WE’VE GOT COMPANY: PURL WAX

A True Rider Owned And Operated Business, A Grassroots Company At Its Finest

Scott Sparks keepin’ it clean and green for over a decade
Words: Adam Queen

In today’s snowboard industry, there are always a handful of companies described as “rider owned” or “snowboarder operated.” While this is true to a point, most of the time there is some type of higher-up calling the shots. It’s usually someone who doesn’t ride, and could probably care less about snowboarders. Then there are companies like Purl Wax, a true rider owned and operated business, a grassroots company at its finest.

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Purl Wax was started in Boulder in 1999 in a small warehouse space on 47th and Old Pearl, which is where the company’s name came from. Owner Scott Sparks says the idea to do a wax company came about in the late 90′s when everyone was using waxes with high fluorocarbon content. “In the late 90′s everyone was caught up using these high fluoro waxes,” mentions Sparks, “Even before all the scientific studies came out, we all knew these fluoros were nasty. It just doesn’t make sense to use wax with chemicals that contribute to global warming when your passion is snowboarding.” The first stage of starting Purl wax was to create an R&D team to develop a fast, durable wax line that was biodegradable and eco-friendly and designed for performance.

Purl Wax’s newest product is their ICE 9 all natural wax line. Every ingredient in the line comes from natural and renewable sources. There is not a single ingredient in ICE 9 that is found in a traditional wax. The wax is 100% bio-degradable, petroleum free, and PFC free. ICE 9 is not a soy wax like some other companies have tried to do in recent years. Its simply all the good stuff you want in a wax, none of the bad stuff for the earth. If you are still thinking that this whole all natural wax thing is just a gimmick, do a little research, like the guys at Purl have. PFC production contains some of the nastiest chemicals around including some acids that have ended up in the streams near Dumont, CO andaffected thousands of people. Purl encourages everyone to take a look at their website (www.purlracing.com) to see more about the harmful effects of PFC’s and the EPA’s lawsuits against fluoro-chemical producers in the U.S.

The response to Purl has been huge. After a few successful seasons, Purl moved the operation into a bigger warehouse in Dillon, CO, “to be closer to the mountains,” Sparks tells me. After all, Sparks, a native of Alabama, fell in love with the mountains while visiting his brother in Colorado years ago and moved to our beautiful state in 1994. “It was the curse of Chief Niwot.” Sparks says he was surprised at how much work goes into starting and building a company, but it seems to be paying off these days. “Business is booming,” Sparks tells me. Purl must be doing something right, as the company now has locations in Dillon, Boulder, and office space in Denver. They also have an international pro team with some pretty heavy hitters on board boasting names like Jake Blauvelt, Stevie Bell, Pat Milbery, Lonnie Kauk, and pro skiers Seth Morrison and Sage Cattabriga-Alosa. Local CO shreds that are down with Purl include Ricky Bates, Lakota Sage, Jake and Zack Black, and a slew of other riders and skiers.

Purl also just inked a deal to have their wax distributed by Wintersteiger worldwide. Sparks says, “As our business has grown from local to national, to global, we have made serious efforts to make sure that every aspect of our growth phase meets our environmental standards. We are in a time of great opportunity right now. Customers are more aware of climate change than ever before and they are demanding product with limited impact on the environment.”

When asked about future aspirations for the company Sparks replied, “My biggest goal for the future of Purl Wax is to build strong relationships with all of our retailers and customers. Purl invests heavily in research and development. I can’t tell you what we’re working on just yet, but we’re about to blow some people away. Sales are through the roof. If you’re not on board yet, what are you waiting for?”

Check out Seth Morrison’s footage from the TGR 2009!  I love the wax section to start.  Right on Seth!

Check out Avalanche Sports in Breckenridge, CO, our dealer of the week! Run by skiers, for skiers, Avalanche Sports will get your gear tuned the way you want, using the wax of choice Purl! Avalanche Sports carries and works with both our All Natural Ski Wax and Microcrystalline Wax. Rich and the crew are pros at getting your skis tuned for the conditions you might find any given day at Breck!

Check Out Purl Team Member Sage Cattabriga-Alosa wrapped up the season shooting in AK! Check out his season wrapup blog on his site.
-> sagecattabriga-alosa.com

Considering the big environmental issues facing us today, ski and snowboard wax might not seem to play such an important role… but a traditional stick of wax bears a lot more toxic potential than generally known. To learn more about wax and the environment please click on the Environment tab. To find out what’s new with Purl, just scroll down and enjoy!

See how Purl’s All Natural Wax fared when tested against Swix’s fluoros.

Waxing for a Greener Tomorrow
by Evelyn French

Salt Lake City, UT – Many recreational skiers don’t understand why they need to use ski wax. They think it’s too expensive or they don’t have the time to learn how to properly apply it. Some think that wax is only for racers and people who want to go fast, but what they don’t know is that wax is for anyone who wants better control of their skis and extend the life of their skis. Skis can be a five hundred to a thousand-dollar investment, and keeping your skis well waxed is one way to protect that investment. Wax keeps ice crystals from sticking to the base of your skis and also keeps your poyethylene base well hydrated. This chemical wax keeps you in control and provides a better glide.
For those of us who do wax often, we may not realize what sort of chemicals we are putting on the bottom of our skis. Popular wax companies are not about to share their well-kept secret recipe. But the truth is we are melting Teflon right onto our skis.

Teflon, or perfluorocarbons (PFCs), are a series of toxic chemicals that have caused major controversy between DuPont (the company manufacturing it) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the last twenty years. This chemical is used to keep many different things from sticking. It is on or in seemingly everything, from common household pots and pans to ladies’ mascara, and even ski and snowboard wax.

Teflon breaks down into what is called perflorooctanic acid (PFOA), a nearly indestructible and toxic chemical. The Environmental Working Group, an environmental advocacy group, calls PFOAs “the most persistent synthetic chemical known to man.” It is considered to be persistent because PFOA will not break down for 50,000 years.

When Teflon from your pan begins to wear off, it enters your body via the food you eat. However, when the snow melts, PFOA drains into watersheds, streams, lakes and rivers, harming both the environment and human beings. This chemical has been known to cause cancer in animals and liver disease in humans in greater dosages. Studies have even linked Teflon to decreased weight and head circumference in newborn babies. PFOA has been found in the blood streams of minks, bald eagles, and more than 90% of the American population.

When a ski resort is visited by one million skiers and boarders in one season, and if each of those skiers and boarders use only ¾ of an ounce of wax, 46,875 pounds of this toxic chemical is deposited in the soil and water systems. The United States has almost 60 million ski visits each year, therefore potentially producing almost 2.8 million pounds of PFOA. This amount of PFOA released into the ground water is dangerous and unhealthy.

But the problem is not just with the residue left on the snow. When we wax our skis we are inhaling one of the most toxic chemicals known to humans. When PFCs are heated to 500°F (260°C), the fumes can kill birds. When they are heated to 600°F (315.5°C), fumes can cause what is called polymer fume fever, a flu-like condition that may cause acute lung damage in humans. While typical ski wax irons don’t reach these temperatures, the label on the Toko Low Fluoro wax states, “Do not heat wax above 165°C. Do not inhale vapors.”

So what are the options?

Some types of wax have more toxic chemicals than others. Highly fluorinated waxes such as the Cera Nova made by Swix is made with almost 100% fluorinated chemicals. The CH waxes have the least amount of PFCs and are made with hydrocarbon chemicals which are generally safe for the environment. However, there are some types of wax that are made entirely free of the toxic chemicals.

Soy wax is one such option. One Ball Jay, Dakine, Bluebird, Enviro Mountain, and even Burton make an all natural wax from soy products. In addition to being better for the environment, this type of soy ski wax supports soybean farmers across the U.S. It breaks down quickly and is in no way harmful to the environment.

The naturally occurring chemicals in the soy wax, however, do not bond to ski bases as well as traditional waxes do. This makes the wax fall apart more easily and after two or three runs you are left with a bare and dry base. This type of wax is ideal for the people who typically take only two or three runs a day, but since it rubs off quickly you will find yourself reapplying the wax more often than you should, costing you a little more money.

To address this bonding issue, Purl Wax uses what Scott Sparks, owner and founder of Purl Wax, calls Bio-ester. Bio-ester is created from all natural and renewable resources like vegetable stock and grains that bond together in all natural hydrocarbon chains. This makes the wax work just as well, if not better than the traditional toxic wax.

I have tested Purl Ice 9 waxes against Swix Low Flouro waxes on typical New Hampshire snow on the slopes of the White Mountains. I’ve taken three different typical temperatures of wax from each of brands and put them on six of the same skis. By using dead weights I was able to calculate the friction of each ski. I found that the same temperature waxes of Swix are more likely to stick to the snow and have more friction than the Purl wax. As a ski racer, I am very particular about which wax is used on race day. I tried the Purl wax in the Southern New Hampshire Alpine Championship and was impressed enough with its performance that I continued to use the environmentally safe wax for the rest of the season.

Not only does the Bio-ester ski wax keep us from inhaling toxic fumes, it is arguably faster than one of the most popular traditional waxes in the world. By changing to environmentally safe wax we as a community of skiers and boarders can protect ourselves from polymer fume fever and liver diseases. We can help keep animals healthy and save the beautiful mountains upon which we ski. As skiers we love to be outside, ripping up some fresh snow. Why, then, put something on our skis that would destroy the very place we enjoy to spend our free time?

The women’s snowboard magazine Shred Betties interviews Purl Wax’s own Scott Sparks for their latest online issue.