Wax No More
Fall. The ski season is just ahead and its time to make sure your gear is just as ready as you are to make those first turns.
You have made your pass decisions.
Travel plans are ready for calendar entry
Clothing can come out of warm weather hiding, (still fit?)
Equipment is ready to be ready … bindings checked… edges tuned
How about base wax? After all, what good is it if you can’t glide.
Now do you take your skis to the local shop? Or are you a traditionalist in the basement/garage with steam iron and hot wax ready to do the work yourself?
How about neither?
That’s the promise of Phantom Glide, the base treatment from DPS that claims an end to repeated wax treatments with a One and Done application that will keep our skis in top condition for all season: or even longer.
Alpin Haus’ Rich Vokatis with the Phantom Glide curing station, the final step in the Phantom Glide application process to the ski base.
Phantom Glide is a subsidiary of Salt Lake City based high end DPS skis. It was introduced in 2017 as a long term ski base treatment and its availability had spread gradually since then through ski shops across the country.
Rick Vokatis, the long time sales chief at multi ski shop Alpin Haus in upstate New York is a believer. He tried it for the first time last winter.
He recalls one day he was out with a group of 10. “I was the only one with Phantom Glide. It worked just fine on the hill and no one could keep up with me on the flats. There was clearly a difference between my skis with Phantom and the others who were using traditional ski wax.”
“And I never had to treat my skis again all season.”
Phantom Glide is not wax. It is a polymer solution that penetrates the base of the ski rather than layering on top like a traditional wax. There is a post-application curing process that makes the treatment permanent. It does not contain fluorocarbons so it is environmentally friendly.
Phantom Glide can be applied at home, usually in the warm weather months when direct and consistent exposure to sunlight performs the curing process. More likely, the application will be done at a participating ski shop where the skis are treated in a ultraviolet Phantom Curing Station, a tanning box- like devise that bakes in the formula.
It is not cheap when compared to a traditional wax application. But since it is done only once, the cost – about three time that of a regular wax service – can be less for skiers who normally apply wax multiple times throughout a season.
Is Phantom Glide for everyone?
There is a lively on-line discussion with Phantom Glide fans touting performance as well as convenience of the product. Those who are less enthusiastic tend to be people who prepare their own equipment and wax frequently, especially when it comes to warm weather spring conditions.
Alpin Haus’ Vokatis sees a lot of skiers each fall and throughout the season. He thinks skiers should give it a try and most will like the experience.
“This is an easy way to keep skis in top shape for repeated days on the hill.”
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If you use Phantom Glide, do you still need to have your skis flattened each year?
I tune my skies at home every 5 or 6 days of skiing-base and side bevel and detune tip and tail. I have a ski shop run my skis thru a grinder once per year to flatten the base and put a structure on the p-tex. Structure on the base is very helpful for spring snow. If the temps. are above 50 degrees or if the snow is grabby I’ve found Swix F4 liquid rub on helpful. I have found that F4 has to be reapplied multiple times on a spring day. Phantom lasts the life of the ski, which I think is about 120 days.
Phatom Glide is great. I have been using since the beginning. When I was taking a PSIA level 1 cert class when coming off a run at Camelback, PA, going to the lift, the run up to the lift is about 400-500 ft and rises upward. Two people were in front of me and were going faster off the trail, they came passed me and had to stop on the rise and walk. I slid right passed them and had to hit the brakes to stop at the lift entrance.
I have used Phantom on many pairs of skis since 2017. My experience is that temperature specific wax is faster on the first day of use, but Phantom gives a faster surface glide on all subsequent ski days. Phantom is always faster than universal wax. I ski 60 plus days per season with a quiver of 5 specific condition skis, all with Phantom applied. Overall, I’ve found Phantom to be the best choice over red, purple, and yellow ski wax temperature ski days. I’m not a paid endorser, just a ski equipment nerd. This dog will hunt!
My question would be: how does phantom glide work on wet slushy New England snow that we seen to get almost all winter long but also predominantly in spring? If I’m paying 3X for it but still have to use a warm temp wax on top then it may not be great for New England use? What say ye?
You are right. It is too expensive, unless you ski a lot of days. Phantom is most helpful above 25 degrees or so. Your bases need to be very clean for Phantom to work best. See my other comments above about Swix F4. It is the cheaper option if your ski days are limited in the spring. Before Phantom I used yellow iron on or silver rub on in the spring. If the temps. are really cold-like less than 10 degrees,a temperature specific wax, on top of Phantom may be helpful.