Pollen?

Not afraid to display my ignorance, I ask why use a scraper to remove pollen from ski bases rather than using Goo Gone?  Perhaps GooGone removes base wax as well as the pollen?  It sure is easier to use.

GooGone wasn't mentioned in this earlier discussion www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboardi...x.php?topic=13538.25

Not afraid to display my ignorance, what is Goo Gone?

m.target.com/p/goo-gone-spray-gel-fresh-...d-BoMMg&gclsrc=aw.ds

FWIW, I prefer not to use chemical cleaners (even citrus) on my ski bases.  I overdo waxing.  I apply wax, iron at 120 F slowly and steadily up and down the ski (with wax turning liquid for 2-4 inches behind the iron until the top sheet of the ski shovel gets warm to the touch, indicating that the ptex has been warmed to the point at which it readily accepts the wax.  then I let the skis sit, preferably in a warm environment over night or at least 4 hours.  Then I scrape, wipe w fiberlene, brush with brass, wipe, repeat till little new wax appears, brush with nylon, wipe, the buff with coarse fibertex then with fine fibertex lol. In the field when I do pick up pollen it is usually on the contact point of the shovel and a few inches back along the rocker.  I use some Swix base cleaner lightly sprayed on a fiberlene sheet to carefully remove the pollen without contaminating the base (which can prevent wax uptake).  I also carry Swix F4 Flouropaste that I will apply and buff before heading down if the snow has been especially dirty.  I don't apply it before skiing up because the flouro can affect the skin glue.

Wow, you guys are high tech!

I carried some wax remover and a rag once, but my bottle was leaky so I haven't done that for a while.

On the other hand, I make sure to wax my skis every year or two, whether they need it or not.

An a-pollen situation!

Wow, you guys are high tech!... I make sure to wax my skis every year or two, whether they need it or not.

There are downsides to waxing.  Ever since I have been uber-waxing, my spouse starts to complain about her skis being "dull" after about 2 days (nothing to do with pollen, even in mid winter).  So our skis get waxed as above about every 3-4 th day of skiing.  And for lift-served that means checking and touching up the edges.  Now since I've been recovering from pretty bad injuries last April, I've only gotten about 65 days of skiing in ... that means only 15-20 shop sessions LOL. 

I have a permanent tuning table set up with a hole at the end for scraped wax to be brushed into and a permanently plugged in shop vac for wax on the floor.  My Beast vises mean it takes just seconds to firmly set the ski and a very good waxing iron means good, constant heat (LED read out).  A collection of scrapers and a scraper sharpener ...  yup, a waxing nerd!

I use a citrus based cleaner bought by the gal. at a janitorial supply house. Scrape /clean and rewax but I'm starting to think it might be better to not wax during the pollen season??

Ive been plagued by pollen on the last 5 tours. So 5 cleanings and one pair skin reglue. And that s with scraping at transitions. I will move to carrying a small urine sample bottle of citrus cleaner.

... I'm starting to think it might be better to not wax during the pollen season...

IMHE, I've found just the opposite.  Initial new ski prep (or even old ski prep) with a deep penetrating cleaning wax, hot scraped off (and repeated till the wax being scraped is clean), followed by brushing with a steel brush to clean the base structure; then waxing with a good hydrocarbon wax, followed by scraping, brushing (again to clear the structure), and buffing (to remove an ptex fibers exposed by scraping and brushing) results, IMHO, in the best possible ski base surface to resist dirt, pollen, and moisture tension and one that can be enhanced by flourocarbon wax.  Graphite wax is also useful if there is a lot of ice to be skied, for example, before the snow surface has melted to produce cron.  I have never had the severity of dirty snow/pollen/wet snow suction that I had when I didn't wax, used MAaxiglide or Zardoz (which never lasted very long and which can repel wax in the future), or quickly waxed and scaped, but YMMV.

FWIW, Regine and I had a ball skiing the Couloir and Basin chairs at White Pass one spring on a warm day with sucky snow (4-6 inch penetration with 98 mm waist skis) and lots of pollen.  Almost all the other skiers were in the lodge by 10 a.m.  Still, skiing the groomed and hitting a patch of pollen in the shade beneath the guilty fir tree could still reduce mach speed to a crawl in seconds. LOL

Old Man, Spring Snow

In the video you can see the pollen & dirt mixture covering the snow.

Initial new ski prep (or even old ski prep) with a deep penetrating cleaning wax, hot scraped off (and repeated till the wax being scraped is clean), followed by brushing with a steel brush to clean the base structure; then waxing with a good hydrocarbon wax, followed by scraping, brushing (again to clear the structure), and buffing (to remove an ptex fibers exposed by scraping and brushing) results, IMHO, in the best possible ski base surface to resist dirt, pollen, and moisture tension and one that can be enhanced by flourocarbon wax.

On the other hand...

I will move to carrying a small urine sample bottle of citrus cleaner.

And I'm thinking, does urine cut through pollen? Wouldn't that be a trick. Might have to try that out ....

Just thinking outside the box here. 

Just asking the naive practical question for my reality. I'm never going to do what Andrew does - which says nothing about whether or not I should - I just know I won't dedicate the time/effort until maybe after retirement. Yesterday my superstar 14 year old stepdaughter and I skied our skis to a thick sticky goo on the bases and I One Ball Jay (citrus) base cleanered it off and the skis seem as good as their last waxing. My late spring/summer kit therefore consists of citra-solv and F4. My sense is once there's no more powder or warmed new snow surface, it's not worth redoing the whole shebang and I'll just buff 'em down and wax them before next season. I don't seem to be killing my bases this way having done this for eons. Slow death for our skis or good enough?

Just asking the naive practical question for my reality.   ...  I don't seem to be killing my bases this way having done this for eons.  Slow death for our skis or good enough?

If you are pleased with the results, why worry?  I skied for maybe 20 years bc before I got into waxing.  I've had only 1 pair deteriorate--after 11 years the ptex got really soft and the wood holding the screws got soft.

I decided to start waxing after I bought so higher end alpine skis (Volkl Mantras) and then upper end Kastles.  the experts I read said that if you want to get the purported performance potential of the skis then you had to tune and wax correctly.  That is where the trouble started; the performance was so spectacular.

Now, obviously you can't get the same performance bc as you can lift-served.  But, here again, I  bought some higher end skis (present Cho Oyus and Movement Shifts), so why not spend 15 minutes doing a good wax job and ½ hour a good scrape and brush.  But, most likely, if you never do it, you'll never miss it LOL

FWIW, I have numerous friends and acquaintances that never wax, use Zardoz or Rain-X, etc and have lots of fun.

FWIW, I have numerous friends and acquaintances that never wax, use Zardoz or Rain-X, etc and have lots of fun.

It's awesome to know that Zardoz NOTwax is still on the market.  R.I.P. Paul Ramer:

www.zardoznotwax.com/what-is-notwax/the-history.php

My brother Carl knew Ramer and he told me NOTwax was derived from a lubricant used for computer disk drives.

Ramer really was a mad scientist skier.

...any idea what this black goop is? picked it up on my skis Saturday doing a few quick laps at Stevens Pass. I ended up using Tarminator (automotive bug and tar remover - it's what I had available in my garage) and it worked. But I've never seen anything like this on my skis before. I didn't see any unusual patches of anything that looked like this, just the usual dirty spring snow.

Blizz, if you were skiing on the runs groomed during the season, it is likely a combination of hydraulic fluids and fuel that fall on the snow all winter. In the spring this crap starts rising up to the surface and bingo, yuck!

If is off the groomed runs then it be pollen and can become epic.

In both cases, a good rain storm helps clean the snow.

Narrower skis seem better in these conditions.

Keep scrapers handy...

Andy , those gloves are contaminated with bar oil ! The lab coat is a nice touch ! Mad scientist at work.

Andy , those gloves are contaminated with bar oil ! The lab coat is a nice touch ! Mad scientist at work.

Nope, those wonderfully comfortable Stihl soft leather gloves with breathable tops are dedicated waxing gloves that serve to keep skin oils off ski bases and edges [and to protect my hands; I have a different pair for running the chainsaw]; I use disposable nitrile gloves for quick edge work.  The white coat mildewed when I left it in my shop and has been replaced with a dark gray technicians short-sleeved shirt for hot days and a heavy mechanics shop coat for cold days

BTW, Stihl makes a lightly armored mechanic's glove I use for dirt & gravel biking.  I've started using Kobalt mechanics glove with armored fingers and lightly padded palms for splitting firewood and kindling.  I really like goatskin gloves but have yet to find a pair that would last a season of handling firewood.  While working on my motorcycle, I decided it was unwise to subject my hands to solvents, gas, oil, etc. so I use heavy duty rubber gloves for working on the bicycles and the chainsaw and a different lighter pair for extended use in the shop on skis.

Andy, I love how you plunge yourself into your craft. Very inspiring. Definitely one of my retirement projects. Thanks for the stoke.

I've had only 1 pair deteriorate--after 11 years the ptex got really soft and the wood holding the screws got soft.

Musta been those old Tuas you held onto for so long

No they were me beloved Snowwolfs!

Skiing the Paradise Glacier with Snowwolfs

I still have some of the The Tuas



5th pair from the right: Regine's Tua Excalibur Plus; long gone (sold) my Tua Excalibur, Excalibur Plus, Excalibur Mito [my first really high performance ski, 191 cm, had 2 pair, the original centennial with cracked metal edges at the shovel to facilitate bending but which began to crack the ptex and a warranty replacement pair without the cracks], and Mito [which I did not like!].

While working on my motorcycle,

Andrew, you are a true Renaissance man and my hero.

So, when you get pollen on your skis, do you scrape it off first before you apply the cleaning wax? I guess my question is, if you don't use a chemical cleaner to remove the pollen first, does it just come off when you scrape off the cleaning wax?

Several years ago I had a local ski shop, which will remain unnamed, tune my skis and the results were dreadful. I asked myself "how hard can it be?" So with cheap wax, a DIY vise and several You Tube sessions I plunged in. It's been fun. Just don't track wax into the house from the garage or else...

Silas, thanks for starting this thread. A Mother's Day tour at White Pass left my skis-bases covered in goo and the discussion is very helpful.

...
So, when you get pollen on your skis, do you scrape it off first before you apply the cleaning wax? I guess my question is, if you don't use a chemical cleaner to remove the pollen first, does it just come off when you scrape off the cleaning wax? ...  Several years ago I had a local ski shop, which will remain unnamed, tune my skis and the results were dreadful. ...

Because my bases are rarely truly dry, when I get pollen and gunk on the shovels I carefully wipe it off with a shop towel or fiberlene sheet that I sprayed lightly with Swix base cleaner.  The gunk comes off quickly and easily with 1 or 2 passes--don't need to rub or scrape.  I do this because I don't want the gunk to get on my waxing iron any more than necessary and I don't want to spread it down the ski or force it into the base.  If I ski enough to dry the bases and I get pollen/dirt/gunk down the ski I would use a deep cleaning wax and hot scrape (2X) to prep the ski for a hot wax with universal hydrocarbon or red hydrocarbon or black/graphite/hydrocarbon.

When I first got my BMW F650 motorcycle I quickly learned if I wanted it maintained or modified correctly I was better off (in quality of maintenance, repair, modification, replacement part) if I did it myself and would save money in the long run (tools were an immediate expense).  I would only go to a shop if I really knew the tech who will do the work.  Fortunately my bike had its own user-developed website that provided excellent recommendations and instructions (including videos and CDs).  So I even put a new custom front suspension of my bike rather that go to a shop that hadn't done it before.  Since then I feel the same way about skis.  I sold my bike and my bike shop is now my ski shop I mount my own bindings after having a had a well-known supposedly reputable shop screw up 3 different binding mounts!    But I have had no trouble mounting alpine and AT bindings using templates downloaded from the web and a mounting drill bit.  I have fit my own liners and footbeds too for the same reason, but I hope to go to a bootfitter soon for custom footbeds and liner molding.

Andrew, at the risk of hijacking the thread, don't you have a pair of Voile Vector BC's? If so, how do you wax fish-scale (waxless-base) skis?

Andrew, at the risk of hijacking the thread, don't you have a pair of Voile Vector BC's? If so, how do you wax fish-scale (waxless-base) skis?

Yes, I have a pair of Vector BCs and love them.  I inquired of Voile how they thinkg they should be treated.  They said don't bother changing edge angle.  Treat the ptex shovels and tails as you would any ptex bases.  Leave the  extruded plastic bases alone unless they get dirty (clean them, probably a citrus cleaner would work or even soap and water) and use something like Maxiglide if they are sticking--but do NOT wax (wax can reduce the depth of the fish scales).  These skis climb like magic.  I use them on XC ski patrol (mounted with speed radicals and used with TLT6M lol).  The only downside I've found so far is side slippage traversing steep slopes still pretty frozen in the morning.  Voile Vector BC extended review

I think we have already hijacked Silas' thread, but it is all related to pollen; I haven't seen any pollen sticking to the Vector BC bases, but a little to the rockered shovel.

Yes, I have a pair of Vector BCs and love them. 

Thanks Andrew, It's finely time to retire my Karhu Guides and I have my eye on the Vectors.

Pollen on your skis? Paper Towels!!!

Pollen on your skis?  Paper Towels!!!

LOL. I use shop towels (strong paper towels) in my shop. They don't remove the tar-like substance of pollen and crude on skis--they smear it a little and it tears the paper. Add a little base cleaner and -- Voila!--they worked like inferred in the commercial.

Thanks Andrew, It's finely time to retire my Karhu Guides and I have my eye on the Vectors.

4th from the right in the picture of my shed LOL Also in that line-up Karhu XCD and Catamount, Salomon X-Adv 88, and Madshus Voss--gave the Madshus Epochs away. I still have my Fischer Outtabounds for skiing out the front door and up and down the river.

...hopefully my pics uploaded with the post this time. This is the black goop that completely covered my (and my son's) skis.

I've been trying to find solutions for several spring skiing problems, and pollen is on the list. The stuff not only stops the skis from sliding well, it also defeats skin glue like a layer of grease. If your tour involves going uphill to get out, this can be a real problem, and has to be dealt with in the field.

In trying to find a way to apply wax in the field, I tried dissolving ski wax, mostly paraffin, in lots of chemicals. Not many work, BUT that gave me an idea: that list of chemicals will not remove wax from a ski- so if it will remove Cascade Klister but not wax it should be useful to carry for the purpose.

All of the alcohols (ethanol, methanol, isopropanol) I've fooled with do not dissolve paraffin. For various other reasons, sometimes it makes sense to carry methanol or ethanol skiing. It can serve as fuel for alcohol stoves, a disinfectant, and ethanol can make a nice cocktail mixed with corn snow and a flavorant.

I've taken to carrying Everclear, since it is strong enough to burn well and weighs the least possible for liquor by content. Only once have I used it on pollen, and it worked well, with a paper towel.

So far this season there hasn't been pollen where I've skied, so no more results.

Anyone else tried this?