How do you prepare for ski season in Utah? Preparing skis and snowboards before winter really gets going is just one of the things to do amidst the flurry of activity accompanied with the changing seasons. While we may make it out to be a super simple process, how to prepare skis and snowboards for the winter in Utah is actually a fairly detailed process with many steps.

Since the Wasatch mountains have the best powder skiing in Utah, it’s necessary to have that gear ready so you can be prepared for the first big snowfall. Here are some tips on how to best prepare skis and snowboards for the winter in Utah from the mountain fanatics of Salt Lake City!

Get them out of the back of the garage and into a more easily accessible area

Just do it. Pick them up and move them from where they sit in the summer to wherever is going to be convenient to grab them and toss them in your car. Making skiing and snowboarding less of a hassle is one of the most important parts to doing more skiing and snowboarding. Instead of reaching over the bikes you aren’t using all winter to grab your skis, just lean your skis up on the bikes.

Check the edges for rust and the bases for fuzziness and gouges

There might have been some neglect in the spring. Ski and snowboard basses ideally should be smooth and a glossy black with thin lines. Any large gouges from rocks in the spring should be repaired and a fuzzy white appearance, usually beginning to show near the bindings, is an indicator that the bases no longer have sufficient wax in them. Learning how to take care of the edges and base of your gear is essential on how to prepare skis and snowboards for the winter in Utah.

The bases lose wax out of the area close to the bindings first because that’s where the most amount of pressure is for the most amount of time. It’s where our feet and therefore our weight is. If there are gouges in the base, they’ll need some repair work involving melting p-tex into the gouges, then grinding the whole base flat while leaving the little lines in the base called “structure”. Checking over all your gear is an important step on how to prepare your skis and snowboards for the winter.

Binding function check

Ski bindings see a surprising amount of motion. Traditional alpine bindings act as a point of suspension as well as a weak link between the boot and ski. If a ski is moving over very chattery snow, the forces get absorbed by the elastic parts of a binding. In order to prevent your leg from breaking or your knee from being torn apart by a ski twisting, bindings act as the weak point in the system. If they are no longer functioning properly, they may pre-release during the middle of a high speed turn or not release when they should. Both can result in injury.

A binding function test is a way to check to see if your bindings are still releasing in the way they were designed to do. Snowboard bindings are much similar, and can be checked at home with the appropriate tools to tighten the screws into the snowboard. Checking your bindings on your skis or snowboard is one of the most important safety tips on how to best prepare skis and snowboards for the winter in Utah.

Take time to properly get your gear together before the winter so you can enjoy skiing and riding the Wasatch mountains in Little Cottonwood Canyon and Big Cottonwood Canyon this winter. Learn more about other White Cloud Concierge Services to save you more time to get outside!