Schedule - Spring and Summer

Precision stone grinding with the Mantec.

It's the middle of May and the snow has receded into the higher elevations.    The Methow Valley is beautiful right now with green trees and spring wild flowers everywhere.    It would be easy to completely forget about skiing, but DON'T!

Stone grinding, and ski service work in general, continues through the spring and summer at Nordic Ultratune.  Naturally, during the springtime the grinding schedule is more relaxed and service work gets done as a decent size group of skis accumulate - typically every other week instead of weekly.

During spring and summer, FedEx and UPS continue to make normal deliveries every day, so no worries about shipping skis to Ultratune -- they'll get here.

Note that the shop store front is closed during spring and summer (appointments, please - email or call ahead!.

So if you'd like to get your skis serviced now, so that you'll have your skis ready and fast when the snow arrives in the fall, you can send skis any time.

Atomic 2013 SDS World Cup Classic Skis

New Graphics!

A pair of 197cm Atomic SDS World Cup Classic skis arrived at noon on Feb 10th, by FedEx.     A client was in the shop, but was happy to pause while I opened the box and immediately took the skis to the flex tester to give them a quick check.     Bingo.   These were right on target for a skier in the 125 pound range.

I basically dropped everything, and within 90 minutes had a fresh i5 grind on the skis, wax pocket marked, and race wax on the skis.

There was a carload of local hotshot ladies heading to Canada at 2 p.m. sharp (well, as "sharp" as a carload of our local hotshot ladies can be...), and these brand new skis made it into their rocket box with no time to spare.   It was a ladies' weekend, with a little 30km classic race tossed into the mix for entertainment.   In the Methow Valley, the women are strong and good looking and all the children are above average (except for math and science, where I think they might lag a bit).

The instructions were to give them a try.   Test them with the other race skis, and if they were the best, then by all means feel free to race on them.  No pressure, no favors, no special requests - "Only use them if they're the best."

And so, the new Atomic SDS World Cup Classic skis were on the top of the women's podium the next day, setting a new course record for women (waxed with Start N-series glider and SF30 Powder, and with Rode Weiss grip wax over Toko Green binder).     The short report was, "These were better than any of the other skis - easy to kick but with a nice pop!    The glide was great, I could double pole and keep up with the elite men!"   This coming from a reliable ex-olympian who knows a thing or three about skis.

It wasn't until the skis returned home to the shop that I had enough time to really get a look at the skis, to carefully check out how the SDS camber worked, how the skis flex and close easily.     Then, at that point, I was pretty happy with everything.    They can make the cut as race boards, but they also measure-up nicely on the bench.

 The Atomic SDS World Cup Classic ski on the flex bench at Nordic Ultratune

By now you may have heard some of the details, read about them on some Atomic infomercials with Rick Halling or Roman Toferer.      A new camber with a special lay-up schedule and materials, to allow the kick zone to stay up off the snow until crunch time, then  - Bam! - drop down with perfect kick, etc.       If you read about it and were a bit skeptical, well who could blame you.      Others have made similar claims...

Easy to read flex info, and very closely matched wax pockets on this pair.

But ahoy!   These actually seem to do the job!     Now, I'll issue a caveat by saying that I've worked with a grand total of ONE pair of these SDS skis, but they're exactly as advertised.

The magic inside is, naturally, inside and thus not visible.   What is visible to see are the strips along the edge on both sides of each ski that help maintain some uniformity of the kick pocket - they keep it from sagging in the middle, I think.    So when the kick engages, it drops-in relatively uniformly on a section about 50cm long.   The whole section engages smoothly and with good solid contact.     These skis have grip and also some pop - they feel like you're gliding smoothly until it's time to kick and then they're ON.

Hairsplitting details:   The skis weigh 562 grams each.   Add 120 grams for a ProPulse binding, and you're up to 682 grams for ski+binding.    That's 1.50 pounds for Americans.   About 75 grams per ski heavier than last year's ski, but still light by current standards for a 197cm classic ski.    Good.    The klister pocket (0.5mm high at the ends) is about 40cm long, while cold hardwax can go about 55cm long.     Camber height max at half-body-weight is about 1mm, which is great for hardwax skiing.   Some experimenting with klister will be needed to see how thick that can go without being draggy (on this particular pair, of course).

Let's summarize.  Overall I'll say that these SDS World Cup classic skis are very nice.    They do everything a good hardwax classic ski is supposed to do.       Are they a complete game-changer?   No, you still have to ski with good technique and you still need to get a pair that's fitted well and prepared well.   Naturally, I'd like to see NIS plates on these skis, the NIS plates would make them better.   But, even with screwed-and-glued bindings they're going to be very easy to select and prepare as go-to classic skis.   As I saw in February, they can easily go straight to the top of the test results - even among your favorite classic skis.     And that says a lot.   Very nice.

I'll definitely have a bunch of these in the shop at Nordic Ultratune in the fall of 2012.    If you'd like a pair reserved, you can drop me a line any time.

Spring Skiing in Switzerland?

I got a note this morning from Brian Gregg, of the CXC team, and right now traveling with the US Ski Team in Switzerland.

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Brian Gregg"
Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2012 7:11 AM
To: "Nordic Ultratune"
Subject: M1d

Hey Mark,

59F at the race venue for this weekend's Swiss cup. My skis didn't make it off of the plane with me. Super psyched when they came during breakfast today. It is freezing at night and the m1d is soooo good in this transformed snow. So happy to have the m1d in my fleet. Races start at noon (ladies first) so structure is going to be key.

Brian Gregg in Switzerland

I guess it's getting to be spring skiing time in many parts of North America (and Europe), but this morning I got up to find new snow, fresh grooming, and 18F !    I was out the door with yesterday's grip wax before I had a chance to eat breakfast.    It was super!  

It continues to be an amazing winter here in the Methow Valley, and I think we're pretty close to 100 consecutive days of grooming now.

Birkie Notes

I've been getting phone reports from the American Birkebeiner this morning.

Congratulations to Caitlin and Brian Gregg - Caitlin was 2nd in the women's race and Brian was 3rd in the men's event.  Brian and Caitlin both felt that they were skiing on rockets; both were on Ultratune grinds today, as is normal for both of them.

I also talked to Laura McCabe right after she finished her race.   Laura is an incredible dynamo, and she pulled off a big race to finish 4th in the women's field.     Laura was super stoked with her i5 grind today and said she had great skis.

Conditions were typical for the Birkie - cold at the start and warming through the morning.    This puts a premium on versatile cold grinds that can ski up into the teens and low twenties without getting draggy or sticky.

For a low snowpack year, the snow was fast, firm, but not icy today.    Great conditions for a ski race!

How was your race?

Understanding Variables In Base Structures

Working with machine structures on skis, there are only a few variables that can be adjusted to influence the performance of the ski. Primarily these variables are depth, spacing, interruption, and patterns.

The structure on the ski base is primarily a closely spaced lengthwise pattern of micro-grooves. Depth of the grooves varies from about 0.01mm to 0.05mm or more. Spacing of the grooves can be anywhere from 0.25 mm line-to-line and wider.

Some structures, such as those prepared on the Mantec Skinumericontrol 140, can have line spacing and depth that vary from the edges toward the middle.

Depth of the micro-grooves is critical, and can work for or against the speed of the ski. In large-grained and transformed moist snow, deeper grooves resist propagation of moisture and help to prevent the sticking due to adhesion. However, in dry fine-grained snow, deep grooves create opportunities for increased interlock friction - the fingers and features of the fine snow grains catch in the grooves. This type of friction can be imagined as being like velcro - it can be a noisy and slow experience when deep patterns are used on fresh, cold, dry snow.

Less obvious is the influence of interruptions in the micro-grooves. Interruptions in the long length-wise grooves are important to minimize capillary propagation of adhesive layers of water. In addition, the interruptions help to keep the ski from “tracking” into the snow, and help with release of the ski; this is especially noticeable on skate skis, but at the same time is more subjective and harder to quantify.

Pattern in the structure is typically the result of interruptions (also referred to as interference, or cancellation) being organized in a predictable and orderly way. Often these patterns can be visually seen as diagonal bands or chevron shapes on the ski sole. Some structures that have varying line spacing may show a curved interference pattern. Although the patterns may be at an angle, looking closely you’ll see that the bands are comprised of cancellations or interruptions in the lengthwise grooves, and are NOT diagonal cuts in the ski base.

Interruption or cancellation profiles that cross the ski horizontally and repeatedly (perpendicular to direction of travel) are a negative influence on performance. Thus, designing an organized interruption pattern is important in optimizing the glide properties. Pattern angles of 30 degrees or less are almost never seen. Also, the repetition rate of the interruption pattern affects the performance of the ski (rep-rate can be measured in spacing across the ski).

Nordic Ultratune uses the Mantec grinder . With the Mantec the variables of spacing, depth, interruption and pattern are analyzed with built-in software features. The Mantec offers unmatched precision and control.

Each winter, designing and testing structures is an integral part of my work. Within the limits of each variable, there are infinite opportunities for optimizing the structures. Testing the structures on snow is the biggest limiter in developing effective new grinds. At Nordic Ultratune, designing structures with varying spacing, depth, and groove interruptions is the key to building a set of grinds that will work in a broad range of snow conditions.

The key to fast skis is to have base surfaces prepared with with structures that are fast and versatile enough to handle a broad range of conditions.

STONE GRINDING SCHEDULE
Stone grinding work continues weekly through the whole season.   Ultratune provides same-week turn-around during fall and winter.   Skis that arrive by Thursday will be ready to ship back to you on the following Monday.

Pick a grind, fill out a work order form, and ship your skis.

Report from IBU Euro Champs

Casey Smith, earlier in the
season at Canmore.

Casey Smith is a young local guy who has been pursuing biathlon since he was in Jr High.    All along the way he's been working with Ultratune to get good skis and service.      Casey isn't just a client, he's almost family for us.      Casey's had great results all through the early season in domestic events, and now he's in Europe racing in a much deeper field of talent.

In addition to having a lot of skill and talent as a Biathlete, Casey is a great resource for ski and grind feedback.   He's got a good feel for the snow and is very objective.

Here's a note from Casey after the first race at the IBU European Championships.

      Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2012 07:45:46 -0800
      From: Casey Smith      
      Subject: Euro Race 1
      To: Mark Waechter 

Hey Mark,

I'm sure that you have found the results already but things were fairly
solid. I was 31st shooting 1,1. I felt pretty consistent in both my
shooting and skiing so I was happy with that.

I skied on the 14u's (ed. note:  14u is an Ultratune prototype grind). 
It was a tough pick between them and the i5's,  the snow
was pretty hard and it was -14c this morning. The snow is fairly
transformed and all natural. The i5s were running better in the sunny
spots and the 14u's better in the shade and most of the course was in
the shade so I went with them and they were equal or better then anyone
who I was skiing with.

Just in case for some odd reason you have not been able to find the
results yet they are on biathlonworld.com

Casey

Wax of the Day

I've added a link to the WOTD from this blog.
Look for the link on the lower right

For the past few seasons I've been doing daily updates for the Methow Valley's grooming report to provide wax-of-the-day information.

On most days it's a relatively straight-forward proposition:   a reasonable glide wax recommendation, and a decent grip wax recommendation.     But, here in the Methow Valley, there are 200km of groomed ski trails and they vary in altitude by nearly 2000 vertical feet, and range over an expansive area of well over 30km from one end to the other.    Ecosystems change from dense fir/pine forests to shrub-steppe grasslands.     It's a big area.    And wax conditions can sometimes be pretty varied.

Although the area is expansive, and space on the daily report is limited, an effort is made to make a worthwhile set of recommendations, and every once in a while there's a little local commentary to go along with it.

If you haven't skied in the Methow Valley, this might be the year to drop everything and head to the Northwest.     It's been a banner year for skiing here.    Groomed trails opened up before Thanksgiving, and the snow has been consistently excellent.      Right now there's well over 4 feet of snow on the ground and the groomers are busy keeping 120 miles of trails manicured.

Stone Grinding Schedule

You've been training to get the most from your skiing, so make sure your skis aren't a limiter.

Prepare all of your skis to run their best with a fresh stone grind and hotbox service. At Nordic Ultratune, a stone grinding batch starts every Thursday and those skis are ready for shipping on the following Monday -- just 4 days later. Return shipping is FedEx Express Saver, which is 3rd day delivery. So, skis that are shipped out on Monday will arrive back to you on Thursday.

Here's the upcoming service schedule at Nordic Ultratune. Use these dates to make sure you get your skis ready before your most important events.

• Skis in by Jan 26 will ship out on Jan 30 and arrive to you by the Feb 2nd.
• Skis in by Feb 2 will ship out on Feb 6th.
• Skis in by Feb 9th will ship out on Feb 13th.
• Skis in by Feb 16th will ship out on Feb 20th and get to you by Feb 23rd

You can see that there are still a few service batches scheduled before the big Marathon races (including the Birkie!).     There is still time to get a fast grind on your skis before your biggest events! But don't delay... ...fast boards are a joy to ski on, and they're a real advantage.

Download a work order form here. A description of some of the grinds is here.