Erik Mundahl seemed willing to do some more testing on the snow up at Hatcher Pass. (By the way, it’s Hatcher, not Hatcher’s or Hatchers.) He had test skis ready last weekend, but the weather was bad (warm and windy). By the time we had traded ideas back and forth all this past week, he had a full day on his hands today. After four and a half hours of skiing, with help from Nat Herz putting KMs on a pair of test skis, we’ve got additional information on grinds, Speedmax model skis, HF paraffins, powders, and base waxes for kick. Mundahl’s full report is included below, verbatim. But he provided additional information on the phone, and I’m going to interpret things the way I like, and highlight the stuff I’m excited about (as well as include some product links to our shopping site – let me know if this gets annoying!).
“Cold” new snow was the order of the day with air temps at -4°C and snow at -6°C at the start of the day. However, in every single test the snow was behaving warmer than we would expect for the recorded temps. So, while we were hoping for a classic “blue” day, we got more great information on conditions that were running into red territory in many respects.
More good feedback on Speedmax skis
Our interest in feedback on the new Speedmax skis from Fischer remains high. I was really hoping for a classic new snow “blue” day that would give us super high confidence in these skis at the colder end of the range. While the Speedmax skis once again outshone the tried and true 2010 week 12 Carbonlites that Erik has in his test fleet, it was the Red conditions pair with a 258B that really got the job done. The colder pair of speedmax skis with the S1-0X wasn’t any better than the carbonlite test skis. However, it’s worth noting that the carbonlites in this test fleet have decidedly short pressure distribution and characteristics that we would normally associate with red conditions. The blue-range Speedmax skis that Erik has are very much targeted toward colder and drier snow, which today’s conditions didn’t offer. So, we will continue to wait for a cold day to reinforce our positive expectations for for the cold skis.
More good feedback on our new Blue-stone test grind
Once again, our new test grind had the best feeling of everything on the snow. This one isn’t on a matched test ski, so it’s not the most solid test protocol in the world. But the ski we put it on was a bit of a question-mark in any case – it hadn’t been a great ski in recent years until this new structure sent it to the front of the pack in the last two tests. The design concept on this grind is targeting something more in the blue-range than the red range. This week had finer and more crystalline snow than the last test, and the margin seemed to open up. So I continue to be very optimistic that this grind has a really good range. I’m about to make structure decisions on Kris Freeman’s race fleet, and I’m seriously thinking about sending a couple these over to Europe with him. After all, if it sucks he can just get new skis (right?).
A dominant day for Star HFM paraffin
Star came out with a series of nano-ceramic powdered HF paraffins several years ago, and they have become the best seller for the company on the World Cup. We haven’t had consistent success with them in race service domestically – I’ve always felt that they were best suited to older snow. But when these things are good they’re quite incredible and offer a real advantage. Today they were good, and they left everything else in the dust. Second was Vauhti HF Pink, ahead of Star HA4, Star HA2 and Vauhti HF Violet. The HF Pink continues to be a reliable high-point for us in the Vauhti line.
hfC Liquids are really good!
Erik ran a bunch of powders (Star FM, Star FW, Vauhti hfC15, Vauhti 125C, Vauhti hfC9). The hfC9 won the test. But last night we decided to add a hot-application of the hfC15 liquid to the test, and it was clearly superior to all the powders. We’ve had excellent luck with the hfC liquids and we’ve been working with some hot applications that the folks in Finland recommended to enhance durability. The fluoro compound in the hfC liquids is suspended in a liquidized fluorpolymer carrier, and not in a solvent. The carrier appears to have a relatively low melt point, and when you float a 125 degree iron over the application the iron feels slippery – as though it’s “skating” over the base. The carrier material will bond to the base at that low temp, and provide enhanced durability. We recommend cooling, brushing and reapplying cold – that’s what we asked Erik to do.
We were especially interested in the durability of the application, so Erik enlisted Nat Herz (who happened to be up there skiing) to put 10K on the hfC15 liquid and the hfC9 powder. After 10K of skiing the liquid application had lost a little bit of its edge, but it remained a clear winner. Thanks to Nat for the help!
The only regret on the day is that Erik didn’t have the hfC9 liquid on a ski in the test. Considering all the other test results it might have been interesting.
Try mixing K-base Klister with Super Base binder!
Base waxes are a big part of doing great kick waxing work. We often spend as much energy testing base waxes as we do testing the kicking wax. At World Championships the Vauhti guys told me to try mixing the K-base klister with the super base binder. The K-base klister has excellent elasticity, but no kicking ingredients, and so it tends to enhance the speed as well as increase the hook-up on the kick in higher-moisture conditions. I used this mix at World Championships last season with good success, and I was interested to see it in more tests. Erik ran the mix against straight super base, and also against a home-made basewax mix that I’ve often used in aggressive older snow (we didn’t know exactly what to expect). The K-base klister mix was the best. Try it!
Incidentally, Erik was kicking on K-15 on top of the base waxes. based on everything else he had winning tests, and the glaze that was visible in the tracks in the video he sent, I’m surprised he had enough kick. The K-15 tends to ski more like a blue than a violet kick wax.
Here is Erik’s report, unedited:
Hatcher Pass, Alaska – Blue skies, sunshine and ample snow once again beckoned in Hatcher Pass. A full day of testing ensued.
Air temperatures at the beginning of the day were at -4°C. Snow conditions were more reminiscent of skiing in the Rockies than anything typically found in Alaska. A cold, dry powder was mixed into a dry, heavily transformed granulated base. Snow temperatures were at -6°C.
Erik once again tested the two new pairs of Fischer Speedmax skate skis, one with a 258B and the other with an S1-0X grind. The new test grind, 258B-40B was also thrown into the mix. One pair of the 2010, Week 12 61Q test fleet was tested against the new skis and grinds.
Once again, the new Speedmax ski with the 258B was excellent in the testing despite colder, drier conditions. The new Speedmax skis continued to run as well or better than the 2010, Week 12 skis.
The test of the new 258B-40B once again proved to be interesting. As with the previous test, direct comparison of the grinds was difficult due to numerous variables at play. Different ski construction, flex, as well as a difference in binding system made for challenging testing. The 258B-40B was testing by feel against the 258B, several different pairs with S1-0X. The new grind was significantly better than the 258B and the S1-0X. The margin of different in today’s test between the 258B-40B and the 258B was much greater than in the first test. This indicates that the new grind excels at slightly lower temperatures. No conclusions can be made on the new grind’s ability to tolerate lower moisture levels as despite cold, dry snow, it tended to behave far wetter and warmer than measurements would indicate.
Testing so far as indicated good things for the 258B-40B. Future testing will help to better define it’s range.
Erik also tested paraffins, powders, and a liquid today. All tests were conducted by feel.
The paraffin results were: 1) Star HFM, 2) Vauhti HF Pink, 3) Star HA4.
The Powder results were: 1) Vauhti hfc9, Star FW, Vauhti hfc15. (editorial note: to be fair, Erik didn’t test the hfC15 directly against the 125C which got beat out in its first round by the eventual test winner – hfC15 liquid. So hfC125 might have been pretty competitive, and it should have been, based on its range. ZC)
A hot application of Vauhti hfc15 Liquid was also tested. It was significantly faster than all powders tested. A durability test was also conducted. The Vauhti hfc15 liquid and the Vauhti hfc9 powder were skied for approximately 10km (Nat Herz contributing). After that distance, the liquid did slow down, though was still faster than the hfc9 powder.
In a seemingly never-ending day of skiing, Erik was up to 3 hours by this time, some a binder test was also conducted. On a matched classic test fleet, three binders were tested. Vauhti Super Base, Vauhti Super Base with Vauhti K-Base klister mixed in, and M3S Base. Vauhti K15 hardwax was used on all skis. During the classic testing, temperatures had warmed significantly. Air temperature were up to +1°C and snow temps were up to -3°C. The moisture in the snow had “broken” and the tracks began to glaze slightly.
The Vauhti Super Base with K-Base klister was found to be the best in the three-way test. It had a stronger, locking kick and tended to be faster than Super Base alone. The M3S was slower and dragged, particularly in more powdery snow.
After four and a half hours of skiing testing was stopped lest the tester keel over and die mid stride.