Ski Maintenance for first time owner!

Hi All.

My Wife has been skiing for 30 years (she's 37 now) and whilst we're doing our Grand Tour of Europe we happened upon a bargain pair of ski's - like we didn't already have enough gear in our 4x4! They're brand new Head ski's and 3 seasons old (they're in the car and the exact type escapes me but is irrelevant for my query)....we paid €130 for them including bindings, she likes them because they're not as 'fat' as some of the newer models that we find in rental shops and she likes a slightly longer ski than maybe is recommended from the newer types. We took them to a second shop in Andorra where the chap gave them a once over and corrected the settings etc - he indicated that they were actually okay and that the bindings themselves were a bargain - I digress.....

So, they're new from the factory and three years old with just the original wax. Do we need to get them waxed again before first use? How often in a normal season would we need to them waxed/edged (they'll be used probably 10-15 days/year) - can I wax them myself easily or just pay the small charge for a shop to do it?

Note that she didn't get chance to give them a run as the snow was awful when we passed through but we will be doing multiple trips to the Sierra Nevada and Andorra in 2019 - I appreciate that this was a bit rash but frankly for €130 it was a risk worth taking and they're the same size as hired before.

Thanks, thoughts welcome.

N

Well you definitely need to wax them which you can do yourself if you have an old iron, straight edge and a brush. After that one professional service a year should be more than enough for 2 weeks skiing.

voodoo1976 wrote:Do we need to get them waxed again before first use?

No, you can just ski them as they are. All but the cheapest ski bases are made from ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) which is very slippery. The additives that the manufactures add to the base material and the structure ground into the base usually make them glide OK, if the snow is very cold waxing can improve their performance as a normal structure will likely be a bit too course for really cold snow.

If you aren't happy with the way they glide you could try applying one of the new spray-on coatings such as Look No Wax Juice or Giga Glide Instant Glide.

If you only ski for 10-15 days a year I would take them to a shop as and when necessary as the cost of the equipment required to sharpen the edges and wax the bases would likely amount to more than you paid for the skis. Brucie said that a basic service in Soldeu costs 24 Euros https://www.j2ski.com/ski-chat-forum/posts/list/0/18606/ski-service-wax-soldeu-andorra.page

I wax and edge my own skis, part of the fun of skiing imo looking after our kit. However as we go skiing three times each season I do put them in for a shop service at the end of the season. To wax? Depends on what the base and edges look like, dry and grey bases don't tend to run well but that's just me, if you want to keep the bases topped up you can try a zardoz not wax pocket puck. I carry one for our skis https://skiandsnowboardwax.co.uk/products/zardoz-notwax-base-boost-teflon-puck?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google%20Shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI3YfetevM3wIVyUPTCh1v6w1UEAQYASABEgI1F_D_BwE

Put it this way I have picked up a serviced pair of skis stored for winter and had snow build up due to presumably dust etc. (they looked clean). Would at least recommend a good run down with some alcohol.

Thanks all for your helpful comments. Much appreciated

N