Once upon a time preparing skis for the season was little more than dripping some wax on the base and hitting the hills. That was back in the time of bear-claw bindings and wooden skis all of one slab of hickory.
Well, times have changed, and while the new skis and snowboards make snowsporting a lot easier, the new gear does demand some pampering. And while the switch to release ski bindings has reduced broken legs, it has brought on a more sophisticated approach to gearing up.
Yes, you can do it yourself — if you’ve the equipment and knowledge. For snowboarders see the sidebar. We’ll concentrate on working on skis here.
We asked the staff at The Village Ski Loft in Incline Village to help us illustrate the ski tuning process. Although the folks there are happy to do the tuning for you, they gave us a demonstration of the process, with Duncan Lee doing the job.
After reading this article, you might want to embark on doing it at home (or in the garage, as there is a certain amount of mess involved).
Here’s what you’re going to need:
• The ski wax. Many varieties are available, but for most casual, i.e. nonracing, skiers, the all-temperature, all-conditions wax works fine. Two varieties: rub on and melt on. Rub on is easy; clean the bases of old wax and just rub it on, smoothing somewhat. For melt on the varieties often involve a high-tech wax. Let the ski shop techie suggest what is best for your ski level and local conditions.
• An old laundry iron, not the one you use for shirts.
• A wax removing solution and or a plastic scraper.
• A dishwashing pad like Brillo.
• A good file for the metal surfaces.
• A steel-edge ruler or bar.
• A stiff wire brush.
• A soft or Denver stone.
• A torque binding release tester. You probably won’t want to buy this. After you’ve done everything else, take the skis to a resort and have the techie there test the binding.
The tuning procedure works something like this:
• Eyeball the skis for any deviation in alignment. With shaped skis this is more difficult; just make sure the bases are alike. Camber, or the slight bow in the skis, should be noticeable.
• Check with the straight edge to make sure the edges are neither raised or below the base. If they are raised you’ll railroad, going in a straight line. If below the base you’ll skitter. In either case, it’s a job for the ski techie.
• Find a place where you can hold the skis in place. Remove any wax left from last season with a wax remover solution or a scraper.
• Heat up the iron to the midrange and then with the point aimed down, dribble the wax as it melts the length of the ski.
• With the iron at a slightly lower temperature, iron over the wax and smooth it out, making sure that the entire base, including tips, is covered. Take the skis outside and let the wax harden.
• Bring them in. With a scraper from tip to tail scrape off the wax. Don’t worry about removing it; what you want to do is make sure the pores in the P-Tex bases are filled. Otherwise, the pores will suck the water you create under your bases and slow you down, making turns more difficult.
• With the wire brush go over the bases; wax will powder and fall loose. This is to clear the small channels in the base which funnel the water away from the ski.

Bonanza photographer Jen Schmidt contributed to this story.