Use this instead of ski wax

[Jully]

3 snow surface conditions where wax 100% helps.

1) Fresh, ungroomed, base building type man made snow
2) REALLY cold, dry snow (like air temps below 0 cold)
3) Wet spring type snow

General mid winter day to day groomed snow, or mid winter soft pack/powder, the average skier won't notice a difference

Agreed with this. Even midwinter ungroomed stuff back east you do not notice a difference.

That said though, powder (when it gets flatter/compressed on run outs), spring snow, and fresh man made (the surface temp of the snow in all these cases is kinda high) it matters SO much. This spring I was out in Utah and skiing powder in 40 degrees. I had not waxed my skis in 3-5 days before going out there and noticed a substantial drop each day. I broke down after 4 days and paid for a wax because it was getting hard to stay balanced because the skis were gripping so randomly. You COULD fight through it, but why the hell would you?

I suppose if I never waxed my base, it might be a different story as maybe the old wax that had dirt and stuff in it causes the performance issues when wax is 'old.' I do buy the chemical argument presented in the article VT posted.

 

[56fish]

I keep up with m buddies just fine. We’ve tested it numerous times. Modern ski bases are hydrophobic just like wax, so wax isn’t needed.

... thought that was you & ur buddies poling back from east bowl towards the end of the last season ....:beer:

 

[Domeskier]

ID One tells customers that its skis don't need to be waxed. Anyone notice other manufacturers doing this? The only time it ever really occurs to me that maybe I ought to have my skis waxed is on grippy pow bump days. Fortunately (or unfortunately, I guess), those days are rare where I typically ski.