HOW SHOULD I DO THE MAINTENANCE OF MY SKIS?
How to do the maintenance of your skis before the season?
As soon as the first snowflakes fall, you're already shivering at the thought of putting your skis back on. Hold on there! The first step before hitting the slopes is to do a general inspection of your gear and to service your skis. Waxing and sharpening will be on the agenda to maintain your skis before the season.
Anatomy of a ski: necessary maintenance
Very schematically, a ski consists of slats, bindings and edges. Let's take a look at these fragile parts that need all your attention.
The slat can be made of injected foam or wood, which is referred to as the ski core. Foam is a process developed more than 20 years ago in order to mold a ski in one piece. These are the monocoque structure skis. They have the advantage of being cost-effective and are therefore mainly used in entry-level models. In addition, the foam absorbs some of the vibrations and makes the ski tolerant to technical faults and more enjoyable. For this reason, it's used for the majority of skis for beginners. Lighter than its wooden counterpart, it is also used for junior skis. However, injected foam skis have a limited lifespan. Foam wears out over time and even more quickly under the effect of moisture.
On the opposite side, a wooden core is more solid. For this type of ski, it is necessary to superimpose several layers of materials, including wood, but also metals and alloys. It is therefore a more expensive process. Unfortunately, wood is also sensitive to moisture. This is why in both cases, it is imperative to wax regularly the skis soles to avoid any infiltration.
Côté fixations, these can present some concerns after several seasons of use. It is usually the springs that have become distended with use. To prevent this problem, loosen the bindings when storing your skis for the summer and don't forget to readjust them before any outing.
Finally, the edges are the metal parts that run along the ski. Their purpose is to grip the snow and promote better steering when starting turns. Just like a blade, they need to be sharpened regularly. What does "regularly" mean? Once a week, once a month, once a season? There is no recommended frequency. You should test your edges by running your nail across them. If the nail is scratched, then there is no need to sharpen the skis. On the other hand, if there are no scratches on the nail, then your skis no longer grip the snow. Remember "the best is the enemy of the good," do not sharpen unnecessarily because edges can wear out like an old knife. So do it with parsimony to increase the lifespan of your gear.
The maintenance of skis before the season begins
To take care of your pair of skis before the season, you need to make sure that no drops of water have been able to penetrate the ski. This is why waxing is so important. Sure, it allows for better gliding, but its function is also to protect the sole of the skis.
If you stored your skis well at the end of last season, you left an extra layer of wax on your skis, which is called "surmoulage" in French, a kind of overmoulding. If that's your case, well done! Before your first snow outing, simply scrape off the surplus with a plastic scraper and go enjoy your first sharp turns.
If not, you will need to inspect the soles of your skis closely. Are there any scratches, holes, marks of any kind? If so, then you will need to perform a proper waxing.
Then comes the turn of the edges. Before sharpening the skis, check that rust hasn't set in while you weren't using them. If you dried your skis well when you put them away and stored them in a dry place, there should be no problems. If rust has appeared, it should be scrubbed off with an iron brush before anything else.
Once cleaned, test the sharpening. If your edges have lost their sharpness, you can either sharpen them yourself or take them to the shop. Be aware that there are tools called "sharpeners" that allow you to sharpen your edges easily and to a precise angle.
The maintenance of one's ski equipment must be regular, i.e. before, during and after the winter season in order to guarantee optimal gliding on and off the slopes.
THE THREE KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER TO PROPERLY MAINTAIN YOUR SKIS BEFORE THE SEASON:
- The main maintenance of your skis should be done before storing them;
- Before the season, you should check the waxing of the soles and the sharpening of the edges;
- Don't forget to adjust your bindings before the first ride if you've loosen them.
The maintain of your skis during the season
Just as you don't drive dozens of kilometres without checking your tyre's pressure, refilling your washer fluid and checking the oil levels, it's not a good idea to ski for an entire season without ever taking a look at the shape of your skis. Maintaining your ski equipment requires regular attention. Just like a car, the better you take care of your skis, the longer they will last. So what do you need to look out for? And what can you do to maintain your skis during the season?
The maintenance of a ski
You're very happy with your new pair of skis, you want to take care of them and extend their lifespan as much as possible. To do this, you'll need to regularly wax the soles and sharpen the edges at times.
What are we referring to? When you cross the path of a few stones or bushes of spring grass, you notice holes, scuffs or even scratches on the sole of a ski: this is the wax that has been scraped off by the terrain. The wax is therefore a protective layer, on one hand, but also what allows the ski to glide better on the snow. In order to avoid any wet contact with the core of the ski, it is essential to fill in any scratches during the season by applying a new layer of wax.
The sharpening, on the other hand, concerns the edges, i.e., the metallic sides on the outside of the ski. They allow you to grip the snow and better initiate your turn. In fact, they are essential for carving, a way of skiing without skidding. The edges must be sharpened, like a blade.
The different types of wax
There are a variety of waxes, each corresponding to a type of snow (frozen, cold, wet, sticky...). For example, snow on a glacier is quite different from spring snow or fresh, light snow. To each situation a specific wax.
Good news, manufacturers have agreed on a standardised colour code. For harsh winters, skiing on glaciers or at very high altitudes, we'll go for the blue wax, designed for very cold days down to -32°C. At the beginning of the season, for common winter temperatures, between -6°C and -12°C, we bring out the purple wax. From