Originally Posted By: hikermor
Originally Posted By: JerryFountain

Skiing is not practical at -40. The skis don't glide.


Doesn't that depend upon using the appropriate wax? I could imagine that waxless skis would be ineffective when it starts to get really cold....


No, by those temps the snow is like sand, the wax or waxless surface drags. This is because the ski actually glides on a very thin layer of water. As temps go down and the water layer gets microscopically thin, the friction goes way up.

See a short description at:

http://ffden-2.phys.uaf.edu/211_fall2002.web.dir/Tyler_Freeman/index.html


Respectfully,

Jerry