OT: Big-mountain or Short-turny

[Guest thomas_m]

Posted this to a couple other forums but I'm particularly interested in the opinions of other crossover hardbooters.

Background - I came to snowboarding pretty late, turn 40 in a month, and age and multiple knee surgeries will prevent me from every progressing beyond strong intermediacy. 175lbs and pretty fit. Admire freestyle skill s but no interest in developing them for myself. Currently usually ride in hardboots because I have most fun at higher speed cruising on moderate slopes. Lately, I've spent more time in softboots due to the flexibility(of usage, not the boots themselves). I just sold a Donek Wide as I've gotten to be most comfortable with more forward angles and didn't need the extra width, would rather have the faster edge transition. As far as actual runs go, I spend most of my time on the longer blues trying to ride fast and smooth, forays offpiste but inbounds in search of powder: Debbies and GoldNugget at Snoq, everything off Chair8 at Baker, all the long blues and sometimes easier tree runs at Crystal and Stevens.

That being the case, what do you see as the tradeoff between a big-mountain shape and some of the more turny tapered shapes? Big-mountain shapes would be things like the Winterstick Tom Burt 172, Steepwater 171 Steep, or a Donek Incline 168. They are all long, stiff and have long sidecut radii. Good for stability at speed but not so turny for all the bumps that always form two hours after a dump and tree runs.

The opposite end would be something like the Prior Khyber, Option Northshore, etc(no Fish/Malolo, don't like the 3-hole mount). Supposedly good in pow & tree but also fun for all-round use.

In the middle, all the stiffer freeride boards but most interested in Prior MFR and Donek Incline due to excellent experiences with the boards and customer service from the makers.

I like the specificity of the big-mountain models and the Khyber but wonder about the tradeoffs.

TIA,

Thomas