Sorry it’s been so long!  Wow, in case you’ve missed it, and it would be easy too, fall is history.  Winter is here!  What a shame, I really love Autumn and that build up to the Ski/Snowboard season, but winter has reared it’s head early this year – and seems like it begins earlier every year.  Wolf Creek, CO being kind enough to hold a Powder Party in early October and Arapaho Basin and Loveland Mt. opening about a week or so after…  The season is on!  What this really means, is those of us who weren’t ready to stop taking hikes and fish, and whatever other Autumn rites of passage we may pursue, now need to run down to the basement or garage and pull our gear out of “dry dock”.  Along with getting your stretch on and building some endurance by running up and down the stair case in the house, it’s time to take a good look at your gear and see what shape you so abruptly left them in last spring when the snow melted and broke your heart.  Spring was a while back…  Hopefully, you weren’t too scorned by winter’s quick departure and you took the time to wipe down your gear, de-burr your edges, and then give them a storage wax in order to prevent that drying and rusting which occurs over their quiet summer slumber.

Oh!  Excellent you did!  (Ha, sorry, I actually didn’t.  Shame on me.   After a heavy working holiday in the Southern Hemisphere, I was lazy enough to not touch my gear, and, hell, with that damn twelve hour flight… )  Well, you’re already ahead of the game.  Once you take a look at your skis or board, you may notice that they actually look like they’re drier in some spots than in others even though they have wax on them.  Over the course of the storage period your equipment did actually absorb some of that wax.  So it’s still in the base, but at this point you may want to think about a scrape and re-application, especially with a temperature specific wax for the snow that you anticipate skiing/riding next.  If the ski/board that you’re working with has sufficient storage wax, and you feel that it in an adequate temperature spectrum to what you will be riding, well then scrape away.  (It wouldn’t hurt hear to reapply some heat  with your tuning iron, allow your gear to come back to room temp. and then scrape.)

Done and ready to roll!  … Yeah, but not quite yet.  Let’s take a quick look at the edges.  Even though you pursued all the proper precautions and had applied a more than sufficient storage wax, there may still be a hint of oxidation, or rust, on your edges.  Best to address this now, before it get’s worse.  There are a couple of easy solutions.  One is to very gently rub the edge with a gummy stone (preferably a soft stone), and this should relieve the edge of that light residue.  The second would be to address those edges with a diamond stone (again, of light grit).  Both should take the oxidation away, but be careful as to not rub or polish too hard, because you could actually de-tune your edges.  Unless that’s what you want.

Okay, maybe take a quick look at your bindings, make sure that everything is where it should be, locked down and not damaged from past season.  Nothing is worse than making those few runs, really getting the balance together and enjoying it, you “kick a shoe” (-skiers) or “snap a toe strap” (-boarders).  So take a moment now, have the fun later!

So with a pretty good gym regiment, or biking regime, or summer of skating, or whatever it is you do to keep your most important piece of equipment, your body, in shape, you are ready to get at it and not let a day slip by so when the Powder drops again you’ll be ready to slay it!  Good luck and remember:  ”Fail to prepare, then be prepared to fail”.

If you hadn’t done the ol’ Spring Storage on your gear, or maybe you’re fortunate enough to have new gear to begin the season with, then it may not be a bad idea to visit your local tuning and repair shop and have your gear tuned and prepped for the upcoming adventures.  (Feel free to visit us at Mono Cera, LLC, if you’re around Summit County, CO).  Yeah, believe it or not, even new gear could use an initial tune, especially temperature specific wax… and maybe a de-tune.

Anyways, hopefully you are sorted and the hills will be open around you very soon!  Here’s to a big snow season and plenty of adventures!  Enjoy.