Monique,
This is a moderated group and I am really not trying to sound rude, but
if you really live that high and you really ski that much and you
really mountain bike off season and play ice hockey, the quad suffering
really isn't adding up, except for the 5'5" 170 lb part. If you do a
BMI on that it is pretty poor. Try it here
http://nhlbisupport.com/bmi/bmicalc.htm
and you get a 28.3 which is on the high side of overweight. What I
believe is happening isyYour quads are doing an inordinate amount of
eccentric contractions to support your weight on your small frame
during a day of skiing, even if said weight is solid muscle.
In my humble and honest opinion, you have two choices: lose some pounds
through diet and more aerobic conditioning or add lots of weight quad
presses emphasizing the eccentric part to develop your quads. If you
lose the pounds, your quads will respond with better performance. If
you lift weights, your quads will also respond.
Choice 1 - You need to begin to closely mointor your caloric intake. I
suggest using a tool like the software available at
http://calorieking.com
Forget about fad dieting, because you need lots of carbs to support a
hard day of skiing. Reading a book like Chris Charmichael's Food For
Fitness would add to your success.
Combine this with a walking and running program. You should see an
improvement in a month or so if you stick to this type of program.
Choice 2- Get yourself a squat machine or go to the gym. Do sets of
low high reps, low weights, and don't go past a 90 degree angle at your
knees. Do the eccentric part (when you let the weight down) slower
than the concentric part (when you push the weight out). Make it a 3
to 1 ratio.
Choice 3, which I just thought of, is do both Choice 1 and Choice 2 for
a few weeks.

Unfortunately, you should have been doing this, minimally, June -
September... You will be playing catch-up now that the season is in
full swing.

I have seen lots of athletes blame their equipment and spend lots of
money on new stuff when they would get better results through simply
improving their conditioning and losing some pounds. Fortunately,
these things usually go hand-in-hand.

Certainly, continue to demo stuff and make sure you are committing to
proper pressuring a pair of nicely shaped edges so that they do most of
the work for you. The fitness component will make you even more of a
star.

Good luck!