The first weekend is in the books, and we can cross off a top 10, top 5, and technically a top 3 off of the to-do list.
Being behind the scenes and waxing in the wax truck is a whole different perspective. It is far more stressful but also incredibly fun. I am mainly a part of the glide team and will help with testing, picking, and applying waxes for any given day.
The conditions in Ruka for kick were extremely easy, and we ended up running on a hard wax binder with a purple/violet hard wax. It gave us plenty of kick without compromising the glide, and the athletes were very happy both days with the kick options.
The glide side of things, however, was a little more difficult. With the colder, new snow underneath our groomed snow, a lot of moisture was coming up through the snow the more it was skied on. This changed the snow from really dry in the morning to glazed and wet in the afternoon. We often tested before the races and then in between the races, changing from cold dry waxes in the morning to warmer wet waxes for the second part of the day.
