The common misconception about waxing skis is that it will only make you ski faster. While waxing skis does improve the performance and speed on the slopes, regular waxing will also give you more control, provides the base of your skis an extra level of protection, and greatly extend the life of your skis. Plus, minor knicks and scrapes (like in the skis pictured below) can be spotted and repaired before they become huge problems.

Initially, waxing your own skis may seem like a daunting task, but the few hazards (like burning your bases) are easily avoided with proper technique and care. The benefits of waxing your skis yourself far outweigh the cons–you’ll save yourself the cash you are shelling out to ski shops to do it for you (after the initial set up costs), you’ll get to really know your skis, and experience the fruits of your labor on the slopes.

Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

- A ski vise (or some way to hold the skis steady while waxing them)
- A waxing iron (with adjustable temperature dial)
- Ski wax (of the appropriate temperature)
- Plastic scraper
- Nylon structure brush
- Drop cloth or plastic bags to “contain” the scraped wax (optional)

Before you get started, make sure your skis have come to room temperature. If you’ve just come in from a day of skiing, you’ll want to dry them off and wait till they warm up a bit. If you don’t wait for the skis to warm up, the wax won’t adhere properly. Once your skis are room temperature, set up all your supplies, plug in your waxing iron and set it to the temperature indicated on the box of ski wax. The scraping part of waxing skis can be quite messy, so you might want to set up a drop cloth or lay down some trash bags to catch the excess wax.

While you’re waiting for the iron to warm up, secure the first ski. We use a ski-specific vise that clamps onto the edge of a workbench, but there are larger free-standing models on the market as well. Give the ski a quick wipe down with a cloth to make sure it is free of dirt and debris before you start the process.

By now, your iron should be warmed up and ready to go. Heat the wax against the iron until it begins to melt, dripping it onto the entire length of the base of your ski. It’s better to go light on this step because you can always add more wax if you don’t have enough. If you use too much, you’ll be scraping your skis for a while to get rid of all that excess! If the wax ever starts to smoke as you’re melting it, turn down the temperature on the waxing iron.

Once you’ve dripped the wax onto your ski, smooth it over the base using the iron. The trick with this step is to go slow enough to let the wax be absorbed into the base, but not slow enough to burn your base.

Always keep the iron moving! The general rule of thumb is to have about an inch or two of melted wax behind your iron as you move along the base. Any more than that, and your iron is too hot; any less than that and your iron is too cool.

If you find that you need more wax in an area, drip some more onto the base in that area, and then continue smoothing the wax along the base with the iron. Your skis should look like this (image, left–click to enlarge) when you’ve finished this step.

After you’ve finished the first ski, remove it from the vise and repeat the same exact process with the remaining ski.

After you’ve applied the wax to both skis, turn off the iron and let the bases cool down to room temperature. Once they have cooled down completely, it’s time to start scraping.

Secure the first ski in the ski vise and grab your plastic scraper (always use plastic scrapers–metal scrapers can damage your base). Make sure there aren’t any burrs or dings on the edge of the scraper–that will be bad news when you’re trying to scrape the wax. Hold the scraper at about a 45-degree angle to the ski and move from the tip to the tail in overlapping motions. You can periodically wipe away the excess wax as it is being removed. It’s okay to scrape back and forth to remove wax from tricky spots, like the tip and tail. You’ll want to scrape the bulk of the wax you just added off the base. Once you’ve done that, use the notched corner of the scraper to remove any wax that melted onto the metal edges of your skis.

While you have the first ski in the vise, grab your nylon structure brush and buff the base only from tip to tail (direction matters in this step!). This last step buffs the wax out of any nooks and crannies on the base and creates miniature grooves in the base. These little grooves will reduce suction and improve performance (both turning and speed). Your first ski is ready to go–to complete the entire process, just repeat the scraping and buffing steps on the other ski.

So now you’ve waxed your skis! Once you get the hang of it, the process should only take about 20-30 minutes (not including time waiting for wax and skis to cool down before scraping). Plus, you’ll see the benefits on your next day on the slopes.

So how often should you wax your skis? While there is a bit of personal preference, we usually wax our skis about every five days of skiing. (We tend to ski pretty hard and it’s not always the best of conditions–this season has seen lots of icy slopes and thin snowpack). On the other end of the spectrum, if you aren’t skiing hard days, or if you’re skiing on really soft, lovely, groomed trails, you might be able to get away with waxing after about ten days of skiing. We wouldn’t recommend waxing your skis any less frequently than that.