Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

Well, today is one of those days... warm and good skiing but it's the first real solid warm without a good freeze beforehand, and that all that fine/small flake dry snow we got last week is melting into a homogeneous layer of snowy water that stops old smooth based skis in their tracks with enormous suction. It is a snow condition that is especially challenging for tele skiers for obvious free-heeled reasons.

It'll be better after tomorrow when it freezes again and we start getting into corn season.

I'd like to whip some bigger structure into my Big Bangs as we merge into spring with a little snow still in the forecast. I've done a little research here and there, and I'm thinking of taking a sanding block with 100 silicone carbide sandpaper and running them down the bases a few times and then polishing with a green 3m pad to clean up the inevitable fuzz.

Anyone have relatively cheap and easy re-structuring techniques?

Hey Woods,
Wish I had your problems, I tried skiing on 2" this past Saturday. I stopped dead too many times and had to give up. I have one of these structure tools, and it will add structure to a base. Like I said, it works and does a decent job, but I have become much less precise with my skis over the years. I file my edges at 90, I figure bases come beveled and they wear from there, so no base beveling for me. I do plane the bumps out of the bases. For wet snow I use soft wax and brush with a brass brush from the hardware store. I probably won't be getting a call from the national team. However, I usually don't think any problems I have are from my ski tuning, except when I don't get the kick wax right.

I could certainly get a tool, but I'm trying to stay super cheap-o on this one. Looking for HACKS! Hipster hacks!

Not a hipster hack, but I find that really getting at the bases with a brass brush and lots of elbow grease can get you some good structure.

Or some coarse sandpaper wrapped around a woodblock. That's what I do

^^^ You do that after waxing I presume.

No i use a nylon brush for the post wax scrub. I hit the bases with sandpaper pre-wax to add some base structure. 1 scrubbing pass and a few full length ones is all I do. Not tryna take any thickness out of em, just enough to rough em up and knock any high spots down

Sounds like you have a good idea with the sandpaper and scotch bright, but it probably won't be as good as getting atrue "wet snow" stone grind. As for waxing, Dominator has a product called "Butter' that works really good on top of a wet snow race wax, and it can be applied on mountain.

Harris wrote:Sounds like you have a good idea with the sandpaper and scotch bright, but it probably won't be as good as getting atrue "wet snow" stone grind.

A stone grind is best, yes, but I'm dealing with old skis that have been through the machines many times before and now I'm in preserve-the-base mode. Hence the "at home" focus either by pressing the base with a structuring tool or doing some light sandpaper work to it.