Randy
The weather this week is looking good for sand skiing!
I first tried sand skiing about 20 years ago after reading an article by Bill Koch about skiing on various non-snow surfaces. I initially tried wet grass, leaves, pine needles, and various snowless surfaces with mixed results. One spring at Blueberry Ridge, I skied across lots of bare spots to connect the areas of snow cover and found the sand to ski fairly well. So I gave snowless skiing a try, and have been doing it on occasion ever since. Wet surfaces work the best, so when the weather is wet and miserable it can be a workout alternative to get pumped up about.
My sand skiing resume includes: numerous Lake Superior beaches (including McLain State Park, Presque Isle, Bete Grise, and the stamp sands of North Portage Entry and Traverse Bay to Gay), several sand and gravel pits (both large and small), 20km lap of Blueberry Ridge ski trail (Marquette, MI), 15km lap of Sand Dunes ski trail (St. Ignace, MI), and a first (and only as far as I know) snowless descent of Whealkate Bluff (South Range, MI) on a combination of mud, grass, roots, cobbles, stones, and gravel which totally destroyed a pair of old Madshus skis but left me unscathed albeit terrified.
The best sand that I’ve found for skiing is medium to coarse grained sand with rounded sand grains. Wet sand (but not totally saturated as to produce suction) glides the best and temperatures just above freezing (but not frozen sand) seems to be the very fastest. It is especially important that the sand be wet enough to be firm underneath as dry sand is excruciatingly slow and very abrasive on the ski bases wearing them out much faster. Soft, deep, dry sand with a dusting of moisture on top is not pleasant for skiing either.
I use old racing skis turned rock skis that finally have turned into sand skis until they break. Light racing skis are the most fun for climbing, and “naked” black bases are the fastest and usually last about 20 to 30 hours before they wear so thin they break or get too slow to use any more. WD-40 or spray silicone will speed the skis up initially, but not really worth the bother or mess involved. Old classic boots and bindings work the best. Skate and combi boots can be used, but they will delaminate quickly from the stresses of striding and bounding.
I enjoy sand skiing the steep sand pits the most, so that is where I usually go. On the uphills and flats, I use the diagonal stride, shuffle, dog trot, bounding, and herringbone techniques or various combinations depending on the steepness and how I feel. On gradual downhills , I will diagonal stride, double pole, or (very rarely) skate. On the steep downhills, I will schuss using a full tuck or standup run depending on the speed I need (or want), and I will also make parallel turns (carved and/or skidded) or short swing (usually skidded) turns if the sand if really steep and slick. As a bonus, I will try to carve nice patterns and figure 8’s on the side of the sand pit. The only real hassle are the ATV and motocross riders who also enjoy these pits and will create nasty ruts and destroy my beautiful patterns. Bastages! So good timing and a little luck helps.
Have fun.
Ken Wikgren
