There are also "backcountry XC skis" which are a hybrid of XC and telemark skis, often with full metal edges and sometimes even used with telemark bindings. These are wider with more floatation on powder than typical XC skis. You can get different widths and sidecuts which run the full spectrum from mostly XC ski to mostly telemark ski.

Someone else here recently pointed me to this interesting and helpful link:

Dave's Nordic Backcountry Skiing Page

As a skiing beginner, I recently chose this ski with NNN-BC bindings for my mostly XC skiing-oriented (rather than telemark) goals.

If you have the choice of snowshoeing or skiing, ski if you can, snowshoe if you can't.