Skied my new women's specific skis today. Wow, what a difference over my unisex skis. My balance was better, gliding, climbing and snowplowing so much easier. I skied an advanced beginner trail backwards and went down a pretty steep hill without problems. I felt very secure and confident on these skis.

The width of the tracks don't bother me, probably because I'm used to the width of 78-96 mm alpine skis. At first the narrowness of the skis and lack of support from the boots was much more disconcerting to me.

We don't have the freezing and thawing here that you have in the east so groomed trails here are soft, not icy and the tracks don't get very wide.

My nordic center has a designated place for learning. Tracks and a groomed area on flat terrain, very nice for beginners. Also, a good place to practice gliding witout poles.

After years of alpine skiing I'm excited to discover a new way to enjoy snow.