Field Report from Mansfield Nordic Club
Eastern Cup #1, Craftsbury, VT
December 19th, Freestyle sprints
December 20th, 5km Freestyle for all
Friday afternoon conditions were transformed corn snow the was fast and slick. Overnight, temps dropped to the mid-20s and new snow fell. For the men's race, temps were mid 20's rising toward 30 with intermittent sun and clouds. the snow was skied in, fast and slightly glazing from traffic (the qualifier was 2.5 laps per racer, with 200 male and 200 female racers).
Paraffin layer was a hard layer of graphite (Start brand) followed by Toko HF Red mixed with Toko LF Grey.
In a test of Jetstream Red 2.0 Block and Helx Red 2.0 the block was preferred and this was the main topcoat for all skis, rotocorked in and brushed.
For structure, it was an extremely close call between the Blue Toko Structurite and a cross-hatch pattern created from a Swix tool. The blue was great climbing, but the Swix pattern was great at high speed and when riding flat skis. Because the course only featured one short, significant section of V1 we opted for the Swix tool.
All of our skiers felt that their skis were running great and we had some strong performances, most notably a 2nd place in the U16 qualification round.
During the qualifying round and before the heats, a big snowstorm rolled in and coated everything. Conditions slowed and the new snow on top of the manmade base meant interesting testing. For the heats we ended up actually dropping down in range to the Jetstream Blue 2.0 block via rotocork topped with Helx Blue 2.0 and the same structure. To make the structure more fine I applied it after corking but before brushing the Jetstream. Between rounds, a little more Blue 2.0 block was briefly hand-corked and re-brushed up.
A touch more snow fell overnight and temps dropped to the low 20s, and the snow guns were blasting as well. Early Sunday morning ski testing was the best snow of the year so far: firm, silky corduroy. I think pretty much every coach/wax tech out there was having a blast due to the great conditions.
Paraffin layer was HF Blue for the women, and a mix of HF Blue and HF Red for men.
I tested Jetsream Blue 2.0 block versus a mix of Jetstream Blue Powder and X-Cold powder mixed 1:1. Both felt great, so I was confident that a powder layer followed by a block would be a reasonable call. With the sun coming out and the track glazing a bit before start time, I took the X-cold out of the equation and just ironed Jetstream Blue powder into all skis. That was followed by the Jetstream Blue block rotocorked in, then the blue Structurite tool.
The women were really psyched with their skis and we had at least one really great race. There was a delay to the men's race, meaning another opportunity to test. The only change I made was mixing the Jetstream Red and Blue blocks together, and the men were equally pumped to have skis that they said were fast and smooth. Another podium in the U16 men's field was a highlight and capped off a great first weekend of Eastern Cup racing!
Adam Terko, Head Coach, Mansfield Nordic Club
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