Help me to not be a jerk

[Krummholz]

Ask your local Nordic center if they will be selling some of the rentals at the end of the season. I bought my wife a set of rental skis, boots and poles for $100. That way she’s in the track and I’m on the skate side with my BC skis.

[bauerb]

I would think its no issue at all if you are shuffling along next to groomed tracks in the space packed for skating. often people are even allowed to snowshoe in the packed out areas.

[Nitram Tocrut]

Those look like nice skis for the money, probably nice for offtrack XC use. However they are way too wide for tracks.
IIRC a Fischer E99 is borderline for tracks (66-54-61). With those dimensions the 66mm shovel will rub occasionally, especially in curves.

My old E99 have been the only ski I used both in the BC and groomed track for decades... that was before I got the Asnes GAS fever but let’s not get into that... The 99 just fitted in the tracks but if you already have some BC skis i would rather get a dedicated track ski or something like the Asnes Montain Tour with ¾ steel edges

[Tomski]

As an experienced XC "inbounds" skier I will second the others saying, yes, jerk move. The tracks look quite wide at the top so maybe it appears your skis were fitting, but anything over 65mm ish is not going to fit. The tracks are beveled, wider at the top, but that is to allow boot clearance. If you ski with a 70+ mm width ski in the tracks, you are chewing up the walls of the track and degrading the experience for people on skinny skis.

The best place for you to ski is outside the groomed tracks (between the tracks and the ungroomed snow), but on many groomed trails there isn't enough room. In those cases, a few skaters might be a little annoyed at you but I'd say it's OK to ski in the skate lane. You won't be harming it much unless conditions are crazy soft.

[freeheelfreemind]

It's totally fine to use wide skis in groomed tracks as long as you are followed by a person wearing snowshoes, then they'll be the jerk

[Tomski]

Haha, especially if the snowshoer is followed by a dog walker post-holing every step!

[lowangle al]

My wife confronted a walker who's dog crapped on the groomed trail asking if he was going to pick it up. He responded that he didn't have to because he was a tax payer.

[Rodbelan]

My wife confronted a walker who's dog crapped on the groomed trail asking if he was going to pick it up. He responded that he didn't have to because he was a tax payer.

I guess that's what we call a real jerk... And you know what? That's sometimes the kind of guy to not pay his tax...

[lowangle al]

We have had a lot of run ins with dog walkers but mostly on the multiuse trails where we do most of our skiing. It's so bad around Anchorage that we have to abandon our local trails in April when it all comes to the surface.

[FourthCoast]

I am starting to think that only the skate part of these trails are actually groomed. The tracks keep getting wider every time I go out. I don't think it was all my fault!

To avoid being an a-hole and still play in the tracks I put together my thrift store waxless skis, my Voile 3-pins and my Scarpa T2. Maybe I have weak feet or something -- but I liked this setup much more than using the 'Whitewoods' 75mm cross country boots. These old skis are very straight and much harder to turn downhill. With the (very) sturdy boot I was able to make some turns without feeling like I was going to break my ankle.

I have to say that going up with fish scales is much less technical than using wax. No backsliding at all.

This is a workable setup but I would like to have a metal edge and some shape on the ski to making turning more fun. Maybe I am looking for excuses to buy more skis.

I will take the other advice given as well. I just paid my property taxes, ordered some snow shoes with extra large crampons and tonight we are going to the animal shelter to adopt the biggest dog they have. I want to fit in!