Does Combi skiing work very well?

My bro often puts kickwax on his skate skis so he can both skate and
kick on our often narrow homestyle trails around here. His method seems
to work fairly OK. But he often flounders on uphills. Still, he can get
in some kick-DP when it gets too narrow to skate.

I'm wondering if actual Combi skis would work better. Or maybe classic
skis with just a little kick wax work better as skate skis than skaters
work as classic (no wax pocket?).

Any tricks? Reports?

Thanks, JP