17.10.2019

Story of the wax lotery: Neither Mr. Swix didn’t know, what to do

Every master waxes the skies. Everybody, who understands a bit of a cross – country skiing knows that it is important to wax your skies properly. That also matters a lot during Jizerska 50.

Wax the skies to slide in a track as fast as possible is for such a long race as Jizerska 50 very difficult. We could call it an art, which is many times related to a lot of courage, risk and good luck.

That is, why many skiers, for many years ask for the help with waxing the skies the professionals. Their wish is simple, and it is to have the best rising wax on their skies. With this service began long time ago Jan Weisshäutel, ex racer, coach, businessman, manager, but mainly the man with a golden heart, who for example really helped to Kateřina Neumann on her way to her Olympic dream.

With the group enthusiasts they used to wax the skies to everybody, who asked them. After Mr. Weisshäutel had died, his son took over his craft and the group around him was growing year by year. “At the stadium in Bedřichov wax the skies probably around 15 people, other ones wait at Jizerka and Smědava,” counted the son. “Yeah, and the smaller team helps with the waxing during the registration.”

If we have the dusty snow and the temperature slightly under zero, it is great to wax. But the nature is also sometimes having fun. “Probably 5 years ago, we happened to be in an insoluble situation,” even today shakes the head Jan Weisshäutel junior. “During the night before the race snowed and in Bedřichov was zero degrees. All of us were nervous, because the snow up at Smědava was dry and we didn´t know how to solve the situation.

“We had more or less two options, but both of them were bad.  We could wax the skies to be a disaster for the first half, and then hope that it would start to work for the second one or do it the opposite way, what would mean that people would get easily up, but on the way down the skids could get frozen… both options were bad, but with the better idea wouldn´t come up neither magician.”

One magician was in the middle of the action. Nor Harald Bjerke! He was also called "Master Swix," a lubrication machine like no one else. The guy who was at the birth of the legendary blue Swix extra. His son raced among the elite, and a desperate dad could shake his head. No and no finding a solution. "Harald was really humiliated at the time, because he couldn't figure out what to do with this puzzle," Weisshäutel recalls very accurately.

Bjerke was known for hating skis with microcontact, but eventually, in retrospect, admitted that this was probably the only acceptable option. So, all of them were “assembled” at that time. And when the greyhounds on the cross-country rushed to Jizerka, soon stood in rows for lubrication. With this job ended up Ruda Sauer, the coach of the Jilemnica sport high school. “What have you done down there,” he sputtered annoyedly down the phone to Bedřichov. "I have a streak of desperate people here with icy runners!"

Josef Rakoncaj, mountaineering phenomenon had to change the wax on his skies once at Smědava, as well. I was freezing too, fortunately, a friend at the track helped me," he recalls. “At first I used to ride Jizerska on wooden skis. First, the running surface had to be impregnated with a scar to avoid sucking water. And then the climbing cleats… Oh, horrible! I remember, for example, a black Czech klister, I was dirty from it to my ears. The matter, or whatever it was called, stretched endlessly, flying in the wind all around. It reminded me a bit of spiders at the time ...”

However, elite skiers don´t need to deal with such a problem for several years already. Martin Koukal, the world champion of the year 2003 explained the situation: “The era, when elite skiers waxed rising waxes is over. Everybody has solved it already, because Jizerska 50 everybody skies both hands, so without the waxes, too. His realistic words for example didn’t like Lukáš Bauer, who said: “As soon as it starts to be possible to ski with the classic technique, I will use rising wax again,” said strictly. “You can´t change old dog…”

Although the elite will probably irreversibly use only coagulation in the Jizera Mountains, most of the hobby skiers will undoubtedly remain in the traditional lubrication and hectic associated with it. Indeed, Weisshäutel knows about these situations: "Every time the starting shot approaches, skiers are starting to argue more and more," he recalls. “They are nervous, what leads to overtaking and pushing their skies to us, saying that they need it the most,” just a bit of a comedy.” Even these funny moments, however, still inherently belong to Jizerská 50. Fortunately…