I just got in from almost an hour and a half on the balcony tuning and waxing the boards so we can send them to Kiroro tonight, in time for next weekend’s three day trip.
Standing on a chilly balcony may not sound like fun, but it’s worth it, partly because maintaining the boards is important, but also because for some reason I quite like it; I think it’s fairly therapeutic – I get a bit of fresh air, listen to my iPod at loud volumes, and check up on my favourite hardware.
Waxing and ‘tuning’ a snowboard isn’t too difficult, although I suggest that doing it well takes a lot more effort and practice than I can contribute. There are lots of guides on the web though.
Today then I spent a lot of time on my board, and more specifically, my edge. The board is six years old now, and has become something of a war-horse. The edges are scratched and burred a little, and despite regular cleaning and drying after use, I’ve noticed little rust pits appearing in a few places. I decided then to break out a fairly small gauge file and get some of the pits out that the little red rubber-and-sand block wont. That took a while, but the edge gleams now, it looks brand new.
Whenever I wax my board, it’s like a trip down memory lane. I can remember where I got pretty much all the marks on it: the gouge I got three days after I bought it in New Zealand, piling down Temple Basin, only to snag a rock barely below the surface of the snow. Fortunately we filled it with plastic quite well and I haven’t had any more issues with it. There’s also the scrape along the top side, where an out of control beginner slashed across behind me and I lunged out of the way, only for her to rip my rear binding strap off, and leave a small hole in my trouser bottoms. It might not sound good, but had the timing been any closer, I think we’d have both ended up in hospital with broken limbs.
So the boards are now done, and I can double-check the binding angles, put them in their bags, and the great people at Seven Eleven will hopefully make sure they get to Yamato/KuroNeko and off to Hokkaido. Roll on Friday.