Orange Snow Conditions (New, Glazing Snow, +5°C to -5°C)

The snow in orange conditions is either falling in its mosit state, or transforming from fresh, powdery blue conditions to wetter conditions. Orange conditions occur at a crossroads of friction types. On one hand, snow crystals can still be sharp if there hasn't been traffic on the trails presenting you with a level of kinetic friction when pushing through the moist accumulation of snow. As the tracks get skied in, they tend to glaze meaning kinetic friction is less of an issue. The high humidity of orange snow causes a suction component to always be a consideration as well. Since the snowflakes are not too cold, they tend to melt when skied over rather than cut into your ski base making it a lower priority. Generally, orange waxes are quite soft. Glazing that occurs will act to seal water on top of the snowpack where it interacts with your ski. Structure is often needed in snow like this.

Most recreational skiers will be to resort to rub skis, skins, or fishscales. When that’s not possible and you need to use wax, you have a few options. Depending on the level of glazing in the tracks, klister or hardwax can work, but usually, a klister-cover is the way to go. If there is very little glazing, use a hardwax. It will be faster and won’t ice up as quickly. If there is glazing happening, use klister since it will stick to the icy sheen. Both of these products will need to contain silver and/or tar to lower the amount of snowballing/icing. More often than not, there is a variety of glazed sections and powdery sections on the trails. This means taking advantage of both hardwaxes and klisters will give your grip wax good kick and glide on any part of the course. Klister-cover is where you start with a thin layer of klister and cover it with a hardwax (usually a hardwax that’s a step colder than the temperature). The klister gives you grip, and the hardwax prevents icing.

Similar to pink conditions, you need a black base ski that you don't mind putting aggressive structure on. Orange conditions don't require AS aggressive of structure as pink, but you likely don't want to put any deeper structure on a cold pair of skis. A pure universal pair of skis tend to be the best for these conditions. Glide zones aren't too short to float over softer snow, but not to long to deal with packed, glazed areas of trail. A slightly higher camber would be good to handle a klister when needed, but most universal classic skis can handle a thinner klister.  Zeros and harries can be good on the fresher end of things, but will lose their edge once the snow glazes.