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If you are not sure which type of ski wax you need, see our ski wax introduction below.
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An Introduction to Cross Country Ski Waxes
There are 2 types of ski wax; grip and glide.
Grip wax is composed of two categories; hard wax and klisters. These categories are expanding nowadays to include spray and rub-on applications, but the basic purposes remain the same. Hard wax is used on new or crystalline snow, and klisters are used for wet and transformed snow. Both categories are color-coded to match specific temperature ranges.
Crystalline snow is any type of snow condition where the snow crystals have either retained their original crystal structure or retained a separate granular structure. Hard grip waxes are used for crystalline and granular snow. They come in the traditional wax canisters you see out on the trail as well as new liquid and spray versions. Colors are used to match specific waxes to the temperature.
Transformed or “refrozen” snow is any snow that has undergone at least one melt-freeze cycle. When this occurs, snow loses its crystalline structure and becomes some form of ice. These forms can range from thin glazes to corn snow, to thicker crusts and dense sheets of ice. Klisters are used for refrozen and melted (wet) snow. They come in tubes as a spreadable “goop”, or in new spray versions.
Glide wax has 4 main categories within it; hydrocarbon, low fluorinanted, high fluorinated, and pure fluoro. Each has its unique purpose correlated to snow type, temperature and humidity. These waxes are also expanding in application methods with liquids, rub-ons, and sprays.
To provide optimum glide, glide waxes need to function in a number of different ways. Glide waxes help protect your ski bases from dirt, oxidation (drying out) and abrasion. They also need to repel water and reduce friction. Glide waxes are categorized by chemical composition, because this determines their function. As an example, low fluoro waxes are specifically made for lower humidity conditions. Each category of wax contains a set of waxes usually identified by “color” that is made to work best in a specific temperature range.
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