Here’s how to avoid sticking and “ice in the grip zone,” optimize glide, and extend the lifespan of your skin skis.

With skin skis, you avoid the need for grip wax, but they are not completely maintenance-free. Since their launch, several products have hit the market that maximize the performance and longevity of both the skins and the skis.

The two most important categories of special products for skin skis are impregnation and cleaning agents. Using products specifically designed for skin skis is crucial, as others can damage the skin or the adhesive that holds it.

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Impregnation

The skins on skin skis are made of either mohair or a blend of mohair and nylon. Skins made from a mix usually have better durability at the cost of some glide. Both types require impregnation to improve glide and to prevent icing and clumping in the skin.

“It’s primarily when the snow changes from wet to dry, and at temperatures around 0 degrees Celsius, that you can experience icing in the skin,” says Håvard Rønning from Swix to Langrenn.com.

Most impregnations come in liquid form and are rubbed into the skin with Fiberlene or similar ski-specific paper towels before skiing.

Some manufacturers, like SkiGo, also offer similar products in the form of wax sticks that are rubbed directly onto the skin to prevent it from picking up dirt from the surface, thus providing better glide and reducing the risk of sticking. SkiGo Skin Wax comes in a package with two waxes: one red for warm conditions and one blue for cold conditions.

Do you want to know how to find the perfect skis? Read it here.

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Cleaning

Each time skin skis are used, the skin is exposed to everything on the trail, and some of it sticks to the skin. Over time, you will notice a loss of glide, so it’s important to clean the skin as needed.

“The skins accumulate wax residues, dirt, and pollution from the snow. This slows down the skins and degrades the skis’ performance, which in turn makes the skiing experience worse. Therefore, it’s important to clean thoroughly, preferably after each skiing, to ensure good skis the next time you go out,” says Rønning.

How often you need to clean the skin depends on the conditions, how far you’ve skied, and how particular you are. If you wait too long, it might become harder to get the skin thoroughly clean again.

Regardless of how often you clean, it’s most important to use cleaning products tailored for skin skis. Regular ski cleaners can cause the adhesive that holds the skins in place to dissolve.

This is the best choice for almost everybody – find more here.

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Glide Wax

Like all cross-country skis, skin skis should also be waxed regularly to ensure good glide and to maintain the base, thus extending the ski’s lifespan. However, while impregnation and cleaning products must be specifically suited for skin skis, you can use the same glide wax on skin skis as on other skis.

You can either use traditional, solid glide wax that is heated with a waxing iron, scraped, brushed, and polished in the traditional way, or a liquid glide wax that is sprayed onto the ski, brushed, and polished.

“Liquid glide wax is super easy to use and gives fantastic skis. Liquid glide wax is sprayed directly onto the glide zone and should penetrate the base for a few minutes,” says Rønning to Langrenn.com.

He also offers an extra tip for getting liquid products to penetrate the base even better:

“For an even better result with liquid glide wax, you can spray it onto a felt cork and rub it into the skis. Once this has dried, brush over the base with a nylon brush.”

January 31, 2024

Photo: Vegard Breie