Erik Mundahl worked with Amy on ski service at US Nationals last month in Houghton Michigan. At my request he dutifully filed a full report in elegant prose, promptly on January 14th. I thought that I would create a full edited write-up with excerpts from both Erik and Amy’s reports on the week in Houghton, but I never found the time to do it. Upon re-reading Erik’s report, I’ve decided that it’s quite good, and with a bare minimum of editing to ensure that no sponsorship arrangements are jeopardized, I’m passing it along now.
We import Vauhti wax, and when we issue wax recommendations to the public we pretty much always make Vauhti recommendations. However, when we provide race service to top level athletes we use all the tools and waxes at our disposal. We end up racing on a lot of Vauhti product because we prioritize it in our testing. But as you’ll see here, there are plenty of other products in the mix, and we always try to produce the best race skis we can.
Without further ado, here is Mundahl’s report from Houghton:
Kris Freeman said it best. “I have never been in a place where it was this cold and it snowed so much, for so long.” The 2015 US National Championship races in Houghton, Michigan were definitely ones that will be remembered by many athletes, coaches, and waxers. How often do you get to pull out Start Nordic, Swix Polar, and Rode Alaska and have them all icing on you?
I spent the week working with Amy Caldwell and Caldwell Sport testing Vauhti wax and providing service to a couple of elite athletes. It was a fun and very rewarding week with the athletes having some great races and the conditions providing a great learning opportunity to get to know the colder end of the Vauhti line up. Certain members of the Caldwell family elected not to attend this year. Given the weather, it may have been a good decision. However, I’m quite positive Zach is going to be told it’s “his damn turn next year”.
For myself, this was a return to my alma mater. Back in November when planning the trip, I gave Zach a list of waxes that would be running in Houghton. The place is known to be extremely stable. Its going to snow. Period. I think Zach was somewhat skeptical, but went along with my recommendations. For cold conditions I said that Solda HP06 or HP05/S30 would be running and Rex Mantyranta would be kick wax of choice. If it was warm, look towards Swix FC8 and Vauhti Carrot for kick.
As typical with Houghton, snowy and windy conditions were a near constant during the entire week. More atypical, it was cold. Really cold. Houghton normally has daytime highs in the upper teens to low twenties. The entire week I don’t think we saw temperatures above ten degrees Fahrenheit.
So while the weather and, as a result the wax, were quite stable throughout the week, ski selection seemed to play much bigger role than I would have anticipated. Ski selection also tended to be pretty variable. In testing race skis throughout the week. Only once did we select the same ski on race day as we did the previous day.
We utilized speed trap testing on the first day of the week to obtain baseline information. This provided us some useful data and pointed us in the right direction for the week. Due to limited staff and consistent snow conditions, all subsequent testing was done by feel. With the cold and slow snow conditions, I felt that the testing by feel provided a little better information in overall ski speed. Milking every bit of speed out of the ski was very important.
The first race of the series was a 15km freestyle interval start. The race was probably the coldest of the week. The snow was agonizingly slow. Interestingly our two athletes skied on very different skis. One selected an extremely stiff Fischer 115 and the other selected an old, soft Fischer 610. Both felt excellent. Trail conditions were relatively soft and slow throughout the course. In areas of heavier traffic, the trail did glaze slightly.
With constant falling, cold snow, getting a lot of cold, hard wax into the skis was important. All the race skis got at least 4 layers of Vauhti LF Green. As a race layer we selected Ski*Go P16 cold powder. It’s worth noting that Kyle Bratrud of NMU won the race with Vauhti LF Green as their base layer. Our testing found that the P16 and the LF Green were very similar in feeling. Solda HP06 (See Zach, I was right) was the powder for the day and we selected Vauhti hfC 21.1 block as a topcoat. We tested hand structures throughout the week as well. These were found to be very consistent. We used the Finite Finish CP17 with a single roller in the PressBox. Other teams used the Red Creek -5 -20 tool with good success. I think our skis were very competitive producing a couple of podiums.
The second race of the week was a classic sprint. Strong winds and heavy blowing snow make the course ski significantly longer than it normally would. A test event held on the course two weeks prior had men finishing a full minute and a half faster than they did during the qualifying. During the qualifying, a total of 7” of snow fell. The course was regroomed prior to heats and as a testament to the temperature and high moisture content, the tracks set up in less than 5 minutes.
Both our athletes picked Fischer 902 skis for the race. The biggest thing in ski selection for the day was trying to maximize speed. It seemed important to have a relatively large amount of residual camber to try to keep any wax off the snow. Additionally, we worked on shortening the heel of the kick zone quite a bit to provide even more speed. The 902s offered us a good solution there.
For glide wax we again used four layers of Vauhti LF Green and finished with Ski*Go P16. Solda HP06 was our top powder. Michigan Tech coach Joe Haggenmiller gave me a bit of a hint during top coat testing and we went and tried out the new Swix FC6X Cold Turbo Block. That ended up being our pick and it had great acceleration in the tracks. For structure we again ran the Finite Finish CP17 single roller.
Our goal with kick was to provide as much speed as possible. As a result, we erred on the slick side of things. The sprint course had two short climbs that could both be run if necessary and didn’t require a ton of kick. We tested numerous binder/base combinations and ended up using Toko Green Base. We then liked Vauhti Fluor Green. This wax isn’t in production anymore but in really cold temperatures I have often liked it in Anchorage. For the heats we moved towards Rex Mantyranta which we and many other teams had really liked in the previous day (I hate to say I told you so Zach…).
During the heats, the snow stopped and the tracks glazed a fair amount. Unfortunately, the ski selection in combination with the Mantyranta resulted in skis that were a bit too slick. Even though our wax pick was used successfully by some athletes on the podium, the ski selection made played a huge roll. Follow up testing after the race found that our test skis with Mantyranta still kicked great out on the course, but the race skis were a bit slick. This emphasized the importance of knowing your skis and how they respond to changing conditions.
The 30km classic race was the third race in the week. The race was conducted on a 10km loop that proved to be incredibly tough in the slow conditions. The test event two weeks prior, athletes had finished the race in just over an hour. The winning time this week was over an hour and thirty minutes. The course had a huge emphasis on climbing. A quick descent and subsequent 3km long climb back to the top with both long, gradual climbs and short, steep kickers was very reminiscent of the Holmenkollen 50km race trail in Oslo, Norway, and just as challenging.
Ski selection was critical. Having an easy kicking ski was important. Both athletes ended up on a 9Q2 or a 902 ski. The previous day we had really liked an 8Q2, but on race day with the harder, glazed tracks we found it just a little too challenging to get an easy kicking feeling when the 9Q2 had a great snappy feeling.
Having solid kick was definitely the key to the day. If you couldn’t climb easily, it would take a lot out of you early in the race. The morning of the 30km race, temperatures were in the mid to high single digits with no wind and no falling snow. This was unlike any conditions we had encountered during the week. Tracks, throughout the entire course glazed very quickly with only one or two ski passes. As a result, the cold kick waxes we had really liked in the previous days simply did not have enough purchase.
Some days in testing, things just work out. While testing kick, a quick discussion with Eric Pepper and the Vail crew and a “hop on this ski quick” test found that Magnar 2 had great kick and was skiing just as fast as anything we had been on. Amy immediately purchased the last tin available for sale on site and nearly got into a fist fight with Sten Fjeldheim and a few other coaches for it.
While testing it, we had another “shear dumb luck” event occur. Magnar 2 was quickly applied over the top of Guru Blue. The Guru Blue turned out to provide a stiff, and somewhat elastic cushion that gave the Magnar a little more solid kick while not slowing it down at all. As a result of this test, our race skis ended up being Toko Green Base ironed in, 2 layers of Guru Blue, and 3 layers of Magnar 2. Our athletes had great days and both said that had outstanding kick. Interestingly enough both had significant wear in the wax, though neither said they noticed it during the race. I’m just going to go ahead and say I planned that and the skis got faster throughout the race…..
For glide we retested a full complement of powders again as the conditions were different from previous days. We raced on Vauhti LF Green. It felt better than the P16 in the warmer conditions. Vauhti’s new LDR powder was far and above the best thing we put on the snow. We again liked the Swix FC6X Cold Turbo block as a top coat. Again, we used the Finite Finish CP17 single roller
Immediately following the 30km race, Amy packed up, took all the wax and left me to work solo for the last race and wax for our two athletes. Ok, to be fair, she left me SOME wax. The conditions throughout the week had been so stable that it allowed me to work alone with a limited wax supply and really make some excellent race skis for the freestyle sprint.
Ski selection for the freestyle sprint was again interesting. The Fischer 115 that had felt great in similar conditions earlier in the week did not feel fast and felt a bit hitchy underfoot. Instead, we ended up liking a very soft Fischer 61Q and an even softer old Fischer 610 for our athletes.
Using a single test fleet I was able to test paraffins, powders and top coats. The weather the day of the freestyle sprint had snow falling steadily throughout the qualifier and then slowly tapering off during the heats. Temperatures had again dropped to below zero or the low single digits and a fairly strong wind was blowing around snow on the course. LF Green was a great paraffin again. As a side note, if I have to scrape any green wax off skis again this year, it will be too soon.
Solda HP06 felt really nice for the qualifier. Vauhti LDR Powder was hand corked cold as a top coat. For the heats, the ironed LDR powder started to feel slightly better as the snowfall diminished and the trail glazed, but HP06 still ran a bit better. The LDR powder hand corked simply got better and better throughout the day and was outstanding through the heats to the extent where several coaches were asking me what our athletes were using. Without structure test skis, I made a guess and again went with the Finite Finish CP17 singe roller. Amy had taken it with her, so thank you to NMU for allowing me to borrow theirs. Also thank you to Michigan Tech for allowing me to borrow an iron and a wax bench. Amy literally took everything with her….
I think we had another good day and proved that even with limited wax and equipment that if you follow good testing methodology and work towards simple solutions, it’s possible to make extremely competitive skis.
As a whole, I think the week was a great success. We were able to provide our athletes with skis that allowed them to qualify for their respective world championships. I also think it was a great opportunity to really spend some time learning about how ski construction can make huge differences and can vary so greatly even with minor changes in snow conditions. I’d also like to apologize for the lack of pictures throughout the week. With a limited staff and so much work, it was challenging to break out the camera. That said, I’m already looking forward to next year in Houghton. Though hopefully it’s a littler warmer next time around.