{"id":1316598,"date":"2019-11-11T11:53:37","date_gmt":"2019-11-11T18:53:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=990724"},"modified":"2019-11-11T11:53:37","modified_gmt":"2019-11-11T18:53:37","slug":"aspen-skiing-co-among-those-saying-goodbye-to-ski-wax-hello-to-phantom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/aspen-skiing-co-among-those-saying-goodbye-to-ski-wax-hello-to-phantom\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspen Skiing Co. among those saying goodbye to ski wax, hello to Phantom"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"John
John Norman pours Phantom ski and snowboard treatment product on the bottom of skis from the Aspen Ski Co.\u2019s rental fleet in the Highlands tuning shop on Wednesday.<\/strong>
Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

It is one of those products that seems too good to be true \u2014 except in this case it\u2019s winning over hardcore skiers, snowboarders and ski-tuning experts.<\/p>\n

A new, waxless base treatment product called Phantom claims to eliminate the need to ever wax your boards again, for their lifetime. It is a one-time, permanent application. The manufacturer DPS, a company that also makes skis, says Phantom works across all snow temperatures to provide a great glide.<\/p>\n

Aspen Skiing Co. officials checked it out two seasons ago as an in-house experiment and became believers. Phantom was applied to the bases of about 350 premium rentals skis for the 2018-19 season.<\/p>\n

This fall, Skico tune manager John \u201cNorm\u201d Norman and his crew at the tune shop at Aspen Highlands are treating about 2,300 pairs of skis from Skico\u2019s rental fleet.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a very hard sell if you have any knowledge of skiing,\u201d Norman said.<\/p>\n

He is a guy who is so particular in his need for speed that he likens having a couple of burrs on his edges to \u201cdragging a metal rake behind you.\u201d He likes his boards to be fast and responsive. Phantom helps fit the bill, he said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s different than wax because it absorbs deep into the base of skis and snowboards rather than simply coats the base. Exposure to UV light creates a chemical bond between Phantom and the board. It creates a strong and faster base, according to DPS.<\/p>\n

Anyone who wants to geek out on details of the product and the application process can go to DPS\u2019s website at http:\/\/www.dpsskis.com\/phantom-glide<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
Aspen Skiing Company Tune Manager John Norman applies Phantom to the bottom of skis from the Aspen Skiing Co.\u2019s rental fleet in the Highlands tune shop on Wednesday. <\/strong>
Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Norman rode his Phantom-treated snowboard 80 times in the low-snow season two winters ago and 120 times last season. He would typically reapply wax every three times out. He never felt the need to enhance the one Phantom application.<\/p>\n

\u201cI pretty much went all-in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also enlisted about 10 ski patrollers to try it out. They are up early when temperatures are cold and the ski surface is hard and they\u2019re out late in the afternoon on the sunbaked surface.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re a pretty good test, in my opinion,\u201d Norman said. The patrollers who have tried it have given it a thumbs up, he said.<\/p>\n

Skico senior staff also served as Guinea pigs. President and CEO Mike Kaplan, Senior Vice President of Mountain Operations Katie Ertl and Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Rich Burkley have tried Phantom on at least some of their skis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say that the Phantom surface was similar to a very good tune and wax,\u201d Burkley said.<\/p>\n

He had it applied to the skis he uses exclusively at Highlands. He rode them about 30 times last season, mostly in powder conditions. There wasn\u2019t much spring skiing on wet snow and ice, but Burkley said he senses the Phantom-treated skis would shed water well, like a warm wax.<\/p>\n

\u201cToward the end of the season the surface was still feeling like a fresh wax,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Burkley is eager to try the skis again this year after they sat for the summer.<\/p>\n

Phantom first captured Skico\u2019s attention as an environmentally friendly alternative to standard wax, which rubs off skis and onto the snow. It ultimately ends up in the watershed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Environmental Protection Agency is actually, oddly, quite focused on fluorinated waxes right now,\u201d Auden Schendler, Skico\u2019s senior vice president of sustainability and community engagement, wrote in an email.<\/p>\n

DPS says on its website that cured Phantom doesn\u2019t cause biological damage and there won\u2019t be long-term environmental risks.<\/p>\n

The benefits go beyond environment, Schendler said. Most skiers don\u2019t do a very good job of keeping their skis waxed, so performance wanes with time. With Phantom, there is no reduction of performance after 10, 50 or 100 times on skis.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a ski owner, think about return on investment \u2014 you don\u2019t have to spend time and money on wax, but you get the performance,\u201d Schendler said.<\/p>\n

He sees a bright future. \u201cI think this is a disruptive technology and it\u2019s going to restructure the wax industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

A lot of Skico\u2019s customers rent skis for a week of more during their stay. They typically would bring their skis in a time or two for wax. Phantom has reduced those requests, Norman said.<\/p>\n

He was quick to note that Phantom won\u2019t eliminate trips to the tune shop to repair gouges and sharpen edges. Eliminating wax won\u2019t put tuners out of business. It will just reduce time spent applying wax.<\/p>\n

Mention Phantom to skiers and snowboarders and it will likely produce a puzzled look. It\u2019s not widely known yet despite favorable reviews in The Denver Post and SKI magazine.<\/p>\n

Norman said a few customers have heard of it and seek the Phantom treatment. Skico charges $164 for the cost of the product, proper application and stone grinding the base of boards for preparation. But by eliminating the need for repeated wax application, it pays for itself quickly.<\/p>\n

Basalt Bike and Ski is the only other shop listed in the Roaring Fork Valley as a dealer for Phantom.<\/p>\n

Applied to alpine touring skis, Norman said, Phantom will eliminate the climbing skins pulling off wax or dirt from the skins affecting the wax.<\/p>\n

Norman said there are some old-school ski bums who like to spend the time waxing their own boards. They probably won\u2019t change. For everyone else, Phantom is the future, he said.<\/p>\n

scondon@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Norman pours Phantom ski and snowboard treatment product on the bottom of skis from the Aspen Ski Co.\u2019s rental fleet in the Highlands tuning shop on Wednesday.Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times It is one of those products that seems too good to be true \u2014 except in this case it\u2019s winning over hardcore skiers, snowboarders […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1316598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-06 13:46:27","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1316598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316598\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1316598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1316598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1316598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}