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Base Prep Wax

Base prep is the least glamorous step and the one that decides how fast everything after it will be. A new ski leaves the factory with a dry base, and a well-used one dries out through the season; in both cases the structure needs filling with soft wax before a hard race wax can do anything.

The Swix BP waxes are made for this. They are soft, cheap per gram and meant to be used in repeated cycles — iron in, let cool, scrape, repeat — three or four times on a new pair rather than once.

Do this when the skis arrive and again a few times a season, not the night before a race.

Then move to Swix race wax for competition, or training wax for everyday use. See also base cleaner and conditioner.

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