Thanks for the interview, it’s always interesting. You talked about the fact that it would be useful to have skis with fish scales so that you could go up without having to put skins. I know a solution for that: use wax!

I was surprised when I first heard that but it works great and can save time on the right mountain. I learned it from a group telemarking at La montagne Noire, in St-Donat, QC. The approach is long and not very steep. However in a few places there are short fun slopes that you want to do. You don’t want to remove skins to go down 50 meters! Wax is the solution. You can even put skins on top of waxed skis if you need it at some point. And don’t worry, you won’t feel the wax when going down. I was scared the first time I tried it but now I love it!

Hint: go for a slightly warmer wax than what they suggest and don’t worry about the wax pocket you would have on a normal XC ski: there’s no curvature on your tele skis. You can even put wax on the whole length.