Easy Glide - Introduction to Glide Waxing
This section is for recreational skiers who don’t want crummy skis to hold back their enjoyment of their hard-earned wintery getaway, and for parents of kids in bunny rabbits, jackrabbits, or track attack programs who want to avoid bad skis causing kids to fall behind in the group or lose interest in the activity. The methods and products we cover in this section are designed to be simple enough to use in the parking lot before setting out and quick enough to apply as to not dampen the excitement. Very few tools, if any, will be needed and these products work across all snow types.
Glide wax: All skiers can use glide waxes to improve their skiing experience. Certain glide wax products can be used on any type of ski.
Glide wax is for making your skis fast! But, if speed is not your thing, glide wax still has its uses. For recreational purposes, glide wax is mainly used defends against the dreaded “snow stilts” - when snow ices and freezes to the bottom of your skis and builds up into giant snowballs. When the snow is perfect packing snow (great for a snowball fight or building a snowman) the chance that snow-stilts will form on your skis is quite high. Also, if you ski through a puddle or wet section of trail and back onto colder snow, sometimes ice can form on the bottom of the skis and ruin your glide. When there’s a chance of puddles or packing snow, it’s best to apply some form of glide to keep your skis slippery.
Ski*Go makes a great "parking lot" liquid glide wax that's easy and fun to apply before you hit the trails. It defends against snow-stilts, gives your skis (no matter the base material) a bit more glide, and protects them from oxidation:
- Use the nylon brush on the glide zone of the ski to clean off any residual wax or dirt.
- Apply a layer of liquid over the glide zone. Let it dry for 3 mins.
- Brush the glide zone with a nylon brush to remove excess wax. Ready to go!
Keep the bottle at temperatures above zero and do not let it freeze.
The Easy Glide Kit comes with 60 mL of liquid glide and a nylon brush. The liquid is rated for +10C to -10C All Snow Types.
A good practice is to apply this base treatment right after you finish skiing so your skis are ready to go the next time you ski. More importantly, getting wax in your base right after a ski very good habit to build since it will protect the base from oxidation in the intervening time period.
A more advanced waxing technique is using a waxing iron to heat paraffin waxes into the base of the ski, but we'll get into that in another article.