I don’t normally look to Wired as an authority on skiing, but I learned a lot about ski tuning from this article about waxing racing skis.
Key Points of Interest:
The base of every pair of skis in unique, even 10 pairs of Fat Luvs fresh from the factory, depending on factors like how the ski was cured.
The base has a specific structure or fingerprint, like “the treads of a tire.” Its job is to shed the melt water that’s created with the ski slides over snow as quickly as possible.
Wax penetrates through the pores in the skis and is lovingly applied in multiple layers (Ok, I knew that.) But listen to this…Once a ski is deemed fast, it gets another special coat of wax:
“Instead of the standard wax, a fluorocarbon wax is used. The negative charge of the fluorine ions in the wax help to repel water and dirt more effectively, much like Teflon (a fluorocarbon resin) does.”
The base is finished in a layer of pure fluorocarbon (powder or solid) just before race-time based on the temp and moisture level of the snow. Fluorocarbons are “insanely slippery,” which is why these racers are so damn fast on flats.
