In reply to gilliesp:
> Also they baffle me with waxes, fish scales, skins, ski length, breadth, boots etc.
If you are track skiing stuff like that isn't super important - you would never use skins on with track skis for example. If you want to do more touring in wilderness areas, then what is the right equipment starts getting more complicated, but for spending a few hours out on tracks, you can get a basic set up (boots, bindings, skis and poles) from big supermarkets or sports shops in Scandinavia for somewhere between 100 and 200 euros. It doesn't have to be a very expensive sport if you don't want to be racing. But how often they have good tracks for that sort of XC in Scotland is a different question! Not so often I guess.