too slow on wet snow

[NateW]

It's that time of year again. The time when temperatures rise and snow gets wet and slow. When even with a deep coarse structure and a fresh wax/scrape/brush job, I feel like my snowboard is randomly hitting the brakes.

Zardoz Notwax is the only thing I've found that helps, but it doesn't help enough, it only lasts for one run, and it's silly expensive.

Please tell me there's a wonderful new solution to this problem.

Please?

[Galen]

Have you tried cross hatching with a brush after scraping? Around 45* in each direction, dont buff after.

[NateW]

Never heard of that, but it can't hurt to try.

[bobdea]

deep structure in the base helps in that type of snow.

yellow swix is a good wax to start with, holmenkol makes a silicone additive.

the absolute best wet weather wax I ever used was swix with silicone but they don't make it anymore or at least I have not seen it in a decade the only waxes any better than that were high flouro which are pricey

Graphite helps if the snow is dirty.......

have not tried this but I bet it does it's job http://www.reliableracing.com/detail.cfm?edp=11018140&category=2500

[Mike T]

I've had great luck as such: Iron in the warm-temp wax, scrape and brush, then Wax Whizard/cork some cold-temp wax on top of that, then brush again. I don't know why this works but I have a theory, and it goes like this:

-cold temp wax glides better in warm temps

-but cold temp wax comes off your base easily thus the need for warm temp wax

-warm temp wax keeps the cold temp wax fropm coming off so easily

Like I said just a theory... all I know is, the combination seems to work where either by themsleves does not work as well.

[Dave ESPI]

ride with no wax on an old board that had a basegrind. One of my older freestyle boards for somereason is lightening fast in slop and crud because of a higher surface area that doesn't allow for a "vaccum suck" with the surface effect. Few years ago a few friends and I were goofin around and I just put a lill bit of Spray-on Cooking pan release and it is a rocketship. End of a run, wipe board with a rag, then spray again.

And yes, I was inspired by Chevy Chase.

:lol:

[Algunderfoot]

Dave is onto it here, except we used to use Rain-X, not cooking oil, on downhill skis, back in the day when I was on the light side. Seemed to work rather well, and now you can get wipe on cloths in a resealable packet for touch ups when you need them.

If your running a rock board anyway, other spray on lubes may work too, e.g. silicone, teflon, WD40??. Just be careful that it does't degrade the p-tex, of course these are not a good environmental choice, but has much probably less impact than all the oil leaks in the parking lot.

Al

[pebu]

Back in the day we used to rub on turtlewax right before headin out. I don't know that it did anything cause I was too young and stupid to know what I was doing anyway... But that's what we did..

[bobdea]

Dave is onto it here, except we used to use Rain-X, not cooking oil, on downhill skis, back in the day when I was on the light side. Seemed to work rather well, and now you can get wipe on cloths in a resealable packet for touch ups when you need them.

If your running a rock board anyway, other spray on lubes may work too, e.g. silicone, teflon, WD40??. Just be careful that it does't degrade the p-tex, of course these are not a good environmental choice, but has much probably less impact than all the oil leaks in the parking lot.

Al

rain x, be careful, I'm not sure if it's a certain type but I have heard horror stories about it however I have also heard things about it being so fast that it was banned in fis events or something. could be wives tales too because I have not used it and can't say for sure.

[Randy T.]

Nate,

I have used the Hertel Super Hot Sauce for a lot of years and I think it is the best. It's an all temp wax and it has always worked good for me in all conditions. Plus they do make a special spring solution wax now that is designed to work with the pollen in the snow that helps slow you down.

Go to the web site and watch the video, it's pretty interesting.

If you would like to try the hot sauce I'd be happy to send you a stick to try then you can post a review. I'm surprised more people here don't use it but I think if people tried it they would like it.

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

"Wet Jet"

or rill your base, I love rippin past all the folks up at Timberline like I am on a pumpkin seed squirtin out between your finger while everyone else has the "Brakes" on. Some even walking across the flats!!

We get allot of experience in these conditions normally on Mt Hood, this year? Lots of storms, wish I could ride.

[queequeg]

This stuff is good:

HOLMENKOL MT. HOOD TRAINING WAX:

http://www.tognar.com/holmenkol_wax_waxes_waxing_ski_snowboard.html#HOL-20079

[bobdea]

This stuff is good:

HOLMENKOL MT. HOOD TRAINING WAX:

http://www.tognar.com/holmenkol_wax_waxes_waxing_ski_snowboard.html#HOL-20079

that's what I was talking about, I knew someone was still making a wax with silicone

[b0ardski]

I use Oneball Jay summer slush graphite flourcarbon wax. One word, hydro-phobic.

Killa fast on sunbaked, dirty snow, and realitively cheap. I usually blend this with a hard green swix for colder variable snow. Mrs. boardski instructs & swears by it for late season slop on the bunny slopes:biggthump

We've used this combo for years & I've converted many a believer with a quick rub-on at the top of the lift.

[photodad2001]

Take some swix warm temp wax and melt it into a metal contaner with some racing sillycon wax on your stove at the lowest setting. Stir it and let it reharden. Hot wax your board with that then scrape it till you can't scrape no more. I know you shouldn't use a metal scraper, but put it on your least valued board and scrape the sh** out of it. There's no perfect cure for your delima and you'll still hit slow patches, that's just the nature of things, but that's your best bet from a vet.

[snowboardfast]

Purl Wax -Orange is good for spring conditions. This wax is very good and is designed to work with high humidity. I used it last year and will be trying it again . It is made in Colorado . you can order online. I think you can get to the site by typing Purl wax and it will take you there.

[NateW]

Nate,

I have used the Hertel Super Hot Sauce for a lot of years and I think it is the best. It's an all temp wax and it has always worked good for me in all conditions.

[...]

If you would like to try the hot sauce I'd be happy to send you a stick to try then you can post a review. I'm surprised more people here don't use it but I think if people tried it they would like it.

I'll take you up on that. Check your email. :)

And thanks!

[pebu]

I use the super hot sauce. My brother and I got a 10 lb box of it, so that should hold us over for a couple seasons...

The cool thing is it's really not expensive being a flouro and all.

[Gunnar]

I made a really deep struckture on an old board. Alot less suction, but very hard to skid.

Maybe a deep struckture in the front, and less in the back could work?

/Gunnar

[Randy T.]

Nate,

I mailed the wax yesterday. I tried to reply to your e-mail but it looks like it got kicked back.

[NateW]

Thanks!

(if you read the fine print on my email I think I mentioned my email troubles and which address to send replies to. :) )

[BlueB]

I made a really deep struckture on an old board. Alot less suction,

My deepest structured board performes the best in slush, too.

Someone mentioned in the past that you could wax the board quite thick and not scrape, but just cut deep structure into wax. Apparently it's lighting fast, but has to be repeted every time before the ride. I still have to try that one.

[felix]

On wet snow good structure and low-fluor (trying to stay with reasonable price range) is for me THE way to go. Oh longer board like a tanker 200 helps a lot too. The softer the snow the longer the board for fun!

For colder snow conditions I'm allright on cheaper wax, but once it gets wet I really prefer good waxes from ski racing supply stores (nice to live in Austria where ski-racing is so huge that there are some really nice shops that sell nothing but racing supplies (meaning they don't sell any skiboots/skis that would be of use for tourists) and even on the phone provide great service.

If it is for racing on whet snow I'ld put on some of that really expensive stuff, be it fluor powder, high-fluor paste etc... Will not last longer than 3-4 runs, but if it makes you faster by half a second, that can be a big deal. I try not to use fluor-pastes out of races as they seem to make your base get "fatty" in the long run.

Oh not scraping is no good, at least if you know what to do.

[NateW]

I tried the Hertel wax today (thanks again Randy), but didn't get around to A/B testing. I'm pretty sure I was faster than the guys I was riding with, but I don't know how they tune their bases. Today was almost-end-of-season-BBQ-day; next weekend I'll have fewer distractions.

[Jon Dahl]

If you use a split, you know that flouro waxes and climbing skins do not get along. It really sucks (literally) to have your climbing skins flopping in the breeze. Problem 2 is the fact mine is a homebrew job, so a real base grind has been out of the question 'cause I cannot remove the pucks to make it happen. So for now, I've been stuck with parrafin wax, which has been fine up till now. Really wet spring snow puts a tremendous drag on the board at times, making it hard to charge anything w/o the premonition of a trip over the bars. So, what do you suggest? Rilling bar to fake some structure? Spend a grand + on a factory board? Na....looking for a cheap fix for now.