
Fahrenheit and the snow was old and dirty until about an hour and a half prior
to start. Fresh snow began to cover the
trails and continued throughout the races.
Waxing both kick and glide changed significantly and the testing from
days prior could not be used. Waxing
decisions would have to be based on a little last minute testing as well as
relying on past experience. Zero skis
were used by few, but hard wax seemed to work better. We found that two layers of colder kick wax
(Toko red) with 2 layers of warmer hard wax (Toko yellow) was effective. Limited time was available for glide testing,
so we relied on past experience. The old
formulation of "new snow" jetstream (the yellow colored) in the block form was
very affective in the glazing track. It
was particularly fast as the tracks got more and more skied in.
The final race was the classic sprint. The new snow got worked into the old
snow. The conditions were firm and fast
while the temperatures were in the middle twenties. It was truly a perfect day to ski. We have had particular luck with the Toko red
and Toko blue pure fluorine in older snow types. Our tests held consistent with Toko red
powder being a very good base powder.
The tracks were glazing slightly, so the block form atop the powder
accelerated the skis.
A number of kick combinations worked, but we simply applied
Toko green binder and hard wax atop. The
kick waxes needed were warmer than expected, but Toko violet was effective for
most of the day.
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