Jon emailed to say his skis just needed “a quick edge & wax”. For a moment I was nearly taken in, but once I got them into the Cave and under some decent light the full horror became apparent. I’ll skip over the concave Salomons & not too bad Völkls and head straight to the Fischer Spyder blades.
Blades used to be very popular in the late 80s & 90s and I have to say that they looked like a lot of fun as people shot past on tiny planks unencumbered by poles. Great for skating if you find yourself in a resort with too much flat between pistes, and you could just about pop them in a rucsac and cycle up to Glenshee as they’re only about 80cm long and nice & light. I suppose the funny bindings and bondage straps maybe put people off. Maybe it’s the folk memory of the days when you weren’t cool if your skis were less than 2 metres 20 long.
Anyway here’s a snap of the “just needing an edge & wax” base:
Let’s just zoom in a little…
If Jon did cycle up to Glenshee it’s starting to look like he towed a mate up behind him on his blades. So it’s time to plane bases, fill any remaining extra deep gouges, reset base edges, sort side bevels, soak in about a gallon of Zoom base renew pink wax then top them off with Zoom universal.
Here they are ready to be shown off in public:
*Ski tech in joke – Jon Coster of the Piste Office https://www.thepisteoffice.com/ used to use the name “Spyder Jon” on Snowheads. Sorry. I’ll get my coat…
I’ve had these blades for nearly 20 years and they’ve been all over the world because they are easy is so many ways for reasons I’ll be happy to bore you with if you by me a pint.
I use to do my own maintenance and repairs too. Not any more. The service John provides is not just high quality, it’s much more than that. He should be charging more and next time I will be more than willing to pay more!