On the slopes: It is almost time to hang the skis up for the summer

We're still skiing and riding but at increasingly fewer places. Despite this week's April weather of chill and rain, on weekends Squaw or Heavenly may be spinning those lifts. Mammoth will be open, of course, through July 4. I skied there once after a delightful weekend at Death Valley in May and it was a wonderful switch of conditions in one day.

But if you've decided to hang it up for the year, there are a few things to remember before sticking those skis in the garage.

One thing most forget is to inspect the tails of skis. Jamming those tails into snowbanks can cause the P-tex to peel. If so, that's a job for the ski shops.

Even if you don't want to bother with wax and tuning, for the life of your ski bindings (this obviously doesn't apply to snowboards) take time to back off the tension.

This is easy.

Get a large Phillips screwdriver and make sure it fits into the openings on the bindings where the tension is regulated.

Put the skis on a flat surface and start unscrewing the tension control screw, counterclockwise. Watch the needle that shows the degree of tension in the binding - this can go from 1 to 20 and above for racers. Keep backing off the screw until the marker (usually a red line) is back to zero. Do this to both front and rear bindings on both skis.

This done, you can stow the skis upright and out of the way, and move on to getting ready for hiking.

However, if you're a more serious skier you should take time to inspect your ski bases. What you're looking for are burrs and scrapes along the steel ski edges. Take them out now and you won't have to next winter. These burrs and scars are the result of skiing over rocks (or down handrails if you're that kind of skier). As seemingly insignificant as they seem, these little gouges can affect your skiing, usually slowing you down or causing a caught edge.

Take the damage out with a fine quality steel file, followed by a Colorado or soft stone. See if you can erase the damage to the point where you can't feel the imperfections with a finger.

At this point you should also get out the wax. You can use some of the less effective rub-on waxes for this, but better, is to do a hot wax job. All you need is a bar of good wax, an old electric iron and some scrapers.

Lock the ski with base up, get the iron heated to the point where the wax bar melts when held against the iron and dribble the wax onto the ski base. Do both skis and then go back and run the iron quickly across the bases, never stopping. Just get the wax spread out over the P-tex base. The aim here is to seal the P-tex so that it doesn't dry out and lose its flexibility. If you're really fussy, you might want to scrape the wax down with a plastic edge (not a steel one). I just leave the wax in place, figuring I'll tune the skis next season anyhow.

And if you've had any major change in weight or physical condition next fall, don't return to the DIN reading that you just backed off. Have a ski shop with the right gear and manuals adjust the point at which the release is triggered.

last run for season

Couldn't resist hitting the slopes one more time a couple weeks ago before it was time to switch to hiking. So Heavenly's Galaxy run was the place to go, considering the tender condition of my back with a couple of disks herniated. Doc said no skiing unless you can be sure you won't fall. Couldn't promise, but Galaxy is an easy run so I did it. I was practically alone. All that beautiful snow and just a couple of us to enjoy it.

Complaints? No. It's the right way to wind up a season on the slopes

Time to trade snow gear for hiking boots

Now that ski and riding seasons are over - except for Mammoth ski area down south - there's plenty of hiking trails already cleared of snow. That includes Riverview, Prison Hill east and west, Dead Man's Creek over on East Lake Boulevard and Horsetail Falls, which isn't quite officially open but I stopped there coming back from the Bay area and the lower trails were clear. And then while down in the Bay area I hiked the old San Andrea's fault trail, which of course was clear.

Some of us still have to check out footwear and shorts, but it's time to make the switch.

• Contact Sam Bauman at sambauman@att.net.