These were hard to choose a star rating for. Personally, they were no good for me/where I ski and had to be returned. That said, they were decent quality materials for the money and I could see someone else being able to use them in a different setting...and I like that there are folks out there making "alternative" sports equipment beyond the cut/paste options from ski shops.

I live in Colorado and we spend many winter weekends in the mountains. We love the snow, but not the price or crowds of the ski resorts, so most of the time we are hiking or sledding back-country trails...teen son and the husband take steerable sleds, will hike hrs to the top of a mountain and can go down the most insane back-country ski trails like it was an Olympic sport. I prefer to ski, but I'm lazy. I'm not schlepping two hours in snow shoes, carrying my skis/boots, just for a single run. I found the *concept* of these skis fascinating and *envisioned* (did not work out) tooling around happily for hours on lower, wide, gently sloping hiking trails.

What I found:

- Quality of materials for the money: no complaints at all; they look good, and feel solid!

- Less grip than with standard cross-country skis: it was 8 deg F when I was out, snow was very cold and dry; in fresh powder at the edge of the trail I could go up a very minimal incline with no issues, BUT in lightly packed snow they were very slippery and it felt like trying to go up a down escalator even on only modest inclines. I get better traction with standard cross-country skis. In Colorado everything is either up or down...maybe somewhere like Wisconsin or East Coast these would be better?

- Downhill: even with limited uphill cross-country capabilities (can always get skins, no big deal) I still held out hope these would be awesome as an easy, light-duty option for coming back down. Baaahhhaa, ROLF! No. They were not. I looked like a goober who'd never skied in my life, rather embarrassing. And that was on a super gentle, wide, winding downhill slope (like curvy bunny-hill material). I don't usually enjoy skiing anything more than your average Colorado blue...but I've done harder and am not totally incapable. So when I say I could.not.steer! please know where I'm coming from. To be fair, a stronger, experienced telemark skier would likely have faired MUCH better than my sad bumble down the trail, but if you are anything like me or have similar conditions, just know what you are purchasing. I severely underestimated the power/control loss of NOT being fully clipped in with standard ski boots/bindings. I LOVE the idea that you could have this awesome, easy, portable, hybrid ski...but it took every ounce of strength I had to even sort of control my speed and trajectory. I took them off and walked the rest of the way down. I've downhill skiied with cross-countries before, not fun but doable. This was not doable, not with my skill set.

That said, I'd like to extend a huge THANK YOU to the manufacturer of these. You've made a unique product which I'm sure would suit someone else well in different conditions. It's a fascinating concept and I hope you continue to iterate on it to give people more gear options for enjoying the outdoors with freedom.

These work well for a family member with foot and ankle injuries which make conventional ski boots uncomfortable.