In the 1970s I was newly married without a lot of money so I bought Fisher Skis in Ashland because there was no sales Tax there

So, at the time I could save at least 10% or more when buying Fisher Cross Country Skis. The Beauty of cross country skis of course is you don't need groomed downhill slopes to ski. As long as the snow is navigable and deep enough of the right conditions you can ski almost anywhere you want to.  

Downhill skis NEED groomed slopes of a certain consistency for you to ski them okay without problems for most skiers. Only the most expert downhill skiers can ski ungroomed slopes well without injury.

However, I didn't have any metal edges on my first cross country skis I bought in 1976 with my first wife in Ashland, Oregon for a good deal. I bought Fishers at the time because they had the newer bottoms then that were no longer wood on the bottom because I didn't want to have to learn how to pine pitch my wooden cross country skis. But, waxing is helpful on all skis for whatever conditions of snow you might find you might use a slightly different wax or sometimes if the snow is too fast you might not wax at all.

However, in the late 1970s one day I found myself on ice and slid sideways about 500 feet and realized that if you don't have metal edges you could die while mountaineering skiing on Cross country skis without  metal edges. So, I immediately bought a used pair of skis that were mostly wide downhill skis that I put cross country bindings on. (a cross country binding you heel comes up off the ski so you can more easily walk or glide with your skis. Because cross country means you are sort of snow shoeing with skis (if you are not skiing down a slope at that point). Also, turning with cross country skis is more difficult than with downhill skis. I remember skiing at Snow Summit in Big Bear in Southern California on downhill skis and then I tried to cross country ski the next weekend and ran right into a tree because I forgot for a moment I wasn't on downhill skis where you can turn more easily. So, if you want to stay alive be sure to remember which kind of skis you are on. Luckily I wasn't skiing fast enough to get seriously injured and I was in my late 20s then and in very good shape from working out a lot so I was okay but very surprised.