Debunking Ski/Boot Storage Myths

hamsauce

hamsauce

Member
After trawling through the internet for information, I have decided to aggregate the most common advice given about ski and boot storage, but midwinter and in hot climates. Where I need help is deciphering whether or not the advice posted 12 years ago by some unqualified ski bum is legit or just an urban myth. So naturally, im bringing it up again to ask more unqualified ski bums for some beta. Heres what I got- please toss in your tidbits of wisdom picked up from working in a shop, writing your masters thesis on material science, or from an oldhead on the chairlift.

End of Season/Summer Storage

- Dins should be lowered to the lowest setting to preserve spring integrity (Mixed opinions. Consensus- doesnt matter a ton but good to do)

- Apply a layer of universal wax to bases and edges and DONT SCRAPE (Good to do, helps prevent rust and prevent bases from drying out)

- Store Skis not clipped together (Mixed reviews on this, i dont think it messes with the camber too much, and wont trap much moisture)

- Dont store in detached garage that gets hot. Best to worst: Climate controlled room -> Attached Garage -> Shed/detached garage (makes sense- heat and humidity = not good)

- store boots buckled together in climate controlled place. (Attached garage, in house, in bag if possible)

Midwinter Storage (1-4x per week usage all season)

- Keep boots inside, buckled, and let dry out

- Wipe off skis (especially if on a rack driving a salted road)

- If storing horizontal, let bases dry completely before clicking together

- Keep boots away from a heater/fireplace. Boot dryer OK.

Travel/Moving- my lease is up and il be on a week long road trip before moving into my next place this summer. How bad is it to keep skis in my roofbox for a week or so in early june? Dry climate, wont get higher than 85 degrees. Worried the box will get pretty hot since its black.

I know im overthinking, but i always like taking good care of gear, and since i graduated from only having one clapped out pair of beaters, id like to take good care of my gear collection built with more hours worked than i care to admit. Any other tips?
 
Those all sound like very reasonable ways to store your gear while in use and during the off season. You are right, you should take care of your gear after you spent your hard-earned money on it... gear is not cheap by any means.

They should be fine in the roofbox for a duration but it wont hurt to take them out once in a while, especially if the temps are going to be warm. Extra care never hurts anything.
 
End of Season/Summer Storage

1 Dins should be lowered to the lowest setting to preserve spring integrity

No one I know does this. I don’t see why, I don’t see why not. To each their own; another thing I don’t really care to waste my time on.

2 Apply a layer of universal wax to bases and edges and DONT SCRAPE (Good to do, helps prevent rust and prevent bases from drying out)

Aka “Storage wax”. useful if you keep your skis in less than ideal conditions, such as a shed, unheated garage etc. if you keep them in your house/ room temp, it’s basically useless and just another thing to worry about in the fall. I prefer just storing them inside and I tune my skis anyway in the fall before I take them out.

3 Store Skis not clipped together (Mixed reviews on this, i dont think it messes with the camber too much, and wont trap much moisture)

Strapping your skis together tightly in the middle does destroy the camber. I have a pair of skis I used to heli-strap (tight strap in the middle) a lot for storage/work and you can clearly see a difference. Clipping them together is fine. I store mine with 2 ski straps each, relatively loose, at the end of the camber and before the rocker.

4 Dont store in detached garage that gets hot. Best to worst: Climate controlled room -> Attached Garage -> Shed/detached garage (makes sense- heat and humidity = not good)

Yep. Pretty much. My best solution that pretty much everyone has access to is the corner of your closet.

5store boots buckled together in climate controlled place. (Attached garage, in house, in bag if possible)

Yes, buckle. Anyone who hasn’t knows it’s not fun to wrestle them back to shape. It’s not the end of the world, but it only takes 10 seconds to buckle them. The liners will fall apart faster and lose their structure if you don’t store them room temp. Bag doesn’t matter.

Midwinter Storage (1-4x per week usage all season)

6 Keep boots inside, buckled, and let dry out

Yes yes and yes. Shells can chill outside to dry if you need but you’ll quintuple the life of your liners if you dry them out quickly. Buy a boot dryer. Even in room temp the liners can stay moist in the bottom for weeks.

7 Wipe off skis (especially if on a rack driving a salted road)

Yes dry your skis, they will rust. It’s removable and all, but better to take care of them. Just don’t buy an open rack. FB marketplace Thule is not much more expensive. With an open rack you have to worry about security as well as rock chips all over your skis.

8 If storing horizontal, let bases dry completely before clicking together

I don’t think this matters too much. I don’t do it. Bases are designed to be wet and clipping them together isn’t going to trap that much moisture.

9 Keep boots away from a heater/fireplace. Boot dryer OK.

Yeah you only make this mistake once

10 How bad is it to keep skis in my roofbox for a week or so in early june? Dry climate, wont get higher than 85 degrees. Worried the box will get pretty hot since its black.

I keep my skis in my roofbox for weeks or months at a time warm and cold. In and out, skiing them, etc. despite all my above info I only take my favourite pair or two out to dry. If they’re wet they might rust, if they’re hot the wax might dry out slightly faster. how much do you really care. A week or so will do nothing
 
HUGE myth is the spring issues in bindings. Idk where this idea started but springs do not get worn out from being under constant compression. They get worn out from repeated compression and release.

So loosening your springs from set din to lowest is actually producing more wear and reducing the life of the springs. Don’t do this. Leave them at the set din and call it a day.

this myth has also been pushed hard in the fire arms world. People like to say keeping a magazine loaded all the time will wear the springs more. Completely false. Again springs wear from repeated compression and release. Constant pressure is fine.
 
I have quite literally constantly done the opposite of every single thing you listed and I have never had an issue. Not saying I’m right but I have never had an issue in 10+ years
 
It's probably overblown, but keeping a spring stretched or compressed will change its neutral position over time. The process is called creep. If you keep a constant stress on a metal, it will slowly deform. It's a real issue for things that are constantly loaded like tensioned cables on bridges or landing gears on airplanes

Yeah, fatigue (loading and unloading) is usually a much bigger problem but it would be wrong to ignore the chance of creep entirely.

14602064:PartyBullshiit said:
HUGE myth is the spring issues in bindings.

this myth has also been pushed hard in the fire arms world. People like to say keeping a magazine loaded all the time will wear the springs more. Completely false. Again springs wear from repeated compression and release. Constant pressure is fine.
Click to expand...
 
14602140:SlushSeason said:
It's probably overblown, but keeping a spring stretched or compressed will change its neutral position over time. The process is called creep. If you keep a constant stress on a metal, it will slowly deform. It's a real issue for things that are constantly loaded like tensioned cables on bridges or landing gears on airplanes

Yeah, fatigue (loading and unloading) is usually a much bigger problem but it would be wrong to ignore the chance of creep entirely.
Click to expand...

Except binding springs are not under pressure like a bridge suspension or airplane landing gears. Which is why this is a complete myth. Same with fire arm springs. Keeping a binding spring loaded does absolutely nothing to the spring. Especially on the lifespan of a binding. other wise there would be a tech recommendation on all bindings to replace them after x amount of says skiing.
 
14602211:PartyBullshiit said:
Except binding springs are not under pressure like a bridge suspension or airplane landing gears. Which is why this is a complete myth. Same with fire arm springs. Keeping a binding spring loaded does absolutely nothing to the spring. Especially on the lifespan of a binding. other wise there would be a tech recommendation on all bindings to replace them after x amount of says skiing.
Click to expand...

I've emailed Rossignol about this for Look Pivots and they said its best for long term storage to store them 1. with DIN to lowest setting and 2. heelpiece in the closed position (as if you had your boot clicked in ready to ski).

so I am going to listen to the manufacturer, not a random guy on Newschoolers claiming its a 'myth'

**This post was edited on Mar 31st 2024 at 6:25:15pm
 
In the bicycle world it's a thing between rides to shift the rear derailleur to the smallest cog to reduce tension on the derailleur spring, presumably to reduce this creep affect. I do it sometimes, but often forget. Trying to be better to my ski gear this year as well.

Perhaps a strong consensus is lacking on springs because some users will wear out the entire binding before the spring tension is compromised, whereas others will see other components degrade first, like any plastics.
 
Forgot to add for boots -- a few dryer sheets stuffed in your liners will help keep mice and moisture out.
 
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