So a couple of years ago my DS (12ish, at the time) was running with me. Eventually we picked-up running snowshoes so that we could continue running in the Winter, but not have to play chicken with cars (motorists around here are kind of dicks when there aren't 3'+ snowbanks and 0 shoulder).

Unfortunately, neither of us fell in love with it. I couldn't figure out a way to run without them whacking together with each step -- the movement felt entirely awkward and made my lower back and hips very angry as I tried to run sorta duck-like. I have relatively narrow hips and my foot placement tends to fall in a pretty narrow stance. My kid seemed to struggle with the same thing.

As a pre-teen/teen I had XC skis and did a fair amount of skiing. For probably 20 years I've contemplated new equipment. My shoes were long-since outgrown and my bindings were the old 3-peg. Last Winter my son's class did a field trip to a nearby Winter sports complex. Even though he had the option to try skating and luge, he opted for XC skis and that's what he did for the entire day, stopping only for lunch, then clipping back in.

So...I guess we're looking at something like touring skis. I've seen some that are sort of a hybrid of a backcountry and classic/Nordic ski (or is this essentially what "touring" means?). We have some groomed trails (including a few places that offer lit nighttime skiing), but also lots of parks without formal XC facilities, but where lots of people go back and break trail, hike, snowshoe, etc. Does that sound appropriate? What other things should we know before wandering into a ski shop? I'm guessing sizing for my kid could be tricky. He's grown ~4" this calendar year and gone up something like 3 full shoe sizes in just over a year. Hopefully he fills out soon. He's not been >100#s for long (think spider monkey, heh). Is it a bad idea to buy skis a weight-range above where he's currently at? He can't stay 115-120#s forever at 5'8" and growing! He's nearly 15 and we're expecting he'll hit 6' and bulk-up in the next couple of years. His dad is 6'2 and barrel-chested (as is my kid. His ribcage is sort of freakishly large proportionate to the rest of him). My brother is 6'3 and average build.