Agree with this I have owned my own board since my second season after switching from skis. It makes perfect sense to rent skis and I did that myself after owning for a while but always kept my own boots and I absolutely hated crappy rental poles rather than the nice carbon ones I had myself.

Boards are much more personal than skis and when BA lost my board en route to Whistler a couple of years ago and I used a brand new high spec rental I busted my ankle on day 2. I also use Flow bindings which whilst not to everyone's taste are impossible to find on a rental board.

I would never check in everything I needed in the board bag as I would be too worried that BA would lose the lot. We can get a few extras in our board bag along with 2 boards but absolutely need a second boot bag plus luggage (1 to 2 cases depending upon length of trip). I ditched Europe for snow sports long ago and have only had 1 season in Europe in the last 15 years. Baggage allowances to North America are far more generous (although watch out for the last leg on a regional aircraft).

I am now looking forward to heading out to Mammoth in just over a week