I've skied classic for years. DH and our friends want to take a skate lesson this year. Reading your post is making me leery! I used to ice skate as a kid and was pretty good, but when I see skate skiers climbing/descending, it looks much harder.
Plus, I won't forget when I happened to see SheFly in the lodge at Bretton Woods after she had taken her first skate ski lesson. She said it was "hard." If SheFly thought it was hard, it's hard. I'm not afraid of the work, more the coordination.
But, don't stay away from the nordic area! Go early on the weekends, and Saturday tends to be quieter than Sunday in most places.