What’s new on the trails?
We’ve just learned about a new generation of liquid glide waxes. Most of us have dealt with glide waxing our skis over the years – whether it’s to get that very last extra 3% of speed on our skate skis or just to protect the p-tex bases as the skis age. (Or to keep clumps of wet snow from sticking on them during a spring ski trip.) But waxing in a hotel room in Methow Valley can be problematic – what do you do with all the wax shavings? Do you really want to invest in your own waxing bench and iron?
***Important note on fluorocarbons: A number of years ago, waxes with a significant fluorocarbon content were developed and used by serious racers. They worked very well. And it was found that there are significant health and environmental problems with them. The greater ski community is trying to move away from them. They were also very expensive. We cannot recommend them! All of the Vauhti liquid glide waxes that we have seen listed on the Coast Outdoors site are shown as “Fluorocarbon Free” (with pastel colors) but other sources on the web show Vauhti fluoro waxes (with bright colored containers).***
Our member, Mark Smith, alerted us to these waxes and presented information at our club meeting. Thanks, Mark! His presentation is posted as a pdf (Feb. 2023): Liquid Glide Waxes
A general discussion of liquid glide waxes, courtesy of TeacupNordic / Coaches Corner: https://teacupnordic.org/blogs/coaches-corner/is-it-time-to-toss-your-wax-iron-a-summery
Check out the line of Vauhti liquid glide waxes. (Other companies also sell them – Swix, Toko, Rex, etc., but we were introduced to Vauhti at the wax clinic.)
There are multiple sources for them, but we learned of them and how to use them at the Coast Outdoors store on the north side of Vancouver. https://www.coastoutdoors.ca/