Olympic Winter Park

Four days out from the pre-Olympic World Cup, the CXC boys decided it was time to hone their classic skis and classic technique on the race course.  Coach Fish waxed several klister skis while Zach Caldwell of CSS dropped off some freshly ground Salomon “Zero” skis for us to test.

The “Zeros” are special skis manufactured specifically for temperatures at O degrees C, between the klister and hardwax range.  The base is a rubber and cork composite that can be roughed with sandpaper to function as a synthetic hairy ski.  In the right conditions, these skis are awesome.

Whistler seems to always have conditions ideal for zeros and today was no exception.  Our zero skis were kicking better and gliding faster than our best klister boards.

Once we had the skis dialed, we skied up into the hills to spend some time working on classic technique.  Bryan had several drills for us to work on before the races.  By the end of the ski, the sun had burned away many of the clouds, offering the first good views that we’ve seen of the mountains since we arrived.