Out of Practice

Last night I helped out a friend who had gotten a new pair of backcountry XC skis by mounting up his bindings. This is something I used to do many times a day, sometimes up to 50 pair in a day if we were getting a new rental fleet ready or getting ready for a demo day. Of course when I was doing that I had a shop that was set up as a ski shop. It had good lighting. It had heat. It had the proper tools. It had good work space. And- it had jigs.

Last night I had my dimly lit garage with a small space heater creating a very small area that felt less cold. I had a Swix waxing table that was cluttered with bike tools, I had a drill with a bit that had a duct tape stop on it and the wrong size driver bit. And the best part- a paper jig.

I know there are many of you who have mounted with a paper jig, and so have I- but usually it was on a pair of my skis or at worst skis for my kids- so half the time I would eyeball the whole process, but these weren't my or any blood relatives skis. So I felt like the pressure was on and I really needed to get it perfect.

Long story short we got the skis mounted, with only one stripped screw, a mad hunt for a black bumper in the poor lighting (which we did find), and only a small amount of blood being lost on my part.

The part that cracked me up is that I got a good case of ski envy. The skis are the new Karhu 10th Mountains- a full metal edge waxless ski. Their wood core and pretty light. Very sweet. I really don't need a new pair of skis, but I also know that need has never been a part of the equation. Anyway- the skis are mounted and now it's time to get out and give them a run. With any luck I'll talk my buddy into heading up to ski Wildcat Valley Trail this weekend. Looks like I need to call Thom and get the update.

Until next time, get out and ski.

Sven