I learned to snowboard at 40 after 15 years skiing blues and blacks. I took one lesson the first year and decided that it was too hard , awkward and painful. I took one less then next year and again decided to go back to my skis. Finally on the 3 rd year I took one more lesson and stayed on the snowboard for the next 2 days without retreating to the safety of my skis. I totally caught the bug after that and haven't been on skis since. Snowboarding is exciting. The boots are really comfortable, the clothes are more relaxed you can wear any wild thing with the explanation “I'm a snowboarder”. I also really appreciate the fact I can sit down off to the side somewhere without little kids coming by to ask if I need ski patrol. They just assume I'm “one of those snowboarders”. Snowboarding has a short steep learning curve that rewards mistakes quickly and forcefully. A lot of older folks aren't sure they want to try something that looks painful while learning to