My ski season is now officially underway. The usual plan is to make my first turns at Sunday River on Thanksgiving weekend. The demo vans are on hand, and I can get the kinks out of my skiing while checking things out with my friends among the reps. I don’t need to demo any skis. I always get a sneak preview in February of what’s coming.

Some years the snow is great for the demos. Other years the warm weather makes the snow so thin that the new skis are not allowed out. Although rain hit some areas, the mountains actually got a little snow, and the man-made base gave us plenty of good powder to make a few turns.

Saturday morning was sunny and comfortable and the snow held up. Business was brisk around the demo tents, and the word I got from the reps was that it has been a good retail season for most shops. With that comes a word of warning: Inventories are running low and reorders will be tough for some products. One boot distributor told me they were out of junior boots and there are no more in the pipeline. If you have a junior skier on your Christmas list, don’t wait to buy the boots.

A couple of months ago my sister dropped off her skis for tuning. This was a simple process — clean the base of any old wax and grime, make sure they are flat, rid the edges of any burrs and reestablish the edge geometry with the proper bevel. Once the edges are smooth and sharp, iron in a coat of a universal wax and the skis are ready to go. My own skis were tuned and waxed for storage at the end of the last season so all I have to do is run a waxing iron over the base and scrape off the excess. The transition of my basement work bench from normal use to ski tuning center is the first step in my transition to a new season.

The next event was Oct. 22 at Lost Valley where the Maine Ski Hall of Fame Class of 2010 was inducted. Over 250 skiers were on hand to greet the new class, which included a pair of Olympians — Kirsten Clark and Marcus Nash — one of the world’s foremost ski journalists, Morten Lund, one of our first national freestyle champions, Joan McWilliams Dolan, and three outstanding coaches, Bernard Paradis of Fort Kent, John Atwood of Fryeburg Academy and Edward Little grad Bob Harkins, who has coached at the high school level and for the U.S. Ski Team. This year’s class brings to 72 the number of Maine skiers honored, and the all programs since 2003 can be found at the Ski Museum of Maine in Kingfield. You can also learn more about the Hall of Fame and the museum at www.skimuseumofmaine.org.

The next event on my annual ski season prep is always the Boston Ski Show. Until this year, the show has been held at the Bayside Expo. It was easy to get to because it is right off I-93 with plenty of parking. Unfortunately, the Expo is now closed and becoming part of of the University of Massachusetts at Boston. This year’s show moved to the Seaport World Trade Center, and we found a nicer, cleaner space on the floor. I realize Boston is hardly a day trip from the Sun Journal circulation area, but this is a show worth seeing. All the major equipment manufacturers are there, along with areas in New England or anywhere in North America with ski areas and resorts from all over the world. It’s a place where you can plan trips around the nation or in the Alps or discuss equipment.

Naturally there are stops at ski shops. Since my patrol days at Sunday River, I have had a great relationship with the Jack Frost Shop. When it was the Kailey’s Sunri Ski Shop, I found it convenient to try new models while on duty, and I relied on their boot fitters to work around the odd features of my feet. Many seasons started with getting new skis and bindings mounted, and over the years I could always count on Mark Wight to squeeze me in. Mark knew what I wanted and understood when I gave him my desired binding setting that didn’t agree with my age on the chart. Somehow, the binding companies must conclude that everyone over fifty skis at 10 mph. It was a pleasure to see Mark each fall, but this fall he was missing. Just after he passed 50, Mark suffered a fatal heart attack early in the summer. I know I speak for hundreds of skiers whose equipment he cared for and his colleagues in the ski shop when I say that he was special and will be sorely missed as we start the new season.

We also have a familiar ski tech returning to the area. Buster Bean, who has worked at a number of shops, has set up his BESTunes on Route 2 in Bethel and is offering full tuning services. His specialty shop has all the latest in tuning machines along with Future Wax, a new method of impregnating the base with wax. Many skiers think the new skis don’t need wax, but the porous base of today’s skis will a actually deteriorate if allowed to dry out. In addition, if you ski that $1,200 ski untuned, you might as well be in the $400 model. Buster feels the demand is there with all the skiers Sunday River attracts and so far he has been busy. If you want high performance, stop and see Buster or get your skis into your favorite shop.

If you missed the demos at Sunday River, the vans will be at Sugarloaf next weekend, and you can bet that the skis the reps put out will be perfectly tuned to give top performance.

Dave Irons is a freelance writer who lives in Westbrook.