Any advice on beating "The Grabbies"?

[JollyJake99]

This past week at C'back brought out the dreaded springtime "Grabbies" where, when I was just skiing along in the flats, all of a sudden, it feels like the skiis just want to stop & you are thrown forward. This became most pronounced when skiing out of the shade and into snow that was in the sun. Does anyone else experience this? Do you have a solution? Do I need to wax with warmer wax? Do I need a more open base structure?

[zaldon]

This past week at C'back brought out the dreaded springtime "Grabbies" where, when I was just skiing along in the flats, all of a sudden, it feels like the skiis just want to stop & you are thrown forward. This became most pronounced when skiing out of the shade and into snow that was in the sun. Does anyone else experience this? Do you have a solution? Do I need to wax with warmer wax? Do I need a more open base structure?

structure will help the base channel water away, but more importantly a warmer wax will allow you to slip right over the water. If i were you i would be using a 40degree and up wax.

[Shadows]

i feel like its just the way it is. wet snow sucks and strips any kind of wax anyway. i dont know what zaldon means by "structure" but some old skis have a groove all the way down the middle? that might help.

[DiMe]

Spring Wax = No Grabbie

[method9455]

Structure = texture on the bottom of your board from a stone grind. Course is good for wetter snow, though I go tight most of the time because we do relatively little spring riding compared to the rest of the year and I don't want to be bothered going back and forth. I did switch to warm weather wax about 2 or 3 weeks ago and it makes a huge difference.

[sibhusky]

The problem is, more than likely, when the day starts, everything is frozen hard as freezer ice and it rips off the soft wax. So by the time the slush shows up, that nice soft wax you put on is all gone. The open structure is important. I'm still trying to find the perfect solution myself. I was happy all day today. Dr. D's Universal wax, fresh structure in the ski (albeit a normal linear winter structure), still gliding nicely in the slush. Left when the crowds came, got back to the locker room, took one look at the bases, no way IN HELL I'm going to get another day out of the wax job. The AM was hard and fast ripping the heck out of things, so I bet if I'd stayed on until 3 or so, I'd have been increasingly unhappy.

 

The "spring skis" I have I have yet to test drive because they have a sharper edge on them and I need to take them out on a day I don't need to be pleasant to anyone... I don't like to make others miserable when I'm adjusting to something new. I'll get back to you if I actually use them. They have the sharper edge and a more aggressive structure to them for spring conditions, but after I had it done last year we never had spring conditions. I had to spend a little time on them after they came back from the shop because I just wasn't happy with the work they did overall last year, they were in and out several times, etc., and I finally gave up and decided I'd do everything myself except the base structure, long story. I don't know if they'll go out tomorrow or not.

 

As it is, I have to wax my normal skis AGAIN tonight with something that'll last more than one day and still glide in the slush....... Obviously the "universal" won't cut it, and I know yellow is even worse. I guess I'll go back to red, but then I won't have the glide in the PM. Maybe red and universal or red with graphite......? I HATE SPRING WAXING!!!!!

[JollyJake99]

Thanks for all of the advice! I think sib's right; on the steeps & early in the morning there was no trouble at all, but it was around 11 am when things got grabby. My typical wax-of-the-day is F4 mixed 50/50 with the swix lo flouro of the predicted overnight temperature range. This is over Dr. D's flouro graphite of the proper temp range. I was increasing the temp level of the LF as the week wore on. I've got some other ideas that I'll try this week & I will let you know how it works out.

[C1erArt]

I had the 'grabbies' a week ago in the warm sunny conditions, even though I waxed with Swix Red a couple of days earlier - it felt like suction getting me rather than the wrong wax. I checked and saw that whoever had the last stone grind done (used skis) didn't put any structure on it. I used my Ski Man Base Planer with the coarse stone to put on an aggressive structure (the rilling tool that does a more professional job at structuring is beyond my budget), sanded with 800 wet paper, steel rotobrushed, and did some hot scrapes. Put on red wax again, and it was nice and slick on Sunday. Have to see how they do in sunny conditions. Out of Dominator zoom old snow race wax - that's usually pretty nice for warm snow.

[AtomicSkier]

Warm natural snow with high water content (in comparison to old, blown, sugar w/ very low moisture content) is what kills your speed. A wax a few days ago isn't going to help. Once the snow stays warm for awhile, it won't get grabby as it turns to sugar. By now, the "grabbies" should be gone.

[sibhusky]

Warm natural snow with high water content (in comparison to old, blown, sugar w/ very low moisture content) is what kills your speed. A wax a few days ago isn't going to help. Once the snow stays warm for awhile, it won't get grabby as it turns to sugar. By now, the "grabbies" should be gone.

So you're telling me that since I have very little manmade snow here, I'm stuck? We've been having about 10 days of slush-ville and by 2 PM it's the grabbies. I leave. Still haven't tried the "spring skis" with the coarser structure. So far I've had to wax DAILY and I can't take it much longer.

Edited March 16, 2010 by sibhusky

[Shadows]

we just need to get them to use more snomax so when the weather is warm you can just ski around on little chemical ball bearing.

[AtomicSkier]

So you're telling me that since I have very little manmade snow here, I'm stuck? We've been having about 10 days of slush-ville and by 2 PM it's the grabbies. I leave. Still haven't tried the "spring skis" with the coarser structure. So far I've had to wax DAILY and I can't take it much longer.

 

Real snow is so much worse for spring skiing then man made stuff. It becomes paste-like. I bet you never had the issues you're having when you skied in the east.

[sibhusky]

Real snow is so much worse for spring skiing then man made stuff. It becomes paste-like. I bet you never had the issues you're having when you skied in the east.

You're right, I don't remember this at all. But then, I'm getting really old and there's a lot I don't remember......

[bigdaddyk]

By now, the "grabbies" should be gone.

 

I noticed today that they were gone.

[JollyJake99]

I did find some relief on 3/25! The night before I used a steel "refreshing" brush to increase the base structure & used Swix LF10 2:1 with F4 over Dr. D's warm florormax graphite. There was no solidily frozen stuff to scrape the wax off first thing & when the surface got melty, it was only the obviously dirty (brown) snow that there were any grabbies.