Spring base structure?

[Norther1]

If I put a courser/spring structure on my skis, what are the ramifications for then skiing them on colder or more mid winter type snow? I mean what will change as far as performance? The skis I'm thinking of doing it to I usually only pull out in the spring anyway and they currently appear to have a very fine structure or practically none left at all--so probably any structure will improve their slush performance. Just wondering if this is something I want to do, as I don't really want to change the "feel" of them. They are well waxed but it just seems to wear off so quickly just considering something more permanent but want to be aware of any possible performance changes before I do it.
Thanks!

 

[Erik Timmerman]

In colder snow they will feel sticky, may feel like they only want to go straight.

 

[cantunamunch]

It kinda depends on the structure, the depth and local snow factors. IME it's best to talk to the tuner doing the work - they will usually have something that's optimised for the local conditions.

Short of going all fancy with chevron or thumbprint grinds, linear and light cross can both work well as all-rounder structures. Frex, @Doug Briggs did a couple of pairs for me that did well in fresh snow up high at Loveland and also did well (with appropriate wax changes) in total slop on the East Coast afterwards.

 

[Norther1]

Hmm okay. Maybe I'll just have a normal structure refresh since it appears to be in need of a re-do and try to do some extra cycles of wax instead of doing a dedicated spring structure. I'm thinking a hard wax cycle then soft wax over that . . . .
Thanks!

 

[James]

If you mainly use it in the spring go for the deep one.

 

[Captain Furious]

I have a pair of dedicated spring snow skis. My K2 Shreditor 102s (4th season skiing them and first year as my dedicated spring ski). I even have another pair in the wrapper for the day I finally wear these bad boys out (I REALLY like this ski). My other skis all have a cold snow grind on the base and I don't pull them out for warm weather skiing.

 

[SlideWright]

Deep structure for sure and ideally having a pair of skis for wetter days with proper waxing.

Unfortunately, it is becoming more of an issue earlier in the season where we can get highly variable and wetter conditions. I've said this before that if you do use a deeper, more aggressive structure you can moderate it by using a hard green wax and not fully brushing out the structure when the snow is colder and drier. It works well and you can still apply the WOTD over it and brush it out when the temps warm up and the snow gets wetter. I have not had downsides running a coarser structure over colder, firm snows when we get daily 30 degree temperature swings with coral reef/bullet proof mornings to corn to slop in the after noons. Here in the San Juans, the sun transforms things quickly and paying attention to aspects and timing also adds to the mix of finding the best snow to ski.

 

[Jacques]

In colder snow they will feel sticky, may feel like they only want to go straight.

If I put a courser/spring structure on my skis, what are the ramifications for then skiing them on colder or more mid winter type snow? I mean what will change as far as performance? The skis I'm thinking of doing it to I usually only pull out in the spring anyway and they currently appear to have a very fine structure or practically none left at all--so probably any structure will improve their slush performance. Just wondering if this is something I want to do, as I don't really want to change the "feel" of them. They are well waxed but it just seems to wear off so quickly just considering something more permanent but want to be aware of any possible performance changes before I do it.
Thanks!

In colder snow they will feel sticky, may feel like they only want to go straight.

^ A deep grind structure will be slow in dry powder, packed or not. No worries. A deep grind will need work after the fact anyway to bring it up to speed.
You can always work on it after you test it. The skis in this video were worked just like you see here a second time and work awesome in wet snow and now they slarve, stivot, and rotate better than that tight want to go straight only feeling. Anyway a deep grind can always be taken down a bit at a time.

 

[Sibhusky]

Knock the tips off the new structure to help with that "don't want to turn" feeling.

From Ski Visions:

"Finally, for a very picky but effective point. Use the steel blade in the Base Flattener VERY lightly flattening the tops of the structure from the stone blade. Make sure the steel blade is sharp and you can feel it drag on the stone structured base when you are using it with VERY light pressure. When the drag disappears you are done. Doing this really does make skis more slippery."