Who would have thought ski and snowboard wax are a big threat to our environment and us? Tyler Braly from Hillbilly Wax-Works and Ethica Enviro-Wax probably know more than the average Joe Blow about the toxicity of the wax on the market right now.

Tyler explains, “every season, thousands upon thousands of kilograms of ski wax are applied to skis and snowboards.  Beeswax, pine tar, the natural materials once used to wax or seal skis have long since fallen by the wayside.  Nowadays, conventional ski wax is made from varying blends of low-grade paraffin and synthetic fluorine chemicals, and therein lurks the problem. Paraffin wax is a waste byproduct of large scale petroleum and petrochemical refinement.  The low-grade paraffin used by ski wax makers is junk material to Big Oil, the unwanted materials made incredibly cheap to purchase. As such, paraffin is non-renewable, unsustainable, and is a material directly related to the continued abuse and reliance upon fossil fuels.” Only that fact should rig a bell to the dumb and dumber of this world.

Just think about it for a sec; every time you melt wax, you release several hazardous chemicals that are classified as human carcinogens and every time you ride, the wax end up in nature.

We might not know all the effect wax has yet, but we know enough to start making conscious choices and trying not to use wax made with low-grade paraffin and synthetic fluorine chemicals. I say trying because all the wax on the market right now is basically made from those toxic material and it’ll take a while before regulations on those same materials be in place to protect us.

So my word on it is don’t wait until wax made from low-grade paraffin and synthetic fluorine chemicals are banned and start using environmentally friendly (and human friendly) wax buyng Hillbilly Wax-Works and Ethica Enviro-Wax, witch are now available in Mountain Equipment Co-op here in Canada, REI in the U.S, and a handful of other progressive and supportive retailers throughout the larger winter sports community. Please visit their website for a complete list of retailers: http://www.hillbillywaxworks.com/Ethica/Partners.cfm

For more information please read Tyler Bradley’s article “Toxins on the Slopes” at http://www.hilltrip.com/wax.html

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Published by hilltrip: 7:39 PM
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