new to snowboarding

It is easier in the sense that you won't have to try and balance as much. While going through powder makes for a smooth ride, you also have to focus more on controlling your board. Think of it as groomed runs give you a little more grip. imo though, powder gives an awesome riding experience and if you fall, it won't hurt so much!

Yes powder hurts less when you fall, but if it's deep powder you might get stuck. It's a real pain in the neck to get unstuck in 3ft or more of powder. Just try your best to judge your speed accordingly.

The sierra crew, reverse crew, bluebird and stunt are all made by burton. The team was made by flow.

Id have to agree with most and say groom is MUCH easier to learn on since you dont have to fight the snow in powder situations.
And has far has sierra boards, ive only heard good things about them and from what i understand they are actually made by burton.

arguably since it is your 1st time, you will probably be doing the squatting all day. If you do that in groomers its good, you'll get a few bruises. In pow you wont be able to move 

Well powder is great for reducing butt pain hahaha. groomers are where you really learn to use your edge. its a horse a piece but I would say 9 out of 10 ppl learn on groomers.

As for the sierra brand if you are new to boarding you probably only know Burton.

They are definitely good boards especially with the combo discounts. If I were you I would look at a stunt or RC or just any rocker/anticamber make in general. Its the easiest and quickest way to learn. Thats how I started and you learn to really feel the hill youre riding on and its more flexible for when you wanna get wild in the park

I actually found it easier to learn to carve on pow, but not like a couple feet of pow but like 6 inches of pow is good because it gives enough cushion when you fall and not enough to get stuck.  

Originally posted by jamers99 Just getting up off your butt as a beginner in pow sounds difficult.

It certainly can be! I'm a beginner, and last year I mistakenly took a black diamond powder run (the paths Y-ed and i went the wrong way)... the left side was a groomed run and the right side was 3' of fresh fluffy stuff. It surprised me and since im new and didnt wanna wipe out, I instinctively slowed down.. that was a bad idea, as i lost any chance of staying afloat. I struggled for 45 minutes to get down the rest of that run. The posts above suggesting learning to stop and start first.. spot on. If you know how to get goiing (and stop going), youll be a lot more confident in doing the rest of the run. If you wanna practice starting and stopping in powder, i'd suggest working just off the sides of the groomed trails. They're generally not as deep as the dedicated powder runs, but you'll get the same experience.

I am gonna hit that same run again this year.. this time with a lot more speed and a lot less surprise lol.

powder is defiantly easier to learn on, grromers aren't too bad tho either as long as they don't get hard packed and icey, powder will be slower too which will be easier when learning. depends on how deep of powder you are talking. powder in the midwest is any fresh snow haha, compared to waist deep out west. As far as sierra boards they are just burton boards with diffrent graphics. i have a sierra stunt and its a pretty solid board for jibs and groomers, its the same board as a burton blunt.

It's easier to learn on groomed trails. Powder is a totally different animal. Different techniques. But Pow is fun to fall into.