One wax for every type of snow? You can't be serious!
We don't do this very often in our articles, but today we're going to take a stand against an entire category of kick waxes. The so-called universal kick waxes.
Fortunately, this isn't a particularly large group of products. Nevertheless, the embarrassment they bring upon kick waxing, at least in my opinion, would be enough to make several rather impressive coats.
Why such a harsh and uncompromising attitude?
To understand why I find the very idea of a universal kick wax so foolish, we need to take a little detour first.
And talk about snow.
Snow. One Word, Infinitely Many Forms.
Snow.
One simple word describing an almost inexhaustible variety of shapes, structures and continuous transformations, driven by a practically endless combination of weather conditions and other influences.
There's a familiar story that Inuit people have countless different words for snow. Linguistically, the reality is somewhat more complicated, but the underlying point remains: people who live with snow know very well that snow is not just one single thing.
The rest of us, fortunately, have our wonderful sense of order.
We use it to organize the cosmic chaos that probably frightens us far too much to attempt to understand it as it truly is.
And so we try to classify snow and its countless forms into tidy, manageable categories.
We might begin with new snow, or freshly fallen snow.
But even the category of “new snow” contains an astonishing range of possibilities.
One kind of fresh snow falls at temperatures close to freezing, when large, heavy flakes drift down from the sky, formed by clusters of smaller snow crystals.
Completely different fresh snow falls at temperatures far below freezing, when fragile crystals with sharp edges and beautifully defined shapes float through the air.
And as if that weren't enough, snow begins to change almost immediately after it forms and settles on the ground.
Fragile crystals break, deform and rearrange themselves. They respond to temperature, temperature gradients, moisture, sunlight, wind and mechanical loading.
Some crystals become rounded. Others retain their sharp outlines for a while. Snow may compact, form larger aggregates, become wetter or remain extremely dry and brittle.
Sometimes it rustles pleasantly beneath your skis.
Sometimes it squeaks, crunches or even cracks.
And yes, we're still talking about new or relatively freshly fallen snow.
Does anyone still believe that this entire range of shapes, structures and transformations can be reliably handled by one single substance?
If so, they're either completely mad or have looked so far behind the curtain of human knowledge that everyone will consider them mad anyway.
Universal Wax? For Absolutely Everything?
Yet universal kick waxes often don't restrict their claims to just one category of snow.
Some promise to work across an astonishingly wide range of conditions.
From fresh, fine-grained snow through old, transformed snow to coarse-grained or icy surfaces.
From freezing powder snow to wet spring snow.
And these very conditions may require fundamentally different properties from the kick-wax layer.
Sometimes we need a relatively hard wax; at other times, something soft and compliant. Under certain conditions, the mechanical engagement of sharp snow crystals is essential. Under others, adhesion, viscoelastic behavior or liquid water play a significant role.
And so I can't help feeling that some universal waxes are trying to play God.
And false prophets have always been driven out with a whip...
All right. Before we start driving anyone out, perhaps we should explain one more little thing.
How is a good kick wax actually supposed to work?
Good Kick Wax: Grip, but Don't Stick!
We apply kick wax to the grip zone of classic cross-country skis to achieve a reliable kick that allows us to move forward.
Unfortunately, a good kick depends on a whole range of different factors.
Ski stiffness, length and camber. The skier's body weight. Kick technique. The length and position of the grip zone. The condition and structure of the snow.
And, of course, choosing the right kick wax.
Many of these factors are difficult for beginners to influence.
Which makes it even more important to focus on those they can control.
And choosing the right kick wax is one of them.
In principle, anyone who can read and write should be capable of that.
Or at least anyone who can read. 😀
But how does good kick wax work?
During the kick, when the skier sufficiently loads one ski and presses its grip zone against the snow, the contact between snow and wax must provide enough resistance to prevent backward slipping.
During the following glide, however, we want that same contact to offer as little resistance to forward movement as possible.
In simple terms:
During the kick, the wax must grip. During the glide, it must let go.
And that is where the magic happens.
With harder kick waxes and suitable types of snow, sharp snow crystals can penetrate the wax layer and become mechanically engaged within it.
When the ski is unloaded, this contact must release easily enough.
If the wax is too hard and the snow crystals cannot engage effectively during the kick, the ski slips backward.
If the wax is too soft or sticky, it may create excessive resistance during the glide.
Under certain conditions, snow can also accumulate on the wax, forming those delightful frozen lumps beneath the ski.
With klisters and wet or transformed snow, the mechanism becomes more complex. Alongside mechanical interactions, the adhesive and viscoelastic properties of the grip layer play an important role.
But the fundamental requirement remains unchanged.
A reliable kick combined with as little interference with glide as possible.
Two requirements that partially contradict each other.
And between them, we're trying to find the best possible compromise.
One Wax Against Infinitely Many Types of Snow
Now imagine once again our nearly infinite variety of snow conditions.
Fresh snow with sharp crystals.
Old, fine-grained snow.
Coarse-grained, transformed snow.
Hard, icy surfaces.
Wet spring snow saturated with water.
And let's add different temperatures, humidity levels, mechanical loads and continuous changes in snow structure over the course of a single day.
Now please explain how one single wax formulation could achieve the optimal balance between kick and glide under all these conditions.
How can the same material simultaneously be hard enough for one set of conditions, soft enough for another and sufficiently adhesive and viscoelastic for a third?
Of course, we can develop a wax that performs acceptably across a certain relatively broad range of snow conditions.
That's a perfectly legitimate engineering objective.
And sometimes a very useful one.
But an acceptable compromise is not the same as an optimal solution.
And versatility within a defined range of conditions certainly doesn't mean universality across every imaginable type of snow.
That's why I consider blind faith in universal kick waxes rather foolish.
Anyone expecting one single wax to provide equally reliable grip and excellent glide on fresh powder, an icy crust and water-saturated spring snow is either extraordinarily optimistic...
...or manufactures universal kick waxes.
Although I rather suspect even the manufacturers don't truly believe it.
The Exception That Proves the Rule?
To be fair, however, I must mention one product that I certainly wouldn't condemn merely because it has the word “Universal” in its name.
RODE Universal Multigrade Klister.
Under certain conditions, a truly excellent klister.
It can work extremely well across a relatively broad range of transformed, coarse-grained or damp snow conditions.
And that is precisely the point.
It isn't some miraculous substance capable of solving every imaginable snow condition.
It's a high-quality product designed for a particular, albeit fairly broad, range of applications.
And that is something entirely different.
In fact, if we wanted to be perfectly consistent, almost every kick wax is universal to some extent.
After all, no wax works exclusively at one precisely defined temperature, humidity level and snow structure.
The difference lies in how broad its useful operating range is and what compromise between kick and glide it makes along the way.
So Why Shouldn't We Use Universal Kick Waxes?
Because snow isn't universal.
Because conditions are constantly changing.
And because good kick wax must match the actual condition of the snow, not merely an attractive word printed on the packaging.
If a universal wax works well under your particular conditions, there's absolutely no reason to reject it.
But if you expect it to provide reliable kick and excellent glide under every imaginable set of conditions, you're probably heading for an unpleasant surprise sooner or later.
Perhaps on the very first climb.
Or perhaps on the very first descent.
A wax doesn't have to be universal. It has to be the right one.
And true universality that works absolutely everywhere?
For now, I'll leave that to the gods.
And the manufacturers of universal kick waxes. 😀