WAXFAX Podcast — Introduction: 50 Years of Ski Wax, Science, and Stories the Industry Doesn't Want You to Hear
WAXFAX PODCAST
Introduction — 50 Years of Ski Wax, Science, and Stories the Industry Doesn't Want You to Hear
Welcome to WAXFAX…
where skiing, science, speed, and controversy collide.
My name is Terry Hertel.
I have been making ski wax since 1972. Before that, I was skiing. Before that, I was watching skiers — watching how they moved, how their equipment responded, and why some skiers seemed to glide effortlessly while others fought their equipment all the way down the mountain.
The answer, almost always, was wax.
Who I Am
I am the founder of Hertel Ski Wax — an independent American wax company that has been making ski and snowboard wax in the USA since 1972.
In that time, I have:
- Developed the All Temperature® ski wax system — trademarked in 1974 — the original all-temperature formula that every other brand has since tried to copy
- Created Racing 739™ — a race wax so dominant it was banned from Olympic and World Cup competition for winning by margins of up to 4 full seconds
- Developed WhiteGold™ — the formula used by Burton Snowboards' elite team riders at the 1988 Calgary and 1994 Lillehammer Olympics
- Built Super HotSauce™ into the #1 Amazon bestseller in ski wax — 20,000+ units sold in 2025, five-star rated in every independent performance study
- Been told by ski establishment leadership to "get the fuck out of the industry" — because our products were outperforming theirs at the Olympic level
- Stayed anyway
I am not a corporate brand. I am not a marketing department. I am a wax maker who has spent 50 years learning everything there is to know about snow, friction, water film, and the chemistry that sits between your ski base and the mountain.
WAXFAX is where I share what I have learned.
What WAXFAX Is
WAXFAX is more than a podcast. It is a knowledge base — a collection of everything I know about ski wax, snow science, Olympic history, industry politics, and the stories that the established ski industry has spent decades trying to keep quiet.
The full WAXFAX book is available as a free PDF download from our website. No subscription. No gimmicks. Just 50 years of knowledge, shared directly.
This podcast is the audio companion to that book — individual episodes that go deep on specific products, specific stories, and specific questions that skiers and snowboarders have been asking me for decades.
What You Will Hear in This Series
Each episode of the WAXFAX Podcast focuses on one story, one product, or one question. Here is what is coming:
- Super HotSauce™ — how a formula developed in 1972 became the #1 Amazon bestseller 50 years later, and why the industry tried to stop it
- Racing FC 739™ — the full story of the wax that was banned from Olympic competition for being too fast
- WhiteGold™ — the Olympic snowboard wax, the Burton connection, and the industry pushback that followed
- SpringSolution™ — why spring pollen is the most overlooked problem in recreational skiing, and the only wax engineered to solve it
- Rub N Go™ — the original pocket ski wax, developed in the 1970s, and why it is still the best on-mountain solution 50 years later
- The Science of Snow — what snow actually is, why it changes constantly, and why temperature alone tells you almost nothing about how your wax will perform
- The Industry — how the established ski wax industry controls what skiers hear, why independent innovators get suppressed, and how social media changed everything
Why This Matters to You
You might be wondering why any of this matters to a recreational skier or snowboarder who just wants to enjoy the mountain.
Here is why it matters:
The wax on your ski base is the only thing between your equipment and the snow. It determines how your skis glide, how your edges grip, how much energy you spend controlling your equipment, and how safely and confidently you can ski.
Most skiers are skiing on the wrong wax — or no wax at all — because the industry has made wax seem complicated, expensive, and optional. It is none of those things.
WAXFAX exists to cut through that complexity and give you the information you need to make your skis perform the way they were designed to perform.
One wax. All conditions. All day. That is what Hertel has been making since 1972.
Welcome to WAXFAX. Let's get into it.
— Terry Hertel, Founder, Hertel Ski Wax — Made in USA since 1972
Start with the best. Shop Super HotSauce™ — #1 Amazon Bestseller, Five-Star Rated, Made in USA since 1972 →
The banned race wax: Shop Racing 739™ — Too Fast for the Olympics →
The Olympic snowboard wax: Shop WhiteGold™ — 1988 & 1994 Olympic Gold Medal Wax →
📚 Read the full knowledge base: Download the FREE WAXFAX Book — 50 Years of Ski Wax Science, History, and Stories →
🎧 Next episode: WAXFAX Podcast — Super HotSauce™: The Wax That Outsells Everything →
🎧 Also available: WAXFAX Podcast — Racing FC 739™: The Wax They Couldn't Kill →