ski equipment storage and transfer

Question
Hi windlover
Can you give me some advice on storing my skis and boots? And how to protect ski's when i'm traveling by air?

by the way, how do u feel the difference of skiing in collorado and whistler?

Thanks a lot

Answer
Hey Adrian,

Storing your skis during the ski season is just a matter of standing them in the corner so the snow and water can run off them. Wiping them down after the snow melts is good to eliminate surface rust on the edges. Be sure to get them tuned up regularly, ie: edges sharpened and hot wax. The wax gets scraped off from the snow so you should do this about every 4-6 days of skiing.

For long term storage over the summer, take your skis in for a tune up and hot wax. Ask the technician to NOT scrape the wax off. This leaves a protective layer on the edges and seals the base of the skis. This prevents rusting of the edges and drying of the bases. Take them in to have the wax scraped off just before your first outing.

For boots, I recommend some type of boot dryer to dry the inside of the boots after each use. Even if your boots do not allow any snow inside of them, your feet will still sweat a certain amount. Especially in spring skiing conditions. Leave them on the dryer overnight. Most dryers work well for gloves too. This will extend the life of your liners. If you are traveling and skiing multiple days in a row, having warm, dry boots each morning is great. For summer storage, be sure they are totally dry, buckle all the buckles fairly loosely, and place them in the back of a closet or somewhere dry inside the house. The garage is not always a great place for boots.

As for traveling by air, get a good ski bag. Look for something with padding around the binding area and straps near the ends. The padding protects the bindings from tearing holes in the bag and the straps keep the skis and poles from flopping around.

Colorado vs. Whistler  They both have their good points and bad. Both can be quite expensive.
Colorado - High elevations, great powder, good grooming, many resorts to choose from.
Whistler - Lots of vertical skiing (most in North America), can be great powder at the right time of year, between Whistler/Blackcomb there is a huge variety of skiing, can be cold and dry at the upper levels and wet, soggy conditions at the bottom. Very close to the ocean so tends to be damp. Good season is mid Jan-March.

Hope this all helps.
Have a great season,
Windlover