Cost: $25 per kid for skis and boots

This low price is available only to current members of KNSC.  

Location:  5317 Kachemak Drive (Alaska Mini Storage)

Thanks to Jerry and Debbie VanTrease for providing the storage unit at cost!

If you have any problems, concerns, or questions, please email

Mike and/or Michele at:

knscskier@gmail.com

Skiing with Little Kids

Bring water! When you see you skiers eating snow, offer them a drink of water! They get thirsty!

Young kids getting started on skis have a different idea of what it means to go skiing than we do. Almost always it does not mean skiing a loop around the Hayfields, or something like that. Kilometers or destinations are not involved. It can mean watching a ski slide down a hill on its own. A very experienced and proficient parent skier was observed spending time with their very young skier by sliding a ski down a hill (and retrieving it, and repeating). That was skiing that day for them! Be flexible and don’t have any expectations. Let them explore their own idea of skiing! No guarantees, but keeping it short and fun is the best recipe for success.

Ski Sizes:

Skis are now sized according to skier weight. They used to be sized by height because ski manufacturing was fairly uniform. Ski manufacturing technology has now improved so that nearly any length ski can be sized for nearly any height skier. The key to the correct size is the strength of the camber, or arch, that is built into the ski. Camber was invented in Norway in the 1850’s and it made skiing a lot more fun! Before camber, skis were flat (and really long) and when a skier stepped onto a flat ski they flexed the ski downward so that they were always skiing out of a hole. With camber, the ski now lies flat when the weight of the skier is on them, and a flat ski is a fast ski!

Some skiers, who just can’t get enough, have several pairs of skis all flexed a little differently for different conditions. For example, a short, stiff ski will give a lot more pop on a hard trail. A longer, softer ski will float more easily on softer conditions, when the short, stiff ski would just dig into the snow and slow down the skier.

If you obtain skis for your skier outside of the SKIER program, please make sure they are the correct size. It will be no fun if they cannot get a grip with classic skis that are too big, or if they are really slow because the camber is too soft and they are back to the old days of always skiing out of a hole! Contact us and we’ll help!

If you find that either of these two size problems seem to be happening with skis you received from the SKiER program, please, please contact us and we’ll get you a better ski! Kids grow, and sometimes we guess wrong, especially when skiers are right between two sizes.

Ski Waxing:

There are two types of wax: grip wax and glide wax. The skis we rent for classic skiing have a pattern embedded into their base for grip, so you don’t need grip wax. Please do not apply grip wax to the pattern. If your skier is not getting grip it is almost certainly because the ski is the wrong size: the skier doesn’t weigh enough to press the pattern into the snow and get a grip. If your classic skier is having trouble getting grip, please contact us and we will get them a better ski!

Glide wax should be applied at the tips and tails of classic skis, outside of the patterned zone. For skate skis, glide wax is applied over the entire length of the ski. You will receive your skis with a recent application of glide wax. Glide wax should be applied about every 50 km of skiing. Once around the Hayfields at Lookout is a little over 2 km. So every 20 or 25 times around the Hayfields. If you don’t ski that often, then don’t worry about it. If you ski a lot and know about hot waxing, then go for it! Please!!

Cycle Logical sells roll-on and spray-on glide waxes. The three different waxes are made for three different temperature ranges, so if you ski a lot it’s nice to get all three and use them accordingly. For those who do not ski as often, there are effective wide-range waxes suitable for almost any temperature.

To apply the wax, spray or rub it on, wait about 15 minutes (longer = better) then brush or rub the wax in with the correct brush or pad. It really helps prolong the life of the ski, so please wax them, if you can. If you ski a lot, your skier will definitely appreciate the better glide they will get with the correct wax!

The skis we rent for skate skiing can be used as classic skis in a pinch, but they will need grip wax. Grip waxing is a world in itself, beyond the scope of this brief guide. If you apply grip wax, Please remove the grip wax before returning your skis! If your skier will ski both classic and skate, we can rent them both classic and skate skis with a single pair of boots that works for both.