If you envision skiing together long term with her enjoying it then invest the time and money to maximize her chances of learning appropriately and having fun. Stick her in ski school and then hire a private instructor for her for at least half a day (or more). Once she finds her legs then spend a day skiing greens with her and stopping often to get food/beer and make sure she’s having fun. Set expectations early so she doesn’t think you’ll be with her 100% of the day, and you can go enjoy some blacks or off piste or whatever.
She needs a good beginner/intermediate ski that’s not too long, not too heavy, has good flex and is forgiving. Maybe pair of Rossi Sky 7s (Upgrade to their Sin 7 line), it’s part of their freestyle line and prob more up her alley.
Demo skis honestly is the way to go. Hell, I still demo on virtually all of my trips. Sure, it may be a bit more expensive in the long run but unless you guys are going to be skiing 30+ days out of year, just rent. The thing I enjoy the most is that you get to check out all the latest gear. Plus, I’m doing diff stuff on diff days and prefer a ski to match the terrain. I’m day 3 at Steambost as I type this and for example I’ve been on some Nordica Enforcer 93s 177 last 2 days for speed runs and carving, however I swapped them out for some Salomon QST 92s 169 because I skied tons of bumps, crud and moguls today. For the bumps I personally want more flex and shorter length that’s more responsive with a tighter turning radius. Demo rentals is the way to go IMO as long as you remember to take advantage of the fact that you can swap them out anytime depending on what you have planned for the day.
If I had to pick an all mountain fav it would prob be Blizzard Brahma, Völkl Mantra, Nordica Enforcer or Salomon QST. All are fun, playful, intuitive and can handle just about anything the mountain has to offer. The Nordica is a much stiffer ski though.
Have fun!
