Filing Your Ski Bases

The other reason people tend to ignore their ski edges is that they are afraid of messing them up.  This is a healthy fear.  Done properly edge tuning can increase your performance.  Done improperly a file can render your skis useless and make them undesirable for resale.  Take a minute and watch this video on how to file your ski base and you’ll see that it really is simple and can be done at home with a simple flat file.  The alteranative is to take it to a shop where you will pay $50-100 for the same thing and shop guys are sometimes too lazy or busy to use a file and will just run your skis through a base grinder (this is overkill for most maintenance and also shrinks the thickness of your base).

How to Fix a Core Shot

The pent up anticipation of the upcoming ski season got the better of you and that premature trip to the mountain with a 16 inch base came with a price, sigh.  Well don’t despair, the proverbial ‘core shot’ tear in your base doesn’t have t mean a new pair of skis (even if it does mean lower resale value).  Petex is your friend and here are the steps to get the best repair you can.

1. Thoroughly trim off any chunks or hairs of base that have slivered off but are still attached.  A sharp box knife or razor works well for this.  Also, pick out any grit or dirt that may have become lodged during the scratch.

2. Select the appropriate color petex (generally either black or clear).  Petex is a hard material that can be melted and will bond well with your base materials.  Most ski shops carry it for about $3-5 a stick.

3. Heat up the base and core until it is warm, but not too hot to touch (you don’t want to heat up the core too much or it will warp).  This will help the base, core, and petex to bond better.  A hand held acetylene torch that can be purchased at the hardware store for under $10 works great for this.

4. Begin to heat up the petex stick with the torch until it begins to drip liquid petex.  Let the first few drops fall on a rag as these usually contain a fair amount of carbon residue and won’t bond very well.

5. Drip the petex into the groove in your base in a back-and-forth pattern slowly filling the defect up.  You may have to use the torch a few times to keep the petex liquid and dripping during this step.  It is important to overfill the groove so that there is a mound of petex and not a dip when you are done.

6. Allow this to dry thoroughly.  Usually about 15-20 minutes is enough.

7. Using a thin metal or sharp plastic scraper, remove the mounded petex just like scraping wax off of your ski until the surface is flat with the ski base.

8. Draw a flat file across the base to remove any small irregularities and smooth any edge damage.

9. Re-wax the skis with a fresh hot wax.

The good news is that this will protect your ski core from water damage and allow you to continue to use them without worry.  The bad news is that even the best petex job has a limited life and this process may have to repeated several times per season.  Oh well, lesson learned, next time just take your old rock skis up on those early season days.

K2 Recon Review

The K2 Recon is marketed as an all-mountain ski with the ability to lay trench on piste and blow through crud like whipped cream.  It is agressively designed with a fairly narrow wasted much like a GS race ski and has a significant torsional and flex stiffness to it.

We can tell you from my experience that this is a serious ski for serious skiers.  It gives back every inch of energy that you put into it and then some.  On groomed runs, it is lightening fast with razor precision edge control.  It seems to go faster with every turn made and even gets a little scarry on long runs.  We found it to be a little less of a off-piste ski than anticipated as the stiff ski is very unforgiving and makes you work to stay on top of them.  It deffinetely will blow through the crud, but be prepared for a heck of a ride.

All-in-all a great ski, but it makes you work pretty hard and is not for the lazy skier.

Shop for new and used K2 Recon skis at the Alpine Ski Gear Store.

Pole swing

Have you ever been watching from the chair lift and seen someone making rhythmic, graceful turns that seem to be timed out by a metronome?  Sure you have, and you’ve undoubtedly wondered what the key to this controlled perfection is.

Honestly, there are many factors that play into the ability of a skier to precisely control speed, turn shape, and turn length.  But one of the biggest factors is the simple movement of the pole swing.  You’ve probably seen those skiers who never swing their ski poles as they ski, but instead hold them rigid and often pointed at odd angles like useless hunks of copper pipe.  ‘These skiers don’t look as graceful.

The pole swing is like the metronome that keeps time for your turns.  By starting to move a pole forward in it’s swing you are indicating to the rest of your body that it is time to initiate your next turn.  As the pole passes your leg in it’s arc, you should be well into your turn and are beginning to engage your ski edges.  As the pole reaches forward and touches (not stabs) the snow, you should be in the middle or apex of  your turn.  This is where the pole starts its backwards swing and you complete your turn.  The pole works as a feeler if you drag it lightly as you pass it. This gives you a sense of your position in relationship to the snow and enhances your balance.

The next step is the most critical.  Now that you have accomplished your first turn you must initiate another pole swing.  If you don’t, you break the rhythm that you were striving for in the first place.  Skiers who get caught in a moment of uncertainty will not make a pole swing and this can mean disaster when trying to avoid an obstacle.  Make the swing!

Never outgrow the wedge

Every single skier to ever take the snow learned ‘the wedge’ (previously known as the snow-plough). It’s the crawl before the walk in the world of skiing. It is the very foundation of the skier’s progression to high level skiing. It is this very fact that makes it indispensable in every skiers arsenal of techniques no matter how good they get.

There are many instances in any given day of skiing that take you by surprise. An unexpected wind drift, a firm mound hidden under a blanket of powder, or a firmly planted tree around a blind corner all require quick processing and adaptation. These situations are perfect examples of where the wedge should be employed. It is instinctual and should come naturally to just about any skier and has the added advantage of being very stable thanks to the wide base that it forms. This stability allows the skier to gather themselves and move confidently into the next turn despite the obstacle that was encountered. Done properly, most other skiers watching will never even notice that you just reverted back to the snowplough, but they would have noticed if you had gone down in a powdery, white puff of snow.

So give the good ol’e wedge a try next time you find yourself a little off balance and see if it doesn’t help get you on your smoothly.