- The "wax pocket" is centered around the toe of the foot,
not the center of the foot or the heel.
- So I can get a little better grip any time just by
pressing my toe.
Actually I think I also press the "ball"
of my foot, just behind the toe (even though the toe is my mental
image).
- I usually can get better glide by pressing my heel.
what's here
- What is "wax pocket" --
how to find it
- Placement of grip wax vs wax
pocket
- Percent of force on grip wax vs glide
wax
- Press the toe -- and how other
actions interact
- Experiment on snow
- for better glide: Press
the heel
see also
Discussion
It's not that I ever consciously dis-believed that the wax
pocket is centered near the toe. But neither did I ever believe
it, or even think that question might have any useful
implications.
I just sort of figured I got grip by pressing my whole foot down
on the ski. Seems like the obvious thing to do, the easiest and
most natural thing to do. And I usually made sure I got lots of
wax under the whole foot, and also some ahead and some behind it.
When I got a pair of Fischer skis that had markings for the wax
pocket, I did sort of notice that the markings extended out front of my
foot a lot further than I had been thinking of it -- and they did not
extend behind my boot like I had sometimes been waxing. But I
didn't know exactly what the multiple markings meant, and I didn't see
to how to put it all together conceptually.
The beginning of the breakthrough for me was when Tomas Bystrom
described on the rec.skiing.nordic discussion group a 3-step test for
selecting the fit of a new pair of skis -- where the difference between
the last two tests was whether the weight was on the whole foot, or only
on the toe -- and clearly the toe-only approach was expected to compress
the ski down more in the fit test.
A while later it hit me that the same approach should work on snow,
too. So I tested it out in my no-pole hill-climbing exercises, and
it really worked for me.
A few days later I tested the idea of pressing the toe even though my
body weight was temporarily behind the wax pocket, not over it -- and
that worked too. Which led me to the principle that the ski cannot
"feel" where my body is at every moment: the only
thing the ski feels directly is the distribution of forces and torques
being transmitted through my boot and foot through the binding.
Being sensitive to this allowed me to feel way more in control of my
grip when climbing up hills. Then in big races I noticed that I
was "out-kicking" lots of other competitors up hills -- and I
couldn't help but think that was the key reason (since I don't have
anywhere near as much waxing experience as most other racers).
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- What is this "wax pocket"?
The wax pocket is a section of the ski base around the middle of
the length of a Classic ski. This section has a special bend
that tends to keep it a little further above the surface of the snow,
or have a little less pressure against the snow, than the rest of the
ski base.
The purpose of this special bend is that grip wax on this section
will not get scraped off against the snow so quickly -- because it
will not touch the snow as often while the ski is gliding, and if it
does touch it will have less pressure on it.
- How to find the wax pocket
Since the special bend is gradual, the boundary of the wax pocket
may not be sharply defined.
The "Checkpoint 1"
measurement describe on the Fit
of Skis page is a reasonable first approximation of the boundaries
of the wax pocket.
But the true long-term test is simply to look at the ski after
using it for long time, and ask "Where did the grip wax wear off
quickly, and where did it stay on the base a long time?"
The normal strategy for firm groomed snow is to put lots of grip wax on the central
section of the base that is definitely inside the wax pocket, and to
put only glide wax on the tip and tail sections which are definitely
outside the wax pocket.
But waxing is much more entertaining that that . . .
see more on using grip wax
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- How does the grip wax placement influence the degree of
grip?
The degree of grip is determined by several factors:
(a) what percent of my body weight is committed to the ski I am
currently pushing on.
(b) how much additional down-force I am adding (or up-force I am subtracting) by other
means -- see the Balance "secret".
(c) how much friction the grip wax I selected has in the current snow and
temperature conditions.
(d) where and how large is the section of the base with grip wax on
it (rather than glide wax) -- see Using Grip
Wax.
(e) how stiff is the ski
(f) what percentage of the total down-force is being applied to
those sections of the base with grip-wax on them
The total down-force is given by the sum of (a) and
(b). More total down-force implies more
grip.
And clearly the more friction (c) from my selected grip wax, the
more grip. This is the one lots of people focus on -- and you do
not want to get the grip wax selection wrong -- but it's only one
factor.
If I decide to put grip wax on a larger portion of
the base (d), then other things being equal I will get better
grip.
Stiffness (e) is actually one of the key drivers of
(f), but the way to manage is different, so we mention it
separately.
The last factor (f) sounds plausible, but perhaps it
is a bit tricky. It says that I ought to try to steer more of my
total down-force away from the glide-wax sections of my ski base and toward the
grip-wax section . . .
- What controls this shifting of the force percentage from glide wax to grip wax?
(1) what ski I'm on: stiff versus soft
Stiffer skis tend to put a larger percentage of the
force onto the tips and tails, which is where the glide zone is, not
the grip zone. This is the big point about the
first "secret".
If you are not sure that your skis not too
stiff, now is the time to work through the Ski Fit
"secret"
One simple way to get better grip is to use softer
skis -- since they allow more force to go to the center zone of the
ski where the grip zone is.
With waxable skis, there is way to help compensate
for stiffness -- see Using Grip Wax.
(2) what snow I'm on: hard versus soft
Softer snow especially calls for softer skis.
Your skis might be OK for firm snow, but a bit stiff for soft
snow.
That's because less of the center section of the ski base
reaches the snow once the tip of the ski has has packed it down or
"shoveled" it out of the way.
With waxable skis, there is way to help compensate
for soft snow -- see Using Grip Wax.
Some people actually have two pairs of Classic
skis: a soft-flex pair for soft snow and a stiff pair for hard
snow. It is much more fun to use a soft-flex ski on hard snow
than a stiff ski on soft snow: Therefore it is highly
recommended to buy your first pair soft. If you find later that
your grip wax rubs off too quickly on hard snow, or you get serious
about racing, you can then buy a stiffer pair.
(3) where I focus my pressure through my boot
This works for most Classic skis -- at least
for all of mine.
But before going any further, check it out for your
skis:
Try the ski fit measurements under Checkpoint
2 and Checkpoint 3 on the fit
of skis page. Measure the paper-move range for three
weight-distributions: spread over your whole foot, focused on
the heel, and focused on the toe.
If you got the same paper-move range for all three
weight-distributions, then you've got evidence that the force
percentage on the wax pocket is determined by the ski design -- so the
techniques on this page will likely not help you with this ski.
If you got the smallest paper-move range with weight
focused on the heel, then you've got some unusual skis -- so the
techniques on this page will likely not help you control grip versus
glide with this ski.
If you found that weight focused on the heel showed the largest
paper-move range, and that weight focused on the toe (or
"ball") showed the
smallest paper-move range (or a tie for smallest) -- then you've got
good evidence that weight focused on the toe puts the largest
percentage of weight on force on the wax pocket and grip zone for the
ski. That's what I do when I need more grip, and it definitely
helps.
- My "secret" control buttons:
- - press the toe for better grip.
- - press the heel for better glide.
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(Works for my skis -- see if your classic skis show the
"normal" results from
the measurements described above.)
see
Discussion
Actually I think I also press the "ball" of my
foot.
The "ball" is the slightly rounded section
of the inside and bottom of the foot, at the joints where the
individual toes connect with the larger foot. It is rather
difficult to press with tips of the toes without also pressing the
"ball" of the foot -- a bit like ballet dancers going up
"on point".
It was Parham drew my attention to this use of the
"ball" -- indeed his advice for getting grip up hills is to
"dig in with the ball of the foot". [ see
Discussion ] But my mental
image is only of the toe -- I leave it to my muscles to know how to
interpret that image in a way that's most effective for
them.
But this takes work, and it's not the most important way to
get grip. I use other grip "tricks" too.
The main way to get grip is complete and
uninterrupted weight transfer to the ski I'm currently pushing on -- see on weight
transfer and balance.
- It's easier to press my toe if my body weight is
leaning forward.
And to sustain the toe-pressure over time, getting my weight forward
is required (since otherwise my body weight would soon have to fall
back onto my heel).
On
gentle-to-moderate terrain, many elite racers "fall forward"
just before starting the leg-push.
But forward body weight is not always required: The ski
cannot "feel" where my upper body is.
Basic physics says that the ski can
only "feel" the pressure coming through the bottom of my boot and binding. So it is possible to get (temporarily) the
improved-grip benefit of pressing my toe even if my body weight is
centered back behind the foot.
One situation where this can be a useful option is
when climbing up a steep hill, where elite racers often
"reach" their new foot way up the hill, and temporarily need
to hold their grip even before their upper body gets "caught
up" again over the new foot.
My advice:
Don't just follow somebody else's theory, and don't just rely on
dry-land observations -- actually test this for yourself on
snow.
Find a set track that starts gentle and gradually gets
steeper.
With skis on -- and without using poles to help:
- - try walking up it with weight on heels and see how steep you can
go.
- - try walking up it with weight on toes and see how steep you can
go.
- - find out how steep you can hold with all your weight through the
toe of one ski.
- - staying in the same place, change the focus of force to your
heel, and see if you slip back.
Remember: No poles to help -- Play with ideas for how to get
the most out of your grip wax. And make it so that not just your
mind knows what works best, but your feet have felt it for
themselves.
- - try going up a hill using no poles, and play with different
combinations of (a) pressing heel versus toe; (b) ankle always flexed
and underneath you versus reaching your leg up the hill; (c) upper
body erect versus leaning way forward.
Pressing my heel -- during the glide phase of course -- will normally result in more pressure to the snow
through the tail
section of my ski (where I put glide wax), and less on the wax pocket
(where I put grip wax).
That's why if I decide to wax "long"
outside the wax pocket, I usually extend my grip wax zone only toward
the tip of the ski, not the tail. So I still retain
"pressure through the tail" as my consistent "control
lever" for more glide.
Since pressing my heel normally takes some of the pressure off the grip
wax zone, doing it during the gliding phase has the added benefit
of keeping less grip wax from getting rubbed off from my ski
base. So my grip wax keeps working for a longer distance before
I need to put on more wax.
So the pressure focus through the foot (toe versus center versus
heel) could be different during different phases of the stride:
Press my heel during the glide phase, then press my toe (and
"fall forward") at the initiation of my next leg-push.
Then there could be a third
distinct phase after that, with a mental image of "keep the heel
down" through to the finish of the leg-push. (Does this
mental image contradict "press the toe"? See on the Smooth
Striding "secret".)
- Bending forward a lot can strain your back.
So you're asking for trouble if on one day you
greatly increase the amount of time you lean forward, the number of
times you lean forward, and/or how far you lean forward.
Leaning forward works, but you have to train your
back carefully for it, build it up slowly over several weeks and even
months.
- My "secret" control buttons:
- - press the toe (and "ball") for better grip.
- - press the heel for better glide.
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