Tele/AT skis with nowax bases?

My wife and I both have Karhu XCD Guides mounted with Dynafit Comfort bindings, we use Garmont Dynamite boots. We tour almost exclusively in the Olympics. As others have commented these are great soft snow and corn snow skis. We have used them for extended traverses (Hurricane Ridge to Deer Park) and also for yo - yo skiing. We do carry and use skins if the skinning will be over 20 degrees. We have used them for some relatively steep summer skiing (Elk Mountain chutes) and descended from Camp Muir a couple summers ago with 50 lb packs after an attempt on Rainier.
Good luck,
Gary and Jan

I've got Fischer Outtabounds (the old plain ones seen in this picture www.sierratradingpost.com/i/71573,,_Fisc...ds-Touring-Skis.html  not the "crown" or "boundless".  The URL is not meant to be an advert, just a picture.)  Got them a couple years ago, not sure this particular one is still offered new.  Well, they're really really light.  The pattern climbs great in corn but I still need skins for powder.  They're fine for corn or even resort hardpack as long as you don't go fast, but not floaty enough for pow.  Kinda noisy on the descend also as the pattern scrapes over the snow.  I pair them with Excursions for a comfy touring setup with 3-pins and stash the cables on the uphill.  Good for going to Muir on a spring day when you want to keep up with vigorous young people for example.  

thanks for all your input...i've begun my ebay search! are there any good ski shops in the puget sound area that might carry used no wax touring skis?

sure, probably all of them ~ check the sponsor links here. Also, search/post the gear board here ~ the only thing you need to leave this site for is ... snow ..

Another comment on the Karhu XCD Guides.  I first used them with tele bindings and agreed with the comments about them being a soft/corn snow ski. However I have since converted to Dynafits & F1's. This allows much more power applied to the ski & greatly increasing their performance range.  So far this year I've skied them in powder, mash-potato glop, hard crust with frozen avy debris, sun crust, hard frozen runneled crap and lots of rolling x-c terrain... While Guides are not the best ski at any of those, they're amazingly versatile and are becoming my "go to" ski.

I'm not a fan of waxless skis in winter. Most likely you'll need skins for any serious trailbreaking anyway, and kick wax works pretty well on short flatter stretches, and you can use the ski you really want in nice powder. That being said, I wouldn't waste my time on any other waxless ski except the XCD Guides. When corn arrives, that's what Brenda and I have been using for the last couple years. It really is a great turning ski, and the fishcsale base really excels in spring snow. The only down side is that it isn't that fastest touring base, but its downhill performance makes up for that.

Another comment on the Karhu XCD Guides.  I first used them with tele bindings and agreed with the comments about them being a soft/corn snow ski. However I have since converted to Dynafits & F1's. This allows much more power applied to the ski & greatly increasing their performance range.  So far this year I've skied them in powder, mash-potato glop, hard crust with frozen avy debris, sun crust, hard frozen runneled crap and lots of rolling x-c terrain... While Guides are not the best ski at any of those, they're amazingly versatile and are becoming my "go to" ski.

Like russ, we have used them in all the conditions he has, with similar results. Not the best ski for any of the conditions, but definitely adequate. We have also carried them on long approaches (Royal Basin, Seven Lakes Basin, Elk Mountain) for late spring/summer ski trips. Their light weight, combined with the lighter weight of the Dynamite boots is a plus.

Gary and Jan