Subzero wax

It was pretty darn cold at Winter Park yesterday.  The high temperature was a frosty 4 F (-15C).   The cold and the Broncos football game put a serious dent into skier traffic and lessons at the resort.  With no work, I decided to go hit the slopes for some personal riding.

I hadn't touched my snowboards all season so I decided to take one for a spin.  It didn't spin very hard - it had the wrong wax on the base.  Seems everyone had sticky snowboard syndrome or sticky ski base and couldn't move.   All-temperature wax just doesn't work around zero degrees Fahrenheit or Celsius.

Rather than strip the base and then apply a subzero winter wax to the snowboard, I switched equipment.  The skis on the skibike have less surface area so I thought that might work out better.

I did move better on the skibike but it still would have had better gliding with the proper winter wax.  After a few runs I really didn't care.  My fingers and face were frozen.

I stopped by mid-morning lineup but only around 7 people decided to take half-day snowboard lessons.  A middle-aged gentleman from Houston stopped by the snowboard instructor huddle and started asking about the skibike.  As a downhill mountain biker he was fascinated by it.

After all the questions were answered and pictures of the bike taken, we invited him to come take a skibike lesson.   He said he would be back the following morning for a lesson and where did he go sign up?  It looked liked something he could relate more to than skiing or snowboarding.

As I headed towards the locker room, I saw a ski instructor carrying all her gear.  Upon inquiry of current conditions, she stated that she had no idea and had been in Coffee & Tea for the past 1 1/2 hours.  Too cold and sticky snow.

So if you every wonder why your skbike isn't gliding properly on the snow, think about the wax that is on the bases of your skis.  It could be what is slowing you down.

My solution was to put away my snow gear and head home to watch the football game.   I-70 was un-naturally deserted for a Saturday afternoon.  After a double overtime - the Broncos lost.  Sigh.

This week I'm headed to my secret skibike snowboard wax supplier and picking up a pound of Purl.  Made in Colorado for those brutally cold days.  http://www.purlwax.com/sub-zero-ski-wax.html 

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