Mat-Su Ski Club News
Take care of your skis
Summer Storage Wax For Your Skis
Clean Kick: Use wax remover and fiber wipe or clean cloth to clean the kick zone. You will leave your kick zone free of any wax – naked. You are using sandpaper on this part of the base, so oxidization is not a concern. It just needs to be cleaned, and left alone.
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If you suspect your skis have any base damage (i.e. base sealing) consider having the skis stone ground to reveal a fresh base in the spring before summer storage. A fresh base is the most important feature in a skis ability to hold wax and to glide.
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Cleaning Glide: Use base cleaner (not wax remover) and fiber wipe to clean the glide zones. Or: Hot scrape your glide zones to get any dirt and junk out. To do this you just have to scrape a warm wax (think SWIX CH 10/yellow wax) before it has cooled/hardened. Choosing a warm wax works best, because it stays molten longer. If there is dirt in there you may even be able to see it coming off with the wax..
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Let the ski cool from this hot scrape, and then brush it with your finest steel or medium bronze brush. If you don’t have a medium bronze, just hammer away with your nylon brush until you feel you have all of the glide wax out of your base.
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Repeat steps 2 and 3 as necessary until no more dirt is seen coming from base.
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Once you have a clean and refreshed base it is time to saturate the base with a summer storage wax. In the glide zones melt in a thick layer of a non-flour soft wax and let it cool. If all the wax has been absorbed into the base at any point add another layer on to it. Let cool leave it on the ski all summer.
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Better to do something than nothing. So at the very, very least crayon your softest glide onto your glide zones before putting your skis up for the summer.
Junior Nordic ski return day postponed
We have postponed the Junior Nordic ski return day scheduled for April 18, due to Corvid-19.
Please, for now, simply hold on to your skis rented from the Mat-Su Ski Club, and boots rented from Backcountry Bike and Ski.
We will be announcing alternate plans for returns, on this website and by email.
Thanks for your cooperation.
BIG GROOMING MONTH
April skiing is great! March brought tons of snow and the MSSC volunteer groomers were busy. Our new uber-tool, the PB100, moved in mid-March from GPRA up to Independence to re-open the trails there after massive snowfalls. At GPRA, Archangel, Independence, and the Moose Range, 256 volunteer hours in March maintained the ski and multiuse trails.
New PFD Deadline: April 30
If you haven’t applied yet, you can do it online. Please consider the Mat-Su Ski Club in your Pick.Click.Give. contribution. If you have already applied for your PFD, you can add us as one of your PCG recipients.
Help us be responsible citizens
Thanks to Volunteer Groomers!
Your volunteer groomers were busy in February:
53 hours at Independence Mine, 17 hours at Archangel Road, 32 hours in the Moose Range, and 91 hours of grooming at GPRA. They groomed trails on 24 days last month.
Registration Now Open: Mat-Su Ski for Women: Feb. 9, 2020
Registration is now open for the 2020 Mat-Su Ski for Women. Registration is free but there is a suggested donation of $25. All proceeds will benefit Alaska Family Services.
The Mat-Su Ski for Women will be held on February 9th at GPRA. Registration starts at 1pm. The 4K Fun Ski begins at 2pm. Potluck and raffle after the ski. Please bring a dish to share. Costumes are encouraged. Best costume takes home the Golden Ski Pole. Everyone is welcome to attend!!
We also have some new items available in our store this year. We have headbands, stickers and hoodies.
Ski Tour on Saturday, February 15th
Join us on an easy ski tour next to the frozen Little Susitna River. We will ski on the Goldmint Trail for several miles, then return the same way. The trail will be gently rolling with great views of the river ice and snow formations and the surrounding peaks. It is an easy tour, but you should be comfortable skiing in ungroomed tracks. Expect to be out for two or three hours. No cost.
Meet in the Goldmint parking lot at 1pm (across from where the MotherLode used to be).
Volunteers Needed: Sunday, February 2nd for Besh Cup 5 & 6 Races
Due to cold weather in Fairbanks, Besh 5 and 6 have moved to Southcentral. MSSC is looking for volunteers for Sunday February 2nd. Approximate times will be 10am to 3pm (depending on job and start time).
If you have time this weekend, please sign up.
The ConocoPhillips Besh Cup Race Series is the premier cross country skiing competition series in Alaska. Each of the six races in the series draws approximately 300 entries from all parts of the state.
Results in Besh Cup races are used to select the Alaska Teams to the United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) Junior Olympic National Championships (JO’s), as well as the biennial, international Arctic Winter Games (AWG).
Northern Lights Cup Community Races
The Northern Lights Cup Community Races are your chance to enjoy a great ski with others in our ski community here in the Mat-Su. Want to have an active Sunday afternoon? Have great groomed trails for a ski? Enjoy the scenery at The Peak? Whether you ski in fancy skin suits or in old woolly knickers, our Sunday afternoon Cup races are just for you. All races are wave start by race distance.
January 26, 2020 Freestyle (skate or classic) Race 1, 5, 10K
February 23, 2020, Skiathlon Race: 5K Skate, 5K Classic with equipment exchange between skate and classic
We have three categories of racers with both men’s and women’s divisions:
Youth 12 and under; Student 13-24; Adult 25 and up. (Ages are as of 12/31/2019).
Northern Light Cup points will be awarded to everyone who finishes a race.