ST101: Summer Storage for skis

[dipstik]

My final Ski Tuning 101 post of the season is now up: http://www.skituning101.com/

By and large it was a successful year for the blog, thanks in large part to this community. I will continue to work on the blog as time allows this fall, and ARTECH will continue to supply gear for testing. Any special requests, let me know! Already on my list are the Ski Visions base flattener, brushes, starter kits, and wide (100mm+) ski vices that some of you have asked about.

For this final post, I talk about how to properly store your skis for the summer to prevent rusting and corrosion of the edges, as well as how to prevent the bases from drying out. I also touched on bindings, but that is a can of worms so I might take it down.

As always, comments and criticisms are welcome.

And just for fun:

[El Chupacabra]

I actually store my skis with a thick coat of wax, in a hot shed (my ski shop is in an uninsulated but vented shed). I think it gets to around 120-130 degrees in there during the very hottest times of summer, which usually lasts only around 2-3 weeks. This seems to slowly hot box the skis over the summer and soak in the wax. By September, I pull down the skis and add another layer of wax on the skis that look like they need it -- i.e., the ones where all the original storage wax soaked into the bases. Skis that I bought over the course of winter are the ones that really benefit from this; older skis that have been through a summer cycle of soaking in the wax don't seem to take on much more during consecutive later summers.

I live in a very dry climate though. I wouldn't store skis in a backyard shed if I lived somewhere humid.

[Velillen]

just one thing i picked up that works pretty decent for getting the sides of the edges fully covered is to just "crayon" the wax on. It gets pretty well covered from the excess flowing over but just as a final make sure its all covered it got the last couple of spots covered.

[dipstik]

El Chup: That is an interesting idea, sort of like a slow roast hot box. Definitely climate dependent though.

Velillen: Good call on crayoning the wax on the edges, I will have to give that a try.