Category: XCFeeds

We made it to Falun, Sweden, for the Masters World Cup. A bit of a rocky start, as the airline lost one of my bags in Chicago, so I spent the first day here skiing in the same clothes I had worn for about 24 hours of travel. Tried to not go too hard, as I had no dry clothes to change into. Of course my ski boots were in my carry on, so I was covered there.

Here is the view from our hotel room window. That is a sport community college in the foreground, a ski jump in the background. The race stadium is at the base of the jump, behind the college, a 5 minute walk from home.

Bandy practice (a Swedish game similar to hockey) after school on an outdoor rink. All part of the sport complex, and a great way to walk home after the ski, to the sound of skates and sticks.

A street in downtown Falun. The little we have seen so far we like a lot. Bikes, sleds, pedestrians, and everywhere snow. It is about a 15 minute walk, so I might not get there everyday. Lazy, I know.

My wife, Stefani, at the base of the jump after our first ski on the course. The course is beautiful, through forests of pines with rolling hills. Coverage is great, a mix of abrasive fresh snow and manmade snow. It is fairly squeaky snow, and race air temperature for my first race, a 30K classic on Saturday, will be around 5F. Tomorrow I will prep skis with Toko Nordlite Powder X-Cold.

We made it to Falun, Sweden, for the Masters World Cup. A bit of a rocky start, as the airline lost one of my bags in Chicago, so I spent the first day here skiing in the same clothes I had worn for about 24 hours of travel. Tried to not go too hard, as I had no dry clothes to change into. Of course my ski boots were in my carry on, so I was covered there.

Here is the view from our hotel room window. That is a sport community college in the foreground, a ski jump in the background. The race stadium is at the base of the jump, behind the college, a 5 minute walk from home.

Bandy practice (a Swedish game similar to hockey) after school on an outdoor rink. All part of the sport complex, and a great way to walk home after the ski, to the sound of skates and sticks.

A street in downtown Falun. The little we have seen so far we like a lot. Bikes, sleds, pedestrians, and everywhere snow. It is about a 15 minute walk, so I might not get there everyday. Lazy, I know.

My wife, Stefani, at the base of the jump after our first ski on the course. The course is beautiful, through forests of pines with rolling hills. Coverage is great, a mix of abrasive fresh snow and manmade snow. It is fairly squeaky snow, and race air temperature for my first race, a 30K classic on Saturday, will be around 5F. Tomorrow I will prep skis with Toko Nordlite Powder X-Cold.

Hi All- after my non blog a couple weeks back I thought I’d actually write something, and hopefully this will be of value for skiers/waxers/coaches who train and race in the Intermountain or Rocky Mountain West.

Last weekend was the Moose Chase, our local ski marathon in Jackson Hole. The course is a two lap affair held at Trail Creek Ranch, a wooded, hilly course that sits on a forested bench at 65oo at the base of Teton Pass. The weather clearing skies with intermittent snow showers mixed with wind and blowing powder in the open fields near the start and finish. Temps were in the high 20’s to low 30’s.

I posted the wax tip two days prior, and stuck with our old standby, HF Red/Blue mix, covered with Jetstream Blue, and minimal structure on the skis. As temps continued to rise prior to race time I fielded numerous questions from racers if I was “sticking to the wax tip”, and asking whether I actually waxed the same as the tip, implying that I should wax warmer along with climbing temps. What I waxed with was the tip, on both pairs of my race skis, which are Atomics with a CVO Nordic Ultra tune grind, a minimal, broken linear structure good for universal conditions.

Arriving at Trail Creek to test at 9am temps were already in the high 20’s , and yet the snow remained full powder in the shade, and only slightly greasy in the sun. As I watched racers apply structure with rilling tools, and go to their warmer skis, anticipating transforming snow, I went to warm up in the woods and was further convinced of full colder powder conditions. I confirmed this with Jason Travis, a TTT teammate, who also found his “cold” skis running the best with Jetstream Blue.

I’ve been racing now for over 30 years, all over the world, and I am continually surprised at how cold and powdery the snow remains at high altitude western races, especially marathon distances. Except in the case of rainfall, or snow falling in the high 30’s, low 40’s, and wet sticky snow on the tracks, I always find my cold skis, minimimally structured running fast. Last week at the Boulder Mountain Tour we were reminded of this again, as overnight lows surprised weather forecasters by plummeting to below zero, and the track was cold squeeky powder almost the whole 32 km. Many racers overwaxed based on warm snow falling the previous day, and now in the Moose Chase the temptation to go with warm skis, and more structure was even more prevalent as actual temps rose above freezing.

From the onset of the race both my skis, and Jason’s were fast, and though as we raced through sunshine, shady woods, and over and through Moose droppings (there is no wax made for that!), we found our skis consistent with or better than the competition. I am fully convinced (again), and reminded that we can save skiers a lot of headache (and brutally slow skis) by continuing to reassure them of our time tested experience in the Rocky Mountains, and to go with our gut instinct that colder waxes, and HF Blue/Red and Jetstream (Blue) is the safest best in the West.

Tonight I’ll give a wax clinic at Skinny Skis, and many racers will be preparing for both the upcoming Birkie and the West Yellowstone Rendezvous marathons. I’m going to focus on the basics of fast skis;

#1- get a flex that fits your weight and ablility
#2- have your skis ground by professionals with a universal cold grind (for Western Skiers)
#3- invest in the simple Toko system of proven waxes with wide temp ranges
#4- learn how to use your brushes and other tools to ensure full removal of all the wax from the structure.

I hope other TTT members will concur that we can feel confident in our colder wax line, and we can help the skiing public be confident in having fast skis with our wax recommendations. We are doing a great service to keep them away from warmer waxes and aggressive grinds in our cold, dry Rocky Mountain snow.

Good luck and see you on the tracks. Erich

(ps- I felt strong at the Moose Chase and pulled away from Jason near the end. Jason’s wife Inge won the women’s division easily, and Toko skiers dominated the podium)

Hi All- after my non blog a couple weeks back I thought I’d actually write something, and hopefully this will be of value for skiers/waxers/coaches who train and race in the Intermountain or Rocky Mountain West.

Last weekend was the Moose Chase, our local ski marathon in Jackson Hole. The course is a two lap affair held at Trail Creek Ranch, a wooded, hilly course that sits on a forested bench at 65oo at the base of Teton Pass. The weather clearing skies with intermittent snow showers mixed with wind and blowing powder in the open fields near the start and finish. Temps were in the high 20’s to low 30’s.

I posted the wax tip two days prior, and stuck with our old standby, HF Red/Blue mix, covered with Jetstream Blue, and minimal structure on the skis. As temps continued to rise prior to race time I fielded numerous questions from racers if I was “sticking to the wax tip”, and asking whether I actually waxed the same as the tip, implying that I should wax warmer along with climbing temps. What I waxed with was the tip, on both pairs of my race skis, which are Atomics with a CVO Nordic Ultra tune grind, a minimal, broken linear structure good for universal conditions.

Arriving at Trail Creek to test at 9am temps were already in the high 20’s , and yet the snow remained full powder in the shade, and only slightly greasy in the sun. As I watched racers apply structure with rilling tools, and go to their warmer skis, anticipating transforming snow, I went to warm up in the woods and was further convinced of full colder powder conditions. I confirmed this with Jason Travis, a TTT teammate, who also found his “cold” skis running the best with Jetstream Blue.

I’ve been racing now for over 30 years, all over the world, and I am continually surprised at how cold and powdery the snow remains at high altitude western races, especially marathon distances. Except in the case of rainfall, or snow falling in the high 30’s, low 40’s, and wet sticky snow on the tracks, I always find my cold skis, minimimally structured running fast. Last week at the Boulder Mountain Tour we were reminded of this again, as overnight lows surprised weather forecasters by plummeting to below zero, and the track was cold squeeky powder almost the whole 32 km. Many racers overwaxed based on warm snow falling the previous day, and now in the Moose Chase the temptation to go with warm skis, and more structure was even more prevalent as actual temps rose above freezing.

From the onset of the race both my skis, and Jason’s were fast, and though as we raced through sunshine, shady woods, and over and through Moose droppings (there is no wax made for that!), we found our skis consistent with or better than the competition. I am fully convinced (again), and reminded that we can save skiers a lot of headache (and brutally slow skis) by continuing to reassure them of our time tested experience in the Rocky Mountains, and to go with our gut instinct that colder waxes, and HF Blue/Red and Jetstream (Blue) is the safest best in the West.

Tonight I’ll give a wax clinic at Skinny Skis, and many racers will be preparing for both the upcoming Birkie and the West Yellowstone Rendezvous marathons. I’m going to focus on the basics of fast skis;

#1- get a flex that fits your weight and ablility
#2- have your skis ground by professionals with a universal cold grind (for Western Skiers)
#3- invest in the simple Toko system of proven waxes with wide temp ranges
#4- learn how to use your brushes and other tools to ensure full removal of all the wax from the structure.

I hope other TTT members will concur that we can feel confident in our colder wax line, and we can help the skiing public be confident in having fast skis with our wax recommendations. We are doing a great service to keep them away from warmer waxes and aggressive grinds in our cold, dry Rocky Mountain snow.

Good luck and see you on the tracks. Erich

(ps- I felt strong at the Moose Chase and pulled away from Jason near the end. Jason’s wife Inge won the women’s division easily, and Toko skiers dominated the podium)

The Susitna 100 is a 100-mile run, ski, or bike race in Alaska, following a portion of the Iditarod trail. You are required to have 15 pounds of gear with you at all times, not including consumable food and 2 liters of water. If you pull a sled, that weight doesn’t count either. The trail is ungroomed by nordic standards, and is oftentimes only one snowmobile width across. A skier can expect uneven terrain, small burms, and varying snow conditions. With the advent of the fat-tired bicycle, bikers are able to ride through even softer snow than ever before. In hard conditions a bike will beat skis, but when things start getting soft (new snow ro warm temps.) the bikes start digging in while skis can still glide across. This race is a combination of fitness, conditions, and equipment. This year was an exceptionally close race.

A week prior, I had held a waxing clinic specifically for this type of race. The focus for waxing is durability and varying snow conditions and temperatures. Temps. can vary from 0-30F during the race, and snow can vary from churned up and dirty to fresh powder to wind-blown semi-crust- all in one day!

This year, despite unseasonably warm temps (20-30F), I stuck with the tried and true- HF blue (thermobagged), LF Moly lightly brushed (for the dirty parts), HF blue covered with Jetstream blue (ironed) and Jetstream blue (rotocorked). It’s hard to convince people (sometimes even myself) to wax this hard for such warm temps., but for this long of a race durable skis will beat out skis that are slightly faster in the beginning.

This year started off rough- still fighting a head cold and rolling my sled 3 times in the first 5 miles- setting me behind all the other skiers and quite a few bikers on the narrow trails. By the first checkpointat 22 miles, the lead bikers were barely in sight and heading toward firmer, more heavily traveled snowmobile routes. Heading up 15 miles of the Susitna and Yentna Rivers, I could catch glimpses of the bikes still 15-20 minutes ahead. As we headed north and left the rivers toward the turnaround checkpoint, the snow got a little deeper and I was able to slowly reel the bikes in. The snow that fell the week prior must have been dry, because despite the warm temps. it was a little squeaky and sandy (soft) feeling. It took about 50 miles to catch up with the lead bikes and take the front.

Here’s where strategy comes in: gain as much lead as you can while the conditions favor you without over-doing it and running out of energy. With a tailwind and heading downriver on the return, I was able to keep an 8-9 minute lead on the bikes as I headed to the last checkpoint (mile 85). With about 1 mile of (bike-pushing) soft trail on a lake before the final 14 miles of (bike-favorable and firm) snowmobile highway before the finish, I made my escape across the lake, and pushed it hard to the finish trying to keep their headlamps out of sight.

The Susitna 100 is a 100-mile run, ski, or bike race in Alaska, following a portion of the Iditarod trail. You are required to have 15 pounds of gear with you at all times, not including consumable food and 2 liters of water. If you pull a sled, that weight doesn’t count either. The trail is ungroomed by nordic standards, and is oftentimes only one snowmobile width across. A skier can expect uneven terrain, small burms, and varying snow conditions. With the advent of the fat-tired bicycle, bikers are able to ride through even softer snow than ever before. In hard conditions a bike will beat skis, but when things start getting soft (new snow ro warm temps.) the bikes start digging in while skis can still glide across. This race is a combination of fitness, conditions, and equipment. This year was an exceptionally close race.

A week prior, I had held a waxing clinic specifically for this type of race. The focus for waxing is durability and varying snow conditions and temperatures. Temps. can vary from 0-30F during the race, and snow can vary from churned up and dirty to fresh powder to wind-blown semi-crust- all in one day!

This year, despite unseasonably warm temps (20-30F), I stuck with the tried and true- HF blue (thermobagged), LF Moly lightly brushed (for the dirty parts), HF blue covered with Jetstream blue (ironed) and Jetstream blue (rotocorked). It’s hard to convince people (sometimes even myself) to wax this hard for such warm temps., but for this long of a race durable skis will beat out skis that are slightly faster in the beginning.

This year started off rough- still fighting a head cold and rolling my sled 3 times in the first 5 miles- setting me behind all the other skiers and quite a few bikers on the narrow trails. By the first checkpointat 22 miles, the lead bikers were barely in sight and heading toward firmer, more heavily traveled snowmobile routes. Heading up 15 miles of the Susitna and Yentna Rivers, I could catch glimpses of the bikes still 15-20 minutes ahead. As we headed north and left the rivers toward the turnaround checkpoint, the snow got a little deeper and I was able to slowly reel the bikes in. The snow that fell the week prior must have been dry, because despite the warm temps. it was a little squeaky and sandy (soft) feeling. It took about 50 miles to catch up with the lead bikes and take the front.

Here’s where strategy comes in: gain as much lead as you can while the conditions favor you without over-doing it and running out of energy. With a tailwind and heading downriver on the return, I was able to keep an 8-9 minute lead on the bikes as I headed to the last checkpoint (mile 85). With about 1 mile of (bike-pushing) soft trail on a lake before the final 14 miles of (bike-favorable and firm) snowmobile highway before the finish, I made my escape across the lake, and pushed it hard to the finish trying to keep their headlamps out of sight.