Please reach me at james@jc10skituning.com if you have a question not answered below
In your house/flat. Ideally in a place where the temperature and humidity vary the least. While you may want to put them in the loft, garage or shed when off-season, the temperature range in these environments means your ski/board undergoes expansion and contraction with heat and cold cycles which, when coupled with humidity changes may cause delamination. If, for some reason, you've had a "core shot" where you've scraped the base right through to the wood core, and water has been absorbed into the core; a hot/cold cycle in the loft or garage could cause your ski or board to become permanently warped and therefore unusable. So my advice is keep them under your bed, on top of your wardrobe, or in the back bedroom. After all, when you're charging down the slopes you want to have full confidence in them!
Elite skiers will have their skis tuned for every descent, and probably multiple pairs of skis prepped with waxes applied for different snow conditions. But that's the World Cup standard. Most people are hobbyists with just the one pair of skis or a snowboard. For us mere mortals, it is generally sufficient to get your base edges checked/set once a season. Side edges receive a few more 'dinks' from people in the ski queue, lifts, in transit, spills, etc. They should be checked and set once a season and then if you notice the edges not 'biting' as you'd like them, or if they're 'catching' and making the glide unpredictable then that's your sign to get them looked at. As for bases and wax; in normal snow conditions with a universal wax applied you should generally be good for 2-3 days skiing. You can even top up mid-week with a roll-on wax and polish with a cork buffer that you can do yourself. Watch out for your base becoming white as that's a sign the wax has been removed through use and the base itself is getting a little fuzzy from blasting over the snow. Ideally never let that happen, and when it does you should ideally be getting a hot wax with a hand iron to get wax absorbed back into the base and providing that thin coat along the whole of the base so that your ski glides as it should. (There are waxes for different types of snow and temperatures but generally a universal wax is good for most non-elite skiers in most conditions - that said, if you know you're heading to Whistler and it's going to be -25C all week and the snow is very dry, then you'll probably want me to wax your skis with a different wax than if you're heading to Val d'Isère in late March when the air temperature is +10C and there's slush from the middle of the afternoon).
Honestly? No. They will have an edge set, and they will have had a layer of wax applied by machine, but the edge may not be uniform and may not have been detuned. The base may be dirty from handling and shipping, and they would definitely benefit from a 'Standard Tune' to ensure the edges are set as you'd like them, the tips and tails are detuned to avoid them catching unexpectedly (and with horrid, binding-ejecting results!), a hot wax scrape is conducted to remove any dirt and old wax from the base and then a hand iron wax is done to get the wax to penetrate into the base. Only then will you have a ski or board that handles as you would want it to.
When a ski or snowboard is on its edge, cutting into the snow, you want the middle of the ski/board to be sharp and slicing into the snow or ice. However, if the tips or tails are also sharp then they will catch and make the whole experience very unpredictable and uncomfortable. To avoid this, we dull the edges near the tips and tails to allow them to glide over the surface of the snow and avoid catching. It is also helpful for beginners to have their edges set to 1 degree on the base and side edges as well as a good detuning as beginners definitely don't want to have edges catching while they practice their "chips and pizza", or "parallel and snowplough" as I learned it when I started out on the slopes!
Clearly if you're able to drive and avoid your kit being thrown around, that's the first choice.
If you MUST entrust baggage handlers, as most of us need to, a hard shell case is best. It not only protects the bases and edges, but also ski bindings.
Next up, a soft case. But I recommend using pipe insulation or cutting up a camping mat to use as lightweight padding to protect your base, edge and bindings. Consider using some of your packed clothing to provide some additional protection, especially the tips and tails as these will be the most likely areas for impact and mistreatment in transit. This applies to snowboards too of course. For skis, it's good to either strap them tightly together to avoid movement, or place a layer of protection between them, as well as around them as they can scratch each other too.
Baggage handling is a necessary evil for our gear when going to and from resort so make sure you look after your gear and don't forget to check your insurance covers both your kit and you for any damage during your trip. When you get back, air your kit thoroughly as skis and boards are normally packed while still wet, and then get in touch with me to book them in for a clean, de-rust, tune, repair and wax so they are sparkling and ready for action!
Our workshop does not have the tooling to conduct major base repairs where entire sections of the base or edge need replacing. We also do not do binding mounting as that requires specific jigs from manufacturers. We are, however, able to conduct numerous minor base repairs on a single ski/snowboard - see the "Pro Tune" service. We always recommend black base repair material as it contains more carbon which gives strength. We can apply clear base repair material but our recommendation is to use black, even if your skis/board are some other colour and even if it means you have "war wounds" on show, as it is simply a better repair. If you need significant repairs or binding mounting, I can refer you to a very reputable, larger workshop, and am happy to do so, because your safety and enjoyment of the mountains is what matters most.