Last week I sent a message to the U14 racers asking them to go through their equipment, piece by piece.  I think this could be a fun thing to do for all the younger kids as well.

The younger kids do not have all of the race items like slalom armour or speed suits but you get the idea here of looking over everything.  If your ski equipment is still at Big White, keep this checklist and you can use it the next time you are up there.

1. Equipment inventory
   Go through your skis, boots, poles, helmet, speed suit, slalom armour and check everything.  Is everything is good shape?  Boot buckles working? Pole baskets on? Helmet straps? Any cracks in shin guards?  Holes in speed suit? After you have looked at everything closely, write down what may need to be fixed, mended or replaced.
    
2. Tune and wax skis
   1. Getting your edges down to fresh metal (removing oxidised layer) will keep your edges from slowly rusting over the summer.  After you have carefully flat filed (0.5 degree) and side filed (2 degrees) be sure to stone them with at least a medium grit stone. 
       
   2. Now it’s time to prep your skis for wax.  First, be sure to clean the skis top and bottom ensuring there are no bits of edge fillings.  You don’t want to wax them into your base.  Just use a clean damp cloth to clean all sides of the skis.  Then, brush the bases with a brass brush.  If you only have a nylon brush that will do.
       
   3. If you have a choice of wax, use a warm (soft) wax.  Wax on a thick enough layer that the melted wax goes right to the edges.  After waxing, be sure to scrape the sidewalls and the edges.  For the base side of the edges you need to be careful so that you are only scraping the edge and leaving the wax on the base.  Leave the wax on the base – no scraping.  This layer is sometimes called travel wax, storage wax, or summer wax.  It all means the same thing and in general it protects the base and keeps them fast. 
       
   4. Even if you think you have outgrown your skis (think SKI SWAP), still work on your edges and wax the bases so that whoever ends up using them next has a good pair of skis. 
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3. Personal dryland training
   I am sure you guys have been getting in some kind of exercise.  Any and all exercise is good – as long as its with family.  CLICK HERE for a document that has some of our favourite core exercises the U12 and older racers do with me at dryland in the fall.  After the explanations, there are some workouts listed.  They go from fairly easy (green), a little harder (blue) and then pretty challenging (black).  Instead of just doing the core workouts, try to do some kind of sustained steady aerobic exercise first.  This could be a run, a bike ride (outside or on a trainer), a steady hike, or roller blading with ski poles.  I really like roller blading as it simulates skiing very closely but you for sure need a quiet area to do it safely..  Try using your ski poles, set up some cones and you can simulate slalom!

I hope everyone is doing okay.  One thing is for sure, 2019/2020 will be a season to remember and from this year forward, all of us will have a new appreciation for the freedom to be allowed to go skiing!

Trevor Haaheim

Program Director

Big White Ski Club

250-863-5884

trevor@bigwhiteskiclub.com