Collection: Yellow Snow Conditions (Wet, Slushy Snow, +20°C to 0°C)

Yellow conditions occur when old snow is thoroughly saturated with water. It's slushy, it's wet and it's warm, it's old and usually coarse-grained and dirty. The temperature range for these conditions is 0C to... the warmest it can be with snow on the ground! "Yellow" snow is heavily transformed. It has been through a melt/freeze cycle or two and has become corny or coarse-grained. Because the snow transformed, it tends to drain better than "Pink" snow since space between the individual ice crystals allows water to drain away. You’re still dealing with a lot of water either way so your main waxing consideration will be to get rid of water from the ski base! The big difference between pink and yellow conditions is the amount of dirt deposited on top of the snowpack. Choosing a wax with compounds to limit the effects of dirt is also key when waxing for yellow conditions.

Friction Characteristics: Physically, the wet snow crystal structure has the most rounded edges. This means kinetic friction is very low so physically harder waxes are not necessary. The main source of friction in this snow type is suction friction from the vast amounts of liquid water between the ski base and the snowpack. The top priority for glide waxing for these conditions is getting rid of water from the bottom of the ski base. Waxes for this temperature range are physically softer (soft waxes are more hydrophobic than harder ones). Fluoro compounds are massively hydrophobic so anything with fluorination will likely be an excellent choice. Adding aggressive structure to your ski base with a rill tool will have the biggest benefit to glide as the grooves and channels will give water an escape route. Often waxes with dirt-repellent compounds have a leg up on others since dirt builds upon the surface of the snow as it melts. Waxes with molybdenum or graphite tent to stay fast in yellow conditions over long distances.

Kick Waxing: Snow crystals in yellow conditions have melted into round, wet, blobs. This makes finding a grip wax that is able to stick to snow crystals very tricky. The water surrounding the snow crystals acts as a lubricant, which is the equivalent of having oil on your brake pads. This means in order to find a kick wax that gets grip in this kind of snow, you'll have to get something as soft and sticky as possible: hence, klister! Hard wax is a no-go when the snow gets this wet, but rub skis (hairys or zeros), skin skis, fish scales tend to work quite well if klister isn't your thing. Again, a klister with Fluoros or other dirt and water-repelling compounds will help your grip wax glide.