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Masters and Juniors had a great time at the Hard’Ack Challenge race this past Sunday! It was a treat to get in some true spring skiing…racing in a T-shirt but still plenty of nicely groomed snow to go around. Thanks to Tyler Magnan and all the other volunteers who made it a great experience.

After the races we had a blast hitting up the local rope tow which operates adjacent to the Nordic trails on a small hill used for sledding, skiing, and snowboarding. It wasn’t just the MNC Juniors who were getting in on the action…the Enman and Tremble families were up on the slope with the dads rocking some smooth tele turns and the kids screaming downhill at unbelievable speed!

After some jumps and “nor-pine” skiing, a couple of us ordered a pizza from the parking lot, drove into town to pick it up, and enjoyed the pizza outside in the town park while it was still sunny and warm. Those after-race and after-training experiences where we all get to hang out as a group removed from skiing specifically are so special and they have been so infrequent in a season such as this…so it felt great to enjoy it and envision an upcoming year where we might be able to get back to more of those moments.

Here’s a short video of the rope tow action. No technique review footage from the race, only fun downhill ski footage on this occasion:

It looks like spring skiing weather in St. Albans this weekend! A week of freeze-thaws, a race-time temp in the mid-30s, and a natural snow base will mean softer and dirtier snow. Here is a simple wax recommendation that should help repel dirt as long as possible and keep skis moving through the wet snow.

1. Use a glide wax cleaner (note: this is NOT the same as a kick wax remover!) to remove as much dirt as possible: put some of the cleaner on a rag, wipe it down your ski base, let it dry for 20 minutes, and brush thoroughly with a metal brush.
2. If you don’t have a glide wax cleaner, do a “hot-scrape” of your skis. To do this, apply a mid-to-warm wax like CH8 or Toko Red. After ironing, wait only a couple seconds before scraping to brushing to try and pull dirt particles out of the base.
3. Actual race prep begins with a neutral NF layer of a semi-hard wax like Toko Blue or Swix CH7. Scrape and brush.
4. Race layer is a yellow warm glide wax like Toko Yellow or CH10. Scrape and brush well after letting cool fully

Bonus: Look for the MNC wax bench (possibly tent) on site, where we will have a bench set up with a structure tool and some Toko NF Yellow spray to add to your skis if you like.