Base burn exists. It's nothing new. This is not some mystery, hyper-agreesive snow that destroys skis. I keep saying this, PLEASE take almost everything you see in the mainstream press with a grain of salt. If you want a list of 50 "ski writers" in this country who are absolutely clueless, and have been almost as bad, PM me.
The snow in Korea is cold, and very crystalized. It's much more like the man made snow that we see in North America in cold and high elevation. This "extreme cold" is a joke. There are plenty of big tome race venues in North America where this teams would be almost balmy in early February. Yes, These people have nothing to write about.
Have any of you see pictures of a WC speed skier and his /her techs in an airport? Or maybe a picture of a tech, working for ONE skier, with his van full of skis, or his tuning room? I saw Svindal's tech, early season a couple of years ago, and I think he had about SIXTY pairs of speed skis in his vehicle?
Comments above, IMO are right on the money. Every one of these athletes has skis with them that they will train on and not race on. I assume identical to the skis they will race on. Same everything. I can't begin to think what LV has with her.
Base burn is basically bad abrasion of the base along the edge of the base, generally along the inside edges more, though it can happen on both. It happens with too much friction and not enough lubrication. Most speed skis have a base section next to the edge, maybe a quarter inch wide that can be replaced or renewed. Then a fresh grind, and a lot of love with the wax, and they're good. Certainly good to train. Some of these might just need a fresh grind? I highly doubt if they are getting pitch into the dumpster, or being given to Korean kids.
Lots of theories some age old on how to minimize base burn. Swix CH-3, 4 powder has been around forever. Very hard wax. I recall treating the edge of the base on speed skis with it 25+ years ago. Some still do. I also recall my kids' reps/techs giving them a hard time for being to hard on their edges after crossing the line. Grinding on the bases.
So, yeah, not new, not fatal. Probably many of us notice when we ski, that if you have a pretty well waxed ski and ski for a few days on hard {of hard man made} snow, really carving in edge with some energy that the edges of the base are kind of white, and might look a bit "different." Base burn.
I bet if you Google it there are pics, etc. And maybe we'll have some tuners or techs weigh in.
Have seen skis burned badly enough to be taken out of the race rotation, but not trashed. At least not the skis uses at this level. Oh, and BTW, a training run is not a race. You'll hear the racers talk about somebody being fast, "killing it today", really having his skis run, etc. But I haven't heard "won a training run." So you don't need to use your best skis.
Others may have more info.
But yeah, let the racing begin so these folks can write about something else!
