Looking to purchase XC skis...30 years after my first package (Read 132 times)

So a couple of years ago my DS (12ish, at the time) was running with me.  Eventually we picked-up running snowshoes so that we could continue running in the Winter, but not have to play chicken with cars (motorists around here are kind of dicks when there aren't 3'+ snowbanks and 0 shoulder).

Unfortunately, neither of us fell in love with it.  I couldn't figure out a way to run without them whacking together with each step -- the movement felt entirely awkward and made my lower back and hips very angry as I tried to run sorta duck-like.  I have relatively narrow hips and my foot placement tends to fall in a pretty narrow stance.  My kid seemed to struggle with the same thing.

As a pre-teen/teen I had XC skis and did a fair amount of skiing.  For probably 20 years I've contemplated new equipment.  My shoes were long-since outgrown and my bindings were the old 3-peg.  Last Winter my son's class did a field trip to a nearby Winter sports complex.  Even though he had the option to try skating and luge, he opted for XC skis and that's what he did for the entire day, stopping only for lunch, then clipping back in.

So...I guess we're looking at something like touring skis.  I've seen some that are sort of a hybrid of a backcountry and classic/Nordic ski (or is this essentially what "touring" means?).  We have some groomed trails (including a few places that offer lit nighttime skiing), but also lots of parks without formal XC facilities, but where lots of people go back and break trail, hike, snowshoe, etc.  Does that sound appropriate?  What other things should we know before wandering into a ski shop?  I'm guessing sizing for my kid could be tricky.  He's grown ~4" this calendar year and gone up something like 3 full shoe sizes in just over a year.  Hopefully he fills out soon.  He's not been >100#s for long (think spider monkey, heh).  Is it a bad idea to buy skis a weight-range above where he's currently at?  He can't stay 115-120#s forever at 5'8" and growing!

Oh, yeah...I forgot about snowmobile trails.  We have access to quite a few of those without driving very far.  Though I recall they could be pretty crusty/icy compared to surrounding snow.

You'll probably want metal-edge touring skis.  Not super-skinny, with some sidecut.  Better for ungroomed conditions.  As a casual skier in CA conditions (high temp variability over course of day), I was happy to have waxless skis, although I know that marks me as a rube in some people's eyes.  I can live with that.  Bindings, they'll pretty much all be SNS or NNN in that category, either of which is fine - again, I'm assuming casual level skiing.  Touring skis will usually be pretty squishy, so I think you'll get a little more leeway on weight with them than you would with a stiffer ski designed for groomed trails, but getting too-stiff/wrong-length skis is one way where you can really make skiing a lot harder, so that is something you'll want to get right.  Any way you can get to a local vendor who knows their merchandise well?

Good to know.  We do have a couple of good ski shops in the area, so ultimately I'm hoping they'll steer us in the right direction, but I don't want to walk in without some basic understanding about what we're purchasing.  It seems like XC equipment has really come a long way and become increasingly specialized...like every other aerobic sport I'm into.

I saw one model (I think Rossignol) of touring ski that had partial metal edges.  Kind of sounds like something like that might be the most useful with the mix of surfaces we'd be encountering.

Is there a benefit to one binding over another?  Or is it essentially like clipless bike pedals -- in the end they all pretty much do the same thing and it's completely a matter of preference?

And, yeah, we'd almost certainly be looking at waxless.  I definitely don't have the patience to deal with wax.  We want to be able to grab-n-go without a ton of prep.  My old skis were waxless and I liked those just fine.

Now I'm itching to do some XC again this winter - the drought has been brutal on XC here, but maybe El Nino will give us some snow this winter . . . . .

And they're predicting a "warmer" (I believe last Winter was our coldest on record), "drier" Winter than the past 2...which doesn't say much.  2 years ago we had near record snow (I think some months were record-breaking, but the season total was still not the deepest, IIRC) and last year was definitely well over our seasonal average 96".

Backcountry would definitely be way overkill, from the sound of things.  It definitely sounds like touring is what we'll likely end up with, since I expect our use will fall pretty much 50/50 between groomed trails and breaking trails on 6"ish new snow.  Maybe after a year or two he'll even show interest in trying skate skiing.  By then he'll almost certainly need longer skis, anyhow.

Flagstaff AZ

Damn, that's sort of my dream place to live.  Lucky!!

We got these today! I actually went with upgraded boots and poles. The upgrade boots fit my goofy wide/duck foot much better. And the upgraded poles were a lot lighter for only $7 more. My kiddo's skis are the exact same size (at 5'8" he's at the light end of the weight-range and at <5'4" I'm at the top -- incentive to get down to the lighter end and not gain any more over the holidays), so it's good his bindings are different so that we can tell them apart. We hope he'll get a couple seasons out of them.

Now we need to get real snow!!!  The 3ish inches we got last night are just a teaser.  The 10 day forecast is warm again, too.  Bah.  If it's going to be coldish, I'd rather it not be gray and rainy.  40º rain is good for nothing.