I picked up snowboarding when I was working full time at Okemo. With 125+ days a year on snow on a mountain that wasn't overly exciting, it was worth it to have something new to do. I got good enough that I was a dual discipline instructor for a number of years. After my day count dropped and I was skiing on a more interesting mountain, my snowboarding tapered off to the point I was only doing it once a year with my seasonal kids. This offseason I sold my last snowboard, and probably won't pick it back up again.
When it comes to the learning curve for snowboarding, its opposite of skiing. In skiing, the first few days are relatively easy, and the learning curve steepens significantly as you improve. In snowboarding, the first few days are incredibly difficult, then the curve flattens as you improve. Terrain based learning came around after I was instructing on a board. I know it works well for skiing, never seen it in practice on a board. I'd assume the principles are the same.
Can't say that I ever wore any padding beyond a helmet while riding. I did have some sprained wrists, a couple shoulder tweaks, but nothing to keep me off snow.
