I've been snowboaring for 12 years, and for 3 of those years I worked as a snowboard instructor and taught over a hundred people.
Many people will say that snowboarding is easier than skiing, and in fact complain that snowboarding attracts people who lack the dedication to ski. They are missing the bigger picture. Skiing and snowboarding do indeed have very different learning curves, but it's misguided to claim that snowboarding is easier.
The hardest progression for a skier is gaining skill level from beginner to intermediate, since the technique between the two is completely different. Once a person reaches an intermediate level, however, the progression to advanced technique is one mostly due to refinement.
Snowboarding, on the other hand, tends to be easier for people just starting out who want to reach an intermediate level of skill. Most people, however, plateu at the intermediate skill and never make it to advanced, because going from intermediate to advanced involves learning completely new skills and the correction of some very bad habits that people tend to form when starting out.
If you've never started before, I highly recommend a lesson. When starting my job as an instructor, I was shocked to see myself able to teach people to snowboard better in 2 hours than I did after my entire first season. I became startlingly aware of all the bad habits that I formed starting out, and was able to nip those potential problems in the bud by making them aware of them before they become a habit that needs correcting. Examples of these bad habits include not leading with a dominant foot, not using both edges (heel and toe) equally, not learning proper control over speed and direction hence being afraid to gain any kind of speed because you'll lose control, falling with your palms open making yourself vulnerable to the #1 snowboarding injury - broken wrists, placing too much weight on the downhill edge causing a faceplant or assplant, not properly centering your balance causing you to tip one direction or the other, incorrect arrangement of the stance causing unneccessary soreness, embarassing accidents when trying to ride the lift, and rushing into too difficult terrain causing yourself to fall more the necessary and frustrating yourself into never wanting to snowboard again, just to name a few.
Of course you can learn without a lesson, but a good instructor can make a huge difference. If you do choose to go with a lesson, I recommend screening the instructor and find one that you like and request him or her personally, and order a private lesson so that you can get full personal attention. Most people who enjoyed the group lessons I gave later came back and paid for a private lesson because 2 hours with 5 students just doesn't give a teacher enough time to get everyone to the level he would like to before releasing them out to hurt themselves on their own.
For gear, your first day consider renting. If you do buy gear, go for a mid-range snowboard that is advertised as an "all-mountain" board for maximum versatility. Check the weight and height recommendations of the manufacturers, getting one towards the smaller range for your class to make it easier for you to start out. Don't splurge on your first board, because the process of learning tends to destroy equipment as you learn to avoid running over rocks, stumps, and other assorted hazards that tend to exist on just about any mountain. I do recommend buying a nice step-in binding/boot set that will last you, because it can be extremely frustrating to spend half the day on your ass wrestling with an ice-encrusted clasp system when a much nicer and easier to use step in system can get you on your feet and down the hill twice as fast. Also, keep in mind that your feet are together, so if you encounter a flat spot on a cross-mountain trail (Jeep trails) then you will have to unbuckle your back foot and push, and you aslo have to unbuckle the back foot every time you get on and off the lift. On a good day, this might mean you strap in and out as many as 50 times - no big deal if it's just a click either way.
Remember to take plenty of brakes. There's no shame in retiring to the lodge for a cup of hot chocolate or coffee or a tasty sandwhich to swap war stories with some cute ski bunnies before hitting the slopes again. And whatever you do, don't skip the jacuzzi session at the end of the day, which is absolutely the best feeling after you've worked your muscles and frozen your ass off all day long - preferably a hot tub full of bikini clab babes. Preferably.
Anyway, I hope you go with snowboarding, and really enjoy it. I don't teach officially anymore, but, hell, if you came out I'd give you a free lesson.
Let me also second
Remember - VERY WARM GLOVES. Pants with padding (You WILL hit your ass hard), A hat and a warm jacket. Good luck
