Springtime is maintenance time. Wax the skis refresh the skins.
Springtime care resources for your Skis/Board and Skins: the waxing, the gluing, the re-gluing, and the cleaning.
You know it’s spring when?
- You carve onto the egress, about to fist bump your mate (maybe it’s a pole tap) and you come full-stop to a stop. Your hamstrings get a tug. There’s maybe a nerve twinge. You’ve hit warm and wet snow.
- Your skin glue for the skinny skis, which have been stored kindly since late last spring, is littered with detritus.
- You’re out and about, ascending under a high-ish morning sun on wettish snow. You daydream a bit about the PNW volcano you’re ascending and suddenly find yourself under shady trees on cooler snow. The skins glop. Your progress stops.
If your response is A, B, C, or all three scenarios, it’s time for some TLC for your riding tools and/or skins.
Oftentimes, in winter, we let the ski/board maintenance lapse. Maybe we suffer reduced glide here and there. But, mostly, we can and do get away with lax maintenance. That’s not the tune in spring, when warm and wet snow is a literal drag. A few signs you might need some maintenance are dirty skin glue, dirty and/or dry ski/board bases, and skin glue residue on your bases.
If you are new to the backcountry scene THR has some resources to assist you. Waxed bases will help with glide, especially on wetter snow. Waxed bases will help prevent skin glue from leaving glue residue on your bases. And, clean and refreshed skin glue will adhere better to a ski’s/board’s base, and it will be easier to remove from the ski/board.
The Waxing Resources
Apply Skin Wax & Keep it in Your Pack
Clean a Ski/Board Base & Refresh the Skin Glue
