The running surface of the touring ski is always protected from direct contact with the snow by a composite coating called, in general, wax. This coating serves a triple purpose: to protect the wood from ab­sorbing water, to facilitate sliding, and to aid climbing. Base wax,—The first coating is the "base wax," and must be applied before the start of the tour. This is in­tended to be durable, to adhere tightly to the wood, to "take" well the running and climbing waxes later ap­plied, and to slide well if these should be worn off. Many commercial bases are available, some of which are rapid-drying lacquers. The wood must be dry and absolutely free from wax before such a lacquer is applied. This is a minor disadvantage in repairing the coating if it is injured. A waterproof varnish is stronger but takes longer to dry. A very satisfactory base for touring can be made by melting together pine tar and flaked orange shellac, about equal parts, to give a mass that can barely be indented with the thumbnail at room temperature. A thread pulled out of the melted mass should not be too brittle, but should bend slowly. If it is soft or sticky at freezing temperature, it needs more shellac; if too brittle, more tar. This wax can be melted on to the ski with a warm—not too hot—iron, but a better coating is se­cured if it is dissolved in denatured alcohol, warmed by setting in a can of hot water, and then painted on to the ski with a brush, two or three thin coats. If, after it is dry, it is lightly flamed with a torch, it becomes tough­ened. Smooth with steel wool or fine sandpaper if de­sired. A good base wax such as this need be applied only once or, at most, a few times during the season of skiing.

Climbers.—A ski tourer has need of two qualities in his skis that might well seem utterly irreconcilable; he would like his skis to stick without backslipping while climbing and also to run downhill as freely as possible. Even in level going he would like them to slide only in one direction. This was achieved in the prehistoric period of skiing by fastening to one ski, the "push" ski, a coat­ing of sealskin with the hair pointing backwards. The other and usually longer ski was the sliding ski. This method is still popular, but is now practiced by fastening long strips of sealion skin or plush to both skis, either by pasting them on with wax or by attaching them with straps or metal clips.

The waxed-on skins are much lighter, and the ab­sence of side straps allows them to slide forward freely. Their chief drawback is that it is more of an art to apply them. That is, of course, no deterrent to a person who enjoys making an art of ski touring. If your skins have been precoated with the right wax, all you have to do is to stand the ski so that the sun can warm its under side, hook the strap over the tip—if your skis have no tips, you can equip them with short bolts with wing nuts through a hole—and stroke them down with the hand. Do not stretch them. If there is no sun, put the skins be­tween your shirt and your own skin for a while, dry the under surface of the skis and stick the skins on quickly, one at a time. Skis so armed slide forward very freely, downhill or on the level. Of course, one cannot do any of the turns that require the skis to skid; the only turn that is feasible while sliding forward is the step turn, but this is the ski tourer's favorite.

The strap-on kind are cloth-lined and heavier. They do not slide forward very well, and, under certain condi­tions, ice can form between the ski and the skin. But this is the kind of skins to get if you are not ambitious to master the stick-on kind, or if you wish to run down after the climb on very fast, hard wax.

A simple makeshift is a ski sock, a canvas sack just fitting over the rear end of the ski and strapped over the toe iron.

Touring waxes.—For powder snow: The seemingly contradictory demands of high static friction for climb­ing and low dynamic friction for running can be recon­ciled by using a plastic wax just soft enough to permit the sharp crystals of powder snow to make microscopic indentations when the skis are firmly planted with no sliding motion, but hard enough to develop heat of friction when sliding to provide a film of water to serve as a lubricant. Beeswax has served as the chief con­stituent of such waxes. It must have the right consistency to rub thinly onto the ski and at the same time to take a polish when spread smoothly over the surface by rubbing briskly with a cork block or the ball of the hand. The colder the snow, the harder must be the wax in order for the heat of friction to produce the lubricating film. An excellent wax can be made by melting beeswax, if too hard, with just the right amount of a silicone water­proofing liquid. European waxes of this type for snow a little below freezing have been called "medium," and "mix" for colder snow.

It has been shown by a competent scientist that the lubricating water film results from friction, not from pressure. Bare metal is not suitable because it conducts away the heat of friction.

The fastest coating for skis is a fluorocarbon plastic known as "teflon," but it is suitable only for downhill running; because no wax adheres to it. It is ideal for the skis used on arctic airplanes.

Wet new snow: This is the most difficult on which to achieve both good climbing and running. "Swix" red is as good as any. It is also excellent for paste-on sealskins.

Corn snow, spring snow: The coarsely granular snow that has been repeatedly frozen hard at night and thawed loose during the day permits both climbing and running on skis coated with a relatively thick layer, about 1/8 inch, of a "Klister," composed of a sticky, stiff fluid tnat becomes indented and tough when climbing but smooths out after running a short distance. A good klister can be made by melting together pine tar and shellac, as for the base wax described earlier, but with a smaller portion of shellac. It must indent slowly after cooling in the re­frigerator. The "Swix" klisters are nearly colorless, and do not stain hands and clothing. Klisters should be ap­plied with a putty knife.

Frozen crusted snow: "Skare," a cross between a true wax and a klister, is effective.

Icing.—One of the most trying conditions the tourer encounters occurs when fresh powder snow begins to melt on the surface but is below freezing underneath. The wet snow is tramped down and freezes to the skis in the cold below. The same may occur when he goes from warm sunshine into a cold forest. When such condi­tions can be foreseen, it is wise to rely on sealskins for the ascent rather than climbing wax.

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