A good tip is to have only a limited selection of waxes and learn the ones you have thoroughly. Feel free to write down what you wax with from time to time. In this way, you learn a lot, and a well-kept notebook is invaluable for achieving the perfect glide. This is especially true for cross-country skis but certainly also works for alpine skis if you want to achieve perfection.
Things to keep track of and preferably note
1. What type of wax did you use? Then note how it went?
2. What were the conditions, i.e., what type of snow was it
3. Humidity: Is it high or low?
4. The temperature
How cold it is outside has a crucial impact on which wax you should apply. Remember that there are often different temperatures in the snow and the air.
All wax brands have almost the same color code system for their ski wax, and this applies to both glide wax and grip wax.
Red: very warm, about three to ten degrees Celsius
Yellow: warm, a few degrees above zero to minus one degree
Violet: about zero to minus three degrees
Blue: about three to ten degrees below zero
Green: cold, about ten to twenty degrees below zero
General tips and advice before waxing
- Use a waxing iron intended for ski wax. Regular irons have too uneven a thermostat.
- Always keep the waxing iron in motion.
- Activate the base before glide waxing by lightly brushing in the direction of travel with a fine steel brush or bronze/brass brush. Be gentle when using a fine steel brush.
- Brushing after scraping is often done too little. Brush a little more even if you feel satisfied. With the horsehair brush, you can never brush too much.
- The only time you use Wax Remover / Wax Cleaner is for cleaning the cross-country skis grip wax zone and top side. Wax Remover is never used on the ski's glide surfaces. For glide surfaces, use a special remover intended for glide surfaces. Be careful to distinguish between the two products.
- The ski's glide surfaces benefit from being cleaned occasionally. Use a soft paraffin such as SKIGO Soft and then heat it in with a waxing iron. Scrape while the glide wax paraffin is still warm. After this, the glide surfaces need to cool before being brushed out as after a regular glide paraffin.
- Remember: Practice makes perfect! Try different waxing options during training so you know it works in case of a competition. During a competition, you should never test new waxes; do that during training.
- When storing the skis at the end of the season or during a long break, we recommend ALWAYS applying a layer of glide paraffin on the ski's glide surfaces without scraping off; this keeps the base clean and fresh for the next time.
- Take care of your skis so that you always get the most out of them.
- We cannot emphasize enough the joy and help you will get from a well-filled notebook.