May 14, 2013 (Heber City, UT) – The Swiss Company, Toko, announced today the US release of Toko Care Line products. Formulated to be resource-saving and environmentally friendly, Toko’s Eco Wash and Eco Proof lead a line-up engineered to perform with legendary Swiss efficiency. Toko Care Line products are specially tailored to high-quality outdoor gear and footwear and draw from the company’s history as a ski wax provider as well as Toko’s partnership with outdoor titan, Schoeller Textiles. US Brand Manager Ian Harvey spoke on the end result of Toko’s work on the new line, “Every Care Line product has a significant advantage in some way over the competition – either in price or performance or both.”

Early stocks of Care Line products are available now in select Toko dealers and a larger product unveiling is planned for the summer Outdoor Retailer show in late July. The Toko Care Line is a complete resource for the care of outdoor gear including hiking, cycling, skiing and more. Toko Care Line Products Include:

– Eco Textile Wash
– Eco Wool Wash
– Eco Softshell Wash
– Eco Down Wash
– Functional Sportswear Care
– Eco Textile Proof
– Eco Softshell Proof
– Shoe Proof & Care
– Tent & Pack Proof

May 14, 2012 (Denver, CO) – The 2012 SIA Snow Show, launching all that’s new for 2013, was held in Denver, CO earlier this year and SkiTrax caught up with many exhibiting companies to find out about their latest product offerings from the top end on down, including some fun stuff, for next season. Part 2 of our series of interviews offers a look at what’s new from from Rossignol, Atomic, Toko, and more from Swix – plus we stop in at the Madshus Aquavit Party…

April 03, 2012 – I just got back from a product development trip (Coreteam meeting) in Switzerland. These were the best meetings that I have ever taken part of as part of this team. Generally we have meetings in November to initiate the next 2-3 years or more products and direction.

These meetings involve 15+ countries (Finland, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Canada, US, Austria, France, Italy, Czech, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, and then some other countries like England, Belgium, etc). The focus here is to see what the different markets need as they are different as well as to try to develop a consensus as to what is needed for the future. Then in late March we have another meeting where things are really decided more specifically.

At this meeting, fewer countries are represented. This year we cut the number of participants way down and had a core group with super high competence. Product manager Thomas Knecht, Events manager Christian Stalder (with Toko for 15 years), Swiss sales rep and WC racing service icon Heinz Kolly (with Toko for 15 years), head of Toko Austria Christoph Schober, and head of Toko USA (me).

Before attending this meeting, I compared ideas and findings with Doug Hartwick from Canada and John Vickman from Sweden. We all had great cooperation and moved forward really well. Thomas Knecht also did some great work in the meantime since our meeting in November.

Developments were made in grip waxes, klisters, vises, glide waxes, irons, brushes, workbenches, and stones. We also have new top coats on the way that are being worked on now, but will be released later.

That’s it for this season from Toko. See you in the fall!

Need to Storage Wax your Skis or Board for Summer? Click HERE to learn how.

December 06, 2011 – Here is something I’ve just started doing with Toko Base Green. I did this twice last year with huge success – both for kick and glide. I decide on the kick wax of the day for kick, let’s say blue to make it easy. Then I’ll put on a coat of the base green and heat it with a heat gun and then cork it in real good.

Then I add another coat of the base green for the needed thickness to make it thru the race – thicker – and cork it well. Then I add another thin layer of the Base Green and cover it with the wax of the day (Blue). I cork them in together. I add another light coat of Base Green and cover it with a coat of Blue and cork them in together again. I like to recork the skis outside when they are colder to get them even smoother.

Man, I had great kick and a ton of wax left at the end of the Birkie and it was very aggressive snow. I will do more of this as I think manmade snow or transformed snow reacts very positively to this combination. Great kick and great wear!

See you this winter,

Marty

(Note from Toko’s Ian Harvey: I think this works especially well in snow that is especially abrasive or partially transformed or for very long races)

April 05, 2011 – I just returned from product development meetings in Switzerland. As a company, we meet a few times each year to look at opportunities to go in new directions and take advantage of opportunities. The World Cup race service team is there as well as the team of scientists. Additionally there are representatives from the major markets. There is always a great synergy and passion. There were follow ups on initiatives that were taken since the last meeting. Also, some new ideas. Most exciting are some new products that involve some new technologies (new raw materials that nobody else has). Good stuff!

Summer Storage Waxing
Here are Toko’s recommendations for storage waxing of skis. First, brush the base out with a copper brush. Then drip on a generous amount of System3 or LF Red. Iron it in making sure that there is enough wax to provide a thick layer on the base and that the iron is hot enough to ensure a good bond between the wax and the base. This ironing procedure is normal, but sometimes a person rushes through storage waxing and the wax is not really heated outside of that it becomes liquid. The ski bases often times don’t even become warm. This will result in air between the base and the ski and less protection.

Red is our choice for storage waxing as Blue is so hard that it is more difficult to make sure that there is no air between the ski and base and Yellow is so soft that it gets “eaten away” quicker. System3 Red is good, but LF Red is even better as its consistency is perfect. If waxing skis or a board with metal edges, slop the wax over the edges and cover them too.

A SUMMARY:
1. Brush skis out well with Copper Brush
2. Iron in System3 Red or LF Red making sure adequate wax is used and that the wax is heated in well.

See you on the Flip Side!
It was an epic season. The US had a super winter in terms of snow coverage. The industry posted some very good numbers. Toko USA had an all time record year (and the 4th in 4 years). The US had some solid results internationally in all disciplines. Gotta love it!

This is the final Toko newsletter for the season. Thanks for your interest! We’ll leave you alone until the late fall unless something remarkable happens.

Have a good one!

Ian Harvey, Toko USA

March 29, 2011 (Engadin, Switzerland) – I just returned home to Hayward after a week long adventure in St Moritz, Switzerland for the 2011 Engadin Ski Marathon. The crust cruising is at its finest right now and, after skiing all day, I am finally able to sit down and recap the events from Switzerland.

The 2011 Engadin was the inaugural CXC Masters Team Worldloppet trip. Originally, my plan was to compete in the Elite Wave and go for the win. That plan changed when I came down with appendicitis two days before the Birkie and ten days before leaving for Switzerland. Although it felt agonizingly slow at the time, my recovery was actually very swift and smooth thanks to the help of my friends and teammates (I had a cowbell in my room and, when I rang it, Caitlin (Compton) and Brian (Gregg) would bring me any food I requested-so long as it was liquid). The day before the trip, my doctor took out the stitches and gave me the go-ahead to fly to Switzerland. Instead of fighting for the win, I was fighting to simply make it through the airport with my luggage.

Now I was able to really enjoy the finer aspects of the trip and no worry as much about the racing. We ended up doing lots of easy skiing to check out the course, drank Rivella (the official sports drink of Switzerland) by the gallon–or liter, rather, while sitting out in the sun, and even spent an afternoon sledding in the Swiss Alps.

For the race itself, I followed the Toko wax recommendation and waxed up my best skis, along with the rest of the CXC Masters, with the straight-forward combination of an HF Red/Yellow mix, JetStream Red block, and topped it off with JetStream Red powder for good measure. The one thing I forgot was a riller, but the temps were supposed to stay cold and the snow dry.

On race morning, we toed the line. I had barely done any skiing, let alone intensity, in over two weeks since the surgery, so I decided to line up toward the back of the Elite Wave and start easy. Over 11,000 anxious skiers danced around in the gates while we waited for the gun to go off. Immediately after the start, I realized I was feeling great and decided to get up front with the leaders-passing about 500 people on the wide lake start and tucking into third place in the lead pack with the likes of Cristian Zorzi, Bjorn Lind, and Remo Fischer. The first 15km of the Engadin are totally flat as the trail goes across frozen lakes to the town of St Moritz and we were flying with a swift tailwind.

Before I left for the trip, I ran into Ben Husby at Junior Nationals on my home trails of Wirth Park in Minneapolis. When I told Ben I was going to the Engadin, he gave me some advice about “how to win the Engadin.” Specifically, “when you hit St Moritz, there will be a steep climb, wide enough for three lanes of skiers coming off the lakes. Make sure you are leading one of those lanes.” At the time, I thought, ‘Okay, Ben, I can barely ski right now, there’s no way I’ll be leading the Engadin at 15km next week.’

However, I surprised even myself (pretty hard to do) and found myself in third place going into the St Moritz climb! Sure enough, the skier in first went right, the skier in second went left and I found myself leading the middle train up the steep climb. Remo Fischer punched it over the top and I hopped in close behind him. We skied together down into the Expo Area at St Moritz and Remo kept the throttle wide open-we were flying! Shortly after St Moritz, he backed off the pace a little bit and I looked behind me, expecting to see hundreds of skiers over my shoulder. To my surprise, there was no one; I’d just made the two-man break off the front of the Engadin-thanks Ben!

I was feeling great. Unfortunately, as we got into the woods, the snow changed from dry and wind-blown, to wet and soggy. We soon hit a downhill and Remo pulled away effortlessly. I was in no-man’s-land doing my best to earn time back on the climbs, but on every descent, he’d pull away more. Soon, the pack we’d dropped had caught me and I was losing even more ground on the descents. I’m not sure how much of it was the fact that I hadn’t skied for the two weeks prior to the race (maybe that’s what got me into trouble-feeling so fresh) or how much was the fact that I had forgotten to add structure (my cold skis had a cold grind: faster than ever in the windblown snow, but way too much suction in the wet snow). At any rate, I slogged it out for the final 20km of the race and still finished much better than I’d expected going into the race. I was satisfied with the race and happy that I didn’t bust my gut in the process. Remo ended up capitalizing on our breakaway and winning by over two minutes.

In the Engadin, I learned an important lesson about the value of structure. Now that the weather is getting warm and the snow is getting soft, it is more important than ever to have the right structure. Go out and enjoy the spring crust cruising, but don’t forget to rill. And have fun!

Muffy Ritz Commentary from Masters WC
I had a very successful Master’s up in Silver Star. Despite being very sick with bronchitis for the 2 weeks prior and even into the racing week, I somehow managed to ski myself into a Gold in the 10 km FS, a Gold in the Relay, and a silver in the 15 KM CL race. I have to make a very interesting remark about the TOKO wax. We ended up using Blue all the way- for every race ( LF Moly, HF Blue, Jet Stream Blue, blue structurite tool) It didn’t matter the temperature, blue always ran the fastest. The temps were very consistent throughout the week- with only about 5 degrees of warm-up during the days. Lows would be around 21 and highs around 26 degrees F. Every night or during the day, a little bit of new snow would fall. What would appear as a red/blue mix – according to the thermometer- blue was always faster. In the rockies, with new snow, blue seems to be the best choice despite the temps. However, if snow temps went upwards of 32- blue would probably not be the fastest choice. I think all winter long in Sun Valley and other nearby races, I never strayed from Moly, HF Blue, JS Blue all season!

Thanks to the Toko Tech Team of their efforts and wax tips at the Masters.

Muffy:)

www.tokous.com.

March 01, 2011 (Hayward, WI) – All winter long, we’ve been testing and finding HF Blue with Jetstream Blue over the top to run extremely well in cold weather, and at the 2011 Birkie, this was proven once again – We went with HF Blue covered by JetStream Blue and had fantastic skis.

Looking at forecasts a few days out, we knew that the weather was going to take a dive from Thursday night until Saturday, so we held off on testing too much until 6am on Friday morning. After some quick runs on the skis at Boedecker, I came back to Telemark Lodge, assembled CXC’s crack team of waxers, and we started running through skis. Part of the privileges of being on the CXC Master Team is getting your skis waxed for the Birkie, so we had 50+ pairs to wax for them, plus the CXC Elite Team skis. Between good organization, good tools and good workers, we were able to get the skis glide waxed before 7:30pm.

The Birkie classic has definitely grown, and we had about 20 pairs of skis to binder and wax. We used a mix of hard-wax binder and a few drops of green klister ironed in with it. Between the forecast and the length of the race, we went slightly warmer than starting conditions would call for — a few layers of blue hard wax covered with green. As it turned out, the weather didn’t warm up as much as we expected, but the kick definitely stuck around.

All in all, I was pretty pleased with the CXC Team’s results — wins in the women’s skate (Caitlin Compton) and classic (Jennie Bender), with Maria Stuber coming in 5th. On the men’s side, Karl Nygren and Eric Wolcott went 2-3 in the classic and in the skate, Bryan Cook came in 5th, with Brian Gregg 8th, Matt Liebsch 9th and Santi Ocariz 17th.

– Jason Cork, Head Coach, CXC Elite Team

Report from the Winner – American Birkebeiner
Heading into the Birkie I had a plan that I set up with my coaches over two months before. We sat down and laid out both the races and the travel that I would be doing in preparation for my peak at the American Birkibeiner.

The weeks before the Birkie were the most important. I was entered in both Super Tours and Marathon races and had a heavy training load. My plan included a two week altitude camp in Aspen, CO. I raced my Hometown City of Lakes Loppet the day before I left and ran into a lot of mishaps along the way. I felt great at the start and was ready to go. The men and women start together which leads to a very tight and busy first couple of kilometers. I was swallowed up quickly in the crowd and proceeded to try and maintain contact with the other women in the race. Unfortunately I maintained too much contact and a little tangle with another woman left me without the bottom half of my pole. I went on to race without a pole for the next couple of K, then with a long pole for another couple of K, before getting a pole that fit for the remainder of the race. I stayed relaxed and was able to hold onto the lead to the finish despite my pole mishap.

When I got off the plane in Aspen I knew I was in for a treat. The mountains were beautiful and there was plenty of snow. I was staying with a fellow racer’s parents and they were some of the best host parents I have ever had. After only a few days I knew I made the right decision to train in Aspen and race the Owl Creek Chase. The altitude was very high but the terrain and ski trails were incredible. The morning of the Owl Creek Chase came and the temperatures were soaring into the upper 40’s. I chose a pair of skis with more structure anticipating a slushy finish of the race. At the start I was on the front line ready to go. I wore my drink belt in preparation for the Birkie and took of double poling when the gun fired. I found a great spot in second place behind a fellow competitor but suddenly I was swallowed up by the girls charging behind me. I went down and found myself leaving the stadium in last place. Thankfully I had both poles intact but I had a lot of work to do to get back up with the lead pack. I made my way up through the women’s field and found myself with the lead group at the 5K mark. Suddenly the altitude caught up with me and I felt like I was carrying a load of bricks on my back. I watched as the other girls skied away from me and those who I had just passed pass me back. I stayed positive again and focused on skiing the rest of my race within my limits. During the last 5K I gave a final push and found that my body had recovered and could respond. I was able to pass seven women and finish the race strong and happy in 7th place.

The week of the Birkie quickly approached and I realized that I hadn’t skied much of the Birkie course in the last 6 years. Brian Gregg took me out daily to the key locations and as we trained we discussed strategy and tactics. As the Birkie morning approached I was feeling great and ready to go. The only question was the temperature. At a frigid -8F I arrived at the start having left one of my Toko mittens at home in Minneapolis. I did however bring my Toko Windstopper gloves and knew they would work well. But how well??? My excitement was high and I found myself jumping and jogging around a lot before the start, swinging my legs and arms often to keep the blood flowing. I have had problems with my feet hands and face in the past when the temperatures have dipped below zero and my fear lay in the fact that I had 50K to ski with temps remaining frigid the whole way. As I approached the start I strapped on my poles as the gun went off and the banner went up I found myself double poling to the best start position yet this season. I ducked into second place behind a Swiss woman and suddenly realized just how fast my skis were moving! I easily free skating behind her and standing up on the slightest of down hills to avoid colliding. Awesome!!! As we cruised through the first part of the race I was also psyched to realize that my hands and fingers were warm and cozy! I stayed at the front of the pack through the entire race avoiding collisions but never pushing too hard to bury myself. My skis continued to soar along the snow without the slightest hesitation and my hands were so comfortable even on the longest of down hills. I was able to get every feed I needed and respond to all attacks that were made.

With 10 kilometers to go I decided to make my move. I knew my skis were awesome and my body was ready so I took off at the front of the group. The other women responded and stayed close behind but I could sense that I was gliding a little further on every downhill and could rest a little longer. As we approached the final 2 kilometers three other women were still with me and the snow began to fall as we were crossing Lake Hayward. Amazingly I felt my skis speed up even more! Wow I thought my skis are still rockets after almost 50K of skiing. I pushed hard and felt the gap between myself and the other women starting to widen. I upped the tempo and power and found myself in the lead as we headed up Main Street. As I approached the finish I saw Brian waiting on the other side. Nothing could have made me happier and ski faster then seeing his smiling face. I charged to the line and realized I had just won as I gave Brian a huge hug.

The weather was still frigid but I couldn’t even tell through all of my excitement and happiness. A little frostbite on my nose was the only effect the cold could have on me that day. My fingers were warm and my spirits were high.

The plan worked and despite setbacks along the way everything went seamless on Birkie morning.

– Caitlin Compton, Women’s Race Winner

Razzle your Drink Belt Contest
Decorate your Toko drink belt and post the image on the Toko US Facebook Page. On 15 March, we will select our favorite. The winner will receive $500 worth of Toko product in the fall when we have everything in stock. Here’s the link to the Toko US Facebok page.

Race Wax Recommendations for the Masters Cross Country Ski World Cup 2011 will be posted on www.TokoUS.com. Direct link to the page HERE. They will also be tweeted (TokoUS) and posted to the Toko US Facebook page HERE.

For Toko Wax Tips for Canadian Cross Country Ski Races, go to the Toko Canada Facebook Site HERE.

February 16, 2011 – At Beito #1 and I was very impressed with Chandra Crawford’s 5km race and also impressed with all the American’s great results the whole weekend. What a way to go into Oslo and the World Champs – I know there is still Drammen to go!!!

Chandra left from Canada on Wednesday for Europe and then on to Oslo and then one more leg to Beito. She may have had Friday to get over the jet lag and then into the start gate for the 5km classic – her “not so good technique” has gotten way better – I’m sure she knows. She represented herself very well in 18th place, but only 51 seconds off the pace. The placing I don’t care about, it is the time back that impresses me! Dehydration, no sleep, screwed up eating schedule for 3 days and standing on the start line feeling like sh_t does not bode well for a good race. Way to go Chandra!!!!

When have you seen this! At one of the SuperTour races in Aspen – 98 men in the start list and 107 women??? Women’s field bigger than the men’s?!

Beito #2 and I think we have some unfair point manipulations going on by the Norwegians and maybe some other countries in Europe. Here is an e-mail I sent to Jurg Capol, Mr. Nordic Director for FIS, on Sunday:

Hello Jurg – the races this weekend in Beitostolen are on the FIS calendar and I have a question about their procedure or manipulation of the results and if it is allowed. This may have also happened yesterday I just haven’t taken the time to check it out.

The race today was run in age groups – starting order had the first 70 senior ladies starting together followed by the 19-20 year-old junior girls and so on. But the results reported to FIS had the juniors combined with the seniors which I question if this is following the intent of fair competition. There could be an advantage or disadvantage depending on starting position – this has always been the consideration.

But more importantly, I think it is an effort to manipulate the points for the Norwegian juniors. I’m sure the points in the senior race are way better than the points for the junior race – so this builds the junior points illegally. So the Norwegian juniors when racing internationally such as at the World Juniors or U23s are being seeded with points that have been manufactured – this is not right.

Hope you will look in to this and will let me know your outcome.

Marty

All of the races for the weekend were done like this – Seniors started first, followed by the 19/20 year olds, and the 18 year olds. Each group had its own results, but the results sent to FIS were the three groups as a class in order of time. You just know this is a manipulation as the points for the senior race are going to be higher then for each individual class. Like I say above, this helps the younger Nowegian juniors have better points that they did not earn legally at the World Juniors and other international races – meaning better seeding positions in the mass start races especially.

I could go on about this, but I hope the Canadian and US leaders pick-up on this and start the same process to help our junior skiers get onto a more level playing field when it comes to being seeded in these important races and not having to fight their way through the masses at the beginning of races.

This is cool, the new Toko hard wax tubes! Found a couple of the new Toko wax tubes at the local ski shop and they are just like a round deodorant tube – screw off cap and then a screw mechanism at the bottom of the tube to turn the cylinder of wax out and back in with just a quick twist. A revolution in the waxing world – WOW!

Nakkertok racing venue has to be fun to race at – 5km loop and four times through the stadium and a very technical loop. You won’t go to sleep on this loop.

I got to see a lot of racers on Sunday, a number of times, and was super impressed with how well Graham Nishikawa was skiing – very, very smooth, but moving quite fast – he was the class of the field. Would like to see his lap times.
In watching the race officials, here is an aid I think you all should look into. My wife has these re-chargeable insoles for her boots, that she has had for over two years that she swears by – here is the web site www.thermosoles.com I think your lives are going to become a lot more enjoyable.

Jessie Diggins has been so impressive, but she has raced a lot in this past month, hope she has gas left in the gas tank, as I think she and Ida can make a showing in both sprints.

Drammen this weekend and FIS has done it again, screwed up the scheduling of the events. I think it is a conspiracy against the sprinters by running the distances races first and the sprints the 2nd day, just like they did in Rybinsk two weeks ago. The sprinters won’t go near the distance race when it’s run first, but would opt into it if it is the Sunday or second day’s race. No, you don’t have to worry about the sprinters winning the distance race, but a lot of them sure as hell can earn points in the distance races. Am I the only one to see this. Kikkan, please put this one on your list for the FIS meetings this spring.

Talk to you soon!

February 14, 2011 (West Yellowstone, MT) – The 2011 Equinox Ski Challenge will be held March 19-20 at the Rendezvous cross-country ski trails in West Yellowstone. Racers complete as many laps as they can and may enter as soloists or as members of a relay team of up to 8 members in 3-hour, 6-hour, 12-hour and 24-hour divisions. Kids 12 and under can race for free in the 24-minute challenge.

Bozeman resident Andy Gerlach, who raced on a 5-person team in the 24-hour division in 2010, said that “skiing at night is fabulous.”

“The reflections, the light…everything moves faster.”

Gerlach also noted the race went easier than he expected.

“The first lap was the hardest, and then it got better,” he said.

Gerlach added that having Toko ski wax representative Eric Mittelstaedt working on participants’ skis throughout the event went a long way in keeping them fast throughout the 24-hour ski race.

Wilson Dippo, who races for Bowdoin College in Maine, skied the Equinox for the first time in 2010 on a two-person, 24-hour team, and had a little less time to rest in between laps.

“I went out too hard for a 24-hour race,” he said.

Dippo said his first “bonk” hit around 8 p.m., after skiing with teammate Ian Anderson for nearly 10 hours.

Still, they rested, ate and recovered to ski through the night and win their division with 289.1 kilometers skied.

Dippo said he’s planning to return home to Salt Lake City over spring break and make the trip to West Yellowstone again, this time to ski the 24-hour solo division.

Melissa Alder and Kelli Sanders, owners of Free Heel & Wheel in West Yellowstone, thought first about entering as a two-person team for the 24-hour race, but instead opted to ski the 12-hour individual category so they could ski together.

“The costumes were great. The festive atmosphere was positive, energizing and made me want to keep skiing,” said Alder.

Proceeds from the race benefit the West Yellowstone Ski Education Foundation (WYSEF) and Manaia Youth Programs. Participants are also encouraged to bring food donations for the West Yellowstone Food Bank.

The event includes a Saturday evening potluck and an all-night bonfire at the start/finish line.

Before March 1, registration is $55/adult or $30/junior. Between March 1-March 15, the fee is $75/adult and $50/junior. Race-day registration is $90/adult and $60/junior. Registration discounts are available for racers who also volunteer at the race or who bring someone along to volunteer for them. Registration is free for kids under 12 participating in a 24-minute kids’ race.

For more information, visit www.equinoxskichallenge.com.

January 13, 2011   – The Toko Race Wax Tips have been posted for this weekend’s events.  Our goal is to have the tips posted 48 hours or more before each event.  There are some events (that are on Sunday for example) that we have not received good information on yet.  These recommendations will be posted in the next day.  Also, should the situation arise that we need to update the wax recommendation, we will make the changes directly on the website.  The Toko Race Wax Tips can be accessed directly HERE.

December 30, 2010 – The Toko Race Wax Tips have been posted for this weekend’s events.  Our goal is to have the tips posted 48 hours or more before each event.  There are some events (that are on Sunday for example) that we have not received good information on yet.  These recommendations will be posted in the next day.  Also, should the situation arise that we need to update the wax recommendation, we will make the changes directly on the website.  The Toko Race Wax Tips can be accessed directly HERE.