Friday, December 30, 2011

Ski/wax recommendations for the Grand Mesa Skyway Shuffle on Saturday

SKYWAY, CO - The snow on the top of the Grand Mesa is deep enough for the groomers to continue to work fairly regularly leading up to Saturday's event. This means that the snow surface will be different than the more common hardpack found throughout much of the state due to low snow levels. For instance, the trails in Aspen are very firm right now due to shallow snow depth and an inability to groom and soften and freshen the surface.

The snow for the Skyway Shuffle should run more Colorado "normal" as well as typical of the Grand Mesa...cold. 

Ski recommendation: Your best "Standard Colorado Cold" setup will most likely be the best. Hard pack cambers have been working well around the state but I would be ready for more of a powder type snow for this one. There is substantial shade on the course and low temps the night before will still be well below the freezing mark. This could be a great ski testing day if you are into it, you may want to set up many skis with the same waxes to check things out.

Wax recommendation: Not much need for high flouros for this one, ski selection will be a bigger issue than the wax or the grind. LF or CH level wax should be sufficient, but the correct flex match up with the snow will probably pay off big time. If you see someone out there with super fast skis, it will probably be "great skis" rather than "hit the wax".  I would put 6 on the colder pair and 7 on the warmer option and if you only have one I would err on the colder side of things.










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