While I was out in Colorado we visited the Us Skli Team ski room. Ths is the room they set up where all the skis are kept and prepped. We talked with several of the prep guys and we noticed that several were using a power tuning tool. We had sevreal conversations with the techs and the feeling was pretty universal that this tool, the Tri One edge Power Edge sharpener is great. Here is link to read about it:
http://www.sportstarinternational.com/TuningTools.html My buddy Thor has seen many innovations like these come out and they usually come and go with little fanfare and they never make it into the WC ski rooms. Thor was shocked that all the guys were using this. After sevral discussions wth the techs here and elsewhere we heard a very similar story from everyone. The Tri One lays down a perfect consistent edge from one end of the ski to the other. Now whereas Willi Wiltz can do this with his hands, my skills are not there so there are places on my skis where the deg is 2.75 and other places where it is 3.25. Now here is the real key though, even if you are good enough to get the edges with perfect consistency, to do this by hand can take 20 minutes per edge!! That's 1:20 for a pair of skis!! The Trione does it prefectly in 20-30 seconds per edge!! We also learned that the edge gets hardened some by the Tri One and WC skiers are skiing the edges on injected snow and the are going 4-5 days without sharpening again. This is unheard of. For recreational skiing on snow and not ice, the tune is lasting 10-12 full ski days. As well, the Tri One takes off less metal and the skis last much longer because of this. The skis after being sharpened by the Tri one do end up with burrs and these need to be removed with a diamond stone or emery sandpaper (one to two passes). After speaking wth several people that are using this product regularly, It aslo appears that the tool is close to idiot proof, which is essential if I am going to be using it.
Based upon all this I bought one and I will have it early next week. Thor and I are going to play with it and practice on some old skis and dial in the correct technique. This tool will change my life. I spend 6-8 hours per week (maybe more) when I am in MT skiing, tuning skis. Not just the 7-8 pairs that I ski regularly, but the other 6-8 pairs that I let friends use and my wife's skis (3 pairs ) and my daughters skis. It often feels like a full time job!! I went to the scrapeless wax approach last year (posted about this then) and that is a huge time saver. This will be a another quatum leap forward in saving time and energy. I am pumped.
My guess is that no one else here will be able to justify the cost. For me because of how many skis I ski and own, it is a no brainer. If you come to MT, I willl gladly tune your skis perfectly for you, and it will take me 2-3 minutes!!
Check out the instructional video on the website. This thing is very sweet!!
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