 Poster: A snowHead
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My skis got seriously beaten up when I was skiing in the three valleys earlier this month...so many rocks on the pistes.  Does anyone know where the most cost effective place is to have them serviced in the London area?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Don't know about cost-effectiveness, but I take mine to Snow and Rock in Coven Garden. Costs about £30 for a full service. It's generally a good idea to get them serviced after a week of skiing (I find this is about right for me as mine get pretty trashed after a week).
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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el hen, wait until you go skiing again, it will certanly be cheaper and you'll probably get a beter service.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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David, I hope you don't mind if I disagree with you.
I would agree with Conor and say go to Snow and Rock Covent Garden. They know what they're doing and your skis will be properly looked after.
You would almost certainly get a cheaper service in resort, but I would strongly contest whether it will be better. Unless you know where you're going (usually via a personal recommendation) you will probably end up somewhere with one technician trying to do 200 pairs of skis (with cheap wax) in 2 hours before hitting the bars.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I agree with the above. With the pressure to get so many skis serviced, your's may not get the requisite care and attention, and I have been told that my better half's skis (with only 3 weeks skiing done on them) have had their edges ground down far too much for their age. This can only have happened on their last overnight service in resort. Spend the extra over here I say, and maybe just get them waxed in resort if you go for longer than a week.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Your money, spend it how you want but I wouldn't trust Slush & Rubble with a pair of snowblades. The other point about having skis seviced in a resort is that they will be waxed to suit the prevalent conditions. In the UK you'll just get a general wax which might not suit and they'll have to be rewaxed.
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Resort waxing and repair can be a nightmare, usually if I have to get my skis done I take them in when they are not busy, either early afternoon before the rush starts when there's hardley any other punters arround or if the weather is dreadful during the day. I don't often need them done proffessionally though as most of the time I do my own, and having just got a proper waxing iron at slightly over half price due to a pricing error at the local ski shop I plan to do even more DIY ski servicing
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It's fairly easy to do it yourself - and you will probably do a better job, even if it is your first time. It'll cost about as much as a tune to buy all the equiptment if you can find it cheap, and after that tune ups are basically free (only the cost of the wax). Patience and care is more important here than skill. You should find something a bit more in depth than this, but basically you:
- use an edging tool for the edges (basically a fine file with another piece of metal at 90 degrees to it, though some will adjust to 89 or 88 deg), then run a deburring stone along the edges like once or twice to get it totally smooth. Detune non-effective edges (tip and tail) if you want (fine sandpaper works fine, or a file). Do all of this stuff tip to tail only, and don't over do it - only a few solid strokes are need to tune or detune.
- clean base with citrus cleaner
- melt hot wax in a back and forth patern across skis with iton, then iron it in. Any old iron will work fine, even ones with holes in them (though no holes is better)
- scrape off excess wax with basically anything that works as a scraper (even credit cards will work for skis)
- if you want, run a nylon brush from tip to tail to get wax out of grooves and bring out texture in the ptex base. Some people even finish up with buffing the base with a scotchbrite pad.
You only need to go to a shop if you have deepish gouges in your base (ptex candles are not too good, and I don't know of anyone who does their own base grinds  ).
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I've never had any problems with having my skis serviced in resort. Do them myself now, but when I was travelling from resort to resort each week over a number of seasons, I just asked for recommendations from an instructor/hotel, then told the shop who had sent me to them. Always done properly, and didn't cost anywhere near £30 to have edges done (by hand) and wax.
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I always try to get my skis serviced as soon as possible AFTER a ski holiday and ask for the wax to be left and not scraped off. This protects the base and edges. I then scrape them off before my first ski of the holiday, if I can be bothered or I just ski the wax off (only takes a run).
I remain unconvinced about the arguements for having servicing done in one place or another. It can be done well up the mountain and it can be done badly. Same over here. The difference is that over here you have time to complain. I also don't buy into the arguement that mountain based servicers will use a wax to suit local conditions. Snow temps can change so fast as to make this approach almost guaranteed to fail. It would be a brave ski tech to use a specialist wax rather than a general one. Unless you wax almost daily, IMO, it won't work.
Part of the problem with services is that people get what they ask for. Many go in and ask for a full service and thats what they get, including a grind, when a wax and edge sharpen is probably all that is needed. Having said that, most recreational skiers won't get their skis serviced often enough that they are going to totally grin down the edges. Think how many times a season a hire pair are done and many skis reappear the next year as well.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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SimonN, In-resort servicing is done according to your wishes - as long as you express them. I make it clear that I want the edges done by hand, and a wax suited for temperatures forecast for the following day. Shops chosen through recommendation - as long as you point this out - are unlikely to do a bad job.
Snow temperatures do change, but the waxes are for quite extensive ranges of temperature. When you are on the spot you can usually predict which wax will be best suited to conditions for at least the following day, and sometimes more. For example, last weekend I could have told you that I would be using blue for at least four or five days. It turns out that I shall probably be using it into the coming weekend as well, certainly until Saturday.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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el Hen, 'nother vote for doing (a) yourself, or (b) in resort. Won't go into (a) here, but (b) will be cheaper, and you can always take them back if they've been done in resort. Avoid the larger shops.
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Avoid the larger shops
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Not always, sometimes the larger shops have more equipment and staff so do just as good a job or even better than the smaller ones, as PG said
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just asked for recommendations from an instructor/hotel, then told the shop who had sent me to them
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You know it makes sense.
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I'd agree with doing the heavy work (edge blown, large base repairs, base grinding, helicoils for stripped bindings etc) through a shop that has been recommended) however its easier, more rewarding and probably cheaper to do it yourself once you have the basic equipment).
I have used snow and rock in chertsey a number of times and never had any problems....to use the machinery you need to be qualified and if you go during a quiet period then you shouldn't have any issues with quality of work.
Have a look at these sites, useful info on products and how to use:
http://www.tokowax.com/
http://www.swixsport.com/
If you want to get serious about maintaining and preparing your skis, this is an interesting (if old) read:
http://members.aol.com/Skiward1/wax.htm
I've done my own for years and can usually get away with doing them in a hotel room, on a balcony in an apartment etc making use of a table or chairs and an old newspaper etc to cover things up. A properly waxed/edged and finished ski is simply awesome to ski on 
Cheers
David
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