Wax for dirty snow?

[Lynx]

Anyone have suggestions on wax for dirt-covered snow?

I was pondering wax for sand boarding, but obviously not exactly the same... and some quick and dirty research (pun intended) got me to graphite wax and/or molybdenum wax, with latter possibly being favored for the spring snow w/ dirt.

Wondering if anyone has real world experience waxing for dirt covered snow (now that dust storms are regular spring-thing in the mountain west)? Trying to take advantage of the 900" leftovers around LCC, and the slow dirt sure is... something.

[Marshal Olson]

Toko Black w/ DLC as the best budget friendly option

[SB]

Spring solution by Hertel

[wra]

I've been using summer slush.

[AZskibum]

As you mentioned, you want a dry lubricant in your wax. Skis normally truck by moving water down the channels from tip to tail, gliding on the water layer between skis and snow crystals.

Pollen/dust/soot fucks that up by creating static charge and covering your hydrophobic base material and preventing water from moving down the channels. AKA, you stick to the snow via charge and water suction.

You got the right idea with Graphite/MoS2. Graphite and Moly shear away and keep you moving on the solids, while preventing static buildup. But one more thing you can do in the spring: Clean your bases with a hot scrape. Put on your cheapest warmest temp wax like normal, but then scrape off the wax before it cools. The hot wax will get scrapped off and peel/suck all the dirt away with it. Then, wax with a graphite wax or a warm temp/graphite wax mix. There is some debate whether colder or warmer waxes are better when the corn snow comes, mainly because the corn snow will shred soft/warm waxes with it's rough crystalline structure.

I'm cheap, so I like mixing a block of Pearl Black and Pearl Yellow on the ski this time of year

Oh, and wax every day when the corn comes.

[detrusor]

At mt hood weve been using swix blue. Hard as fuck to protect the base and last. Slides ok on the wet

[arild]

At mt hood weve been using swix blue. Hard as fuck to protect the base and last. Slides ok on the wet

Ps/ch6?

I'm a big fan of blending in graphite for dirty/wet snow.

support the raddest project going: http://heritagelabskis.com

[singlesline]

Did some summer skiing on Mt Hood recently and I thought the combo of a pretty hard Toko universal (that I hate because I find it harder to scrape than others) with some Purl black graphite did a pretty good job both sliding and not wearing down unreasonably fast on the dirty+abrasive snow.

Went with the universal instead of warm temp wax despite the high air temps as I thought the harder wax would hold up better to the nasty snow up there.

[detrusor]

Yeah ch6. Didn’t waste the graphite

[stuckathuntermtn]

Use a little graphite wax. Not a lot, because it can be gritty.
One Ball graphite wax has a lot in it, so I just rub and cork it in before using another wax.
Purl seems less gritty, so I drip a little on.
Then I use slush wax in the spring or cold temp wax in January.
Also, make sure you're base has good structure. Makes a big difference to me.