Just bought my first pair of classic skis after borrowing for a while. I went with waxless. Problem is that during my kick the ski often slips causing me to struggle to get anywhere. In comparison to other waxless skis I’ve used with pronounces fish scales that stick out, my waxless area is less pronounced and doesn’t stick out at all. Is there any way I can improve the kick on them? Add grip wax or grip tape? Take some sandpaper to them?
I know my technique stinks which isn’t helping the problem, but other skis were much more enjoyable when I could just get in a good workout with a reliable kick. Any suggestions?
Were you fit for the skis, or did the folks at the shop just hand them to you? They have a negative waxless pattern, as opposed to a positive pattern (where the “scales” protrude outwards from the base…or maybe it’s vice-versa? Can’t remember!), which can be causing a bit of your slipping. My suggestions is to make sure they are properly fit for your weight and ability, and improve your technique. I’ve never heard of people using grip tape on waxless skis. If the tape sticks to the waxless pattern, that’ll probably work very good…I’ve only heard good things about grip tape.
This is more likely a technique problem than a ski problem, although an improperly fit ski can exacerbate it.
You probably are not shifting you weight properly to get the ski to “grip” the snow when you kick. Most likely, you are just shuffling without making the ski do its job.
Waxless don’t glide very well and are dependent on you putting enough weight on the ski to grip the snow, plus waxless don’t adjust for the weather / snow conditions. Thi may b another issue, if the classic track is very hard and icy, waxless have less to "grip" and tend to slip.
Make sure the skis are the correct size. Then work on your technique. Then go buy some wax skis (you can gte combo skis that you can skae and classic), you’ll enjoy it much, musch moe.
I’ll be in Hayward, WI doing the Birkie with nearly 7,000 nordic geeks this weekend so I get to practice my poor form as well.
b) techique issues. best place to practice is up a very gentle hill with NO POLES. Key issues for technique if you are having grip issues: a) make sure the kick is starting from your heel not your toe/ball of foot- at beginning of kick, for your front foot, you want your heel down, very little weight on the front of your foot, and you want to think about pulling back with your heel. (this is most common beginner issue- most sports are done from the ball of your foot- nordic classic is done with the front foot weight starting on your heel right before the kick- it feels weird at first) b) hip rotation- most of the pull backwards for the kick should come from your hip not your leg- think about torquing your front foot backwards (via the heel) by rotating your front ass cheek backwards, not by kicking/pulling with your foot. (Think of a series of hip twists rather than a series of leg kicks). You should think about getting a lesson
c) eventually you want to switch to waxed skis- they are 100x more fun (though a bit fiddly to wax)