Wax, what's that?

Ok, let's learn about wax types. This is a rarely covered topic among snowboarders. Keep in mind here, I am not a ski racer. Waxing techniques can get very in depth and complicated. I just like to go fast and hate losing speed across the flats. You might be wondering, "how important is this?" First of all, your base is pourous, and will dry out if not waxed on a regular basis. When you see the bottom look fuzzy or the dark colors start to look faded, you probably need to wax. Secondly, do you like being passed by every skier on the flats? Me neither.




Sidebar: Boards generally have one of two types of bases; extruded or sintered. Extruded bases are softer in density (slower), easier to repair, don't hold as much wax, and are less expensive than sintered bases. Since sintered bases hold much more wax, it is more important to maintain them, so they do not dry out. Typically, boards over $400 will have sintered bases. This post is more focused on the sintered base. I'll get into base material more thoroughly in a base- specific post later.




Wax can be really confusing, as there are many types available at greatly varied costs, with lots of confusing names. In actuality, they all very similar. The main thing to look for in a good wax is one that is flourinated. Flourocarbons are expensive stuff. If a basic bar of wax is say $10, a bar the same size that is low flourinated might run you around $25, and a high flouro bar could be $75 or more. The high flouro stuff, because of the price, is pretty much just for racing. Or, if you have a ton of cash to blow on something like this. I like the brand Toko, because they don't use a lot of odd terminology. Everything is labeled well. There is a very noticable difference in speed between regular wax and a flourinated wax. The one other technical wax is molybdenum, which is similar to graphite in that it helps reduce static electricity and friction.





So, what to do with all this info? Get yourself a grey moly wax, and some low flouro bars in a few temperature ranges. Matching wax to snow temperature makes for a much faster ride than just using all temp wax. Cover the entire base with the moly, use the correct temp wax for the entire base, and then use a colder temp wax along the two edges of the board. (since you put the most pressure on your edges, the harder wax here holds up longer). That's it. That's my trick to a fast glide. Like I said, flourinated wax is much faster than a regular hydrocarbon wax, but even regular wax applied with this technique will make for a much faster board than most shop tunes. Next time I'll go over how to properly apply these waxes for maximum speed.