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March, 2025

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Best Wax For POW Skis

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loveyoursneakers
Posts: 1090 - Karma: 76
To anyone that can recommend some good wax for powder skis that would be much appreciated. I have done some research on google but haven't come to any conclusions just a general consensus that most waxes are uniform for every kind of ski it is just dependent on the type and degree of snow your skiing. If so I will be skiing in Japan for much of the season. Also what is the best way to clean previous wax and gunk from your skis and would it at all help to use some P Tex on surface scratches. +Karma to anyone who can help.
13 years ago
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Mr_pretzel
Posts: 4616 - Karma: 1,290
Hot scrape with warm weather wax for base clean.

You can either get a all around wax that works in every condition or get temp specific wax for different temps. Temp specific wax is better but more expensive, your choice.
13 years ago
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NoSkillsCrew
Posts: 1209 - Karma: 2,155
Scrape (not hot scrape) and base cleaner for cleaning:
http://www.tognar.com/ski-base-cleaner-citric-only-or-naptha-blend-must-ship-fedex-ground/

I personally haven't had the best results with just doing a hot scrape for base cleaning.

The other advice is right, you can use all temp, but you won't get as good results as specific temp wax. The brands I use is Swix. Just my preference.
13 years ago
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snakerton
Posts: 2434 - Karma: 1,977
i get a belt wax every couple weeks. I'm cool with the guy at my local ski shop so he does it for free
13 years ago
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Session
Posts: 5407 - Karma: 22,534
Just use an all temp wax. Everyone has their favorites.

I prefer to hot wax with a cheap warm weather wax to clean my bases.

Belt wax is a garbage superficial wax that does nothing to penetrate the bases, and who knows what shit they have in those things as for wax. Talking to my local shop guys. there is nothing you would actually want to pay for.
13 years ago
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zahava
Posts: 7791 - Karma: 12,039
I am quite certain you will be able to find you answer here:
https://www.newschoolers.com/ns/forums/readthread/thread_id/455931/
13 years ago
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VD.
Posts: 4054 - Karma: 4,565

^This, the temperature specific waxes are colour coded (temperature in deg. celsius):

=> Green -10 to -32

=> Blue -5 to -12

=> Purple 0 to -8

=> Red 3 to -4

=> Yellow 10 to 0

13 years ago
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Mr_pretzel
Posts: 4616 - Karma: 1,290
Base cleaner leaves lots of shit in your base. Hot scraping works just as well.
13 years ago
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I_Am_Mod
Posts: 13214 - Karma: 3,753
OP, about the superficial ptex repairs, don't bother, small scratches don't even slow you down, if they're still visible after waxing, you might consider filling em, otherwise, don't even bother :)

(i fill up my skis properly at the end of the season, only deep scratches and coreshots get my immediate attention )
13 years ago
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.nasty
Posts: 10595 - Karma: 11,321
throughout last season I tried almost every combination of wax you can think of, just for kicks. I ended liking a red/purple mix (more purple than red) for colder pow days, then more red than purple for warmer ones. Then mostly all red for straight up warm days, I'm not a big fan of any brand yellow wax. That's just what I've come to like tho, take it with a grain of salt.
13 years ago
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onenerdykid
Posts: 6737 - Karma: 11,725
Unfortunately this is the WORST thing you could do to your bases. NEVER use base cleaner to clean your bases. "Base cleaner" really has one purpose- removing kick wax from classic Nordic skis. Swix wax technicians have been petitioning for years to get that name changed because when you use base cleaner on your bases, it totally eats up the treatment and conditioning you've been doing to your bases through consistent waxing.

To clean the glide zone of any base, a hot scrape is the safest thing you can do if you want to keep your bases running fast.
13 years ago
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AlexFromTarget
Posts: 533 - Karma: 59
totally agree with u from what ive seen base cleaner dries the fuck out of your bases. aswell for all skis that you wax i would recommend swix wax because its the best
13 years ago
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rozboon
Posts: 1642 - Karma: 868

Japan doesn't get super cold very often, also remember you're looking at the snow temperature rather than the air temp. so a -5 to -12 wax is probably about where you want to be.

Japanese pow tends to be very very low water content which makes it very sticky. You'll want to be getting a wax probably once a week at the very least or you'll be grovelling on the traverses/cat tracks and hating it.

13 years ago
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loveyoursneakers
Posts: 1090 - Karma: 76
Cheers guys. So the major consensus with waxing skis is choosing the appropriate wax and making sure you use the hot scrape method. And I imagine after time they will begin to become faster with each wax. +K to all those who helped.
13 years ago
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BskiP
Posts: 1369 - Karma: 223
Most of this thread makes shop techs cry.
13 years ago
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Mag
Posts: 8155 - Karma: 14,798
Yeah, follow sessions advice.
13 years ago
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I_Am_Mod
Posts: 13214 - Karma: 3,753
if you're serious about general ski maintenance, this website is a goldmine for both gear and info ...
13 years ago
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