Understanding Classic Waxing:

       Ah yes, classic waxing, the bane of all skate skiers. Unfortunately, those with such closed minds will never know the joy of flying down the trails and through the woods without going into lactic acid overload. To those who say, "I don't classic ski because I hate to wax" I say, forget about it! Right here, right now, the myth that classic waxing is hard comes to an end.

• First off, make sure your classic skis are flexed correctly. If your skis are too stiff, you won't be able to stomp down the wax pocket. Go ahead and do a paper test on your skis. Find a nice clean piece of floor, stand on your skis, and have a friend slide a piece of paper under your foot. Shift about 90% of your weight onto one foot and see if you can slide the paper. If it doesn't slide, you're in. If it slides a little, you're OK. If it slides from heel to about 10cm in front of your toe, then your skis are too stiff.
• Next, we need to shift thinking as to how many layers of wax you need to ski on. If your skis are a bit on the soft side, you can get away with 3-4 layers of kick wax. If your skis are just right, you may need up to 8 layers of wax! High-end skis tend to need more wax. The cambers are designed to be snappy and hold the kick pocket off the snow when double poling or gliding. Therefore, they are stiffer than you might expect and need multiple layers of kick wax.
• Now that we know our ski's flex and that we may need many more layers than we have been using, let's talk about the actual waxing process. When talking hard wax, "Thin to win" is the mantra. All of your kick wax layers should be nice and thin. This really helps when corking. Think about your skis and filling up the camber of the ski when waxing. Your first layers should cover the whole kick pocket. Crayon in THIN layers and cork well in between. When a ski is well corked, you can't tell the difference between the kick and glide wax, except for the sticky consistency. After you have waxed the full length of the pocket a couple or times, wax the next couple of layers about 4 inches shorter. Keep waxing shorter until your final layer is right underneath the foot. For a little extra kick, make that last layer a warmer wax.
• Now, go set your skis outside, base down. MAKE SURE THE BASES ARE NOT TOUCHING SNOW, THOUGH! The corking process really heats up the base and the wax, and they need to cool before your can ski on them. The cooling process allows the wax to harden and be more durable. It also gets the wax to the chemical consistency it needs to be in to ski on certain types of snow. If you don't let the skis cool, you may need to "ski in" the wax before it works well. Many people forget this process and don't give the skis enough time before deciding that the wax isn't working.
• Klister is applied a little differently. Squeeze the klister tube from the bottom (just like toothpaste) and put it on each side of the groove in a chevron pattern. Use your thumb or klister spreader to smooth out the klister. Move down the inside of the ski and up the outside starting from the tip to spread the klister. If the klister is a colder variety, then a heat gun or blowtorch might be needed to soften the wax so it will spread. Only put klister in your kick zone! Also, just like hard wax, make the layers as thin as possible. This is sticky stuff and if the layer is too thick, you will be running, not skiing. Your longest layer should be super thin and then thicker under foot. Typically with klister, you only need one to three layers depending on the flex of your skis and the pocket length is shorter than that of your hard wax pocket. A cork is also not needed. Finding the right pocket takes some trial and error, but don't get discouraged. Good klister skiing is both fast and good kick! Once the klister is spread, cool them just like you would a hard wax ski.
• Once your skis are waxed and you are ready to go, there are a couple of technique things to remember. If you have a good pair of high end skis, they need to be driven. If you have late kick or do not commit to the kick phase with your weight, you may not be able to compress the ski, and therefore, kick well. If you don't kick strongly or are used to skiing on waxless skis, let the salesperson know this when you are buying waxable skis. They may fit the skis a bit softer to allow for these technique issues. If you already own skis that are not kicking well for you, try more layers of wax or wax longer in front of the toe. This may overcome stiffness issues to some extent.
• There are tons of different waxes out there. My advice, initially, is to pick a brand and stick with it until you are intimately familiar with how their wax works. Start with simple waxes that are inexpensive but work. A good example of this would be the green, blue, and red Swix waxes that are not flouronated. These three temperature ranges will work well in hard wax conditions. For klister, getting a Universal klister, a cold klister, and a warm klister are all you need.
• When deciding what wax to use, there are two things to look at: snow type and temperature. If the snow is new, cold, or dry, then hard wax is a good bet. If the snow is really wet, or really icy, then Klister will be the ticket. On a snow flake level, snow that is still sharp (new or preserved through cold temps) is hard wax. Snow that is melted ( old and rounded due to constant freeze/thaw) or glare ice is Klister. Simple as that.
• After you have determined what the snow crystal looks like, just match the wax to the temperature range. If you are missing a wax in that range, than go with one that is in the next warmest range. You will get good kick, but the glide may be a bit slow. Go ahead and get another wax to fill that range when you get a chance. Over time, you will amass all the waxes you need for almost all conditions.
• This all sounds well and good, but we all know that when we show up to ski, it can be intimidating to wax for the day. What if I guess wrong? What if nothing I have works? What if I get out there and the conditions change? The only answer to this is to make sure that you bring your whole wax kit with you in the car when you want to classic ski. That way, you are prepared for the conditions. I can't tell you how many times I "made the wax call" at home and didn't come prepared with all my classic waxes. When out skiing, bring a couple of kick waxes in your water bottle holder in case conditions change. I like a good double pole workout as much as the next guy, but sometimes I just want to stride.
• Remember that the hardest part of classic waxing is just getting started. If you put in the time and don't get frustrated, your knowledge will grow and soon you won't remember back to when you were just a skate skier. Keep plugging and it will get better!

              
                  (Corking)                                (Klister)