l wanna get into cross country skiing, specifically skating. My good friend has a pair of Salomon Snowscape 9 skis and Escape 7 boots he will give to me. On Salomon is website, these are listed as touring skis and boots. I am new to the sport, so if l could just use his that would be great, but how well will they work for skate style skiing? Thanks!

They will probably be OK at first but skating on regular length touring skis can be a little cumbersome. Skate specific skis r pretty short & have a lot of ''POP'' so they will propel u between strides. However, learning the skating technique & rythmm is certainly doable on normal touring skis. If u really get into it, u will probably want a real skate ski eventually.

Just make sure the boots r snug & have good ankle support. Skating puts a lot more torque on ur ankles than casual touring does.

http://sierraskis.com/