Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

The reason I started glide waxing with polar was to eliminate hot waxing at all. If I was going to hot wax my skis I would use glide wax that was made for that. Am I missing something here?

Al, hot waxing full length does a couple things. First off, it just plain lasts longer per application than corking. Another is that it provides a real nice foundation for your kick wax du jour, whether applied full length or just on the kick zone. Also makes corking a layer or two of the polar easier later on, as needed.
So again, not a necessity, but it is more thorough and long lasting, and your bases appreciate the conditioning. Hot wax soaks INTO the pets; corking sits on it.

One could of course go with a sexier base prep and hot wax tips and tails with glide wax, and kick zone with polar (kinda like what bauerb was saying) if one wanted maximum kick and glide, but for more casual xc/bc, ya can't go wrong with full length polar.

Phoenix all good points, but being a concrete man for 20+ years I feel as though I can warm that polar up a bit with the cork.
Really I’m a bit cheap, I just imagine going through a lot of polar using an iron. Someday I may iron on some polar and think to myself that I should have been ironing for years. Since I haven’t tried the iron, I am quite happy corking my polar base.

On a related note: I hardly ever hot-wax anymore, even for downhill-oriented skis, unless I am going on an extended trip, where I won't have a chance to do occasional touch-ups.

I use the tool linked to below that allows you to work in the wax better than a cork and w/o an iron.

https://www.tognar.com/skimd-pro-glide-waxing-system/

Thanks for the response guys.


Phoenix, it sounds like it's a little easier and quicker than doing the tips and tails with glide wax and better than just corking, I'll have to give it a try.

As far as corking goes, that's an interesting invention Andy, To generate more heat I finish corking with the rounded edge of the cork, having less surface area than the flat side. This year I started taking polar with me on tours after having to reapply on the trail one day when my skis were dragging. At first I thought it was weird snow because I thought my wax was still good, but after rewaxing, my glide returned to normal. It made me think of all of the times towards the end of long tours when I thought my skis were slowing down, but I thought it was just fatigue or in my head. I guess that's a good enough reason to iron in right there.

"Phoenix, it sounds like it's a little easier and quicker than doing the tips and tails with glide wax and better than just corking" Yup, and more versatile for tweaking your wax options.



"It made me think of all of the times towards the end of long tours when I thought my skis were slowing down, but I thought it was just fatigue or in my head. I guess that's a good enough reason to iron in right there." Right again Al.

IMO one uses an iron because it makes the job easier. you get a super-smooth surface that lasts longer in a shorter amount of time.

Thanks Canna, are you scraping like with glide wax?

Not wanting to butt in here for Canna, but don't want to leave the question hanging either, so my take on it: If you're using the polar for glide, scrape after hot wax. I'd do two applications; wax and scrape the first (and brush, if convenient... but not a necessity). Wax, scrape (brush optional again), and cork smooth the second.

If it's cold enough that polar will be both your grip and glide du jour, I'd do two coats again. Same as above for the first. Second coat you could either just crayon on and cork, or, you could hot wax over the first (kinda light coat), and just clean up the edges and sidewalls and go.

I use an iron to hot wax Swix Polar grip wax when I am using it as full-length- or heel-to-tip base.
(I crayon and cork Polar when I am using it as a kick wax).

I hot wax Polar for a number of reasons:
1) better wax absorption/retention.
2) better finishing/polishing
3) I actually find I waste less than when I have tried to cork the entire base.

Whether I scrape and polish Polar depends on snow conditions-
The harder, colder and drier the snow- the more I scrape and polish Polar.
Warmer than -20C I simply melt- let it cool- and then buff with cork.