Salle De Fartage - Repairing Dry Ski Slope Damage
Posted: Thursday 22 December 2011 by Mark Kinnon in Labels: Dry Ski Slopes, England, SkiBike
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On my last trip to a dry ski slope I managed to melt the bases of my SnowBlades. I had been warned about the potential for damage but had never experienced it before. It still shouldn't have happened, if the slope had been lubricated with water spray as intended, damage would have been much less likely.
Annoyingly, I had deliberately over waxed my SnowBlades as a precaution; for the first hour the ride was buttery. But the last few runs felt progressively stickier and more weird. The SnowBlade edges were hot to the touch when I removed them, the edges had melted the P-Tex layer, leaving narrow but deep, scores right down to the base.
In the past such a repair would have been beyond the scope of home maintenance; the only tool available being a P-Tex repair candle. However nowadays you can buy P-Tex in strip form designed to be melted with a hot implement, such as a soldering iron, to fill deep gouges, etc. in one step.
After removing all traces of wax, it was a relatively simple job to melt in the repair material. Next came some work with a rough and medium metal file to level off. For surface finishing I used my new favourite Sandivik tool with progressive grades of production sandpaper from 80 through to 180 grit.
The finished appearance was very good, you would struggle to see the repaired area as the colour match is perfect. The whole process must have taken me about 3 hours from start to finish. Only time will tell how well the repair lasts, but first impressions are good, the surface feeling as hard as the one it has replaced.
Annoyingly, I had deliberately over waxed my SnowBlades as a precaution; for the first hour the ride was buttery. But the last few runs felt progressively stickier and more weird. The SnowBlade edges were hot to the touch when I removed them, the edges had melted the P-Tex layer, leaving narrow but deep, scores right down to the base.
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| Dry ski slope damage - see arrow |
In the past such a repair would have been beyond the scope of home maintenance; the only tool available being a P-Tex repair candle. However nowadays you can buy P-Tex in strip form designed to be melted with a hot implement, such as a soldering iron, to fill deep gouges, etc. in one step.
 |
| Damage filled in ready for levelling |
After removing all traces of wax, it was a relatively simple job to melt in the repair material. Next came some work with a rough and medium metal file to level off. For surface finishing I used my new favourite Sandivik tool with progressive grades of production sandpaper from 80 through to 180 grit.
The finished appearance was very good, you would struggle to see the repaired area as the colour match is perfect. The whole process must have taken me about 3 hours from start to finish. Only time will tell how well the repair lasts, but first impressions are good, the surface feeling as hard as the one it has replaced.