Stand like you would on a snowboard with your feet sideways and look straight ahead in the direction your board would point. Now, turn your feet like if you were now on skis and look straight ahead. You are looking at the same spot, and in both cases it is the direction you would be heading if you were skiing/snowboarding. In both cases, what you can see in your periphery is identical. You could make the argument that a snowboarder couldn't turn his head to his heel side as well as a skier in a comparable circumstance, but then again, a snowboarder could turn his head even better to the other side as compared to a skier. But there is no blind spot.

Personally, I find skiers annoying because they typically move down the mountain a little differently than I do. That doesn't make skiers more dangerous than snowboarders, but I suppose it gives me enough reason to write an opinion article about how a skier once cut me off because he wasn't paying attention.

I think Alta is the best mountain and has the best snow in Utah. It doesn't surprise me one bit that skiers don't want it opened up to snowboarders and I wouldn't expect Alta to open it up to all until they feel there is financial incentive to do so.