...the next step…

Posted: 10 November 2010 10:21 PM

Hi,

Purley belter site. So much good stuff. Thanks.
Anyway, I’m pretty new to Snowboarding but have surprised myself with how quickly I’ve picked it up. (Much to my mates chagrin.) In two years I’ve probably had 6 full days on the hill in Australia and would be classed an intermediate I guess. I could link turns after my first day so I’ve just been trying to improve my pace, style and technique since. I’ve started to hit some small lips and I’ve got the horn for some basic trickery but I really love the sweepy carve.

I’ve been using my mates Rossignol ‘decoy’ 157 which is about 6 years old. Don’t know if it’s the right board for me but it’s all I know. Apparently it’s more of a park board but I’m more of a freerider.
I was after some advice as to what would be a good intermediate board with a bit of room to grow. We’re off to Japan in Feb so I’d like something that could handle some pow as well as the hard crap here in Oz. We’ll be squeezing in the odd trip to NZ too.
I’ve looked at Burton’s Malolo and Flying V. Also the K2 Slayblade. I’m feeling the idea of the camber/rocker combo but every sales grommet I talk to tells me something different and just wants to sell me the board they ride. “Nah man, this board is totally gnarly, it’s radness if off the charts, you should totally buy it.” etc etc…

Would appreciate any real advice…
176cm, 70kgs and size 9 hoof.

Cheers

Posted: 12 November 2010 12:45 PM

Welcome to our forums Marky, always glad to help the confused =)

Looking for an all-out freeride/allmountain ride you should definitely check out the board range of Jones and Prior. Thing is, most of the decks they offer are pretty stiff and more like for the intermediate to advanced rider. So it’s your call whether you have the confidence and think you can already handle and progress on such a board!

Exactly how much are you interested in also progressing in the park?

Cheers, Tobi

Posted: 12 November 2010 08:45 PM

Nice one, Thanks Tobi,

I’m probably looking to bring the park to about 25% of my riding as I improve…
I’m 34 so probably getting a bit hard to teach new tricks to an old dog.

Thanks