R – Rock Skis
One of my favorite recollections of a friend who had just come back from an early season ski trip to Taos in New Mexico, was – in answer to the question “how was the snow”, he replied, “it’s great: they have a 100 inch base. The only problem is, they have 120 inch rocks”.
Peter Hill Boyer, owner of Alpine Base & Edge in Boulder, wrote a very nice article on early season skiing and the pitfalls of taking out your brand new skis in areas where rocks may exist. He recommends owning a pair of rock skis to use when the snow is thin and rocks are likely to scratch up your skis, until conditions improve. Peter has given his kind permission to reprint his article here.
“While it looks like there is plenty of snow in the high country for the backcountry or all-terrain enthusiast, be warned: there are rocks and other obstacles under that first snow cover that will wreak havoc on your bases and edges. The snow has not had enough time to pack down to adequately cover the hazards, so on each turn you make you’re likely to break through the snow and do some damage.
You will encounter rocks even on runs covered with man-made snow at the ski areas during the first few weeks of the season. If you take your good skis or board up to satisfy that early-season urge to carve a few turns, you will burr your edges and scratch up your base, guaranteed.
I’ve already repaired a few pairs of skis this season for people who made “first tracks” and believe me, the damage was ugly and costly to fix. Remember, repairing deep base and edge damage shortens the usable life of your skis or board.
My advice is to use an old pair of skis or snowboard that you don’t mind scratching up on the new thin snow, and save your good equipment for better conditions later in the season.
If you don’t have an old pair of skis or board, you can find reasonably priced used equipment that make wonderful “rock” skis or boards at our local sporting goods recyclers (Boulder Sports Recycler, Play It Again Sports) or through the Internet. Have your rock skis or board tuned for the early season (a basic tune should suffice — a 1-degree base and side edge bevel, medium powder grind), have the bindings adjusted at your favorite local ski shop, then let ‘em rip.
Keep the major edge burrs you get on your rock skis smoothed down with a sharpening stone, fill the big base scratches with P-Tex, and hot wax the base with a cold temperature hydrocarbon wax (cold-temp wax is harder and will protect your bases better in the early season). Again, resist the urge to use your new skis or board until the conditions get better, and you’ll extend the life of your investment and have fast bases and sharp edges for carving on our awesome mid-season Rocky Mountain conditions!
Ski sharp and think snow!”
Peter can be reached at peter.boyer@comcast.net
