In the study, conducted at Luleå University of Technology, skiers answered questions about glide, material and wax. The participants were divided into experts and non-experts.
Amateurs and experts often agree - but not when it comes to the properties of skis.
"Experts think it is most important to choose the right ski before you start thinking about exactly which wax you should use," says researcher Anton Kalén in a press release.
Amateurs rarely have the luxury of choosing between different skis, as experts often do.
"To optimize your skis, you need to try to understand what the skis are good for and how to best compensate for their weaknesses," says researcher Andreas Almqvist, who, among other things, suggests that you can move the binding to influence where the ski carries the load.
In fresh snow and damp, fine-grained snow, even the experts disagree on the best way to wax for grip, which, according to Almqvist, shows that these surfaces are especially difficult to handle. Perhaps something to think about before this weekend's Vasalopp.
"You will never get really good glide in wet, fresh snow. But here you need shorter glide zones and a relatively fine structure that carries the load, with a round, deep groove (a process where you create small grooves in the ski) that drains well," he says.
Frozen wet snow, on the other hand, is, according to the respondents, the easiest to wax, with most saying they use hard glide wax and glue as a base.
