Do you wax skis at home? It’s easier than you may think to screw it up. Here are three common ways you might be messing up your ski bases.
We met with Leif Sunde, the owner of the ski tune shop Denver Sports Lab, to get a few hints on how to better wax skis. While we’ve been waxing skis and snowboards for years, Sunde shed some light on how many people are goofing up.
And yes, we’ve been guilty.
So, how do you wax your skis and snowboards? Are you making these common ski waxing mistakes? We’d love to hear about your goofs, too!
Common Ski Waxing Mistakes
Waxing in a cold garage: Ski wax is applied with a hot iron. But if it cools too fast, it doesn’t have time to soak into your bases well. If you wax in your garage, fire up a space heater. Or apply the wax in your basement or house. Let skis cool slowly before scraping, even if you scrape in a cold garage.
Using a super hot iron: This is related to the above goof. To compensate for the cold garage, a lot of folks crank that iron up way too hot. Keep it at a low temp and don’t burn wax or, worse yet, ski bases.
Scraping the wrong direction: Did you know you can scrape skis the wrong way? According to Sunde, you can. Make sure you scrape in the same direction, tip to tail, to ensure the best performance on the slopes.
