Anyone for ski-ing at Hemel 11/10? + Wax tips
Friday, October 2, 2009 at 14:27 Come and test out the snow at Hemel Snow Centre - join Club members at the cross country ski-ing session organised by Heathley Clarke 0700-0830 [you can have a lie-on on Saturday!]. It's an opportunity to practice your uphill and downhill skills. Cost: £15.00. You'll need your own kit, skating or classic.
Here are Heathley's wax tips for Hemel:
Skating: Toko Yellow/Red; Swix LF7, or paste/spray equivalents if you have them.
Classic, I've been using Griptape so far, which works most of the time, apart from near the top of the slope which needs more of a Herringbone run than uphill diagonal stride!
Other than that, for Gripwax, Toko Blue or Swix Blue mixed with Blue Extra or Violet. Alternatively, I tested Swix Universal Klister a few weeks ago, and that worked equally well, simply due to the hard snow crystals, and the need for more significant adhesive properties.
Please contact Heathley if you've got any questions about the session: nordicskiandwalk@yahoo.co.uk or 07973 855461 .
Add a comment to let us know if you're coming.
Reader Comments (3)
Hello, regarding waxing for snow centers, as the snow / ice comes out of the machines is at a very cold temp, -10 and below, and the floor of the ski centers is refigerated to about -5 to hold the snow you should wax with a blue / green wax. Most of the snow in these cneters is not snow as you know, most is called flake ice, very hard and very cold.
It may only be about -3 in the center, but test the snow. I am working on a new ski center in Australia at the moment with all weather snow making machines. Toko, Swix and a few others do make wax for in door snow.
Still snow in OZ, back in a few weeks.
Alan
Hi Alan thanks for this comment. I tried Swix LF7 on my skating skis & had good enough glide for working uphill & downhill on the training slope. I wondered if it was necessary to use the LF rather than cheaper HF but as this was what they'd been stored with & I didn't have time to do more than scrape & brush off ...
It stayed on well but maybe I didn't work hard enough!
Hi all, Skating or Classic at the Hemel Snow Centre has recently improved thanks to the removal of the Children's play area, which dominated the middle of the slope!!
Waxing, updated advice is that Holmenkol Hydro Red, mixed with a little Holmenkol Indoor wax is best for the aggressive snow crystals. For Classic, Swix Universal Klister is the best all-round option for practising those vital uphill running skills!
The Sunday morning sessions are now the most popular, with many newcomers eager to develop their snow skills, and not only with track skis, but now also with Touring skis and boots.
Watch out too for some exciting developments at BASI, with regard Nordic.
Hope to see you on the snow at Hemel sometime for free performance coaching.
Heathley
BASI Nordic Director, and BASI Nordic ISIA