By Chris Hansen

October 15, 1996

If you save some money on an iron, spend the difference on wax. Wax is themost important component on this list and the one you'll use the most. Youcan get cheap universal, all-snow/all-temperature wax or you can spend afortune on high-tech hydroflourinated waxes, but a good middle-of-the-road,temperature-specific wax will give the best bang for the buck. An assorted,three-bar pack from Toko or Swix is usually less than ten bucks. Go withthe assorted at first--when you need more you can pick up a pack of thetemperature you use most.