I live in the outskirts of Edinburgh with the pentlands, literally on my doorstep.
During our epic snow last winter I took my downhill skis up and had a play, but walking the 5km from my door to the top of Harbour hill up in boots with my skis over my shoulder was bloody hard work so only got one run in each day.
Having a look on eBay, there is a seller selling Swiss military surplus Xc skis for cheap;
Bearing in mind there small hills which invariably get ~6” snow I’d prefer not to get/destroy proper money skis, would the above be ok for a bit of a play in the snow?
That's a forty year old binding design. My worry would be how safe they are compared to a modern design. The skis are pretty old-school too so will be a more effort than something more modern.
A modern set of touring skis and bindings will be pricey though.
I'd suggest putting your current ski boots in a rucksack and strapping the skis to the sides, tying the tips together. Then you can walk uphill in some sensible footwear. This should be a lot easier than walking uphill with them over your shoulder. The pentlands will rarely have deep enough snow to make walking uphill a problem.
I have an old ski touring setup I'm getting rid of (skis, bindings, skins). I'd probably be looking for more like £150. Can get some pics if you're interested. They have old fritschi bindings that are more like a downhill style binding.
They're a bit tatty, quite long and fairly heavy but still perfectly useable. I've taken them up high in the Swiss Alps!
I replaced them with new light/fancy ones with pin bindings a couple of seasons ago.
I finally got round to buying some touring kit last winter and timed it massively well it seems! I'm also a Pentlands local so was great to get out and very much a full body workout! The people up at Braemar Mountain Sports were super helpful in getting me sorted with an unused demo set of skis and bindings they had, plus I'm lucky to have a mate who does loads of touring. Getting a set of boots that fit I'd say is even more important than downhill. I also got a copy of Ski Touring: A Manual by Bruce Goodlad which has got some really good advice in it.
I should add, if you get sorted (and we get some snow) and you'd like someone to fall on your arse doing kick turns with, let me know.
I've used skis like those pictured. OK for long flattish touring (plateaus, icecaps, long valley hauls etc) but not great for recreational skiing downhill or up aything particularly steep. You're probably not best with xc skis by the sound of things.
The pentlands are pretty fun in the right conditions, but the flatter tracks are generally fairly low and don't hold snow that well or are mashed by walkers/bikers etc, and XC skis are scary as hell downhill and away from prepared tracks. You can get more "touring" or "forest" oriented xc setups which are generally a bit wider, have metal edges, more supportive boot/binding combos etc, but they are pretty niche in the UK and again, i wouldn't fancy them for the better descents in the pentlands. Rather look out for (alpine) touring bindings and boots, which you can use on any ski. Cheapest entry point is probably a few years old Fritschi/Diamir Eagle or Freeride bindings (or similar framed binding setup), which you can use with your existing alpine (dh) boots or dedicated touring boots. This is probably what grum has above. These will give you a familar binding engagement/release for the expense of a little heavier setup but for short ascents like the pentlands are more than OK. You'll need a set of skins as well. You can drill your existing (or any old) ski set up for your piste and touring bindings and swap over as conditions suit, but you might find a dedicated pair of skis with fritschis or similar on eBay not much more than bindings alone. Good time of year to buy and loads of people local to you out in the hills nowadays so you should be able to find something better than those you posted if you keep an eye out.
That Swiss ex army stuff is very very crap. Don’t waste your time or money like I did. I ruined a good walk round Pen y fan on that stuff total waste of money. Look on eBay for old but serviceable newer kit. Frischi bindings old but serviceable take normal alpine boots.
The big problem with that ad is what boots to use. Bluntly they look like old Xc skis (NOT touring skis) with servicable skins. That's ok, but that binding is not great , and what boots will you use as the walking action for xc skis doesn't work with a stiff ski boot. A xc ski boot is more like a walking boot with some sort of attachment at the toe only. If I had to use those skis I'd take the binding off and put a modern binding on, but that's not at all what you should be doing
Go somewhere and hire a set for a day so you know what modern equipment looks like. FWIW I have Fischer E99 and those would be good for what you describe or E89's.
This is probably what grum has above.
Yup from memory they are old fritschi freeride
Thanks all - Grum - sent you a message.
honeybadgerx - sounds like a plan, finger crossed for some snow - I will warn you, I'm properly crap!
Cheers