Baby Jesus and Hot Wax
According to weather forecast, today was supposed to be epic powder day at the mountains, so I got off my lazy behind and waxed my board yesterday. Being new at this hot waxing business I covered the hell out of my board with wax because getting “an even thin layer” of wax is actually harder than it sounds. In the end, I think any kindergartener with some crayons and school radiator could have done a better job – but at least I didn’t kill my family with fluorocarbon fume. I’ll take my small victories wherever I can find them. I scraped and scraped, but I still felt like maybe I’ve left too much wax on the board. I was worried I would just stick to the side of the mountain completely motionless.
It turns out, even if you completely botched your waxing job, your board would still love it. My board loved the new waxing so much I could almost hear it say, “Wheeee! Wheeeeee!!! Let’s gooooo!” I’m all for a happy fast board, but it was a bit hard to explain when the board kept wanting to plow over people waiting in line for the lift.
Unfortunately, today’s snow turned out to be the opposite of epic powder. It was warm and dumping drenching rain in Seattle, so we had wet snow pellets in Stevens. I could deal with trying to board in heavy wet snow, but the real kick in the nuts had to be the lack of visibility. It was near impossible to see the ground. I don’t mind falling when I’m being careless and catching an edge here and there, but it felt like injustice was being served when random ninja snow humps catch you. I don’t mind catching some air here and there, but well…when you’re going down head first with your body parallel to the mountain, that’s not always as fun as it looks. And then there’s the crazy happy board that, soon as it touched some snow, went “Wheeee!” and tried to drag me down the mountain whether I was upright or not.
All in all, I love knowing how to tune and wax my own board, I’m shocked that I haven’t done it sooner. It’s worth your while if you go boarding more than 3 times a year. The last time I had my board tuned and waxed was end of last season, so the speed and control difference was ridiculously noticeable.
Now I’d like to take a moment out to bitch about the snow condition. I think my not drinking is making baby Jesus cry because EVERY damned time I made sure to stay home and not drink so I could be nice and chirpy for the promised awesome snow day, it would be crappy the next day. The last truly epic powder day I had was when I was hungover and cursing life.
It turns out, even if you completely botched your waxing job, your board would still love it. My board loved the new waxing so much I could almost hear it say, “Wheeee! Wheeeeee!!! Let’s gooooo!” I’m all for a happy fast board, but it was a bit hard to explain when the board kept wanting to plow over people waiting in line for the lift.
Unfortunately, today’s snow turned out to be the opposite of epic powder. It was warm and dumping drenching rain in Seattle, so we had wet snow pellets in Stevens. I could deal with trying to board in heavy wet snow, but the real kick in the nuts had to be the lack of visibility. It was near impossible to see the ground. I don’t mind falling when I’m being careless and catching an edge here and there, but it felt like injustice was being served when random ninja snow humps catch you. I don’t mind catching some air here and there, but well…when you’re going down head first with your body parallel to the mountain, that’s not always as fun as it looks. And then there’s the crazy happy board that, soon as it touched some snow, went “Wheeee!” and tried to drag me down the mountain whether I was upright or not.
All in all, I love knowing how to tune and wax my own board, I’m shocked that I haven’t done it sooner. It’s worth your while if you go boarding more than 3 times a year. The last time I had my board tuned and waxed was end of last season, so the speed and control difference was ridiculously noticeable.
Now I’d like to take a moment out to bitch about the snow condition. I think my not drinking is making baby Jesus cry because EVERY damned time I made sure to stay home and not drink so I could be nice and chirpy for the promised awesome snow day, it would be crappy the next day. The last truly epic powder day I had was when I was hungover and cursing life.
posted by SteakGirl at 11:31 PM
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