There’s no doubt the fluorinated wax landscape is changing. This week, TOKO USA sent out an email updating its inventory. Part of what caught our eyes was this: “JetStream and HelX will not be available this year or in the future”.
Those two products have been widely adopted on the race circuit. Both are highly fluorinated ski base finishing products.
The dust is still settling from the EPA’s push to regulate the ski wax industry. What specific fluorinated products will be available this winter remains in play.
Zach Caldwell of Caldwell Sport wrote the following in an email to his customers: “Because of the new chemistry, we will be working only with liquids for fluorinated paraffins from Star this season. … Moving forward, we’ll be recommending a system of periodic hot-waxing with NF waxes to feed the base and ensure appropriate bulk property support, accompanied by applications of fluorinated liquid for specific on-snow sessions.”
As the prospect of fluoro bans are discussed, we wanted to ask some questions to gauge our readers’ thoughts as folks ponder the potential elimination of fluoros.
We’d love to get your considered responses. Please submit answers to info@fasterskier.com or we have another option: Here’s a link to a Google Forms questionnaire with the same questions. It is an anonymous form and does not collect emails or require users to be logged into a Google account. (Or any account for that matter.)
Please make us aware if, for some reason, the form asks for an email or a login.
Questions:
- Would you opt into a voluntary fluoro ban (all products) at a major ski marathon?
- Would you opt into a voluntary fluoro ban (all products) at a junior national qualifier/junior nationals?
- If a fluoro ban was put in place, would you trust that the field was “clean” with regards to fluorinated ski bases?
- As fluorinated waxes become more regulated, what will you do with your stock of powders, blocks, gels, and liquids that will provide a competitive advantage compared to newer fluorinated products with shorter carbon chains?
- In a Mad Max world of wax, do you foresee a black market developing for “banned” wax product?
- If a black market for such a product existed, would you purchase the product?
- What would deter you from using fluorinated wax products if a race posted a zero-tolerance fluoro policy?
- What deters you from using fluorinated waxes?
- What would deter you from using fluorinated waxes?
