Ski base treatments, including ski waxes and other alternative ski base treatments, are used by competitive, professional, and hobby skiers to enhance the glide performance of the ski base. From a physical perspective, glide performance is governed by friction at the ski-snow interface. Many ski waxes contain paraffin materials as their base, and even those that do not, still contain molecules of relatively low molecular weight. In both cases, the molecules are melted and applied to the ski base. Because of their high susceptibility to changes in thermal conditions, ski waxes and other ski base treatments have the potential for extreme changes in their material properties as the external temperature. Furthermore, ski conditions, including snow structure, snow surface temperature, air temperature, water content, and others, greatly impact the performance of skis and ski bases. [1–10] To mitigate some of the temperature-dependent properties of ski waxes, manufacturers have included additives into their wax compositions that enhance glide performance, and some have even specialized their waxes to specific temperature conditions, including low temperature waxes, high temperature waxes, and all-temperature waxes. [1–4, 11–13]
The characterization of ski waxes and ski base treatments includes several limitations. First, the data obtained in a laboratory setting, even if it is controlled, does not include all of the environmental conditions that may be present during skiing.[14–31] Second, the environmental conditions can change suddenly during skiing, which will result in a change in ski base properties. Finally, the data obtained in the field is highly subjective when it is collected from individual skiers because it is based on the feel of skis, and different skiers have different material property preferences. [14, 15, 32–41]
Most published research includes the testing of glide performance, which can be defined as the coefficient of friction, all of which has determined that measuring and reporting the coefficient of friction is complex, and can include many different testing methods. Some studies have tested the coefficient of friction as skiers are towed across the snow surface, and others have tested the inertial measurement units to determine the coefficient of friction. In all studies, researchers have determined that the coefficient of friction is a function of both the ski base morphology and the surface roughness present in snow samples. [16, 17]
To compare data obtained in a laboratory setting of the adhesion of ski wax to ski bases and the feel of the ski wax glide performance to data obtained in the field, this project explores the glide testing of ski base treatments under monitored environmental conditions with a controlled slope and track, where we built a snow track that remained as a permanent outdoor fixture and contained a controlled initial slope with a controlled run-out at the end of the track. In these experiments, we monitored the environmental conditions present during each experiment, and used video analysis techniques to calculate the coefficient of friction.