Klister testing during the week of Feb 8^th 2009.

Sunday Feb 8^{th -}   Hardack; the night before was above freezing with temps in the upper 30‘s with some rain. The track was set at 9:30 at about 32 degrees. Test time was 2:30pm the temp had dropped just below freezing with the tracks  surprisingly dry and fast.  In anticipation of a little wetter course I waxed with a layer of  Swix KR 60, and also Rhode Multigrade. Both waxes proved to have little to no kick, without  good bounding technique. Simply striding even with good form was not enough. I added some KR 40 to both ski’s to stop any icing issues, but the ski’s remained about the same. Glide on all accounts was good.

Sunday  Feb 8^th- Eastern Cup at Trapps- Similar to condition and grooming to that of hardack, Probably tilled better, but also skid on much more, there was a small snow squall during the day. The NWVT team tried Rex Grip tap, and had very little grip. It was rumored the Swix KR50 wax the wax of Choice.

Sunday Feb 8^th-  The Swix wax wizard recommend  KR 30 + KR 50 for these conditions.

Monday Feb 9^th- Dickinsons; Temps fell into the single digits overnight and rose into the upper teens by test time at 3:30. The course was scratched up in the morning and tracks set in ungroomed snow next to the old course. Several waxes were tested today. Swix VR 30 on sanded classic ski’s performed very well on all types of snow including the soft snow and the hard packed old snow, even on some new blown snow in some old tracks. Glide was excellent, Kick outstanding. Rhode Muligrade was a close second with just a little less kick due to minor icing. Glide was good due to the super fast conditions. VR 40 seemed to have good kick, Durability was an issue and  it iced similar to the Multigrade. Anything warmer iced and then scrapped of from the abrasive snow.  Combi ski’s and unsanded classic ski’s lost all there wax within 3k. In conclusion I would use the KR 30. If it was a little warmer or the temp was rising I would consider using Rhode Mulitgrade or the KR 40, Taking care that my ski’s were well sanded if conditions were to remain under 30 degrees. Perhaps Ironing in a thin layer of green would help the combi ski’s.

Tuesday 8:00am Looks like a great day for testing. The current temp is still is around 16 degrees. A 9 degree warm up is expected from 9:00am to 11:00am. Perfect for testing. I plan to test again at 3:30 during practice. I did some homework on the Swix wax wizard and will use thier recommendations as well in today’s testing.  Here is what they recommend. These recommendations are for Transformed corn snow.  21’F - KR20 + KR 40, 24’F- KR20+KR40+KR50, 26’F up to 30”F- KR30+KR50, 32’F KR 30+KR50+KR60.

Tuesday 10:30 am Dickinsons Air temp upper twenties snow still cold from overnight. I tested the KR 30 and Rhode Multigrade from yesterday. Neither wax felt great. Although the Rhode worked real well in the tracks with a little powder. I think if the snow was newer or well tilled this would have been a good wax.

Tuesday 11:30- Air temp just above freezing, snow starting to catch up.  I tested a KR 20 + Kr 40 + Kr 50 Ski. This ski worked great and skied well up to 2:00 in the afternoon, during which time the snow gained some moisture and softened slightly. Another ski that worked well was the KR 30 + Kr 50 ski. Around the 2:00pm mark this ski worked best.  I also tested a Kr 20 + Kr 40  ski during this time. This ski had excellent kick for the whole 2.5hrs, but was a little more draggy than the 20, 40, 50 ski. This could have been due to a kick zone that was waxed to long. But maybe the silver in the 50 improved glide. More testing of 40 needs to be done to be sure.  At 2:00 I tested a 30,50,60 ski with good results.

Ski practice 3:45- It just finished raining, the trail was wetter with some freezing rain.  We waxed some ski’s with a 40, 50 mix with some 60 underfoot. When we heard it was raining we switched to straight 60. We also applied a kr 20 binder to all the combi ski’s. Reaction from the team was mixed, the 60 ski’s were a little better, earlier mix not good, but skiable. I had a 30, 50 ski on and it was ok, but not raceable. My other ski was the 20, 40, 50 ski from earlier. It had lost most of its kick. I added a little bit of KR 70 and that helped, but was still marginal. Durability on the Combi ski’s was much improved. We applied strait 70 to Nick’s ski’s and he lost most of it, but did find that it worked well when he had it.  The Swix Wax Wizard recommendation was KR50 Mixed with KR 70. On all accounts during the week the Wax wizard nailed it.