What would I need?

Got myself a pretty nice helmet and goggles! Just need a buff to complete my outfit

I actually have two helmets now, my board gear doubled in size... well I did dump the boyf and inherited all his stuff lol

The helmet vs no helmet debate is old and everyone has their own opinion to it, but personally I always wear one. I have heard too many horror stories about how the helmet has saved the person's life, from people dropping stuff off chair lifts to being taken out by out of control snowboarders/skiers.

Trying to put this as nicely as possible, you have bought an entire set up at a beginner level but haven't thought about thermals or a helmet. You maybe need to do a bit more research in future. I would highly recommend at least hiring the helmet when you get there, especially at beginner level.

I always wear thermals too because I get absolutely freezing on the chairlifts and also find it more comfortable. You don't know how cold it'll be, especially how cold the windchill maybe so it can't hurt to pick some up. You don't have to spend a small fortune on snazzy cool snowboarder only brands, just head down to M&S for your first time. Wear them one day and not the next and see if you feel any different, then the next time you go you can always go for the snazzy ones.

Also highly recommend wrist pads. I've never worn impact shorts and my ass has been ok so I'm not an advocate to those but the wrist pads were a definite must for me after I broke my wrist on the first week of boarding from a simple fall.

Take out insurance - I can't believe people still travel without it, especially when doing winter sports. It'll cover you for all sorts you don't even realise, like if you get there and by some sh1t luck there's no snow, you can claim for loss of days etc.

If you can, when buying your lift pass, sometimes they do an extra €2 a day for insurance on the actual mountain, so you don't have to pay to be carried down or something like that.

Forgive me if I sound like I don't have a clue what I'm talking about though, this is the first semi useful post I've made in years!

Probably cheaper to by one almost than rent have seen them for under 40 quid.

Have a little read of this, copy and paste the link into your browser and on the right hand side click on Charlie's fight back to riding. Then decide if £40 for a helmet is worth it.

http://networkedblogs.com/sHOvM

The piece about stance width is quite interesting too !

good article, cheers for highlighting