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[angerona]

What's the difference between nordic skis and touring skis, and which ones do we want if we just want to go cross country skiing at a local golf club? There are a few trails there, but it's also possible we'll be the first ones going in some direction

Comments

[inostranka]

I've seen cross-country skis being either touring or skating, I think nordic refers to both kinds. You probably want touring - for skiing on trails.

For rentals, our golf course (Weston - http://www.skiboston.com/skitrack/rates.php, not sure if that's the one you meant) has 1 day, 3 day (non consecutive), and season rentals relatively cheaply.

We are going to buy these ourselves, were going to try Dick's, but haven't gotten there yet. I know that SkiMarket is not a good place for cross-country skis. If you find a good place, I'd be interested too.

[angerona]

I meant our golf course -- during the winter it's open for skiing, although they don't do rentals or anything else official. We do go sledding there, but it'd be interesting to try skiing, too. What do you do with the baby while you ski?

[inostranka]

You should try our golf course - would be happy to go together! They have trails, rentals and rent pulks: http://www.skiboston.com/skitrack/pulk.php
We got the pulk, put the baby in, and he fell asleep pretty quickly. We took turns "driving" him, but it was rather easy. Much easier than carrying him in my belly last year ;))

[angerona]

Not a bad idea. How about next weekend? (Any day except for Christmas is good for us). The pulk sounds like better than carrying her on my back, which was my plan (although I guess we can do both).

[fyfer]

EMS used to rent x-c skis. I don't know if they still do. I remember heading to NH once for a family ski trip. My brother had outgrown his boots and we stopped by EMS on the way to buy new ones. The salesguy said "Why buy them? He'll outgrow them this year anyway." and rented him boots for surprisingly cheap. That was 15 years ago, though.

There may be a local ski swap that has some kids size x-c skis. That's how we always got ours when we were really young. I started x-c skiing before I can remember. I obviously couldn't go far, but I really enjoyed it. I'll ask my parents how old I was when I started.

Touring skis are what you want (nordic is either a catch-all term or might mean skating skis), but if you'll be breaking trail at all, go with slightly shorter and wider skis. But equipment has improved faster than I've kept up with, so a salesperson will know better than me, these days.

[angerona]

ok, so it seems I need touring. I'm looking at craigslist, etc., but I'm not sure what sizes we need. Perhaps we need to go at least once and rent, and then we'll see about buying.

[gmpe]

Our parents always bought us used skis and skates at either St. Moritz or Play-it-Again Sports. Not sure if they are still around, but a used equipment place is the way to go for kids. You can try stuff on, measure your kids and the equipment, etc. If you have a day long rental option, you might want to do that to see if they are ready for skiing before buying.

[angerona]

I was thinking of renting for kids and buying for ourselves -- I wonder if there's a good place, other than craigslist to buy for us

[krl_pgh]

Лет с двух-трех нормально.

[angerona]

надо будет этой зимой попробовать

[pekmez]

I expect we'll take Kata sometime this year, at age 3. We own skis for the adults, but at least until we go somewhere that doesn't rent skis I think we might as well rent for her - she'll be growing too fast to make skis worthwhile. (I must keep reminding myself this as I passed on buying a pair of x-c skis her size for $7 at one of those twins yard sales! we would still have wanted to rent the boots and poles...) We mostly got cheap gear by waiting till the season was ending, at REI, and using it the next season, and renting before then. Also, like me, you might be short enough that getting kids' skis meant for teens (cheaper to start out with, better sales) would be fine. Your ski size is supposed to be roughly your height / a little longer or shorter - once you know what works for you, check the kids dept or craigslist for kids skis.

zubatac has been on x-c skis with gljiva in a kelty kids frame backpack carrier, though we just went around the well-covered-in-snow Tufts running track down the street. When she was much younger, we did it

[angerona]

Yeah, I was thinking of carrying Mira on my back in a wrap (and I have a winter jacket that's specifically designed for that, too). It would probably be easier, than having her in front (although we've gone sledding that way, and it's fun :) )

[bublik64]

Great Brook Farm State Park has trails and ski rental

[angerona]

I know, but it would've been so nice to just walk out of the house and start skiing -- that's what we do now with sledding :)