Race Ski Prep

• Base Flatness

  Flat bases are necessary for top performance. Concave bases are overly grippy and convex will tend to wander. Check flatness with true bar sighting along base with background light and note irregularities to determine if skis should be stone ground to flat. Some extremely concave skis may not be practical to grind totally flat, but should at least be flat on the outer 1/3 of the base.

  Check base edge bevel and if it's excessive the skis must be flattened by stone grinding. For this you "paint" base edge with felt tip pen and run a diamond stone down the edge in a Base BEAST and see that the stone is removing the ink.

• Structure

  Factory grinds are fairly universal and perform well in many conditions. However, specific conditions may warrant changing the grind on new skis.

  If skis were ground to flat the chances are that most of the structure was removed and you must choose the most appropriate structure for the re-grind. Factors to consider are the discipline and most typical snow and weather conditions for your region. Check with your local shop for more base grinding info.

  (Click here for more base structure info)

• Edge Bevels

  Set base and side bevels after grinding following procedures listed in the Edge Tuning Guide with emphasis on progression of finer stones for ultimate race polish.

• Base Prep

  For best results on race skis you must follow a procedure to cleanse the base and break-in the structure. It's labor intensive but necessary for podium results. Here is a basic format used by top techs although each tech may have subtle variations.

  1. Cleanse ski by ironing soft Base Prep wax into base and scraping with acrylic scraper while wax is warm or liquid. Repeat several times to remove impurities such as grinding residue and fluid.
  2. Iron in Base Prep wax, cool until wax is hardened, lightly scrape and brush aggressively with BEAST Soft Stainless 3-4 times tip to tail. Follow with BEAST Stiff Bronze/HH several passes and then cut off micro hairs with several passes of a coarse fiberpad backed with a file to create even pressure across base.
  3. Clean base with Fiberlene and repeat Step 2 multiple times to mellow the grind, etch in micro structure and saturate bases with wax. Use harder hydrocarbon waxes after several repetitions of Base Prep wax.
  4. Graphite Base Prep wax may be used in Step 2 or as separate ingredient in Step 3. Graphite is an anti-static and an excellent lubricant against abrasiveness.
  5. Clean base with Fiberlene, iron-in hydrocarbon training wax, cool, scrape and brush with BEAST Soft Bronze/HH. Finish with BEAST Horsehair and polish with non-abrasive fiberpad and fiberlene. Take multiple runs on the mountain to further the break-in of your skis until they reach top speed.

  Fast skis require tender loving care on a year-round basis. We recommend you maintain them at least monthly to prevent oxidizing of the base after initial preparation. - Scrape off "storage" wax, brush with BEAST Stiff Bronze/HH and Horsehair followed by fiberlene. Iron in soft-mid hydrocarbon wax for storage.

  After any race or training day the skis should always be brushed out, cleaned by hot scraping and apply a fresh storage wax.