Now you are ready to buy a pair of skis. You can often find good deals on the Internet, at the end of the season, or even some good used skis. For your first pair of skis you do not need the top of the line racing ski. You will need something to get you ski to stick to the snow to provide traction for you to push off of. There are two ways this is accomplished.
Some skis are smooth along the total length of the ski.
The skier applies kick wax to the bottom of the ski under the foot. When the skier puts weight on the ski the wax sticks to the snow and allows the skier to push off. Waxable skies are faster than waxless skies under most conditions. However, you have to use different types of wax for different temperature ranges and snow conditions. If you are going to use your skis for backcountry travel most of the time and plan to do some camping or mostly camping with your skis I would suggest getting waxless skis.