Skiing Clothes in the Washing Machine, Easy Wipe for Snowboards

As the temperature rises rapidly, this year's ski season will soon end. For most snow lovers, the most troublesome thing may be the cleaning and maintenance of ski equipment.

Ski equipment has accompanied us through a wonderful winter, and there will definitely be stains and wear to varying degrees. Do you need to clean your ski equipment? How to clean and maintain?

Below, Ono will share with you the knowledge of cleaning and maintenance of ski equipment, so that our ski equipment "prolongs life" and looks like new.

Do you need to wash your ski equipment?

Among the many skiing equipment that needs to be cleaned, such as ski jackets, helmets, and ski goggles, ski jackets may have the most stains, which is the focus of equipment cleaning. Before cleaning the ski jacket, I believe that many people will consider a question: should the ski jacket be cleaned?

Due to the ice and snow environment, snow gear often has special fabrics and craftsmanship. For example, ski jackets will use waterproof fabrics and water-repellent layers, and snow goggles will have a coating process. It is precisely because of this that many people think that the less frequently they are cleaned, the less likely it is to damage the fabric and coating, and the longer the service life of the equipment. Therefore, even if it is dirty, they insist on not washing it.

▲ Damage to the water-repellent layer

In fact, this is wrong. When the clothes are dirty, the stains will block the air pores on the surface of the fabric, the air permeability of the clothes will be greatly reduced, and the comfort of wearing will also be greatly reduced. After a long time, the stains will soak into the interior of the fibers and it will be difficult to wash them off. Taking a step back, even if the water-repellent layer is damaged by cleaning, it can be repaired with a repair agent.

Then the next question is, can this special ski jacket fabric be machine washed? Will the water resistance decrease after washing?

In order to verify this problem, foreign outdoor experts have conducted "violent tests" on this fabric, rubbing on trees, rubbing with stones, and rolling on mud. In short, how to deal with bad clothes.

▲ Violent test of fabric

Afterwards, machine wash and tumble dry low. The final experimental results show that this fabric can be machine washed, and the water resistance will not be affected after machine washing.

▲ Washing and drying of fabrics

In addition, it is clearly marked on the official website of GORE-TEX that such fabrics can be machine washed, and the steps of how to wash, dry and repair are clearly marked. Then let's take a look at how to clean the ski jacket.

How should ski equipment be cleaned?

Cleaning is to remove the stains on the inside and outside of the ski equipment and prolong the service life of the equipment. The cleaning methods used for different ski equipment are also slightly different.

ski jacket

According to different materials, ski suits can be divided into three types: single layer, down, and cotton. Different fabrics have different cleaning methods.

Single-layer ski jacket: When washing, add laundry detergent to the drum washing machine, the water temperature is 40°C, select the low speed gear, do not use the top wheel washing machine, do not use washing powder, softener, detergent, etc.

After cleaning, restore the DWR water repellent layer and dry it in the dryer for 20 minutes. If you don't have a dryer, put a cloth on the clothing, and then gently iron it with a steam iron.

▲ Restoration of DWR coating

Down or cotton ski jackets: Compared with single-layer ski jackets, the characteristics of these two types of ski jackets are that the outer layer is waterproof and the inner layer has padding. The ski jacket will become very heavy after being soaked in water, so it depends on the snow. According to the stains on the clothes, wash them separately.

If it is not very dirty, it is recommended to wash by hand. First soak the clothes in cold water for half an hour. After the stains are fully soaked, spray a special cleaning agent. Treat the collar, cuffs and other parts with a soft brush and dry them in a cool and ventilated place.

If the ski jacket is very dirty, it must be machine-washed, add a cleaning agent with a pH value of 6-7, and use down or soft gears for cleaning; pay attention when drying, do not use a pulsator washing machine, experiments show that in a specific closed environment, down There is a risk of explosion in manufactured ski jackets.

▲Explosion demonstration of down products

In addition, do not mix ski jackets with other clothes. Some non-single-color ordinary ski suits may lose color. Once dyed, it is difficult to repair, and a ski jacket is basically ruined.

Snow goggles

Use a cotton swab to clean the welding pad area around the nose of the snow goggles and the dust and oil stains on the folds of the mirror frame and the gaps; if the snow goggles are not dirty, you can use the vertical water column of the lens to rinse with cold water for 30 seconds, do not use warm water ; If there are hand marks or oil stains, clean them with a professional glasses cleaning solution. Do not use detergent, which will damage the coating layer on the surface of the snow glasses.

After a period of use, there will be stains on the outside and sweat stains on the inside. Wipe the outer helmet body with a damp cloth dipped in detergent; the detachable parts inside can be hand-washed with neutral laundry detergent. After wiping, dry in a ventilated place.

Gloves

Ski gloves may be small, but maintenance is equally important. The wrong washing method will cause problems such as shrinkage, hardening, and poor warmth retention of the gloves.

▲ Gloves hand wash

The correct washing method is to wash by hand with warm water at 40°C, place it in a cool place to dry, put on gloves when it is semi-dry, and make a fist to restore its original shape. Avoid hot water and direct sunlight.

How should ski equipment be maintained?

Cleaning only completes the first step of equipment maintenance, and the damaged parts must be repaired on time. In the maintenance of snow equipment, ski jackets and snowboards are the equipment that needs to be mainly maintained.

5. Snowboard

Different gliding methods have different consumption on the snowboard edge. Ordinary skiers skiing with carbine does not wear much on the bottom plate and edge; sliding with snow rubbing often consumes a lot on the edge of the snowboard; a skater with a perfect center of gravity consumes more on the middle of the snowboard.

When the edge of the snowboard is worn out, it will reduce the ability of the snowboard to grip snow, especially when sliding on hard ice and snow, which may lead to a decrease in sliding speed, slipping, and falling, etc. Therefore, regular maintenance of the snowboard is very important . High-intensity ski training needs to be repaired once every 2-3 days; ordinary skiers can repair once a month or a snow season.

Snowboard trimming refers to the use of tools such as angle rulers, files, diamonds, etc. to deburr, grind, and polish the snowboard. It includes the correction of the bottom edge and edge of the snowboard. This is a relatively professional and delicate work, and it is not recommended for personal operation.

When correcting the bottom edge, wear gloves, keep the bottom of the board up and level, clamp the file with an angle ruler, and smooth the burrs; it should be noted that the file should be pulled from the beginning to the end, not back and forth.

Due to the existence of the side wall, the correction of the side edge will be more complicated than the correction of the bottom edge. At this time, we need to use an edge planer to remove a layer of side wall to expose the edge of the board. When cutting the side wall, first adjust the position and depth of the side edge planer, and cut off a complete silk thread from the beginning to the end, with one edge to the bottom.

▲ Edge Planer

Derusting the edge of the board: The blade of the snowboard is usually made of high carbon steel. In a humid environment, the blade will rust, and the rust water will corrode the bottom of the board and form grooves visible to the naked eye. Therefore, if you do not use the snowboard usually, you must Wipe clean. Once rust appears, use fine sandpaper or WD40 and other rust removers to remove rust.

▲Rusty snowboard

Repair of scratches on the bottom of the board: For the scratches on the bottom of the board, fix the skateboard, clean the wound, spray wax and dry it.

▲ Repair of scratches on the bottom of the board

Ignite the special hot-melt repair glue stick for snowboards, and let the glue drip evenly on the scratches. After the grooves are filled and cooled, scrape them flat with a scraper to complete the repair.

▲ Repair of scratches on the bottom of the board

maintainance

During the cleaning process, if it is found that water droplets cannot form on the surface of the clothes, it means that the water repellent layer has been damaged. The correct way to fix it is to spray a water repellant, such as Nikwax Waterproof Spray, before the clothes are dry.

▲ Waterproof spray repair

I believe that we know these cleaning methods, and if we clean and maintain more at ordinary times and during storage, our equipment will definitely shine brightly, and it will better accompany us in the next snow season.