Holy cow Mark, those are old school! I started skiing using those things (grew up skiing in New Mexico - started 1981). I remember spending what seemed hours whacking the built up snow off the bottom of my boot just to make sure it would seat well on the binding.

I would ski places like Taos, Santa Fe, Angel Fire, Durango, Wolf Creek and Telluride up until my wife and I moved to Arizona in 1998. I too was a devotee of the long and straight boards eventually trying adding snowboarding in the 90's. I used to skate pools, ramps and ditches growing up so the transition was easy.

I can attest, however, that it is really easy to go down face first on a snowboard if you try to unweight from the uphill edge to the downhill edge too quickly - say you are just starting to make your turn - and the down hill edge catches first. I put my face into the snow very quickly, and this was after almost 8 years on a snowboard.

Helmet is indeed mandatory but still be very careful, keeping an eye out for those young snowboarders. They tend to suprise you when it's too late.

Mike