And the skis didn't tune themselves

Every day, skis need to be ‘tuned’ for race performance. This involves removing the wax from the ski surfaces, sharpening the steel edges of the skis and applying new wax. The edges are sharpened to ensure they bite into the snow and the type of wax will depend on the snow and weather conditions and the characteristics of each skier so that the skis best slip across the surface of the slope. At the Torino winter Paralympics, the Australian skiers tuned their own equipment. Although the decisions on how this would be done were made in conjunction with the coaching staff, each skier had their own toolkit and was responsible for their own skis. In subsequent Games, the Australian team included a specialist who was responsible for ski tuning. Here, Marty Mayberry brushes his ski.

Date: March 2006

Author: Photo by Jennie Milton, APC official photographer for the 2006 winter Paralympics

And the skis didn’t tune themselves

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