Several members of the Willamette Chapter use Karhu 10th Mountain skis (pictured above on the far left) and speak highly of them.
The following is a note regarding the evolution of this ski. One of our club members reports that he has "an aging pair of Karhu 10th Mtn skis which I really like, but they have around 6-700 miles on them and I know the day of reckoning will eventually come. I'd hoped to buy a backup pair, but repeated checks to mountaingear.com where I got my present skis revealed no 10th Mtns ... or any new-model Karhus at all. So I called Mtn Gear yesterday and a sales person told me she thought the company had been bought out, but she didn't know any more than that. I did a search and found this information at orscrosscountryskisdirect.com:
'K2 Sports, owner of both Madshus Skis & Karhu Skis, has discontinued the Karhu XCD product line and is now producing them as Madshus backcountry skis. Hence, the Madshus Epoch is exactly the same as the former Karhu XCD 10th Mountain skis. Only the graphics are different.'
Turns out ORS, Mountain Gear, Oregon Mtn Community and REI all carry the Madshus Epoch ski--and other versions of Karhu which have been similarly renamed. Hard to know how long K2 might continue these models, so I placed an order at ORS yesterday. 10% discount there currently, and no extra cost to mount bindings or ship.
Here's an article about K2's acquisition of Karhu in 2006: http://www.ski-review.com/ski_news/article/k2_acquires_line_and_karhu/
As noted on the ORS site, for the 2011 model year K2 has rebadged the Karhu ski line, apparently without changes to the ski specs."
Interested skiers who live further south might want to also check Berg's Ski and Snowboard Shop in Eugene. A quick of their stock indicates they do carry the Madshus Epoch, helpfully labeled as "formerly the 10th Mountain."
Might want to check this out, or put them on your list for Santa!