FasterSkier

Author: Chris Hecker

  • From the World Cup Wax Truck – Awesome Weekend for US Ski Team

    From the World Cup Wax Truck – Awesome Weekend for US Ski Team

    The Davos Switzerland cross-country world cup weekend is in the books. It was a great one for the US Ski Team.  Rosie Brennan won both the sprint and the distance races, claiming both the overall World Cup leader bib and the Sprint Cup bib all in the same weekend.  On top of Rosie’s success, the young skier’s team had a breakout weekend with JC Schoonmaker qualifying for the sprints in fifth and Scott Patterson finishing the distance day in 16th.  Although the Scandinavian teams were sitting out this weekend, many big-name sprinters and distance skiers were still in the race.

    Behind the scenes, the waxing was really good and we ended up making some of the fastest skis in the competition both Saturday and Sunday.  We had ample testing time leading up to the races over the weekend and our techs combined have experience with multiple different brands, and the team utilized many of these.  We tested up to 20 different powders, blocks and liquids, leaving us with 60+ products tested, not including hand structure.

    Conditions were a bit tricky with the snow coming in. In Davos, the new snow is incredibly dry, making it challenging to settle on just one product or even one type of a product.  We used colder dry waxes, we used warm dry waxes and we used wet condition products as well.  Having a cohesive and knowledgeable tech group, we were able to build on our fast skis in the morning competitions and make them better in the afternoon.

    Period one of racing will finish in Dresden this week, but I will be heading home for some rest before a big string of races on the Tour de Ski starting January 1st.  From there, we will travel up to Scandinavia for race weekends in Finland and Sweden!  Until next time I hope everyone has a happy holiday and a good start to the new year!

  • From the World Cup Wax Truck – First Weekend in the Books

    From the World Cup Wax Truck – First Weekend in the Books

    The first weekend is in the books, and we can cross off a top 10, top 5, and technically a top 3 off of the to-do list.

    Being behind the scenes and waxing in the wax truck is a whole different perspective.  It is far more stressful but also incredibly fun.  I am mainly a part of the glide team and will help with testing, picking, and applying waxes for any given day.

    The conditions in Ruka for kick were extremely easy, and we ended up running on a hard wax binder with a purple/violet hard wax.  It gave us plenty of kick without compromising the glide, and the athletes were very happy both days with the kick options.

    The glide side of things, however, was a little more difficult.  With the colder, new snow underneath our groomed snow, a lot of moisture was coming up through the snow the more it was skied on. This changed the snow from really dry in the morning to glazed and wet in the afternoon.  We often tested before the races and then in between the races, changing from cold dry waxes in the morning to warmer wet waxes for the second part of the day.

    Athletes seemed to be really happy with the glide and kick all weekend and we have had numerous athletes saying they were able to roll up or drop other skiers on many of the downhills, which is always a good feeling on the first weekend of racing.

    I would not have been able to get through the weekend without the help of the other guys on our wax tech staff.  Everyone one of us brings some really skilled knowledge, and we are a team that will always listen to opinions and suggestions.  We collectively make the decisions on both glide and kick, and it is really fun to be with a team that wins and loses together.

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    We are already in Davos, Switzerland preparing for the next world cup races two weekends from now, and we will start testing later in the week for athletes’ skis and also testing some of the future non-fluoro waxes!

  • Chris Hecker Checks-In From Ruka

    Chris Hecker Checks-In From Ruka

    It’s Chris Hecker again checking in from Ruka, Finland where we will have our opening world cup races this coming weekend. Ruka has notoriously been raced on artificial snow mixed with stored snow. In Europe, multiple places will store snow underground during summer so that when winter comes around they can dig out the snow and create a ski track for racers of all abilities. We arrived as a team on November 19th and have been prepping our wax truck during the day and battling jet lag by night. For some, a full night’s sleep is easy to find, but for me, it is always a disaster coming to Europe.

    Prepping the truck consists of a lot of things starting with organizing athletes’ skis and ending with flex testing and prepping the 2021 models skis. We have had our hands on the new skis already and let me tell you that on the racing side of things there is always something coming down the pipeline. The two companies that I work hand in hand with this season are Fischer and Rossignol, both of which are on the top end of cutting edge technology, and have predominantly the best racing brands in the world.

    That being said I wholeheartedly believe that every ski brand makes a quality ski and the most important part of which skis you should pick is not based on the name but more on your body weight and your preference/style of skiing. I hope to share some of my experiences with you all this winter and keep you updated as to what is new in the world cup season.