Fernie! That place holds a special place in my heart - the best pow day I've ever had was at Fernie in the late 90s. The Cedar Bowl didn't open until the afternoon and all you could hear was avvy cannons going off all morning. Chest deep! This was back when you had to take a T-bar that went nearly straight up to get there haha.
Hi Lars, Great video, many thanks! I wonder though about your statement about snow melting below the board. AFAIK, snow generally melts below 0 Celsius (leaving aside variables such as air pressure, etc.). Imagining a fairly cold day of -15 C and assuming that board and snow will be at an equivalent temperature, I cannot imagine the temperature of snow cristalls below the board will reach a temperature above 0 C within seconds/split seconds of a board riding down the hill. Even if that would be the case, those would be presumably so few snow cristals, that those would not be enough to create a water film. Curious about your thoughts 🙃
Just did a 5-21° One Ball X-Wax..Jfc it was so hard to scrape. Concur on these harder waxes. Scrape while barely warm to the touch. If you cool to basement temp like me, about 55-60°, you’re scraping for your life. Nice job Lars, giving us the goods.
Yeah, it's real.... Don't scrape too early, though!! You don't wanna pull the wax right out of the base... Hot scraping is a base cleaning technique, if that makes sense. And that is not what you want ;-) I'm sure you got it right!!
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel copy on that..yeah One Ball Jay has a base prep wax that you got scrape. Good I for as usual. You guys getting snow out of this storm?
@@LagmasterB apparently it's snowing in Fernie, yes. But I'm in Europe for three weeks... Looks like we'll be having some snow in the Alps as well, so all good ;-) Haha...
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel Just rode 49° North today. About 90 minutes south of Red Mountain. Rode 2023 Rome Ravine Select. The Cold wax I did last night + high end base was cherry. There’s this part of the mountain that requires boot pack. I passed everyone still on foot. One guy asked “How are you still moving? How much do you weigh?” Hahahaha. Solid snow out of this storm. A lot of obstacles gonna be covered up when you get back.
What timing! We go to Chamonix, France for a week from tomorrow and the temps are going to plummet. I almost waxed the boards last night, but I put it off until today!
I wish I would have seen this before my trip to Montana. We rode at -20F (with some wind for good measure) and my wax job wasn't doing me any favors. It was my rock board, too, so probably worst case scenario: bad base, mid wax. Still a good time, though, just weird and tough to get going off the lift.
I've heard this from other people! Apparently heavy brushing gets you to glide. Some of my Stranda boards come with a stone grind. The pow boards don't, since structure in pow is irrelevant.
Your base looks awesome. I see you do several passes over the whole length of your board with you wax iron. Why...? I use holmenkol betamix - 4/-14. Love your channel...! 👍
I treat my boards with a lot of love... My bases are all pretty well saturated, and I'm light on my feet and avoid rocks... :-) More passes with the iron, more wax in the base. That is just what I believe. No scientific evidence to prove this! :-) Hahaha..... I do the passes instead of just smearing wax around, because it makes it nicer to scrape off the wax and also gives me reassurance that I got wax everywhere....
So what wax can you recommend. Besides Nanox, can't get that her where i live. And do you originate from a nordic country ? Named Lars and wearing a Fjällräven svetter 😁
I can't really 'recommend' anything in patricular. You wanna buy the coldest rated wax you can possibly find... Some companies like KUU offer 'extra cold' besides their cold wax. Swixx generally have great wax. too.... I mean, between Toko, Swixx and Holmenkol it's probably preference... Mark Fawcett actually told me that it's more about a super clean base (well scraped) brushed out tip to tail forever... So that's all I know :-) I'm German, but I know quality ;-) Hahaha.... Hence a nice Fjällräven wool sweater and Stranda ;-) Good stuff!
I use One Ball Jay waxes. Their X-Wax is worth the little extra, but 4WD wax is really good, and affordable. XWax has slightly smaller temp range than 4WD. 4WD a little more forgiving. My rule is subtract 5-10° from predicted mid-mountain air temp at noon, to pick a wax temp.
@@LagmasterB Thanks i looked in to your suggestions. those American brands are pretty expensive here in my part of the woods. 60+ dollars. for 165 grams. Think i am going with swixx or Holmenkol :)
@@LagmasterB I am from Denmark. northern europe. We got cold winters with not alot of snow. and no mountains.😅 We always have to travel to go Boarding or skiing.
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel yeah I get that and the truth is you answer everyone’s questions about different Stranda boards in the comments section anyhow. Thank you!
Structure and waxing have nothing to do with each other in a way that one can replace the other. A base structure is particularly helpful with warm/wet snow. The structure channels the water away from under the base and prevents 'suction'. The coarser the structure, the more water it'll transport. But on snowboards you gotta keep it quite fine because of all the side slipping and sliding... It'll feel grabby when it's too coarse. Waxing makes the base hydrophobic. So it's essential for water to actually get moving...!
@@LagmasterB Thanks man!!! I'm in Fernie, BC, Canada. My iron is a Sidecut iron. It's good. 1200 watts... thick sole.... Holds the temperature well and glides well on the base. Wintersteiger have a 900W one, which is otherwise very similar and a bit cheaper. The really cheap irons are garbage... In particular with hard waxes. They don't hold the temp well enough and constantly get too cold to keep melting the hard wax efficiently.
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel I have a Burton one I’ve been using forever. Thinking of upgrading. Thanks for quick response. Fernie is near Castle Mountain! Been there once. Amazing place It’s on my combo pass for 49° in WA/Silver Mtn in Idaho. Powder Alliance. We are close my friend, I’m up in Spokane.
Very good explanation for cold snow waxing. BUT I don't believe in base absorbtion. P-tex is just plastic and doesn't react like leather for example. Wax doesn't get into the base, it just stays i n the surface, a bit in the stricture. That's why a fine structured board is better and not sn absolutely flat and smooth ione s not so good. Fine structure is also better to evacuate water drops, like in micro channels.
But you can see tears and abrasions (often referred to as pores) in ptex using a microscope? There are channels on here and have literally shown them, just use search. It's those that "absorb" the wax...
The idea of a sintered base is that the p-tex is ground into a fine powder and then compressed into a sheet under heat and pressure. The fact that it's been ground into a powder first makes this sheet porous. As in: there's space between the sintered p-tex grains for the wax to get in. The single micro grain is not porous, because of what you say: it's just plastic. So what you're saying I believe is correct for extruded bases, but not for sintered bases. This is only what I've understood so far :-)
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel possible... I'm actually reading some articles about p-tex. But many are more about legends than real scientific studies. I try to find the "truth" 🤙 And the wax and ski industry is trying to sell as more wax as they can. I tried to wax several times (wax, scrap and repeat..), I also tried the thermal bag. Not really convinced by thise things. But whatever, i wax at least the few cm near the edge every time i ride (so 3/4 days per week🤙). I also prepare, make smooth and wax my sidewalls once or twice during the winter.
@@XAVIERZAX good to hear that there are people like yourself out there trying to find 'the truth'. I agree, I wish I knew more about all this, too. I do definitely notice a big difference between good/bad bases and good/bad preparation of a base. Extruded behaves very different from sintered. There's gotta be something.....
Fernie! That place holds a special place in my heart - the best pow day I've ever had was at Fernie in the late 90s. The Cedar Bowl didn't open until the afternoon and all you could hear was avvy cannons going off all morning. Chest deep! This was back when you had to take a T-bar that went nearly straight up to get there haha.
Hi Lars,
Great video, many thanks!
I wonder though about your statement about snow melting below the board. AFAIK, snow generally melts below 0 Celsius (leaving aside variables such as air pressure, etc.).
Imagining a fairly cold day of -15 C and assuming that board and snow will be at an equivalent temperature, I cannot imagine the temperature of snow cristalls below the board will reach a temperature above 0 C within seconds/split seconds of a board riding down the hill. Even if that would be the case, those would be presumably so few snow cristals, that those would not be enough to create a water film.
Curious about your thoughts 🙃
Watch my video about waxing for cold conditions........ ;-)
You are right. Thank you and keep it up 👍🏼
Just did a 5-21° One Ball X-Wax..Jfc it was so hard to scrape. Concur on these harder waxes. Scrape while barely warm to the touch. If you cool to basement temp like me, about 55-60°, you’re scraping for your life. Nice job Lars, giving us the goods.
Yeah, it's real.... Don't scrape too early, though!! You don't wanna pull the wax right out of the base... Hot scraping is a base cleaning technique, if that makes sense. And that is not what you want ;-) I'm sure you got it right!!
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel copy on that..yeah One Ball Jay has a base prep wax that you got scrape. Good I for as usual. You guys getting snow out of this storm?
@@LagmasterB apparently it's snowing in Fernie, yes. But I'm in Europe for three weeks... Looks like we'll be having some snow in the Alps as well, so all good ;-) Haha...
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel Just rode 49° North today. About 90 minutes south of Red Mountain. Rode 2023 Rome Ravine Select. The Cold wax I did last night + high end base was cherry. There’s this part of the mountain that requires boot pack. I passed everyone still on foot. One guy asked “How are you still moving? How much do you weigh?” Hahahaha. Solid snow out of this storm. A lot of obstacles gonna be covered up when you get back.
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel Where are you going to go ride? I’ve been to Zermatt and Saas Fe. That’s it for Europe for me.
What timing! We go to Chamonix, France for a week from tomorrow and the temps are going to plummet. I almost waxed the boards last night, but I put it off until today!
Is it better to stick to Chamonix, or is Les Houches worth it as well?
I wish I would have seen this before my trip to Montana. We rode at -20F (with some wind for good measure) and my wax job wasn't doing me any favors. It was my rock board, too, so probably worst case scenario: bad base, mid wax. Still a good time, though, just weird and tough to get going off the lift.
A ways south of you in Northern Montana
Got hit by the same cold blast
Hoping they’ll open in a few days
Do you take those boards for a stone grind for structure ? I've found there are conditions when a structured base with no wax is the way to go,
I've heard this from other people! Apparently heavy brushing gets you to glide.
Some of my Stranda boards come with a stone grind. The pow boards don't, since structure in pow is irrelevant.
Your base looks awesome. I see you do several passes over the whole length of your board with you wax iron. Why...?
I use holmenkol betamix - 4/-14.
Love your channel...! 👍
I treat my boards with a lot of love... My bases are all pretty well saturated, and I'm light on my feet and avoid rocks... :-)
More passes with the iron, more wax in the base. That is just what I believe. No scientific evidence to prove this! :-) Hahaha..... I do the passes instead of just smearing wax around, because it makes it nicer to scrape off the wax and also gives me reassurance that I got wax everywhere....
So what wax can you recommend. Besides Nanox, can't get that her where i live. And do you originate from a nordic country ? Named Lars and wearing a Fjällräven svetter 😁
I can't really 'recommend' anything in patricular. You wanna buy the coldest rated wax you can possibly find... Some companies like KUU offer 'extra cold' besides their cold wax. Swixx generally have great wax. too.... I mean, between Toko, Swixx and Holmenkol it's probably preference...
Mark Fawcett actually told me that it's more about a super clean base (well scraped) brushed out tip to tail forever... So that's all I know :-)
I'm German, but I know quality ;-) Hahaha.... Hence a nice Fjällräven wool sweater and Stranda ;-) Good stuff!
I use One Ball Jay waxes. Their X-Wax is worth the little extra, but 4WD wax is really good, and affordable. XWax has slightly smaller temp range than 4WD. 4WD a little more forgiving. My rule is subtract 5-10° from predicted mid-mountain air temp at noon, to pick a wax temp.
@@LagmasterB Thanks i looked in to your suggestions. those American brands are pretty expensive here in my part of the woods. 60+ dollars. for 165 grams. Think i am going with swixx or Holmenkol :)
@@Runetone Ahhh. Well sorry it wasn’t more help. Swix makes amazing waves. Are you in Europe? Asia? Southern hemisphere?
@@LagmasterB I am from Denmark. northern europe. We got cold winters with not alot of snow. and no mountains.😅 We always have to travel to go Boarding or skiing.
Love your channel Lars! Do a Makrill review please!
Yeah, I might do that. I don't want it to be THE STRANDA channel, although that's all I ride.
Thanks for the compliment and for watching!!
I second that.
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel yeah I get that and the truth is you answer everyone’s questions about different Stranda boards in the comments section anyhow. Thank you!
What are your thoughts on getting a structure and never waxing? Is it possible to get away with that or is waxing essential
Structure and waxing have nothing to do with each other in a way that one can replace the other.
A base structure is particularly helpful with warm/wet snow. The structure channels the water away from under the base and prevents 'suction'. The coarser the structure, the more water it'll transport. But on snowboards you gotta keep it quite fine because of all the side slipping and sliding... It'll feel grabby when it's too coarse.
Waxing makes the base hydrophobic. So it's essential for water to actually get moving...!
You’re such a good talker. Every damn time. I have to watch. And I, reminded why I do. What iron are you using?
Also. What region are you located?
@@LagmasterB Thanks man!!!
I'm in Fernie, BC, Canada. My iron is a Sidecut iron. It's good. 1200 watts... thick sole.... Holds the temperature well and glides well on the base. Wintersteiger have a 900W one, which is otherwise very similar and a bit cheaper. The really cheap irons are garbage... In particular with hard waxes. They don't hold the temp well enough and constantly get too cold to keep melting the hard wax efficiently.
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel I have a Burton one I’ve been using forever. Thinking of upgrading. Thanks for quick response. Fernie is near Castle Mountain! Been there once. Amazing place It’s on my combo pass for 49° in WA/Silver Mtn in Idaho. Powder Alliance. We are close my friend, I’m up in Spokane.
Very good explanation for cold snow waxing.
BUT
I don't believe in base absorbtion. P-tex is just plastic and doesn't react like leather for example.
Wax doesn't get into the base, it just stays i n the surface, a bit in the stricture. That's why a fine structured board is better and not sn absolutely flat and smooth ione s not so good.
Fine structure is also better to evacuate water drops, like in micro channels.
But you can see tears and abrasions (often referred to as pores) in ptex using a microscope? There are channels on here and have literally shown them, just use search. It's those that "absorb" the wax...
The idea of a sintered base is that the p-tex is ground into a fine powder and then compressed into a sheet under heat and pressure. The fact that it's been ground into a powder first makes this sheet porous. As in: there's space between the sintered p-tex grains for the wax to get in. The single micro grain is not porous, because of what you say: it's just plastic.
So what you're saying I believe is correct for extruded bases, but not for sintered bases. This is only what I've understood so far :-)
@@Justaride-Snowboard-Channel possible... I'm actually reading some articles about p-tex. But many are more about legends than real scientific studies. I try to find the "truth" 🤙
And the wax and ski industry is trying to sell as more wax as they can.
I tried to wax several times (wax, scrap and repeat..), I also tried the thermal bag. Not really convinced by thise things.
But whatever, i wax at least the few cm near the edge every time i ride (so 3/4 days per week🤙).
I also prepare, make smooth and wax my sidewalls once or twice during the winter.
@@m4nap4rt20 i agree with you about tears and channels.
But for me it's not really absorbtion as it didn't get really into the material.
@@XAVIERZAX good to hear that there are people like yourself out there trying to find 'the truth'. I agree, I wish I knew more about all this, too. I do definitely notice a big difference between good/bad bases and good/bad preparation of a base. Extruded behaves very different from sintered. There's gotta be something.....