Hardness is the most important of the wax properties. If the wax is too soft, sliding speed will always be low even if its water repellency and antistatic properties are good.
Snow temperature should guide your wax choice. Cold snow is harder than warm snow and requires harder waxes; wet snow is less aggressive, so soft waxes are more suitable. Typically, waxes for soft snow are colored yellow; waxes for intermediate temperature are colored pink; cold snow waxes are turquoise; and waxes for extremely cold temperatures are white. The above waxes are called temperature specific. If the wax chosen is too hard for the snow conditions, the friction coefficient will be higher and the base will be less slippery, but if too soft a wax is used, the snow crystals will penetrate the wax, causing the base to grip the snow and reduce speed. So-- waxing too warm gives you a sticky board or sticky skis, and waxing too cold gives you skis or a board that do not feel fast enough.

It is known that snow gets harder as it gets colder. But the hardness is not only a function of temperature but also of crystal shape. To simplify matters and for the purposes of illustrations we chose ice as a model. Figure 1 shows how the hardness of ice and the hardness of the different colored waxes change with temperature. We observe that ice hardens significantly; at -16C (4F) the ice is four times harder than it is at 0C (32F). In contrast, the hardness of the waxes changes very little over the same temperature range. The correct wax for each temperature would be the one with hardness slightly higher than the hardness of ice. For example, turquoise is the wax of choice for icy snow at -9C (16F), and yellow for 0C (32F). Mixtures of waxes can also be used to achieve intermediate hardness values: a mix of yellow and pink is best for -2C (29F) and a mix of pink and turquoise for -7C (19F). This hardness concept constitutes the basis for the Dominator 4X4 wax system.

Figure 1

The level of fluorinated additive added to the wax controls water repellency. Fluorinated additives (commonly called fluoros) became available around 1990. Fluoros can be blended with warm or cold hydrocarbon waxes to produce fluorinated waxes in a variety of hardness grades. A minimum amount of fluoro (2-3%) produces noticeable effects and more (3-15% depending on humidity) provides optimum results. Fluorinated waxes can be classified as low-fluoros, mid-fluoros and high-fluoros, depending on the level of fluorinated additive they contain. High-fluoros are typically used for racing on wet snow or when the humidity is higher than 70%, and can feel sticky in very low humidity. Mid-fluoros are for racing in humidity of 35-70%. Low-fluoros are for racing in humidity under 35% and are excellent for training in all humidity conditions. They are also used for junior training and recreational racing where budget considerations restrict the use of mid-fluoros. It is important to match the level of fluoro to the moisture content of the snow, because using a higher than necessary level of fluoro reduces speed. It is better to use mid-fluoro or even a low-fluoro wax if the humidity is not known.

Antistatic properties have been a high priority for the research and development team at Dominator waxes. Intensive work over the past years has led to the development of new concepts and a new generation of antistatic waxes. This is what we found out:

	New snow and old snow crystals generate static charges differently and require different antistatic agents.
	A specific micrographite blend we developed (combination of particle shapes and sub-micron size) is a very effective antistatic additive for new snow.
	Fluorographite polymer, a new class of solid lubricant produced by the direct fluorination of graphite, is a very effective antistatic additive for old snow.
	When using the appropriate antistatic agent in a wax formula, friction is ALWAYS lower than it would have been if the antistatic agent had not been used, so by using the appropriate antistatic agents we can always achieve higher speeds.

In conclusion, advanced antistatic technology is available today and the new Electroground antistatic waxes we have developed will always increase speed if used properly.

In summary, the Dominator 4X4 system contains temperature specific waxes that can be mixed to obtain any specific hardness, fluoro level, and antistatic properties.

Although temperature specific waxes work very well within their specified snow temperature ranges there are some practical problems regarding their use:

	Not everybody uses a snow thermometer.
	People often wax Friday night with no knowledge of what the snow conditions will be when they hit the snow Saturday morning.
	Weather changes during a race from the first to the last racer or between the first and second runs of a race.
	There can be significant snow temperature differences on a racecourse if you have sunny or shades areas or different exposures.

Because of the above situations we have developed the Zoom thermoactive series: They are waxes containing components that cause them to rapidly harden at colder temperatures and resist snow penetration. Thermoactive waxes are called that because their properties (such as hardness) change with temperature. The technology used to prepare these waxes is proprietary information. However, it is more important for the user to understand what the waxes can do, than to understand how they are made. Figure 2 shows how the hardness of ice and the hardness of Zoom, a thermoactive wax, change with temperature. We observe that the thermoactive wax profile closely follows the profile of ice between -4C (25F) and -13C (9F), which means that it is expected to have excellent performance between -2C (29F) and -14C (7F) . This is a great improvement over the temperature specific waxes that have an ideal range of about four degrees Celsius (eight degrees Fahrenheit).

Figure 2

The Zoom series waxes are very useful tools for the wax user, greatly increasing the possibility of a successful wax choice. They do, however, tend to feel sticky on very cold snow. The Bullet series waxes were designed to cover this coldest range of snow temperatures, where the snow is too aggressive for the Zoom waxes. This can be seen in Figure 3, which shows how the hardness of Bullet, Zoom and Ice varies as a function of temperature. At the point where Zoom waxes become too soft for the very cold snow, the harder Bullet waxes can provide peak performance.

Figure 3

The special formulation of the Bullet waxes also makes them fully compatible with the Zoom waxes, so Bullet can be used alone at snow temperatures of -15C (5F) and lower, or mixed one to one with Zoom at snow temperatures of -10C to -15C (14F to 5F).

In summary, depending upon the user's specific needs, budget, and knowledge of snow conditions, great performance over a broad temperature spectrum can be obtained either by using the temperature-specific waxes (the DOMINATOR 4 x 4 System), or the Zoom/Bullet System.