There’s nothing quite like scraping off last season's wax, heating up the iron and getting a smooth coat on your skis as the season approaches. This event is the pregame for the joy to commence, and it’s usually accompanied by your best ski buddies, some brews and building stoke for the send days to come.

Unfortunately, the wax that traditionally helps you glide down the slopes is packed with petroleum byproducts and other nasty chemicals filled with carcinogens. The microscopic pieces of wax that flake off your skis each time you rip down the hill also end up in the local watershed, impacting the health of the environment you love dearly and the water supply you and your community consume.

When research came out about this, Peter Arlein, founder and CEO of mountainFLOW EcoWax, knew he had to get involved. Arlein has spent the better part of 20 years working with ski wax on an almost daily basis as a tech. After years of being subjected to the toxic fumes and particles that come from traditional ski wax, he knew it was time for a change.

“I started tinkering around with some plant-based waxes to see what I could come up with. The first few iterations weren’t great but were inspiring enough to prove that it’s possible. That started a two-year process with over 200 iterations before we got the formula exactly where we wanted it,” states Arlein.

Arlein got a little advice from scientists on what ingredients to focus on, but past that, it was purely trial and error, relying on what felt good.

“Rather than get too involved in the science side, I really focused on how it felt on snow, cause ultimately that's what matters, so I jumped right to that. I would iterate a lot, put ‘em on my skis and ski ‘em. I quickly figured out which ones were good and which ones weren’t.”

Arlein said mountainFLOW began to pick up traction in 2019 when studies and reports regarding one of the more harmful ingredients found in traditional and race-focused waxes came to the surface — fluorocarbons. Fluorocarbons are fluorinated carbon chain polymers that are used in an assortment of household and commercial products as waterproofing agents, lubricants, sealants and leather conditioners — not exactly something you want to be putting into the environment. The European Union banned the use of fluorocarbon-based wax in 2020, and the U.S. and Canadian Ski Associations shortly followed suit and banned it, as well.

“They (fluorocarbons) are kind of the opposite of biodegradable; they’re what’s called a forever chemical. Once they’re in the environment, they’re there forever. They were essentially banned back in 2019 which is when we really started to ramp up our product,” Arlein explains.[Text Wrapping Break][Text Wrapping Break]When asked what he feels draws people to his products other than just sustainability, Arlein brought up the importance of authenticity.

“A lot of brands are now offering one or two sustainable waxes in their lineup, but the rest of their lineup is still made with petroleum or some other toxic additive. I think consumers are starting to see through that. For us, everything we make is plant-based. It's not a one-off; we’re not just checking a box. It’s all that we do, all the way down to the packaging we use.”

As consumers, it is not only our responsibility to purchase smart but to support brands that show good conscience, not just including a sustainable product in their line to appease the marketing and PR departments. 

Winter is quickly approaching and by the time this article is out, it will be in full swing. This season, keep an eye out for a new product coming from mountainFLOW, the industry's first ski poles made from 100% recycled aluminum.

“The cool thing about aluminum is that whether it's recycled like our ski poles or virgin aluminum, the quality, strength and weight — the characteristics of the metal — are all exactly the same. There’s no degradation in performance because we’re using recycled material,” states Arlein proudly.

In the production of these skiing poles, the carbon emissions are decreased by 95% in comparison to traditional methods. mountainFLOW is releasing two styles and a rental pole, which will be available at multiple resorts country-wide and a pole for the recreational skier. All mountainFLOW products are currently available on their website, the EcoWax is in 1,000 locations worldwide, 20 international markets and is the best-selling wax across the board at REI. Consider implementing some mountainFLOW products to make your season more sustainable!

mountainflow.com

Originally published in the Winter 2022-23 issue of Spoke+Blossom.

Gear Profile: mountainFLOW Eco Wax