The lifts have sadly stopped spinning, the last slushy laps are behind you, and your gear is sitting in the mudroom (not the garage, right?) waiting for... what, exactly? How you treat your gear over the next few months has a direct effect on how they'll perform when the snow flies again. A little time now can save you from dried-out bases, rusty edges, and an expensive tune-up bill in November. Swing by one of our stores for a full assessment and storage tune if you would prefer!
Here's how our tuning team recommends putting your gear to bed for the summer.
Clean Everything First
Before anything else, get the grime off. Road salt, magnesium chloride from parking lots, dirt, and whatever else hitched a ride home on your gear — all of it needs to go. Use warm water with a mild soap and a soft cloth. Focus on the base, edges, and the binding area where corrosive residue tends to collect.
Dry everything completely afterward, paying extra attention to the edges. On the east coast with higher humidity, please try to do this indoors or in a climate controlled environment to ensure everything is completely dry. Even a thin film of moisture sitting on steel for a few months will produce rust. Don't use household cleaners, acetone, or solvents on the base — those can damage the polyethylene.
Apply a Storage Wax (The Most Important Step)
Your ski and snowboard bases are made of polyethylene — a porous material that oxidizes when it's exposed to air over time. You've probably seen what oxidation looks like: that dry, whitish, chalky texture on a base that hasn't been waxed in a while. Oxidized bases don't hold wax well, they're slower, and they require more aggressive tuning to restore.
**Note - if your bases feel like they have fur on them or are especially dry or burnt, a simple hot wax will NOT fix this. Your bases need to be ground and refinished. Bring them into our stores for a complete storage tune.**
Storage wax prevents that. It's just a normal hot wax — all-temperature or a softer warm-weather blend works well — applied in a thick coat and left unscraped. The wax seals the pores of the polyethylene and cuts off oxygen contact, keeping the base hydrated and protected all summer.
If you've got a wax iron at home, the process takes about five minutes per pair. Scrape off any old wax with a plastic scraper first, then drip on fresh wax and make three or four slow passes tip-to-tail with the iron, melting it into an even layer. Use two to three times more wax than you would for a normal tune — your bases will absorb a good amount of it over the summer months. Run the wax right over the edges too, which gives the steel a protective seal against humidity.
When fall rolls around, you just scrape the storage wax off and you're ready to go.
If you don't have a wax setup at home, bring your gear in before you stash it for the season. We'll hot wax it for storage as part of an end-of-season tune, and we can address any edge damage or base gouges from the year at the same time.
Take Care of Your Edges
Give the edges a quick look before you put your skis away. If you see burrs, nicks, or the beginnings of rust, hit them lightly with a gummy stone or a diamond file. You're not doing a full edge tune here — just knocking off anything that could worsen over the summer.
The storage wax you applied over the edges helps a lot, but starting with clean steel gives it the best chance of keeping rust at bay through August.
Deal With Your Bindings
This one sparks debate, and we'll be straight about it. Some shops recommend loosening your ski binding DIN settings for the summer so the springs aren't sitting under tension for months. Others — including some binding manufacturers — say modern springs are engineered to hold tension indefinitely and you shouldn't touch them.
Our take: either approach is fine. If you want to back off the DIN to the lower end of the scale (not fully released), go for it — just write down your settings first so you can reset them in the fall. If you'd rather leave them alone, modern Marker, Look, and Tyrolia bindings can handle it.
Note - if you are not familiar with ski bindings, do not attempt this as adjusting the wrong screw could adjust the length of the bindings and not just the DIN.
For snowboards, it's worth loosening your binding screws or removing the bindings entirely. This relieves pressure on the inserts and prevents the board from developing dimples in the base under the mounting points over time. Takes two minutes with a screwdriver and saves you from a frustrating surprise next season.
Don't Forget Your Boots
Boots are the piece of gear most people neglect at the end of the season, and it's the piece that suffers the most from it. Pull the liners out and let everything dry completely — liners, shells, footbeds, all of it. Moisture trapped inside a sealed boot all summer is a recipe for mildew and liner breakdown. If you aren't comfortable pulling the liners out, we suggest a good boot dryer. These are amazing during the season too - especially when skiing on back to back day(s).
Once everything is bone-dry, slide the liners back in and buckle the shells loosely — first or second notch. This matters more than people think. Polyurethane and Grilamid shells gradually deform when they're left unbuckled, and over a few seasons of sitting wide open in the closet, you'll notice the fit feels different. Buckling loosely lets the shell hold its shape without stressing the buckles.
While you've got the boots apart, check the heels and toes for wear. Those are the contact points with your binding's AFD (anti-friction device), and worn-down boot soles can affect binding release. If they're looking thin, it's worth getting them replaced before next season — our boot fitting team can assess the wear and advise you.
Pick the Right Spot
Where you store your gear matters as much (if not more) as how you prep it. The three enemies are moisture, heat, and sunlight. A climate-controlled space inside your home — a closet, a spare room, a finished basement — is ideal.
Avoid the garage. Temperature swings between 40°F nights and 110°F afternoons cause real damage over a full summer: delamination, base warping, and degradation of the plastics in your bindings and topsheet. Sheds and utility rooms near furnaces or water heaters are equally bad. And don't leave your gear in a car — even for a few days.
If you're leaning skis in a closet, stand them upright or lay them flat. Either works as long as nothing is pressing down on them and compressing the camber. If you're strapping a pair together, use two straps — one near the tips and one near the tails. A single strap in the middle can compress the camber over time and actually change the ski's profile. Don't over-tighten, and padded straps are worth the few extra dollars because they keep a thin buffer between the edges.
One more thing: don't store your gear in a travel bag or ski bag long-term. Those bags trap moisture and create the perfect environment for rust and mildew. Use them for transport, not for summer storage.
Take Care of Your Soft Goods Too
Your jacket, pants, and gloves deserve some attention. Wash outerwear with a technical fabric cleaner — not regular detergent, which clogs the breathable membrane in Gore-Tex and similar materials. If water has stopped beading on your shell, a DWR (durable water repellency) refresh spray will bring it back.
Air-dry gloves, helmets, and goggles completely, then store them in breathable bags or bins. Don't seal them in airtight containers.
Why Willis
We've been prepping gear for summer storage for over 55 years. If you'd rather hand the whole job off, bring your skis, board, and boots in for an end-of-season tune — we'll stone grind the bases, sharpen the edges, apply a hot storage wax, and have everything ready to pull out of the closet and rip when October rolls around.