Ski maintenance

Tools

Waxing iron

ski waxing irons are nice but any old junky clothes iron will work ok as long as you don't let it get too hot. The iron is definitely not suitable for clothes after this procedure! If it's smoking then it's too hot. ski waxing irons have no holes and better temperature control.

plastic scraper

Cork

optional for glide wax but essential if you want to use kick wax

standard file

90 degree file holder

this little tool makes tuning the sides of edges much easier as you won't slip and dull the edge.

diamond stone

Supplies

Wax

wax for colder weather is harder, wax for warmer weather is softer. I use a 3 wax system (cold, mdeium, warm) but lots of people are happy with all purpose wax which is somewhere in the middle. Fancy fluoro waxes are for racers and they aren't worth the money for backcountry skiing.

Waxing Skis

Basic Method for Glide Wax

1. Set the iron for wool or some other low temperature. If it creates smoke, it's too hot.
2. Melt the wax by touching it to the hot iron. It will drip (onto your skis, hopefully). You don't need a ton of wax on your skis, just a little drip line down the center. Then you iron the wax into the skis for a couple minutes. It's important to warm up the ski base so that the pores open up and absorb the wax, but don't stay in one spot too long so it doesn't get too hot and burn.
3. Let the skis cool for 20 minutes
4. scrape all the wax off with the plastic scraper. You should try to scrape quite forcefully in long smooth strokes. Unfortunetely, it can be tough to properly secure your ski without a proper waxing gig. Get a friend to help or try improvising with a vice. You can reuse the excess wax you scrape off

Advanced Method for Glide Wax

1. clean the skis with cirtus solves to soften the old wax
2. brush the bases with a brass brush to clean out the old wax and open the structure
3. follow basic method
4. buff ski base with the cork

Basic Method for Kick Wax

Kick wax is a great alternative to skins for gentle climbs and flat terrain under the right conditions. Wax works well with cold new snow, but poorly on crusty refrozen snow or melting corn snow. You can put skins on over top of all but the softest waxes without having the wax mess up the skin glue.

Softer waxes have more grip, but less glide. Warmer snow conditions require software waxes because the snow crystals themselves are softer. The temperature ratings given by kick wax makers assume that you are on light XC gear and can generate a good kick to make the wax stick. Since this is probably not the case, use a slightly softer wax than recomended.

1. At the trailhead, decide which wax to use based on the temperature and snow conditions. This is the hardest part.
2. Colour in the base of your ski with the wax. For backcountry skis, put the wax on the whole ski base, not just the part under the foot. The reason for this is that your skis don't have a wax pocket like double camber XC skis, and in soft snow conditions your weight will be spread out over most of ski.
3. Buff the wax smooth with a cork or it will ice up quite badly
4. If you don't have enought grip, go back to step 1 and put a softer wax over top of the harder wax
5. If you have too much grip (snow sticking to your bases) you need a harder wax, but it's difficult to put a harder wax over a softer one. Try scraping the wax thinner or buffing it smoother. If that doesn't work, scrape the old wax off with a plastic scraper and start again.

Waxing for storage

Before you put your skis away at the end of the season, wax them but don't bother scraping. Use a warm wax for this.

Edge Tuning

Use the standard file for doing the bottom side of the edges, and the 90 degree tool for the sides. Do most of the sharpening from the sides, since this is easier. You can skip the 90 degree holder, but it saves a lot of slip ups that need to be corrected later. The diamond stone is for removing burrs and rough spots from the edges.