I meant to add: to keep the wax on longer, prepare the kicker zones on the skis by not glide waxing them (or removing what is there) and then ironing on a binder of green hard wax (I use Toko green, but likely any other will do). This wax is fast enough that it won't slow you down noticeably but it will greatly improve the adhesion of the softer kick waxes.
It's possible to wax for long verticals with changing conditions by using sandwiches of klister and hard wax. This is not easier than just using skins, but does have a certain tech nerd charm. A couple of examples: In Vermont I skiied Camel's Hump with a three layer sandwich - green klister binder, blue klister mid layer, blue hard wax surface. The conditions were powder snow over ice. We were able to climb and descend the whole thing with the complex wax package. Thanks to wax gurus Tod Eastman and Robbie Frenette for showing me how to do it. In Mazama, I climbed and descended Setting Sun Mtn from Lost River via the Yellowjacket Rd (5,000 ft vertical) with a sandwich of red klister covered with VF60. Conditions were wet corn below, and powder above. To make these sandwiches, put the hard wax in your pocket to warm it up and put the klistered ski in the snow to cool it down. Then apply.
