Not born on skis, but may well die on them.....

This year in south Norway has been a big let down for xc skiing near to the coast after a run of brilliant years.

Firstly too much snow: the machine drivers are volunteers here and so they were too busy "måking" snow away from their homes and businesses to get out before there was well over a meter of powder onto a barely frozen ground.

Little chance to try out new improvements to technique and waxing when conditions were kick sucking and  pole eatingly soft. More on my experiments later.

Then it melted and froze and melted again only to be really hard. Today finally a combination of mild air followed by a cold front baring snow loosened things up, but i was confronted by more or less abandoned trails and the becks were dissolving away their ice bridges merrily. A big bald patch or two at plumb down hill turns had me finding the hard old sketchy base and my skis followed what ever scores and ruts there were to land me on my posterior.

Waxing was seemingly obvious universal clister due to a hard base with wet snow on top, and a no brainer with clister on green already on. It prove to be okay on the hard flat, with glide getting going once the initial cladding of loose snow.wore off. But up hill prove to clad up and then there ended up being more clister on the ends of the kick zone and beyond whcih destroyed glide. I reapplied with the same result.

So it was a real slugging match today which took away most of the confidence i had build up in ski control down hill. I did though get well over 2 hours done, so this could be a five hour week saved from zero after my ice rink run on the clister scraping local forrest tracks earlier this week.

My experiments today were then firstly with quick clister: spray and spread by swix. It went on thin and bubbley and the solvent took ages to leave a clister like tackyness even at room temperature. Worse out in minus one cee. Mini blow torch out and than.cured it down a bit. I reckon though that i was using way too much and that a single spray of a diameter right for one side spread as far as possible onto base binder clister or green would be worth experimenting with again, then building a pyramid towards mid sole. I ended up using a lot and employing the spatula and blow torch so what the hell, use a tube from your 100 kr kit box and avoid this product until i report back.

Secondly and more successfully: a 10cm shorter pole. I bought nice swix tapered alloy poles which are very racey looking to act as substitute the carbon racing 160s i have, which were a G Max on the spot deal in fact for them lacking alloy in my size. Carbon are long and dear to replace.

Shorter were in outset for family tours and harder conditions but also to train up on weight up and forward technique, placing the poles vertically near the tips. This i did get the feel of, and for touring with a pack then this would be a better length. Also for those uncertain days soft or rutted, pock marked hard , a shorter pole commits you less.

There seems to be a definite gap between racing style and touring casual , just waiting to be filled with tips and techniques for those who want to go faster and more efficiently without looking like peter northug wannabees.

Teaching XC skiing, Langrenn

Just to pick up on and earlier point or two, and make it into a bit of a plan for teaching beginners ........and wrong do-ers frankly, like me.

The point from before was that from outset both styles of xc skiing should be introduced. This is because i characterise correct, efficient classic technique as parallel skating ! The basic proviso being that skiers can learn 100% weight and balance committment to one leg better by doing some ski skating.

For me it was a break through to realise that there are two or three basic mistakes in classic that i make, and many many plodding tour skiers also make and perhaps stick to in defiance of being seen as fancy racing wannabees.

1) sliding and not striding.   Badly taught, i slid on skis like toddlers here do and dabbed out with my poles. I grew out of this but still have the problem like a brake pad on my efficiency. Skiing classic or skating is more a stride with an element of lunge in it on classic.

2) not pushing into the glide and holding on to it. Instead i had started kicking back and up, rather than down and across to the new leg, using the whole foot to push off and the new whole sole to land. Also i was terminating my glide too early just to fit my own proposed best rythmn.

I find that i do modulate my kick and land,  into toe-to-heel in softer conditions. In harder conditions i keep my vertical rise down. I wonder if these are even right?

3) being stiff and scared of one leg committment. This has been a b ig misconception from not being taught wellx, having people who can kind of preach the right way without being able to either see your mistakes or break down the  sub contents of the movements

4) excessive kicking and clapping the ski down

The ways i got over these problems were:

Knowing i was slow and inefficient and wanting to do something about it

Learning to off load one leg and rely on the other in various maneovres for example plough: i often found it mysteriously hard to go into plough but now i unload one ski to break parallel or get out the tracks and then the other follows or i can dab it out by unloading it too.

This is where skating comes in: step turning and lane changing are part of classic racing anyway and given a firm underbase with new snow on top you can skate pretty well on classic skis out the tramlines anyway.

Watching you tube : the weight committment to the new ski about to glide in diagonal is not until the foot is swung well forward and the knee is bent. This need not be very racey but it transforms the weight transfer and stride by elongating the projected , unloaded legs travel while making for a stable landing for the glide. It makes also for a natural transition out of glide to full up hill jogging and also out of diagonal striding into gliding with poling with added intermediate single side kicks.

Clapping skis down is the big symptom of not swinging the foot and knee of the new glide foot far enough forward for the speed. The clap is caused by the foot being brought down early with the ski at a greater angle to the snow, rather than the very shallow angle. In poor glide conditions or steeper hill, the stride may be a little shorter, but is still longer than clapping.

For the new beginner and casual motionist, this is still a valuable observation such that the actual aerobic effort can even b e reduced relative to making good progress in diagonal stride skiing.

So to teaching

The obvious means to teach better stride and glide is without poles, Keith Nicol has the best videos on youtube imho on these exercises. One first exercise he demonstrates is the single ski scooter. This can be then done with new beginners and upgraded by using an oversized ski with better glide or a gentle down hill.

I advocate then doing this out of the tramlines and going right into teaching some skating, before coming back into the tracks. In firmer conditions this may mean using combi boots and both types of ski if budget permits

An order may be then for what could be five days of three to five hours instruction per day:

boots on and jog, loosen off without skis.

Feel the balance of the ski itself on one foot, just how it reacts to being lifted and where it will point

Pad on the spot with two skis to further this.

Crab sideways no poles. Fish bone on very gentle up hill no poles

One ski off, scooter in the spor

Scooter on the middle of the tracks.

Light down hill with run out to run out on the flat. Maybe introduce poles. Walk back up the hill with skis and poles, repeat. Poling then to get speed on the first ten meters and going into full tuck.

Break

Jog and loosen off. Jog with skis on, out of the tracks no poles.

Walk up to a steeper hill with poles. Herring bone on this steeper hill (probably just a diagonal stride hill for experienced skiers)

Plough down and repeat a few times.

Then single leg plough technique.

Plough turn by weighting up the leg and edge.

Wide plough as possible from some speed to a stop if possible or a good bail out speed.

Getting up from deep snow or awkward falls.

Break / day 2

Jogging on skis again, going over to gliding more from the launch.

Skating technique on the flats  plus intro to step turn in and out of the tracks

Diagonal technique theory of spenn and stide

Diagonal training without poles, variuous short exercises in and out of the tracks.

Break

Planting your poles and using them to jog with.

Diagonal stride with and without poles, down hill to demonstrate glide.

Fine tuning the stride again to bringing the glide foot further forward.

Break

Jogging / diagonal up a long gentle gradient. Poling in the tracks down hill; repeat.

Skating with poles, single dance basic: flat, up hill and down hill.

Break /day 3

Quick bit of ski skating on a prepared run

Braking using single plough leg again, and skating out the track and into full plough to stop or avoid someone.

Steering in plough on a broad pisted beginner slope for slalom. Loading up the outside leg. Coming in and out of plough, varying plough.

Break

Diagonal practice out of spor and then up a longer gradient

Skiing tucked parallel out of the spor, wider leg, loading and sliding out tail of ski to steer down this long gradient.

Coming out of the spor into parallel wide stance and then plough to reduce speed, and standing up again then into tuck.

Break

Little more skating , gentle down hill or flat.

Diagonal: using the kick off, hip and shoe swing.

More of above diagonal exercises.

Break
Little more skating , double dancing intro.

Step turning round 180' flat turns. Step turning from a downhill in a broad area. Fast small step turns on same course.

Step turning/ skating out of and into the spor.

Break

Poling in the spor

Pole-kicking parellel in spor.

Herring bone up

Steeper downhills in the spor with corners

Steepest dowhill with full plough. Parallell alpine to plough stop for the better students in non icey condjtions

Break day 4

Skating, prolonging glide. Enhancing kick and using hips.

Skate start and then steer into the spor.

Prolonged flat - undulating skate

Break

Classic technique refresher and test of abilities

Tour of 5 - 10km using classic and braking techniques learned so far.

Break day 5

Loosen off, skate , jog etc

Step turning and some exercises on mobility on skis, handball , pick up thjings so on

Diagonal tour 5km with instructor video / observation

Playback discussion at cocoa Break

5 to 10 k with plough turn and step turn involved.

Skate to warm down.

Some fun, maybe laser ski shooting

====

Throughout you want to find pupils who are good at other sports such as of course downhill skiing or others like skateboarding and anyone who can skate or rollerbladde. They can lead demonstrate in scootering, downhill, plough and skating.

Also you need to pick out people who are learning fast but have a pronounced typical mistake while not stijgmatising the poorest in the group but rather working one to one more with them while the others practice.

Fun and agility is often overlooked for.mature adult courses and reserved for children, but a game of handball or relay pick up balls or blind folded stuff can lighten up thd day and make the participants loose their focus on their boots and theory.

For fit adults a longer tour with a cafe or refreshments laid on should be organised in the week. For a group with varied fitness who cannot be logistically split up, circuits should be used where the instructor can access and monitor any weaker or slower members without being separated from the whole group. Concentric courses are ideal, with a common point for refreshment with a view, cafe or shelter under the trees even. 

For schools with a range of equipment, the chance to try skating skis and fell-touring boots and skis should be offered later in the week. Also telemark and randonee skis should be shown in order to demonstrate the spectrum of activities opened up from the base learning.

If there is no natural chalet or hotel gathering afterwards at the centre, then drop any evening lectures or video playback but try to get the day's footage up on youtube and give out links to the likes of keith nichols excellent, simple you tube stuff.

Norsk Olympic XC Collapse

Poor old norway, not enjoying the lime light after a promising opening and quite unlikely to be on the podium in any xc and biathalon events to go.

There has been a crisis in waxing, the smørebu guys failed, but probably only a fraction. Maybe a couple of centimeters glide on the skating skis and a few bad kicks on classical skis. What they really failed on was to hold the confidence.

Bad waxing on classic kick zones is painful for even a tour in the woods, so in combination with a little bad feel with the choice of ski from dozens the top three norsk girls and guys have destroyed confidence.

The tension thus created has no doubt eaten into the confidence and the zone-feeling that the norwegians have ridden on in many competitions.

I think it is great that on the one hand some of the previous background players have been in medals and that other countries are able to peak and give the scandinavians a run for their own money and beat them at their own game.

Which Skis for XC? Is There a Formula? More myth and prejudice debusting

I'm sitting here watching the Winter Olympics 10k' womens classic XC langrenn, while here the rain merrily washes away the massive amounts of snow up to 400 m over sea level here.

Plenty time to read and get better from a bout of bronchitis (never had that before!) so I found a huge thread on a forum in Norway started by a Mamma blogger on what type of skis she should get?

Norsk shibboleths and prejudice abunded, while the odd peep from waxless fans was burried. The best advice is that if you have a dog then don't get steel edged skis, and hunters have a couple of favourite skis for back country as such.

Here then is my go, which I will later put in a table, a kind of disjointed flow chart here, on what type of skis you should buy as a newcomer or as an intermediate developing your style and ready to notch up your experience.

Reason for taking up skiing Defines Ski Type

Active Winter Cardio Training: you are fit from another sport and want to train hard on skis. Proviso is that you have access to well prepared trails and a good deal of fresh snow and minus degrees for the main season Jan-Mar or preferably longer.

Skis: Training ski package with good quality boots and bindings which are matched to the boot, such as atomic's system. Probably ordinary, smooth soled waxing skis. Examples- Madshus Lillehammer, Fischer Superlight/wax light and others from Rosignol and Solomon as well as atomic, but hold up there for:

Waxing: can't be bothered to wax? Try either Fischer RCS waxless or Atomic Skintec.

Icey, low level conditions: Try Fischer Steel lights if Fido stays at home, or the Lillehammer above which have a special reinforced edge underlay which looks like steel to me.

If you are serious , what about Racing Skis ? Well skis are relatively cheaper than mountain bikes for example use for use, so a complete set of skis, poles, boots, clothes could be had for around 1200 euros which is a mid level carbon mountain bike.

For the money you will get a set which are matched for your wieght and height, and also with some idea of your power when kicking. You will probably be started on a softer pre-loaded ski to make kicking easier.

My first ever tour on XC skis was on Fischer Carbon RCS wax fri- I fell over a bit, but the instructor kept me going and gave me some ok tips. Ploughing on the hard, old snow conditions that year at Geilo was pretty difficult. However much against my instructor's advice I managed 20km on my first day ever, being a too sore to move the next day from falls and slips!

If you have good conditions, little thawing and middles snowfall, as well as great prepared tracks which are undulating valley floor or mountain side, and you are serious then why not splash the cash on racing skis? Well you may end up breaking poles or skis or just as bad, grazing the soles if you can't stop at a car park or the likes.

Touring: Cabin  Visits in the Mountains, Family Tours, Longer semi prepared Tours with Pack:

Well of course touring skis are on the cards, but you can also consider the narrower mountain skis with steel edges such as Fischer E89 BC, Åsnes Vikefjell and Åsnes Holmekollen.    The fischer come in waxless too, while the Åsnes come with a short skin locking groove which for the purpose is pretty much as good if not better than waxless and means you can choose later.

Atomic have a range of touring skis with their very useful waxless Posigrip 3D grip technology : I had this on my first skis from them and it is pretty okay but I had to revert to clister on top in wet or icey conditions. The dearer skis are no doubt better and the technology is no doubt developed since 2003!

Remote Cabin Access and Making Your Own Tracks

Here you are into mountain touring skis and the newer randonee skis, also you may find skis called off piste-telemark. 


Personally I would opt for the latter because the modern, broad ski with side cut when combined with a telemark binding and boot make for a good deep snow mountain tour ski with easier progress on the walking stages and even some skating on the flat.

Randonee skis are taking the place of traditional mountain tour skis and telemark skis for the more adventourous and picking up thrill seekers who would never have considered cross country touring before, bums firmly on lift seats. The benefits of downhill control and comfort for both the new randonee and the new cuts in telemark off piste skis out-weigh the loss of fast flat touring ability. Combined with the excellent synthetic skins you are talking about a direct route up and an exciting run down.

Lighter langrenn-fjellski are okay for harder snow and tour routes where there are skidoos and other skiers blazing the trail for you. But for any deep snow and mountain tops you are talking the other two.

In fact I don't really see a place for traditional fjellski because so many people misuse them when a lighter, langrenn pre-bend would be a happier combination for prepared trails and easy terrain with packed or old snow.

Long Valley or Plateau Touring

Where fjell ski have a definite place is for longer tours over flatter terrain where as above you have a degree of trails being at least tramped down, and you can avoid deep snow for the most part.

A wide ski with steel edges and a sturdy boot and binding will make for weight distribution when carrying a pack, and will tackle any snow which has settled and firmed up.

Even here though, a british south pole was using Åsnes holmenkollen for training at least,  I must check up. These are a light, quite narrow mountain touring ski with a reduced steel edge and a shorter kicking pre-bend to increase efficiency over flat, hard terrain. Vikefjell or E89 are also a good type to look at in this ball park, but wider skis do have an advantage where a significant part of the tour will be on new snow or routes which are not driven with skidoos or many skiers.

Even your last couple of km to a private cabin (or first if you are using it as a base) could make the use of broader (55mm up) a better choice than a narrower ski for a mixed terrain and varying snow conditions tour with a heavier pack.

Misconceptions for the New Beginner and Intermediate XC Fitness skier

Going back over my own experiences with xc skiing and reading tonight through forum and expert- or shop- blog posts, I find an interesting way of looking at technique, training and equipment.

It is hard for a new beginner,  who is also new to Norway or actually even to snow, to  think about what type of skiing they are going to be doing. Really the question is what do you want to get out of your time skiing?

Think Both Inspirational and Perpspirational before you buy skis...

For me it was firstly about being in the high valleys and maybe the mountain tops, while also eating some miles in the tracks. All very back country dreamy.  It has though, ended up that i like to use skiing as cardio vascular training with some meditative focus on technique : this makes it a bit like swimming rather than finding my soul midst the high peaks.

So with my initial goal in mind, I have been resolutely on light touring skis which are narrow enough for laid tracks while broad enough for soft snow. On my mini mountain favourite, Drivheia in Aust Agder, the soft snow at the top and running alpine tucked out the spor are what get most benefit from in the tourski. However now i find they cramp my style a lot.

For a sporty immigrant to norway then you want to say to yourself if you are going to be doing any mountain touring, carrying any weight or living in a place where it is often other skiers trails you are following in rather than machine-prepared tracks, then touring or even fjellski with steel edges are what you should consider.

Avoid the 'Easier with a Tour Ski ' Misconception....

If however you know that you are going to be fitness training at a hard pace in nicely prepared local and weekend spree trails, then go right for training skis or even racing skis.

The former are reasonably priced and better for track based training. The latter are pretty expensive but you may get a perfect ski for your weight and power. I would edge on caution though and hire skis or ask to use different types at the ski school before getting any ski over 2400 kr bare ski.

It is just a myth then that you need to start on wide tour skis and that they are the cheapest option, being a good compromise for the new beginner.

Training skis are often very difficult to see the difference to racing skiis while lined up on the wall. They are a smidegon wider , around 43 to 48 mm mid sole, and heavier. Usually the range of legnths is less than with racing skis, and the prebend or mid spring is only available as a standard to that length (or as with Fischer, they test all skis and there is a variance in that so they can send out a warehouse ski hot off the presses which is nearest your individual needs) . Racing skis are narrower and have availability to order in a greater range of preload spring and legnths.

Key difference With Straighter Skis, made for those white tramlines....

The one key difference between both of these types of skis and touring skis is that the in-swing, or side cut profile, is virtually absent.

Lacking curves on the sides of the ski's legnth /edges means that you follow the parallel tramlines better and the ski is both lighter and you apply a greater force per square mm when you push down as the ski gives overall less support on the snow and resistance in its material.

This apparently renders training skis far more suitable for someone who is going to be scooting round nicely prepared ski runs.

Stability is not a big issue in nice tracks, and you can maybe learn to plough more easily, due to the greater pressure you can get on the inner edges. Furthermore it is much easier to step turn because they are light and do not self steer by the side cut like tour skis do.

Tour Skis with a Mind of Their Own.....

One other key thing I now notice as a down side of light tour skis is that they tend to self steer while in parrallel tracks - the better my technique and waxing is for the day now, the more i notice this. Also in step turning at speed, the tips offer more resistance and the side cut gives an unpredictable steer.

Step turning is essentially the same between classic, skating and any type of fatter ski you care to mention. However I am of the opinion that classic technique is a lot closer to skating in general than one may believe, especially as a light hearted tourist or fun & fitness skier. My opinion is due to weight transfer to one ski and using your hips. My style aim is to actually skate in parallel this year ie classic with a focus on launch, balance and glide rather than power.

Everyone Else is Doing Skinny Skis Why Not Me?

When living in Kristiansand and finding the enthusiast's training routes in the surrounding hills, I was surprised that I was pretty much the only skier doing reasonable classic technique on tour skis. Nearly all the Noggies had slim-line skis from fischer or madshus. Only plodders walking and clapp- kicking their way round had tour skis, and then often actually fjellskis.

So now i am looking into going into the modern racing inspired training ski, while also going back to waxless in considering the Atomic Skintec with the glued in insert which is on offer now.

I will then have a very nice set of tour skis which can tackle mountain side paths and skidoo run treks across plateuas, as well as the days when the machine was out yesterday evening and then it snowed.....

Sensible With Price and Use of  Time ....waxless and cost - benefit analysis

But back to the new beginner: waxless under 2000 krone in a boot-ski-binding combi are likely to be your first purchase. And why not? You can get either tour or the skinny trainings ski in package deals this very minute.

The forums are full of detractors who hate waxless and condemn them to amateur walking skier use. However the skintec and Fischer RCS waxless show that very serious skiing can indeed be done on textured kick zones. The problem is finding budget ones which are a sensible risk investment trade off.

Key in Ski Quality and Match to Your Weight...

The real key for getting good waxless is the exact same as for buying standard smooth soled xc skis: if they will support your weight for gliding while still allowing you to kick down and back with good grip. Atomic have a super advanced system for this, Fischer and the likes of Åsnes just make a really good ski design and put a patterned area on its sole.

Waxless is a lot less hassle, and in some really slippy or cladding stuff you can use wax, clister or anti cladd spray to really get good grip again.

If your budget is under 2000 kr then do not despair, just find a shop with a proper preload metering tool. This loads the skis up in a vice like way with a column pressing in the midfoot area of the binding side. This is wound up to  a kg scale and then a feeler gauge is used to confirm that you will get good enough glide by supported length,while the ski will not be too hard under the sole such that you wont acheive good kicking contact with the snow.

Once you then find a waxless ski then which will do this then check the other main chainstores but in paticular your smaller local shop, likely to be part of Intersport or Mx Sport here, to see if they have a better offer or can do better quality boots in a package.

Often a smaller shop will be willing to do an overall discount if you buy skis, bindings, boots,  skipants, a jacket and socks etc at one time. They may however need to order your exact best legnth and preload from a supplier but you will get more personal service and ski tips, quite likely with an invitation to join the club and enroll in their ski school.

Some small local shops and real fancy specialists will include a lesson with sale of skis, and that could be worth a cash amount of up to a thousand krone, but be worth far more to gyour enjoyment of the skis. Also if they prove to be incorrect for you then you will get a change to a correct type from outset.

Wax fri apart from Atomic Skintecs, have a longer area textured than that you would wax ( pretty much the same though on Fischer RCs if i remember correctly) and this will annoy you becuase it makes a hissing noise in hard or corned snow in particular. But believe me, waxing and applying clister on mild days is a lot more annoying relative to spending time out doors doing all that puffing and panting, kicking, striding and gliding that you should be focusing on.

Sticky Fingers and Skintec

Klister conditions continue....deepen in fact.

The local run was ill advised and needs both churning and light tramline driving. Ice. Klister eating steely tracks of hell according to a pensioner I met and i turned back to visit another local low level venue when it started to rain heavily.

Ditch the day.

I did however get to experiment with application of quick-klister. I think a lot of people are going to be using these sprays for training and in the pocket for longer races. They do need a little bit more time than at first may seem.

Quick and Dirty or a Good Solution ?

Swix quick klister is a pressurised clister in a spray can with foam diasappator / spreader top. It is like a fast shoe polish, although the width you spray out and spread on seems to be training ski wide, maybe by design. The base binder green clister is just a spray unfortunetly because the applicator is darn good.

What takes time in these products especially when outdoors is that the solvent used needs to evapourate. Otherwise your clister will just be abbraded off. At room temperature i waited two minutes and it was still too thin to be of use. I used my hobby crack lighter to gently blow away the solvent and got an instant good clister finish.

I have seen serious birkebeiner types at icey venues with blow torches and i guess they are using these to spread the clister.

Far better imho to spray on and get a very even layer and then heat off. The spray was as even as an iron on, and better than my painstaking oven pre heat home job sans iron.

Finally lying the ski kick zone gently on snow to let the clister set, which is a must do whatever the circumstances.

So given you are a little patient and understand what is going on, then you can get a very clean application at home or with the box warm from the car or using the crystal meth addict's  blue flame you can save the day without an iron.

There was actually enough clister on my skis from my trudge round drivheia anyway, but universal in spray seems a better way of doing things. Btw i had green v90 wax base binder with blue VR40 and the single long line of clister from the tube was 75% intact with the pocket under the sole just smoothed out. Flouronated waxes prove their worth again in wet conditions with clister hanging on better than non flour.

Forget the sticky stuff ?

Another coincidence is that i wandered into a G max to buy said quick-clister and i then of course wanted them to test the preload on the atomic skintecs they have on boot-binding-ski offer for about 400 euros. The 2000mm they had tolerate 100kg with the mohair being clear of smooth snow at least.

However it transpired that this is a variant without the change out magnetic insert system. Instead it has a glued on mohair which has no central "groove" but to my eye it looked like it was shorter. The ski is no doubt far lighter because there are no magnets and so on. I dare say it is just maching the sole which renders them ready for glue in mohair.

The skintec ski in this version then is really a high tech repeat of the mohair inserts of the late 70s i have read about. Both ski and glue technology, and magnets for the other type, have come a lon.g way since then.

So as a pair of zero skis for the amateur racer or all rounders for the time stressed parent of three then worth the bucks if you need a new pair this is a bargain with the package if the one insert works as it should.

Not that the lack of interchangeability scares me too much. The ski looked the same otherwise, and so has the same construction most likely, with the arch being symmetrical and compliant until you really kick-load it. This is going into their racing skis too.

The ski is a fairly broad training ski and i liked it; but i would want to spend about the same without boots but with the magnetic insert and two inserts to start with. I reckon a shorter kick hair glider insert and a super grip patterned combi mohair clister buster would be the type on inserts i would spend a bit on.

I have an acquaintance who happened to get old stock skintecs last year with inserts and he is almost 2m high so must have long, hard sprung ones. I must ask for a test run if my boots fit his binding type.

Weird White Stuff: Drivheia Tour, UHU and Hobby Blow Torch

I decided to use the promise of a whole day's weather-break to drive a while to get to the mini mountain, Drivheia in Aust Agder.

What do UHU, snow and mini hobby blow torches have in common? All are substances of abuse or accessories to the crime today.  More on that later.....

The conditions were frankly a bit weird: easter wet snow but on no base, just a meter or so of slush puppy. There had been unfortunetly new snow in the tracks ,or kind of lying sleet as it felt making it all very heavy and vague.

Me, discouraged? No! I followed a bit of classic track which dissolved into skating apparently if the skier hadnt just turned round after 2km and put his skating pack on.

So the all important waxing then? I havent any of the VR62 to  75 , they are very expensive. I had universal klister with me but hoped for the plus one or two degrees cee to rub on some v red.  I do have the VR blue 40 which prove a good base for the inevitable,  with a high column of "mild" low pressure air: klister time.

So here are my klister tips for that sudden sinking feeling that you will not survive on red wax.

1) take a mini hobby blow torch the type that runs on lighter fuel, or actually enacses a lighter and produces a spiked, precise wee blue flame. The weapon of preference for crack addicts btw.

2) wrap the lower half of the klister tube several times round in toilet or kitchen paper

3) take the cap off and heat the shoulders of the tube and the neck by wafting the blue flame quickly around for about 15 secs. Do not allow the flame to burn the label plastic or the clister itself.

4) move the paper over the heated area and then apply the clister to the ski about 5cm inward of the usual kicking wax, and do just 10cm at a time, spreading with the tool on the ski. Reheat between each 10cm.

All this will keep the clister mobile to allow for thin layers. It will go on blue but not softer. Base binder clister spray is to recommend on bare skis if you have hedged your bets completely.

Alternatively: You can put the tube on the engine rocker cover or top of the car radiator if they are still warm. Then the whole contents gets warm and you risk getting a clot in the neck and a sudden tidal wave of uhu glue will cover your skis, you and anyone near you with as much displeasure as a skunk attack or tramping in dog shit.

In the conditions today i knew it would be slow and draggy with any kick adhesive, so i chose to reduce the kick zone coverage with the clister to 5cm less on the tip end and 3cm from the heel of the boot.

I did just one layer on this legnth as i was expecting soft and did not remember how long it was back round the mountain (a hill actually) from the downhill. For harder conditiond i would have had two, thin long layers fo

I did let the single layer cool on the snow: always let your clister cool to snow temp before kicking off as you can either rub it off in clumps on ice or pick up crystals immediately.

In the "pocket" under the sole then i added a second thicker layer in the same process. About 18-20cm maybe , spread from fish bone pattern.

The kick adhesion was "nailed" with this up hill in tram lines which needed a native american scout to follow. Filled with 3cm wet snow.

I felt pretty darn good getting to the final hill top turn with the downhill infront of me and light rain pitting on my east european look jogging jacket i swear by for skiing.

The downhill is usually an exciting set of roller coaster sections, traversing hillside tests of skill and various turns up to about 150 degrees or more even. However even the guy in front of me on glider only skating skis had done a lot of work to get down and the speed was pathetic.

I did though get to practice step turning but as the snow got deep around the first hair pin i had to drop into alpine with slide steering ski tails.

I have been coughing for five weeks and managed only six hours training since the snow came, late as it was. So when i got through to the last turn where the "guest book" box is in an hour , i was pleased. However the slow downhill and damp air started to drain my reduced energies and the way back round the west of the hill with even softer conditions sapped me more than the wet sapped the clister away from the skis.

The last 1.5km i drove on the british side of the road in my own tracks now also worn in with after comers. And there it was, pretty good grip and at the car, sticky skis. They could have done about half yje distance again i reckon.

Last tip: take some fibre cleaner cloth in the car and plastjic bags and place them in than order over the mucky stuff. You can then either reapply a new layer of clister next time, or take the skis out and spray on cleaner and strip off the clister first with the fibre cloth. I usually spray, coat with a good coupäe of layers of kitchen paper and then use a hot iron working quikly up and down and then peeling off the covering with a litte heat on the lifting edge as you go.