The temperature is starting to wind down and we are now approaching our opening day. I want to help provide you all with a guide on how to maintain your skis and help you understand when its time to get your skis serviced and what we tend to look for when looking at your skis. Let’s give you a close insight on what’s going on when your skis hit the surface of snow.
So to start, your skis take a beating every time they go out and they fight different conditions every time. Metal biting into ice, a plastic base sliding across abrasive snow crystals at high speed and possible other debris. Understanding what’s happening and noticing the signs of wear is what’s going to keep the longevity of your skis while also skiing confidently with performance.
The Edges
Ski edges are strips of hardened steel embedded along the base, ground to a precise bevel — optimally 1 degrees on the base and 2 degrees on the side. The angle is everything. A sharp, properly beveled edge concentrates pressure into a thin line of steel, letting it slice into hard snow or ice and hold a carve. Every run rounds that edge slightly: rocks, dirt, and even repeated flexing on ice micro-fracture the steel and roll the corner over.
Signs you need edge sharpening:
- You can see visible nicks, burrs, or a dull, rounded shine along the edge (a sharp edge looks matte and catches light in a thin line, not a wide shiny band)
- Your skis skid instead of bite on groomed or icy runs
- You feel chatter or vibration when carving on firm snow
- Turn initiation feels sluggish or delayed
- (A trick we use in the shop) Run your middle finger and thumb down the ski edges and feel for burrs ever so lightly. Just be careful.
The Base
The base is high-density (P-tex), a porous plastic. Under a microscope, it’s full of tiny capillaries. As you ski, friction generates a thin film of meltwater between base and snow — that’s what actually lets you glide. But dry P-tex has high friction and oxidizes (turns gray/white) when exposed to air and UV light, which chokes off that glide. Wax works by soaking into those pores, sealing the surface, and repelling water so the base stays hydrophobic instead of absorbing moisture and dragging. Wax also fills base scratches so they don’t create turbulence.
Signs you need a wax:
- It’s been more than 4–6 ski days since the last wax
- The base looks white, gray, or chalky instead of a deep, glossy black
- Skis feel slow or “sticky,” especially on flats or low-angle terrain
- You see fuzzy white fibers along scratches (dry P-tex fraying)
Rules of Thumb
Edges
Check after every few days on hard pack or ice, sharpen every 3–5 days of hard skiing, or immediately after hitting a rock. For wax:
Wax
Every 3–4 days of skiing, or whenever the base looks dry — more so in cold, dry snow which pulls wax out faster than wet spring snow. Skis shouldn’t be edgy and catchy.
Proper Ski Storage
Avoid keeping wet skis in a ski bag so that they don’t oxidize and rust the edges so always wipe down your skis with a towel after a day of skiing. Keep them away from high heat like wall heaters that could warp the ski and burn the base. This would shock you but a lot of the damage we see are from either storage or how they were traveled so we recommend our fast straps so they don’t scissor.
Some Popular Services
Hot Wax: $25
Edge & Wax: $65
Microfinish/Resurfacing and Base Repairs: Starting at $92
This will help you as a basic guide when it’s time to visit us! We carry Toko products if you are ever interested in tuning skis yourself and if you have more questions on that come on in and ask away!
We look forward to serving you this season. Remember to take life at The Helm.