Toko: West Yellowstone Supertour Field Reports

West Yellowstone Supertour Field Reports – what the teams used in their own words:

The first Supertour races presented us with extremely cold temperatures and “new” snow that saw A LOT of skier traffic. This cold, dry and transformed snow did not respond well to powders most of the week so we decided to forgo that layer for the sprint. For paraffin layer we found the standard HF blue and cold powder 1:1 mix running well. We top coated with the old Jetstream blue block(tested both 1.0 and 2.0) and new 2.0 liquid.

For the distance races, we repeated same protocol as sprint for men’s early starters. With the women starting at 11:45, we retested powders and found that a Jetstream blue/cold powder 1:1 mix started to work well. I’ve had this mix work well in similar conditions at Fairbanks Junior Nationals in 2013. Topped with Jetstream blue 1.0 block and 2.0 blue liquid.
– Andy Keller, Head Coach

Friday Sprint:
To be able to focus on top coats race morning, we tested paraffin base layers on Thursday. Among the different paraffins we tested, Toko HF Blue was the fastest. However, it was also the hardest wax we tested on Friday. With colder than expected temperatures on Friday morning we re-tested our base layer of Toko HF Blue with addition of Toko X-Cold Powder. The cold powder helped with the feel of the ski underfoot, freeing it up. Despite the cold temperatures, powder was still an improvement over paraffin. We were really happy with how the Jetstream Blue 2.0 ran, beating many other cold waxes we tested. In the heats, we noticed some glazing occurring as the course got skied in. We found that a layer of Blue 2.0 Helix was our fastest option at that point.

Saturday Distance:
Although temperatures were warmer on Saturday for the distance race, we stayed with Toko HF Blue mixed 3:1 with Toko X-Cold Powder for the added durability the cold powder adds. We really liked the high end speed of the HF Blue and X-Cold Powder mix, and opted for that over fluoro powders. Once again, we found the Blue 2.0 Helix was running well, even in the cold and dry conditions. The skis ran well through the morning and it was good to have some free speed in otherwise slow conditions.
– Spencer Eusden, Sugarbowl Elite Team Member

Wax report for Friday’s West Yellowstone SuperTour skate sprint

A. AM Sprint qualification air temp around 0 deg F to low single digits at 11 AM start. Snow temp variable (sun vs shade) and colder. The groomed corduroy was initially scratchy and abrasive, but with ski traffic, rapidly transitioned to a “greasy” fine-grained consistency.

Race results: very solid. Our junior skiers all successfully mixed it up with top senior skiers. Remarkably, our top qualifier — Maddie Morgan, FU18 — qualified 24th, even with a fall! She skied up to 20th overall in the quarterfinals. Fast skis (and a fast sker).

Wasatch Nordic wax call:
1. Base layer 3:1 Toko LF Blue / LF black.
2. Race paraffin: Toko HF Blue + Toko X-Cold Powder.
3. Fluoro powder: none.
4. Fluoro block: Toko Jet Stream Blue 1.0 rotocorked.
5. Final topcoat: Toko Jet Stream Blue 1.0 hand polished and brushed.

Our skis were very competitive and our qualification results were outstanding for our junior skiers.

B. Early PM Sprint Heats:
Air temp remained in single digit – low teens territory. Exposure to sun warmed some sections of track, but the snow remained cold and dry.

We didn’t change base layers for sprint heats. The old blue block remained our fastest pure fluoro option:
1. Base layer 3:1 Toko LF Blue / LF black.
2. Race paraffin: Toko HF Blue + Toko X-Cold Powder.
3. Fluoro powder: none.
4. Fluoro block: Toko Jet Stream Blue 1.0 rotocorked.
5. Final topcoat: Toko Jet Stream Blue 1.0 hand polished and brushed.

Saturday skate distance races

Again, cold temperatures dominated. Because we really liked our skis on Friday, the wax call for Saturday was very easy. The only change we made in base layers was to burn in Toko JS Blue 2.0 pow to help maintain ski speed over the longer distances on pretty cold abrasive snow. We focused on testing topcoats (see below for test results). Test results were essentially identical on Friday and Saturday.

Race results: again, our U18 and U16 ladies skied in the mix with top senior athletes. It was another very fun day.

Wasatch Nordic wax call for Saturday WY ST distance races:
1. Base layer 3:1 Toko LF Blue / LF black.
2. Race paraffin: Toko HF Blue + Toko X-Cold Powder.
3. Fluoro powder: Toko Jet Stream Blue 2.0 powder.
4. Fluoro block: Toko Jet Stream Blue 1.0 rotocorked.
5. Final topcoat: Toko Jet Stream Blue 1.0 hand polished and brushed.

We mixed Toko X-Cold Powder with HF Blue paraffin to harden the base, but chose not to mix cold powder with the JetStream. We thought the skis ran faster with just the pure fluoros on the surface of the ski.

All Toko Gloves are now Touch Screen Capable!

toko tech team — The Toko Tech Team just finished up its internal schooling in West Yellowstone and are excited and ready to service you locally with clinics, direct on-snow help, and race wax tips. This is the ONLY organization of it’s kind in the US.

Quite often, the first on-snow sessions of the year can be quite frustrating, especially for juniors and especially when it’s classic skiing. Compound those challenges with never having even stepped on skis in your life, and you’ve got a lot of ground to cover. A new athlete to the Momentum Northwest squad, Peder, was in this exact position last week during our Silver Star Thanksgiving Camp. He’s a strong endurance athlete with a running background and eager to learn, so I set him up on the wax bench before our first ski session and taught him the basics. Once we nailed down the differences between the “melting slippy stuff” (TOKO NF Blue glide wax) and the “lipstick sticky stuff” (TOKO Blue hard wax), he was off and running. With fantastic conditions and TOKO products that I had absolute confidence in, Peder spent his very first day on classic skis learning to stride up hilly courses with surefire kick and great glide, and he did so having learned the techniques himself. It’s so much because of TOKO’s straightforward wax system that I trust it and use it without hesitation for all my junior athletes.
-Sam Naney, Head Coach, Momentum NW

Click to read a Erik Bjornsen Blog Update with some cool photos

Here are a few action shots from the West Yellowstone SuperTour races. All images are of Toko athletes

Women’s Sprint:

Jennie Bender dominated the Women’s Sprint race. This is a real “feel good” story as Jennie got Mono and then hurt her back long term and was able to overcome fatigue and back issues to get herself fit again. Congratulations Jennie