realskiers

Good question.  On groomers she skis quite fast, prefers medium to long radius turns, is weight-forward in stance in keeping with her skating technique (she was an accomplished figure skater as a child, and now plays hockey, so her instinctive stance is as such), and similarly uses a lot of strong and active leg contraction and extension in her ski turns to generate power and speed.  With more and more trips west, she is becoming much more comfortable in deeper snow and off-piste terrain, so speed is increasing as comfort level and confidence rises.  On soft snow, I would say her skiing style is somewhat more upright and neutral in stance to keep the tips from diving, and much more finesse than power (at least for the time being  )

For comparison, her hard snow skis are '07 Head Supershape Speed (163) as her groomer thoroughbreds, and '09 Fischer Progressor 8 (160) as her lighter more agile choice for easygoing days (skiing with our nephew, slower friends).

As for carrying two pairs out west....hmmm....I guess is depends on where we are going.  Lake Louise can get pretty icy at times, so with no fresh snow there, a good narrow ski with aggressive edge grip would definitely be in the luggage.  But for places like Utah, Jackson Hole, BC interior, I would say that she would carry only the one pair.  Therefore, as mentioned, versatility is going to be pretty important -- the skis must have good hard snow performance.

Does that help?