1) Check your skis for grip zone markers on your classic wax skis. Kick wax is only applied to the zone under the binding of the ski leaving the tips and tails of the ski free for glide waxing. A good grip zone is between 45cm and 70 cm long but will vary depending on the stiffness of your skis (the camber). Your local ski shop can help you find your grip zones, or you can use the zones pre-marked on the sidewalls of your skis. Use a permanent marker to redefine your grip zones as often as you can and experiment with extending your grip zone further forwards or backward to find the right feel while skiing.

2) Prepare your grip zone by cleaning it with wax remover and roughing it with sandpaper. If you're unsure how to do this, check out the instructions here: https://skiwax.ca/collections/cleaning-grip-zones

To prevent grip and glide wax from mixing, you can use masking tape to separate your grip zone from your glide zone.

3) Crayon a layer of base binder over your entire grip zone. If you are using a Klister binder, dab a thin layer in a Chevron pattern.

4) Using a heat source such as a 'kick wax only' iron, heat gun or torch, smooth out the base binder. If you are using a heat gun or torch, use a cork to smooth out the base binder. If you are using an iron, make sure you only ever use that iron for kick waxes. Have another iron for glide waxes only to avoid cross-contamination.

5) Let the base binder cool for a few minutes. Set the ski outside to speed up the cooling.

6) Once the base binder is cool, apply another layer. Usually, two layers of base binder is perfect, but 1 or 3 layers might be better depending on the camber height of your wax pocket or the snow conditions. When using base binder alone as your wax of the day, repeat 3-6 times.

7) When the last layer has cooled you are now ready to apply the kick wax of the day on top!