To Wax Or Not To Wax?

It’s a question every skier faces from the moment they buy their first set of gear: should I used waxed skis or not? On one hand, waxed skis have superior speed, glide and performance, ad in the case of cross-country skiing they provide grip so that you can launch yourself forward with your feet as well as your ski poles, improving upon your efficiency. On the other hand, let’s face it: waxing is a lot of trouble. Not only does it take considerable effort to wax a set of skis, you have to pick grip or glide, then you have five or six different forms of wax to choose from, three to five temperature types to choose from for each form, and the consideration of where on your skis needs to be waxed in the first place.

How Much Does Waxing Improve Skiing Performance?

A good glide waxing will give superior glide, speed and performance over an unwaxed one…for a little while. After a relatively short distance, that thin little coating of wax you so painstakingly put onto your skis will get gritty with dirt, get lumpy from being smoothed over so much by the terrain you’re gliding across, and eventually will actually drag your skiing performance below what it would have been had you used unwaxed skis!

Waxless Vs. Waxed Skis

Waxless skis, on the market since 1970, are designed to never need waxing, so you can spend your time on the snow instead in the garage waxing your skis. There is a textured pattern in the grip zone of waxless skis, to emulate the grip of kick wax or klister, and the rest of their surfaces are smooth. A well-waxed ski inevitably outperforms even the best waxless ski, but a badly-waxed ski is much worse, so waxless skis are ideal for more casual participants in the sport, such as recreational skiers. Notably, waxless skis work on numerous different temperatures, something users of waxed skis must plan for in advance and often are unprepared for even then in rapidly-changing landscapes such as moving between sun and shade.