Gear of the Week | DIY-Skishop

The Christmas vacations are approaching, and it's time to get the skis back in shape, because the best time of the year is coming up: Time on the mountain. While others are baking cookies or wrapping presents, we turn our garden into an improvised DIY ski store. And the best thing about it: you don't need a professional workbench or expensive special accessories. Just a bit of creativity, some motivation and ideally a few friends who fancy a little 'ski workshop session'.

A friend of mine recently invited me to do just that and I finally had a reason to get over my weaker self. People are always talking about having their skis serviced, but somehow they rarely find the time to do it. Until someone takes the first step and says: "Come over, we're waxing today!". Then things suddenly become serious, fun and surprisingly uncomplicated.

And for all those who think you need a high-end ski workbench for this: no more excuses! Our ski store in the garden consisted of two (actually three) Euro pallets, a pole about 1.5 meters long and two screw clamps - nothing more. In just a few minutes, the structure was stable enough to hold every ski and every board without having to worry about it falling over at the first push.

A few lamps were clamped to the scaffolding, an extension cable was laid across the floor and our outdoor workshop atmosphere was almost romantic: warm lights, cold air, the smell of hot wax and steaming mulled wine in your hand.

Before the actual waxing begins, the old wax is first removed. Ideally, you should use a wax brush or a special wax remover for this. If you don't have any of these to hand, don't stress. I also wax directly over it, my ski still runs and the result is still worlds better than doing nothing at all. To ensure that no fine particles remain on the base, the surface is briefly wiped with a piece of cloth. And this is exactly where old, discarded underpants make their grand final appearance, perfect recycling with style.

Once the ski has been prepared, the fresh wax can be applied. All you need to do is apply enough wax to cover the entire base without it running over the edges. When spreading the wax with the waxing iron, you should avoid staying too long in one place, otherwise there is a risk of damaging the base.

A good rule of thumb: The wax should remain shiny, i.e. liquid, in the middle of the ski for a moment as you move on. As soon as everything has cooled down, the excess wax is removed with a sharp plastic edge. From personal experience, it's worth vacuuming the shavings away straight away: they spread faster than you can see and you really don't want them lying everywhere in the garden or anywhere else.

However, the real magic doesn't happen on the pallets anyway, but next to them. When people get together, make their first plans for the season, discuss whether the conspiratorial winter forecast predicting the best winter in years can be true.

This is how a simple afternoon of waxing turns into the ritual that really rounds off the season. And let's be honest: what could be nicer than standing in the garden with friends while the wax evaporates on the far too hot iron and that unmistakable scent hangs thick in the air?