Ski wax is an arcane subject, shrouded in obscurity for most skiers, but just a little knowledge can make your skis slide faster and turn easier. Just as with footbeds and bootfitting, wax is one of the less glamorous parts of the ski equipment system but it can make a huge difference in your day on the hill. It simply doesn’t matter if you have the best skis in the world if they don’t slide. All the parts of the system- footbeds, boots and bootfit, skis, tune (including wax)- are equally important for on-hill performance, but wax is the easiest (and cheapest) element to address.

Ski bases are made from porous plastic known as P-Tex that needs to be saturated with wax to slide on most types of snow. Wax, along with the pattern ground into the base surface by a stonegrinding machine, reduces suction and friction as the ski slides over the snow. Wax and the grind pattern break up and channel the layer of water that skis actually slide on (water is squeezed out of the snow by pressure and friction). This is why wax is more crucial on wetter snow like spring slush.
Waxing not only allows the ski to slide faster downhill but also laterally across the snow, making it easier to pivot and maneuver.

Most skiers wax infrequently, and we’re not getting the most out of our skis. Ideally, skis should be hot-waxed (wax is melted and ironed into the base, then the excess is scraped off) about every seven to ten days of skiing, and more often in the spring.
The exception is when we have very cold snow- this is when the appropriate stonegrind pattern (finer-grained and smoother to slide across sharp snow crystals) becomes more important. In spring, switching to a coarser pattern (or ‘structure’) will help to channel water across the base.
If your bases are getting grey or fuzzy looking, if water doesn’t bead up and roll quickly off the base, they need wax. The standard procedure is to melt wax into the base with an hot iron, and then scrape and brush off the excess.
For everyday waxing, corking (melting the wax in by vigorously rubbing the base with a block of cork or foam- cheap and available at ski shops) is a great option- it saves effort, wax, and cleanup (no scraping). There are rub-on waxes and gels that don’t require corking, but they only last a run or two (ditto for ski shop belt waxes).

Picking a wax can be confusing- there are different waxes for different temperatures and a wide price spectrum. The more expensive waxes contain fluorocarbons and other chemicals that reduce friction in wetter snow. Bottom line for Mammoth skiers: get a cheap bulk warm-temp wax for iron waxing (or have a ski shop do it), and a bar of the good stuff (or two: for warm and cold snow) for corking in. In Mammoth, warm snow wax will work well on all but the coldest days of mid-winter.