Tucked in a dark corner of a hotel parking garage, the makeshift room is made of various shades and shapes of plywood hanging by wires from pipes that zigzag across the ceiling.

Inside, the temporary walls are covered with skis from nearly every imaginable manufacturer, making visitors feel as if they've walked into a Popsicle-stick house. There are seven workbenches spread out every five feet or so, each one decorated with a variety of brushes, files, pads, cloths, vises and tools.

The men working at the benches peer through racks of even more skis, and dodge boots, poles and other equipment littered across the floor as U2's "With or Without You" blares from a boombox. It's closing in on 10 p.m., and the night has just begun in similar settings across the base of the Beaver Creek resort area, where World Cup ski events are being held.

This is the world of the men — and sometimes women — who prepare skis for the world's best skiers.

There are long hours, occasionally cramped conditions and the anonymity that comes from working behind the scenes.

It's a tough gig, to be sure, requiring a special kind of mentality, but these guys love it.

"It's so cool dealing with these athletes and seeing what they can do at 80 mph," says Brian Burnett, a ski tech for the U.S. Ski Team. "I'm incredibly impressed with what they do. It's awesome and my office is the Alps, the Andes and the Rockies. I get to see some of the best sunrises in the world."

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So what exactly do ski techs do?

They pick out skis to suit the racers' skills and the style of the course, make sure the bindings and plates are positioned correctly, and sharpen the edges. But mostly, their job is applying wax to the base of the skis — LOTS of wax.

It starts with the techs, who either work for the national team federation or the ski manufacturers, picking out skis they think will work for their athletes. Once skis arrive from the factory, the techs drip hot wax onto the bottom, smooth it in with what looks like a mini iron, then go to work with a variety of brushes and cloths to get just the right texture to match the snow.

By the time they're done, they've spent anywhere from 50 to 100 hours and applied as many as 30 layers of wax on each set of skis.

"The majority of what gets accomplished up there is from the athletes," said Burnett, who's been a ski tech since 1987. "I'm there to provide good material, motivation and confidence, and kind of complete the whole athletic package so that when they step in the starting gate, all they're focusing on is their run. They know the skis are going to go where they want them to go and will get them there as fast as they can."

The key is matching the wax to the type of ice crystals on the mountain.

While the techs spend the majority of their time in the ski room, they do go up to the race course to take measurements, from air and snow temperatures to humidity. Back in the shop, they use the readings to determine the type and texture of wax that will work; the sharper the ice crystals, the harder the wax needs to be so the crystals can't dig in.

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The ski racers use their athletic ability to cut through the gates, but rely heavily on the ski techs to get the right wax/snow combination for gliding parts of the course.

"It's everything coming together for the racer," said Josh Applegate, a former ski racer who splits time between coaching skiers and preparing their skis. "I enjoy doing this for myself as a racer because it was me, it was my results. It's still results (doing it for other skiers), but at this level with so many skis to deal with, it's little more taxing."

Taxing. It's the one word you hear from just about every ski tech. And for good reason.

The techs spend nearly every waking hour in work areas that are often cramped, lugging equipment all over Europe and parts of North America, and adapting to ever-changing weather and mountain conditions.

For the seven days of racing and training for the Birds of Prey races in Beaver Creek last week, Burnett figures he spent about 140 hours in front of his bench, prepping skis for U.S. Ski Team members Scott McCartney and Marco Sullivan. He and the rest the techs get a week off before the next races, in Val d'Isere, France, then will spend just about every week traveling Europe until the season ends in March.

"It's a grueling, grueling season," said Burnett, who's known as Burntski to everyone except his wife and mother. "When I have a couple of days off, it's not odd for me to get 30 hours of sleep in two days, to do the whole stop, drop and roll. We don't get many breaks."

Thing is, it's worth it to the men of wax.

"I love skiing, any aspect," Applegate said. "If you didn't love skiing, you wouldn't be out here."

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John Marshall is asap's sports writer, based in Denver.

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