Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Agree with all the comments above re. weight and style of riding you are into but just to confuse matters further it can also depend on the actual board you are looking at.

For me the recommended generic board length is around the 160cm mark but if I was to go with a K2 WWW I could go as short as a 151cm as it has blunter ends and is a freestyle board.

My first board was a 157 Ride Anitc and is a twin/directional board as I thought the all mountain freeride style was right for me. As I have got more experienced I wanted to be able to do a few freestyle moves and have gone to a true twin all mountain freestyle board in a 154cm Forum Destroyer Doubledog and love it. As per Del Boy I probably bought too soon.

Each board will have a recommended weight range and you may be able to find this on Drake's website. Alternatively most boards have a sticker with the weight range specified. Another important factor is the board's waist width and your boot size, too narrow and you may get heel or toe drag. Too wide and the board will be harder to turn. A shorter board will be narrower.

With regard to the price I googled the Drake Misty 143 and you can pick up the board alone for £145. This is because, I believe, it is a 2010/11 board and was a reasonable £270 to start with. At £200 for the lot I doubt very much that you will be able to buy cheaper but I guess that all of the kit is a couple of years old.

The board is aimed at freestylers and has a flex of 3 (out of 10) which may be okay to start with. It is a rocker board so easier to turn and less catchy on edges. It came in 3 sizes, 139, 143 and 147cm. Try googling Drake Misty 2010 review (assuing that is the board you were looking at) as that might help you decide on suitability e.g. http://whitelines.mpora.com/snowboard_gear/drake-misty-smiley-snowboard.html

Hope that helps.

Thanks for all your advice, as I said we only had a taster session with Bobby so will be complete beginners. I've always bought my own boots (ski boots) as that way you know they fit properly rather than hiring, so we were just having a look around at what the local shop can offer boot wise then he said about the all in one deal.

I've had a look on a couple of sizing website and the general outcome is about a 150 board so I think I will either wait for a month or so and get 2012/2013 end of season stock or just buy boots and hire the board out there. We're not going to be going back to Boro this year - will certainly be out there again in February 2014 :-)

I will still try to go to the Snowdome (either MK or Hemel) see what they have to offer and maybe try a few boards there but certainly the priority is getting boots that fit.

Thanks again for all your advise :-)