> It has to not be impractical to go through this ritual after skiing (try doing this with two or three young, tired kids in tow)
Anecdotally I do all the routine waxing and edge maintenance on my family's (wife and two kids) skis, and it's not that big a deal. Slightly less of a hassle than bringing gear to the shop to do it would be for me, and the kids enjoy hanging out with some hot cocoa and helping a bit. Once you have everything in your workspace set up right, it goes pretty fast.
> Once you have everything in your airspace set up…
The great filter of self-maintaining ski equipment.
I don’t have the space for a permanent setup and it’s just more convenient to drag the skis to the store once a year than buy the equipment, learn to use it, store it somewhere, remember where, etc.
>> it’s just more convenient to drag the skis to the store once a year
I agree.
I've been skiing and snowboarding for over 30 years. I used to tune my skis and board religiously myself. Once I got married and had a few kids, it got cumbersome to tune my board, then two to three additional pairs of skis. Then I went back to just tuning mine and realized how much of a mess it makes and how time consuming it can be.
When I was younger, I loved doing it because it was a sort of a 'zen' process for me to lose myself for an hour or so and the idea of tuning my board like a pro and having to live with the results, for better or worse I always thought was cool. The idea of telling people you knew how to do this and you were really good at it also was apart of the mystique of being able to do it.
Now? I just take my stuff to a shop where I know the guys and they do a bang up job for me. Saves me the time and the people I ride with don't give a hoot whether I can tune my board, they just want to know if I can still ride those double black D's with them.
> I loved doing it because it was a sort of a 'zen' process for me to lose myself for an hour or so and the idea of tuning my board like a pro and having to live with the results, for better or worse I always thought was cool
Your comment reminds me of gun cleaning. Most modern firearms require little more than occasional lubrication. Despite that reality, many gun owners thoroughly clean their guns after every trip to the range. Probably for similar reasons to those you describe.
The funny thing is that I started tuning our own equipment because of the kids. It's just too much $$ to be getting all 4 sets (and multiple in my case because I have GAS) tuned regularly. It's too much $$ and hassle to be dragging them off to the shop all the time and then waiting to get them back.
Plus, I have had to learn to mount my own bindings because I telemark, and the local shops around here won't touch it, warranty it, or do a decent job. That alone has made me "fear" ski tech a lot less.
A lot of bullshit mystique set up by "pro" ski shops....
Yes, I only tune my U12 kids skis religiously. My own skis, wife's and my other retired ski racer kid get far less tuning attention. I'm at a resort that is mostly soft snow too.
Anecdotally I do all the routine waxing and edge maintenance on my family's (wife and two kids) skis, and it's not that big a deal. Slightly less of a hassle than bringing gear to the shop to do it would be for me, and the kids enjoy hanging out with some hot cocoa and helping a bit. Once you have everything in your workspace set up right, it goes pretty fast.