We love this time of year, you can surf in the morning and be on the slopes in the afternoon. What could be better?
When it’s the first day of the season, there is a lot of preparation to do.
First, we need to get our snowboard ready. There are hundreds of videos on YouTube to tell you how to wax your snowboard, but I’ll give you the short version:
1) Take your bindings off
2) Place your board upside down on your rack or make a rack out of shoe boxes, one on each end before the board starts to curve.
3) Spray wax remover, we like Oneball, to coast the bottom of the board and wait about 5 minutes to remove. All of the wax should be gone.
4) You’ll need a snowboard wax tuning kit, Racewax is a pretty good one. You’re going to plug in the iron and set the temperature to about ½ ways on the dial. Once hot, start to melt wax onto your board. It’s best to drop beads about the outside of the board about a ½” from the edge, and then zigzag back across the board of the board to make sure you have enough wax on the board.
5) Once you have wax on it, it’s time to iron the drops out into a smooth covering. Start at the front of the board and work your way back.
6) You’ll wait about a ½ hour until the board is cool to the touch.
7) Now for the fun. Starting at the front of the board, use the plastic wax scraper from the kit and start to scrape wax off, scrapping from to back. It will seem like you are taking everything off, but you’re not. You want the wax into the pores of the board not on the surface like a surfboard. When you can’t scrape anymore off, use the polishing pad to go over the entire board and remove any last wax left.
8) Yea! You’re done unless you have edge damage. If so, suggest you watch some of those videos as it gets a little more complex.
9) Put your binding back on, and you're ready to go.
Now that your board is ready. What else?
10) Make sure the laces or buckles on your boots are good for the season or replace.
11) Gloves are one of your most important items. If you have leather gloves, get a good leather balm and make them ready.
12) If you’re not already wearing a helmet when you ride, you should be. Make sure the buckles are in good shape.
13) Also make sure the googles are good and you always have some anti-fog spray with you.
14) If you are like the most of us, you’re wearing a backpack. I changed to a waterproof backpack and love it.
15) Lastly, get one of our racks for your car. They are not expensive and are a great place to hang you gear while taking a break or at the end of the day.
Be safe, have fun and we’ll see you on the slopes. Happy Holidays!
