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Part One: You have to answer this question correctly to get any points!

Approximately how many miles between the southern most  trans-Sierra hwy pass and the next trans-Sierra hwy pass from the east-side?

A. 60 miles

B. 79 miles

C. 200 miles

D. 87 miles

Triple or Nothing Bonus Question:

You must answer the first question but you don’t have to answer the two bonus questions. If you choose to go for the bonus questions you must answer both bonus questions. If you give one wrong answer to the bonus questions but you answer the first question correctly, sorry you lose, no points for you. Answer all three questions correctly and 12 points for you.

Part Two:

What is the southern most hwy pass over the Sierra Nevada?

   No multiple choice answer this time! You gotta give me the name!

Triple or Nothing Bonus Question:

Part Three:

Which trans-Sierra pass is the highest?

A. Tioga

B. Sonora

C. Ebbetts

D. Monitor

D. Jokulhlaup

The Westside Road was permanently closed to all but foot traffic due to a jokulhlaup October 26, 1986.

Heavy rain but not record temperatures triggered the jokulhlaup which triggered a lahars barrelling giant trees, boulders and miles of mud and ice down the river which parallels the road. After this event the road was permanently closed and only the very bottom part of the road was open to a parking area where hikers abandoned their vehicles and hoof it up the road to trail heads. The small section that remained opened after the October 1986 event has seen several closures due to flood damage. The November 2006 flood inflicted most severe damage to the the lower Westside road but plans are in the making for opening it again to the parking area. In the early 1990’s Herb and I walked the road, scouted out the trail-head and hiked the closed trail to the shaky suspension bridge that crosses the river, much of the trail was washed away in 1986. The hike was beautiful and the visual damage was fascinating, the suspension bridge was exciting!!!  We continued up to the breathtaking Indian Henry Hunting Ground. Mount Rainier is one of our very favorite places, a true wonderland.

A jokulhlaup is an Icelandic term for a glacier outburst flood. Outbursts occur when there is a sudden change in the plumbing or internal conduit system of a glacier. The interior of the glacier contains pockets which normally store water. If there is a sudden influx of water from melt or rain, a large amount of water will burst out from the snout or another weak point in the glacier. Often part of the glacier will collapse and chunks of ice are released with the water. These waters usually pick up large amounts of alluvial and glacier deposits which quickly turn them into mudflows or lahars, (lahars are mudflows that occur on the slopes of a volcano). There you have it a new word to impress your friends.

WINNERS:Jake Norton, Harold Honath

BIGGEST LOSER: Treas might be the biggest loser because part of the Westside Road remained open after the main and major part of the road was permanently closed in 1986. But because Treas hates to be wrong and would likely threaten to destroy everybody’s accumulated entries should someone challenge the answer given, I say let’s go along with her answer. It’s just easier that way.

For years ski shops have been pushing hand-iron wax upgrades and for good reason. While belt waxing does a adequate job of spreading wax the length of the ski some of the wax is actually forced into the base through friction from the fast moving waxing belt. If you are a now and then skier a belt wax is a good affordable way to go, usually only costing between $6 and $10. The other thing to remember about belt waxing is in most if not all cases the shops are using a universal wax, a good wax in a variety of conditions. While these waxes work well they are not designed to be temperature specific. You know in the spring when it’s hard in the morning and sloppy in the afternoon. It’s tough to expect your universal wax to perform in such extreme snow textures and temperatures, but then who wants to change waxes mid-day.

Waxing is an art and like all good art you have to be willing to fork over the bucks to own it. But remember that belt waxes don’t last as long as an iron or hot box waxing, usually only about a day, so I suppose that should be calculated into the expense of an upgrade.

You’ve seen all those ski tech gurus laboring over a pair of skis getting the wax evenly distributed from tip to tail. They are also going back and forth with the iron heating the base of the ski so that the wax penatrates the base material. The iron technique is far superior to a belt wax and your wax will last longer especially when using cold hard waxes. 

Hot box waxing, “hot-boxing”, what an idea! Once your ski bases are cleaned and prepped, the wax is lathered onto the base with an iron and then the skis are put into a hot box that heats up to 140 degrees and then left there for up to 8 hours. Talk about penetration, the heat makes the pores in the base material expand allowing the wax to seep deep into the base, conditioning every fiber.  This wax application last along time, why because as you ski the pores contract and squeeze the wax out onto the base. Racers will hot box their skis up to 6 times in between stone-grinding. With each hot-boxing the skis get faster. The other thing to remember is that when the skis are removed from the hot box they need to be scraped and brushed! Scraping removes any wax residue and brushing exposes the stone-grind pattern.

Final thoughts: 

Belt/friction wax:  quick, cheap, universal wax, better than no wax.

Iron wax:  choice of wax, last longer than belt wax, usually a third to twice the cost, penetrates deeper,

skis perform better, good to use in between hot box waxing.

Hot-boxing: deep, deep penetration, choice of wax, last way longer, costs a lot, don’t need to wax as often, ski bases get cold and contract squeezing out more wax, skis ride fast and smooth. (don’t forget to scrap and brush!)

With these waxing techniques it still comes down to wax selection, a universal wax is a great everyday wax especially in the Sierra. But when performance is paramount pick your wax and with an experienced ski and wax technician.  Next month we’ll talk about wax selection and combinations. Metals have been won and lost because of ski and base preparation.

Tell you what, if you mention this article we will give you a Hot box wax for… let’s say half off. One time only now let’s not be greedy. Not during Christmas and offer expires January 31, 09.

I’ll be checking back to answer any questions you post under the “comments” tab below.

The Chief