About
My name is Andy Shields, and I am the owner of Skiwax.ca. Welcome to our online store based in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada!
My aim with this website is to curate a fantastic line-up of sensibly organized in-stock products so you can make knowledgeable purchases and quickly receive your parcel to your door, even if you live in a remote area without access to a good ski shop.
I purchased the domain name skiwax.ca from Rodney Ruddock in October of 2017. Rodney wrote and ran skiwax.ca starting in 2001 - probably one of the first online retailers for ski wax and waxing accessories anywhere. I met Rodney at a very young age in Kitchener/Waterloo (my hometown), where we were involved in the local ski club. In addition to running skiwax.ca, Rodney imported and distributed Ski*Go for several years. He became a mainstay on the continental cup circuit, and his Ski*Go booth was a common sight at various races and ski events across Canada. As Canada's Ski*Go representative, he sponsored me with Ski*Go poles, wax, and waxing tools for eight seasons. During those eight years of Ski*Go sponsorship, I competed at two Nordic World Junior Championships and two Nordic Under-23 World Championships. In total, I racked up 33 World Cup starts in my career.
For the 2017/2018 ski season, I decided that I would start a business instead of a Kickstarter or GoFundMe campaign to raise money for my racing season. Partly as a new challenge but also as a way to have a more substantial exchange with those who would support me. I used to rely on personal sponsors to fund my skiing pursuits, but always asking for money year after year was wearing me out. Providing a (hopefully) helpful service to my fellow skiers and waxers to fund my skiing career was a more palatable notion.
My ski career has since wrapped up, but I still live in the ski world full-time thanks to Skiwax.ca! I'm lucky to have a team of knowledgeable skiers to help me run Skiwax.ca, and we're still expanding our product offerings into the 2024/2025 season. Let me know if there's a cross-country ski wax or equipment product you need help finding, and we'll do our best to get it for you!