Help some high school kids learn to be ski techs!

[Dan816]

Hi all, I'm hoping the power of the interwebs can help me source some gear for the benefit of some high school kids. I'm running a class where students learn how to tune, maintain and mount skis and boards. These kids don't know how lucky they have it! The mounting lesson is coming up, though, and I don't have any jigs. I've got a handful of Salomon S912/14 bindings and I'm desperate for that jig (ideally multiple). I'm hoping this community can come through and help me find some jigs. I have a modest public school budget to pay for some gear. Please let me know if you or someone you know has access to those jigs. Thank you!

[skifishbum]

i have your jig
maybe 2
and a few
s900 and assorted soli binders

[frorider]

Don’t forget beers.

[TBS]

^^^ And weed. Can’t be a tech without weed

Seriously, Madd Propz to SFB

[scmartin69]

Yeah, make sure they know where to place a "beverage" as not to knock it over when tuning... Oh and tips to the left.

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[buttahflake]

Teach em right, come on man. Tips are always left on the bench.
Take one lap

[skinipenem]

Photo is backwards??

Teach em the paper template method too. See the mount your own fuckin skis thread / the template threads.

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[californiagrown]

Teach em right, come on man. Tips are always left on the bench.
Take one lap

Even if the tech is a lefty? Those people do some weird things.


How is the supply of epoxy, steelwool and bamboo skewers for plugging holes? Need any rocks for detuning tips and tail?


Would you rather bring skis in for a free student mount, or go get a haircut at a barber school?

[heckacali]

Well, the Jr tech does have a broken right arm, so technically a temporary lefty ..

[SumJongGuy]

Teaching teens to be good ski techs should start out without wintersteigers and jigs.. In my day we used the manual, non electric drills with no rulers and liked it that way..

File, file card, stone, metal and plastic scrapers, wax, cork.. Have fun kids...

[old goat]

Surely there is something higher to aspire to than ski tech? (And by higher I don't mean drugs.)

[snowaddict91]

Surely there is something higher to aspire to than ski tech? (And by higher I don't mean drugs.)

Seems more useful than a lot of my high school classes were.

[heckacali]

Surely there is something higher to aspire to than ski tech? (And by higher I don't mean drugs.)

When I was in high school I was really into cars and hot rods. My HS counselor suggested I go study to be an auto tech. I was appalled that he thought I should go live a life like the fat, ignorant, greasy, bald mechanic I knew at the local repair shop.
So I went on to study something different, bounced around many unsatisfying jobs, had several career shifts, finally found success and the freedom to do what I wanted to do. What did I do? I started working on motorcycles and cars as a hobby.
What I know now, and I didn't know then, was that being an auto tech or having skills in that realm could lead to a lot of amazing opportunities besides being a Grease monkey at the local corner shop.
I look at all of the incredible custom fab work going on in shops, the race teams of motorcycles and cars all around the world being staffed by skilled techs living exotic lives and having fun. All of the product design opportunities, etc. There is so much more we can do once we learn skills with our hands, and with the omnipresence of technology, it is more important than ever to support this for kids.

Having a high school kid learn basic hands-on grunt work is a great idea.
At least they learn to tune their own gear, and learn to use their hands which may lead to all kinds of different creative outlets and career choices besides becoming another YouTube content creator, influencer, or app developer.

[skinipenem]

Think if it as home-ec for skiiers.

This is a good thing.

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[old goat]

I'm all for teaching manual skills in HS. Mechanics of all kinds, construction, a big one around here although it's cc, not hs, is mechatronics, which combines mechanical and computer skills--ie modern ski lifts. Our plumber was a guy who worked summers with a plumber in dental school and dropped out to make a career of it. I was standard college prep but my HS had 22 curricula, most of them trade oriented (also music and theater curricula). Not much of that available like that anymore.

I suppose there's a whisker of a chance that a kid could wind up as a WC tech. And just giving kids the chance to do something with their hands, for fun and maybe pay for a season of ski bumming, is worth something if there's not an opportunity to do something more sophisticated. I used to go to the state fair and marvel at the beautifully made complicated furniture the hs kids made. It's impressive what they can do when they have the opportunity.