Tech Tip #1
Pre-Season Tune-Up
11.01.03 - Many skiers and riders drastically underestimate the importance of tuning
their equipment. Maintaining gear not only improves your day on the mountain
but also goes a long way towards prolonging the life of your skis and snowboards.
Dull, rusty edges and dried-out bases cause sacrifices in speed and control,
which are essential to beginners, intermediates, and experts. This first edition
of Tech Tips offers preseason advice for tuning your equipment. I will provide
basic approaches to maintenance and things to keep in mind early in the year,
leaving in-depth tuning advice for later discussions.
The first question you may ask yourself is, “Do my skis need to be tuned? The answer is almost always yes. If you ended the last season by simply throwing your skis in the back of your closet and you haven’t seen them since, chances are the edges are rusty and the bases dried out. If you ended the season by applying a “summer coat” (more info...) of wax to your ski you’ll have to strip it off and re-apply a base layer. The following is a basic outline for pre-season care. Because I am a skier I will refer to skis; snowboarders can follow the same advice.
First, examine your skis for rust on the edges. These spots will need to be grinded out with a tuning file or stone grinder. Also, look at the bases. Do they appear to be slightly white, possibly with tiny “hairs” of plastic peeling off? If so, your bases have dried out and will need some treatment. Skiing on dry bases can be slow and ‘gripy’ because the ski is absorbing water rather than gliding over it. After a quick examination of the two basic parts of the ski, you’ll quickly decide you probably need some pre-season ski care.
Edges can be dealt with in two ways depending on what type of skiing you plan to do. Trail skiers will encounter a bit more hard snow and ice than a primarily off-piste skier, and therefore require sharper edges. I recommend starting the season with a stone-grind. This entails bringing your skis to a shop to have them professionally grinded down to a perfectly flat surface. It should cost between $20 and $50 and will leave you with sharp clean edges and an ideal waxing base for the remainder of the season. Skiers who spend most of their time off-piste have less need for sharp edges, especially to the extent that a stone grind will provide, however, a stone grind will make your ski smooth and ready to tune for the rest of the season. In this case, simply running a file up and down your ski to scrap off the rust should be sufficient. You’ll know the area is finished when the rust is gone and the edge is shiny.
Ski bases will always need fresh wax in the beginning of the season. There is not much difference between waxing them yourself and bringing them to a shop. Home waxing can actually have more benefits because it allows you to prepare for the snow type and temperature where you’ll be skiing rather than the all-purpose approach the ski shop will use. When waxing yourself, be sure to use a base-cleaner before applying the wax; this will clean anything off your bases that has accumulated over the summer. Detailed waxing instructions will be provided in future editions of tech tips.
The last component to early season care pertains to the holes in your bases left over from rocks you may have hit last year. These too can be taken care of at home. With a stick of petex and a blowtorch you can fill any hole, gauge, or scrape in the base of your skis. In order to get the most out of any petex work, it is usually helpful to do all the filling at once and then get a shop stone-grind. This will ensure that there are no bumps left in your ski from all the excess petex, again leaving you with a perfectly flat ski. Now you’re ready for a fresh coat of wax.
These are some basic early season tuning ideas. Future editions of Tech Tips will include detailed instructions on waxing, filing holes with petex, fixing delaminated tips and tails, and how to assemble a home ski tuning shop. Stay Tuned
~ FC Staff
Related Articles:
- Tech Tip #1: Pre-Season Tune-Up
- Tech Tip #2: Post-Season Tune-Up
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03.16.05 - After 4 years of hearing about great skiing in the Pacific Northwest, I finally chose this season to visit Dave Bell and find out what exactly is going on with the often underestimated resorts of Washington state. I got the call from Bell about a week before JR and I were set to leave. "I think you should fly in somewhere else, we just don't have any snow..."
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Older Archives
11.19.04 - Let's Get This Season Started
09.29.04 - 5 Tips to Skiing Better This Season
09.18.04 - Summer Meditation
07.27.04 - Pics of the PNW
07.14.04 - Line's New Line: 2004/2005
07.06.04 - Yesterday
06.15.04 - Cathedral
05.13.04 - Tech Tip#2: Post-Season Tune-Up
05.01.04 - Atomic Releases 2004/2005 Skis
04.13.04 - First Chair
04.07.04 - K2 Releases 2004/2005 Skis
03.25.04 - Redemption
02.29.04 - Big Jay on Leap Day
FC Mag Goes Colorado Styles:
02.11.04 - Day 1: Vail
02.12.04 - Day 2: A-Basin
02.13.04 - Day 3: Breckenridge
02.17.04 - Days 4 and 5: Crested Butte
02.22.04 - Day 6: The Other Vail
01.27.04 - Part 2: Champagne on New Year's Eve,
Utah Style
01.20.04 - Freedom
01.12.04 - Part 1: Champagne On New Year's Eve,
Utah Style
01.05.04 - A.P.B. - Jay Needs Snow
12.28.03 - Big Jay
12.27.03 - 6th Chair, 1st Chair, 1st Tram...A Great Day
12.08.03 - Big Monday
12.07.03 - Anticipation
12.05.03 - Opening Day
11.22.03 - 10 Ideas to Kick the Pre-Season Blues
11.01.03 - Tech Tip #1: Pre-Season Tune-Up
10.04.03 - Tenney Mountain Opens – October 4th
09.01.03 - FC Magazine Launches Online Winter Home