He therefore decided to conduct a series of experiments with waxed and unwaxed skis.

ECONOMIST: Skiing: Not waxing lyrical | The

That done, he examined the skis and found that those treated with wax attracted more dirt than the ones that were unwaxed.

ECONOMIST: Using ski wax can trap dirt, and thus slow down the skier

He found that after distances of just a couple of hundred metres, gliding on unwaxed skis was faster than on their waxed counterparts.

ECONOMIST: Skiing: Not waxing lyrical | The