Any snowshoers or backcountry skiers here?

[Kolesar]

1. The motion is a lot like roller skating, IMHO

If you skied as a youth, you will probably pick up the rhythm quickly. Then you need to learn to snowplow to lose speed. Put the ski tips together and roll your ankles inward.

My first skis were "skate skis", but now all I do is traditional kick and glide. We ski on every chance we get. We get a lot of snow in Cleveland, but with the inevitable thaws it only means ten or twenty times a year. Work interferes. I have skied at Yosemite and Sequoia and would love to do more of that.

I melt glide wax with a travel iron, melt it in, then scrape it flat within an hour. You don't have to put the skis out in the cold or any gimmick to make the wax super hard.

There is a ski center north of you at Roscommon that has had skiable snow already in early December. I have never been there. There is a great advantage to finding a place where there are already tracks, whether it is tracked with a machine or just tracks of other skiers. It is way more fun. Metroparks and golf courses sometimes support skiing.

With those Fischers, you are ready for a polar expedition! I have never used metal edged skis, but I think that they give you super control for long downhills. Have fun!