Hi Michelle,
I'm new to the sport, as well. I ride a Rossi all-mountain, 148, and am 5'2", about 100 lbs. My carving board is an older Burton Alp, 152 cm. I have ridden a 156 and feel very comfortable. the faxct that you do well on camber, and aren't interested in parks is a good sign:). I just bought my first pair of hard boots- Head- new, 500.00, "used"- maybe once, if at all, 100.001 A steal. need to have them fitted, though- I've tried them twice, but only for 3-4 runs at a clip. They hurt! What angels do you currently ride on the soft boot set up? that is the first thing I did in soft boots- up the angles. I find the high angels, and the skill set it requires to turn at these angels, trumps the equipment change in terms of learning to carve- especially if you are already used to camber. I had 55, 40 on the Apl, but it felt "weird"- I usually ride all mountain at either 30, 15 or 15, 9. I brought the rear binding down to 30 recently and will try it this weekend. Turn initiation for me was harder at the high angles. I'm thinking the best approach is to change one variable (equipment, angles) at a time. As far as boots, in my size (23), there were not any options, so I grabbed the first reasonable pair I could find. I like them (they are very well-regarded), but I still think at my weight, I could use more forward flex. Nothing's perfect!