Only 'problem' I see with the B & W is that the tones on her head are similar to the tones in the area behind the head, with the result that it doesn't 'pop' in the same way as the body and the legs. I feel the head maybe gets a bit lost in the background. I'd be tempted to try and darken up that lighter-to-mid background tone. Both the colour & the B & W are good images because the groundwork in getting and making the picture is just so good.
I prefer the color version but the revised monochrome version is a very close second. Notice that the subtle texture in the snow is less apparent in the monochrome version. Try applying the inverted S-curve that you taught me to the snow in the color version before converting to black-and-white.
I don't know if you like toned monochromes, but I think just a hint of a dark brown tone would work really well with this.
I apply an inverted S curve to all my images. The black and white is converted from the 'edited' color image. The inverted S curve was already applied.
I think one of the problems , is i converted the down sized image, instead of the full image. (too lazy to start over)
I don't mind toned monochromes at all mike, alot of times a sepia toned image looks really good with wildlife.
Thanks for the input.