Majestic Mt. Hood in Oregon
about us
We grew up skiing the slopes of Mt. Hood in the Oregon Cascades. Our love of the sport took us all over the Pacific Northwest to resort destinations including Mt. Bachelor, the Summit at Snoqualmie, Crystal Mountain, Whistler, B.C., as well as destinations up and down the Rockies, Tetons, and Wasatch Ranges, from Montana to Utah. This led us to settle down near the base of the Tetons, one of our favorite ranges where the powder is deep, light and fluffy, with epic vista views and unparalleled adventures.
Our journey to find the fastest ski wax began decades ago, tinkering with whatever we could find at our local ski shops. As we progressed in the sport (and to save money) we learned how to wax and tune our own ski gear. After more than 25 years of experience tuning our own skis in the pursuit of speed, we recognized a gap in the recreational market between what is offered in the ski shops and what is used by elite ski teams around the world. This led us to produce ski wax formulas to bridge that gap and elevate the thrill of the ride for everyone. Our research has yielded ski wax that produces head-turning speeds on the mildest terrain, and pure terror on the most extreme. Let's elevate your adventure!
Two crazy brothers skiing at Snowbird, Utah circa 1991.
Straight sticks and rear entry boots.
OUR STORY
1979 一
1984 一
Earliest memories...
Jon learns to ski for the first time at the age of 5 during the age of "ski straps" before ski brakes were a thing. That meant you not only felt the pain of the fall, but the secondary whack of the ski to the back of the head when your detached ski, tethered to your boot, whipped around to remind you again you had fallen, as if you needed the reminder. Nobody wore helmets then. Lumps and cuts to the head were common. Thankfully there were many warm family memories spending birthday's in winter cabins on Mt. Hood watching the winter Olympics before heading out to Multorpor Ski Bowl or enjoying the St. Bernard at Timberline who carried a barrel shaped thermos under his collar that contained hot chocolate for the kids. Over the next decade Jon and Bob would take all levels of ski instruction, ride the city ski bus on the weekends to Mt. Hood, routinely head up for night skiing and were soon skiing 'everything on the mountain.' Sadly then, we knew almost nothing about NASTAR racing.
How it started
It's the age of rock 'n roll, Sony Walkman's blasting mix tapes of Van Halen, Heart and Aerosmith. A time of big hair, big air, hot doggin', Juicy Fruit skiing commercials: "Get your skis shined up... Grab a stick of Juicy Fruit..." and Bill Johnson's Olympic Gold Medal Downhill run! Bill learned to ski at Bogus Basin and trained for the Olympics on the Palmer snow field at Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood (as would Picabo Street later on). Bill Johnson's 'local boy' performance on the world stage left a lasting impression with Jon and Bob. They would begin to experiment routinely with different ski waxes, often mixing them in search of more speed and steeper slopes. We'd match them to weather conditons along with various tuning and finishing techniques. They were always waxing and buffing and corking skis before every outing, and killing mom's iron in the process, duct taped and wrapped in tin foil. Little did we know then that we were being sold nothing more than colored candle wax with zero speed agent's present. This would go on for decades by various wax manufacturers and still is even today (2023), looking at 'the cheap stuff' under $60 at many ski shops and Amazon! Flourinated waxes wouldn't come onto the scene until the early 1990s.
1990 一
No Playin' Hookie!
With role models like Glen Plake and Doug Coombs coming onto the scene, Terry Hertel was formulating his flourinated White Gold that Jonny Moseley would later ride on to win the 1998 Olympic Gold Medal at Nagano, Japan. Meanwhile, back in 1990 Jon takes on his first day of High School chemistry class from an awesome teacher named Jan Brandenberg. First 5 mins into class she said in front of everyone "now Jon, you aren't going to skip class to go skiing like your brother are you?" BUSTED! Wait. What?? My brother skipped school to go skiing and he didn't take me!! #OFFENDED But I dove in and studied Chemistry and later AP Chemistry winning state and local Chemistry tournaments.
1993 一
repeatedly tackling the weed-out class
Jon and hundreds of other national merit scholar pre-medical students at Whitman College took Organic Chemistry from Dr. Leroy Wade, valedictorian of his class at Harvard University and author of the #1 selling 1600 page College Organic Chemistry text book in the nation. A class so hard that 60% of your final exam grade rested on 1 single question that required you to synthesize a complex target organic compound, like a professional Chemical Engineer, and without blowing yourself up! (an automatic "F") There were no hints. Only a final chemical structure. Jon, taking a deep interest in the subject, would continue on a personal mission to study Organic & Wax Chemistry in great detail for 4 years between both Whitman College and Oregon State University. Years later, Jon would work in professional chem labs performing inductively coupled plasma (ICP) and other chemical analyses of various organic and inorganic compounds and metal alloys.
1995 一
1997 一
gaining experience . . .
While attending Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, even though they didn't have a ski team, and despite having taken expert level ski lessons for years before, Jon enrolled in a college ski class just for fun, where he learned the fundamentals of downhill ski racing from his friend and mentor Dr. Jay Eacker, bombing down BlueWood Ski Resort's main runs in Super-G fashion and quickly became hooked on the need for speed.
Mt. Bike downhill racing and speed records
Post Graduation, Jon got serious about Mt. Bike racing, touring w/ the Wild Rockies Mt. Bike Race Series, taking him all over the Pacific Northwest and especially gorgeous destinations across Idaho, like the Bogus Basin Bomber (Boise), the Galena Grinder (Sun Valley) and the White Knob Challenge (Mackey) racing in both cross country and downhill events. It's here that Jon sets his own personal land speed record racing down logging roads at 55 MPH in downhill events on his Carbon Fiber Trek Y-33 w/ Spinergy wheels, Marzocchi Bomber and SRAM full XTR combo, a dual suspension custom bike he built himself weighing in around 18 lbs.
1998 一
sharing the knowledge . . .
After moving to Seattle for his new day job, during the 1998/1999 ski season, Jon became a PSIA Certified Ski Instructor for the Ski Masters Ski School and taught private and group lessons at the Summit at Snoqualmie and Crystal Mountain Resorts in the Cascade Range in Washington. A fellow ski instructor (Gerald) and carpool driver, was dating Tina's college roommate (Gretchen), who introduced Jon and Tina for the first time, who've been together ever since.
2022 一
life is too short . . .
After our daughter graduated from high school, and emerging from the COVID Pandemic lockdown of 3 years, we decided it was time to make a lifestyle change and move to within 20 mins of a ski resort. In July 2022, we relocated to Pocatello, Idaho to be close to the gorgeous Teton Mountain Range, and indulge in the amazing skiing of the Rocky Mountains and surrounding areas—Big Sky Resort, Grand Targhee, Jackson Hole, Pebble Creek, Sun Valley, Schwitzer, Pomerelle, Snowbasin, Snowbird, Alta, Powder Mountain, Park City, Deer Valley, and so many more!