You’ll need to look after your snowboard well if you’ve forked out the cash to buy one for yourself. Part of looking after a board is giving it a regular waxing. The reason you wax the board is not to increase grip like on surfboards, but instead to make the board more slippery and faster on the slopes. When applied, the layer of wax ingrains deep into the board’s base layer. When you ride on the snow the wax actually causes a melting effect, so essentially you end up planing on a micro-thin water layer. Here is the advice you need to apply wax the right way

clean off previous wax layer. Before you put on the new wax, make sure the whole board has been cleaned thoroughly. This can be done by scraping it down with a plastic utensil using long strokes. You may want to use a hair-dryer to soften the wax and base cleaner which you can get from a snowboards outlet. Don’t be tempted to use a metal tool though as you can scratch the base layer.

Iron the wax on. Take an iron and set the temperature so that it just melts the new wax slowly. More often than not this is the same heat you need to a piece of cotton clothing. When you’ve got the right heat, press the wax bar against the iron and let it drip all over the board. Then place the iron directly on the boards and smooth out all the wax so there is a thin coating all over.

Finishing. After the wax has cooled down (usually take around thirty minutes) you can start finishing the base. This means you need to buff the wax with a rag until you get a shine from it. Finally, take a hard-bristled brush to the wax and take off any thick wax areas, then buff one last time. Now your ready for a little extreme sports action