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Xanta,
What routine maintenance should I be performing after each trip or several days? I'll be skiing powder in the Rockies for most of my trips.
Also, how long have you been skiing? Any ski books you'd recommend to learn about technique?
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Maulik, I've been skiing since I was 2, so I guess 17 years now. I competed most when I was 16-17 and spent >100 days on snow each of those years, it was pretty nuts (I wasn't even that good [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]).
Routine ski maintenance when skiing in powder is next to nothing since powder skiing neither really dries out your bases much or requires any edging, so it's very low wear on your skiis. If you do hit a rock and take a chunk out of your base though, this is a problem you're gonna want to give to an experienced technician as filling in base with P-Tex (just a hydrocarbon compound) is very difficult to do well, I still struggle with anything more than a small job. Basically if you mess up your bases bad, take them into a shop. If you're going to be storing your skiis for a long period of time, say over the summer, putting a layer of cheap wax on is a good idea as it prevents the bases from drying out (you'll notice they look white and kinda flaky instead of dark black and smooth).
One thing I will mention is that for transportation, etc, get a ski strap. Basically when you're moving your skiis around, you transport them bases together kinda locked in at the bindings. Ski-donks will often have the skiis 'scissor' on each other, making an X shape, which is awful for the edges and makes you look like a tool. A simple strap costs like a buck and makes sure this wont happen. I carry a ton whenever I'm transporting my stuff.
As for technique it's hard for me to recommend a book since racing technique differs GREATLY from free-skiing technique, especially in powder. One thing that I can say for sure is that what will help you 100x more than any book is a lesson with an instructor and just experience. Learn by doing, with experience your confidence will go up and your ability will improve. I coached racers for 2 years and spent most of my time just hacking around, getting them to try different things and push their boundaries; drills and technique played a smaller role.
Hope this helps