You know him, the big bearded guy with the apron.  Jeff is our ski technician at the store and he has a few tips for getting your skis ready for the upcoming winter season. 

First off, Jeff's wondering just how bad your skis are.  Are they covered in dust and mouse droppings from storage in the garage?  Is there a three year buildup of grip wax caked in the kick zone?  Don't worry - he can handle it (and he's seen it all). 

According to the master here, your skis should have their hot wax refreshed every year at a minimum.  Ideally you would have them hot waxed every 100km, but for most rec skiers it works to bring them in to the store each fall and have them done.  Hot waxing protects the bases and gives you a lot better glide.  Fall is the best time for this procedure as over time the wax oxidizes.

When you bring your skis in for a Standard Hot Wax, Jeff will clean them, iron in a Universal Glide wax good for all conditions, scrape the skis and finish by polishing (brushing) the bases with a roto-brush.  When you pick the skis up the next day the bases will look nice and shiny - ready for maximum glide on the snow.

If you want a little more kazang out of your skis, you can get a Performance Hot Wax which uses low fluorinated glide wax, or a Premium Hot Wax which uses two layers of high fluorinated glide wax, an ironed-in base binder for classic skis, and optional structure.  Even better - give your skis the spa treatment in our Hot Box.  (Check out the pricing details here on our Services page.)

And if you want to save money over the long run you can invest a little up front to buy your own equipment and hot wax your skis at home.  Details on how to do this will be in a future blog, so stay tuned!  (Pun intended.)