h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Collisions.
The first word one must learn, after Goofy-or-Regular and "CARVE!!!", if one is to snowboard.

Indications that a collision is imminent:

--a large group of skiers all sporting bright orange or yellow vests atop their ski-jackets. Vests should read either 'Blind Skier' or 'Blind Skier's Guide'

--loss of visibility. if you can't see it, you can bet you'll hit it!

--holiday season: there will just plain be TOO MANY people to NOT hit someone!

--a collision just ahead: ever hear of a thirty skier pile-up? try snowboarding, you should be able to achieve at least a 5-to-10 skier pile-up your first day! extra points for blood.

--woods/back-country: would you ride a skateboard downhill thru the woods at 30-40mhp? (again) try snowboarding!

Remember bouys and grrrrrlz:
--if you kick your board out in front of you so that the flat bottom of your board hits first, you will most likely knock the offending 'roadblock/skier' straight down and out, while maintaining your own safety to ensure a speedy escape from any SKI-patrol harrasment.

--never wear a yellow jacket to the mountain. you will always be seen, and you will always get busted.

The best place for collisions is on the bunny slopes - out a whole bunch of novice snowboarders in one place, and hey presto! you get a winter boarder tangle. When learning to snowboard, you tend to spend considerable time on your bum (as stopping on your bum is preferable to using your face!), and when a whole slope is covered with bum freezers, the people who have managed to progress beyond sliding on their nether regions have no hope in trying to avoid their lesser accomplished friends. However, I think that the snowboard learning curve is fairly shallow, in for most people you will be able to conquer the mountain (at least go up quite high) in just 2 days. You will fall down lots coming down, but at least you will get up there to start with! I can also recommend learning to snowboard for anyone wanting to build up their tricep muscles - every time you fall over, you tend to use these muscles to push yourself back up.
But once you have mastered the basics, you will have a ball. As soon as you are confident enough, hit the powder. This is what snowboarding is about, not carving down the groomed piste. If all you are going to do is stick to the piste, then you might as well stick to skiing. But be warned, once you get a taste of powder, you will never be satisfied on anything else.