It was in January 1978 that Karhu introduced their original XCD ski - it was a marriage of Nordic construction and downhill performance into one ski, the XCD. A ski that subsequently launched a genre of skis for karhu. In celebration of the 30th anniversary of their XCD ski program, Karhu invited a group of skiers to the North Cascades for a couple days of touring on the Guide, the flagship ski from their current XCD ski line.

What is an XCD ski you ask?  XCD or cross-country downhill skis are all about versatility, they are a bridge between Nordic kick and glide and downhill-oriented backcountry skis. The Guide, with metal edges and dimensions of 109/78/95, is the most downhill oriented of Karhu's XCD line, but even the Guide includes the Omnitrack NoWax base found on more Nordic oriented skis. The result is a killer touring ski that can handle a huge variety of downhill action.

To prove the Guide's versatility, we skied them up at Washington Pass in the North Cascades using Voile three-pin set-ups with light plastic tele boots from Garmont . A couple folks also tried the Guide with Dynafit binders and Scarpa F3's.

The ski is light and matched with a cableless three-pin binder and light boots, it is a dream up hill. The Omnitrack base is not like using skins but in spring snow conditions the base served us very well going up. Skin tracks are lower angle and there is an art to getting used to what the pattern base offers, but I had no complaints. The base accepts skins like any other ski and you could always set them up that way.

Given its healthy dimensions of 109/78/95, the Guide skis like a modern tele board but tours like tele skis did before the industry and skiers alike decided that bigger was better. I am a big fan of fat skis and good boots, but the Guide is a great blend of modern construction, light weight, and Nordic versatility. Its downhill performance is great, 78mm underfoot is not that skinny, despite the big dimensions we are getting used to. But it is the ski's light weight and the free travel feel of a nowax base and a three-pin binder that harken back to the days of double camber skis when the word telemark was synonymous with touring. The word telemark no longer means touring or backcountry for many people and my standard all mountain tele set-up easily outweighs my Dynafit clad AT rig.

We skied the Guides on terrain that is typically skied in bigger gear. The tours from the hair-pin on Washington Pass offer excellent terrain and the Guides held their own with ease. The Guide is plenty of ski for many adventures and a prime choice when the access is long or the terrain more rolling. Anyone with a freeheel history will appreciate the Guide's versatility and anyone who is new to the XCD category will be surprised at what the ski can handle.