The best overall approach to ski tuning and maintenance is to establish a season long maintenance program. A regular ski maintenance program will also give you a better experience on race day. It is important to train the way you race and to race the way you train. Caring for your skis can give you a distinct advantage over competitors. Keep the tuning & maintenance process as simple & uncomplicated as possible so you can reproduce winning results time and again.

Daily maintenance:
Allocate 20-30 minutes per day, per pair (assuming 0 damage) to maintain your skis.

1. Dry off your skis and binding/plate combination

2. Use a brass brush, tip to tail, to clean out the ski’s structure of wax & dirt.

3. Use a Fibertex-like pad from tip to tail to “re-fresh” the structure.

4. Perform a wax & hot scrape cleaning (cleans dirt from base every day); scrape and brush while hot.

5. Apply training wax, scrape your edges and sidewalls of wax; let cool.

6. Using your side edge file guide, re-polish all 4 side edges (medium to fine diamond stones as well as polishing stones).

7. Scrape, brush, scrape, followed by a light pass with fibertex and fiberlene.

8. Apply training wax, scrape your edges and sidewalls of wax; let cool overnight.

9. Scrape, brush, scrape followed by a light pass with fibertex before training. Use protective straps for base and edge protection for transport from wax room to slopes.

Waxing / Scraping / Brushing (WSB) Cycle
One method to insure that you get the maximum performance out of your skis is the WSB Cycle. Not only will it make your skis perform and glide better; it will also protect, condition and stabilize the base material. Waxing is one place where some is good, more is better!

Once your new or reground skis have been shaped and edge angles set, it is time to begin the WSB process.

SL / GS: minimum 4 – 6 WSB cycles before on snow session (hot box optional)
SGS / DH: minimum 10 WSB cycles, plus hot box session before on-snow session. Ideally, speed skis should also be “snow cycled” then WSB’d a few more times before use to get the most “speed”.

a WSB uberblick

Waxing
Use a “base prep” wax for this process. Be sure your iron is burr-free and that the “wax puddle” behind the iron is no more than 3 – 5 inches; keep iron moving and apply extra caution in the tip and tail areas, as these areas are more susceptible to damage. Allow ski to cool 20 - 30 minutes before scraping - the longer the better - (best not to exceed 3 WSB cycles per day)

Scraping
Use only a clean, 90-degree angled, plastic* scraper that is free of burrs to remove all the excess wax off the surface of the base before brushing. Scrape, tip to tail, taking many passes with progressive pressure to remove the wax. Be sure that you are getting all the wax off the ski along the entire length. Keep scraping until you cannot remove any more wax.
*more on scraper types in a future blog

Brushing
Use your brushes in long, smooth, even strokes with firm progressive pressure and two hands. Work from the stiffest brush that you chose to start with to the finest. After each brush type, take your scraper and re-scrape the ski, then pass your fibertex and fiberlene down the ski.

There are 2 ways to register for a race.

• Goto alpine.reg and register online. This is the simplest way to register
• Download copy of ussa alpine entry form and mail to appropriate race secretary at least a week in advance
  

Goto www.ussa.org and click on become a member or click here.

This will include your NJSRA Membership