How to Store Your Skis for Summer: A 30-Minute Tune-Up That Saves Your Bases and Edges

Summer storage is where most skis actually get damaged. Not on the hill, in the garage. Dry edges rust, bases dry out, and bindings collect dust for five months. A half hour now saves you a full tune in November and a lot of money on premature edge work.

Here is the exact end-of-season routine we use on our own skis at SlopeRiders. No specialty tools beyond a basic iron and scraper.

Step 1: Clean everything

Wipe the bases with a clean cloth and a little base cleaner or citrus solvent. Get the road grime, spring slush residue, and old wax off. Check the edges for burrs and nicks. Hit any sharp burrs with a gummy stone, flat – do not change your bevel angles in June, just knock the hangnails off.

Dry the skis completely. Any moisture left on the edges in July turns into rust by August.

Step 2: Leave the wax on

This is the key step most people skip. Hot wax the bases with a soft, cheap summer storage wax or any all-temp wax you have sitting around. Crayon it on generously, iron it in, and then stop. Do not scrape.

That thick layer of unscraped wax seals the base against oxidation all summer. It also coats the edges and keeps moisture off the steel. In November you scrape it off, brush, and you are ready to go.

• Do not use a hard cold-weather wax for storage, it is harder to remove in the fall
• Cover the full base edge to edge, including right over the steel edges
• Do not scrape until fall

Step 3: Back off the bindings

Turn both the toe and heel DIN screws down 2 to 3 full turns from your normal setting. This takes tension off the springs during the long off-season, which helps them stay accurate.

Write your normal DIN on a piece of masking tape and stick it on the ski so you do not forget in November. Or take a photo. Count the turns so you can put them right back.

Do not back them all the way out. Just 2 to 3 turns lighter is enough.

Step 4: Strap them right and store them dry

Use ski straps or a Velcro tie to hold the skis base-to-base with the storage wax facing in. Do not clamp them brake-to-brake with a tight rubber band – that compresses the camber for months.

Store them somewhere cool and dry. A closet beats a hot attic or a damp basement every time. Vertical or horizontal both work, just keep them off concrete – put down wood or cardboard if the floor is concrete, it wicks moisture.

Keep them out of direct sunlight. UV is hard on topsheets and binding plastic over a full summer.

What to check in November

• Scrape the storage wax, brush with nylon then horsehair
• Reset your DIN to your taped number
• Check forward pressure and AFD – have a shop do a binding release test if it has been more than a year
• Run a finger down the edges – if the storage wax did its job they should still be clean and sharp

Common mistakes

• Storing skis dirty and dry. Spring slush residue and bare bases are what kill edges over summer.
• Leaving bindings cranked. Springs under full load for five months can drift.
• Attic or damp garage storage. Heat cycles and humidity are both bad for glue, bases, and steel.
• Skipping storage wax to save $10. A base grind costs $50. The math is easy.

Bottom line

Thirty minutes, a cheap brick of wax, and a screwdriver. That is the whole summer storage job. Do it now while you still remember where your iron is, and your skis will come out of hibernation in November ready to go – no rust, no dry bases, no surprise binding issues.

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Slope Riders Team

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