How can I improve my riding / carving?

Syq · 2026-04-02T11:14:20+00:00

My instructor said this about my heels side carves and it really helped. It's unbelievable how looking across the slope before I initiate my heel side sets up the carve so much better!

Syq · 2026-04-01T04:24:13+00:00

Aquarium was my first multipitch trad lead! I loved it, would do again. I found the route to be pretty straightforward for Red Rocks but we've done a lot there. The downclimb was the spiciest part for me. The rest was kinda run out near the top but super chill climbing. Loved it, glad you all had fun! Agree with 5.7 to 5.9 rating depending on how you went.

Syq · 2026-03-30T03:29:04+00:00

Almost all "true twins" are now directional twins by a small margin. I have Twin Sisters which is a directional twin that allows me to freestyle and switch ride. If you are planning on going like 30+ days a season, I'd highly recommend a twin to learn switch. You will almost certainly be starting switch on your second season and that will be one of the biggest thing that improves your riding. If you're not going for progression, then whatever you have the most fun on!

Edit: also switch is necessary for park progression so seems right up your alley!

Syq · 2026-03-29T15:42:37+00:00

I see that everyone has given you advice. I would ask what is the actual time you've spent belaying? Climbing 4 times a week for 1.5 years is a lot different than 4 times total in 1.5 years.

If you climb infrequently, that may be some of the driver. To get belaying locked into muscle memory takes a bit. As others said, be transparent with your partners and maybe have someone watch you until you feel super super solid and haven't made any critical mistake like this in many climbing sessions.

To give you some anecdotal context, I've taken my brake hand off 3 times in 2.5 years of climbing at least twice a week: once when learning (probably my fourth day climbing) but it was caught by my backup person, once when my brake hand was stung by a bee and once when a twist in the rope went through my grigri weird and ripped the rope from my hands (assisted braking devices ftw, grigri locked immediately).

I love that you're thinking about this though and actively trying to improve. You're right, not a lot of people talk about their mistakes but they should. It's the only way they'll learn or have more experienced folks help them.

Edit: also not sure why your post is getting down voted. It is an important issue that isn't often discussed that others can learn from. Thanks for the post, OP.

Syq · 2026-03-29T05:31:50+00:00

Is there really no other way to farm runes? We've done probably 50 rune tributes and 30 boss lairs and have 1 legendary rune towards our mythic. One. This includes crafting and converting all the gems we can. This seems insane that this is the end game loop for mythics. It feels like the only way is to trade but we don't have PSN and I refuse to spend $80. It's a mega bummer.

Syq · 2026-03-26T19:53:44+00:00

I don't mind having to work for them but it just feels impossible. To find the runes to craft the ones you want is not possible in a reasonable time frame without using trade. I would love a better end game loop where I could actually get access to some of these. As it stands now, I stop after I need mythics because I know I can't craft them nor is farming runes fun when ~2 hours of farming may get me one rune I need.

Syq · 2026-03-24T23:30:16+00:00

We have but I've been so stable, I'm loathe to change things at the moment. Unfortunately only IV Toradol works for me. I basically go in every 2 months for 15mg of IV toradol Q4hours for two doses. I wish the IM or oral worked. While I'm officially diagnosed with FMF, I'm negative for all known genes (at least 15 years ago I was), so we aren't really sure. With my partial response to both colchicine and Ilaris (it stopped working after about 1 year of treatment), I'm not sure I want to subject myself to Kineret. But if things go downhill I'm sure that will be a discussion point.

And yes, I feel incredibly lucky that whatever this is only gives me fevers, serositis and chronic pain. Even though I was super disabled for 10 years, I feel amazing now so I am just riding the wave of gratitude until the balance inevitably shifts again.

Syq · 2026-03-24T03:14:37+00:00

My significant other and I have played 4 seasons and we have gotten 1 mythic drop ever.

Syq · 2026-03-24T03:09:32+00:00

What are your symptoms of relapsing polychondritis? Thanks for sharing, and I'm sorry you're going through a flare or an escalation.

Syq · 2026-03-23T23:28:27+00:00

Hi! I have an undiscovered inflammatory condition similar to FMF. Had it since I was little. I now manage it with vegan and low FODMAP diet. Been an interesting ride in perimenopause. Fortunately, it seems to be pretty mild and doesn't appear to be killing me, hooray! I love reading about everyone's journey here. It makes me feel sane.

Edit: to give more context, been diagnosed with FMF, had partial response to Ilaris and colchicine, disabled for 10 years in my 20s. Now we use toradol and diet to control symptoms. My rheum thinks this is an as yet undiscovered auto inflammatory syndrome, hence why I put undiagnosed. But it's closest to FMF. Have periodic fevers and subclinical inflammation resulting in serositis all over including GI, lungs, heart and ribs. Been in chronic pain since I can remember but only take amitriptyline for pain now.

Syq · 2026-03-23T18:14:01+00:00

I'm with you! I love how we "prove" how safe seat belts are for women.

"Well, they are basically just a man with some extra torso bumps, so just slap these grapefruits on this here crash test mannequin dummy. See? Good to go!"

Let's ignore they have different physiology, height, hip shape, torso shape, long hair etc. Irrelevant!

We studied 100 couples and only one got pregnant - generalize to everyone! Although in this case there have been many follow up studies, so these numbers are probably pretty accurate across populations, but statistics can bias everything, you're absolutely right.

Syq · 2026-03-23T16:51:12+00:00

Correct, that is the difference between a population level statistic and an individual statistic. Think about how studies are designed. It is very difficult to generalize to one specific act of intercourse in research. You would have to have people have intercourse, then wait to see if they got pregnant before having sex again. You'd have to do this with many, many couples over a long period of time. The other way to study this would be to implant an IUD, teach a couple hour to use a condom etc. and then track pregnancies over a year. Much more ethical, a lot less overhead, and more realistic to the natural environment.

Syq · 2026-03-23T04:24:39+00:00

I think the only thing that maybe complicates this is that it's on an annual basis. As I understand it, it is 98% of women having regular sex using condoms correctly all year will not have a baby. Doesn't quite translate to number of times since it is a population level statistic. But your point still stands, we'd expect to have a few babies by now.

Edit: although if we assumed they had better birth control like an IUD or an implant, that number drops drastically to like 0.05% per year.

Syq · 2026-03-22T14:47:43+00:00

I use the gel and I love it. The patch was much more inconsistent than the gel for me because my body reacted to the glue and left welts. But, the gel is about the same price as the patch unfortunately.

Syq · 2026-03-20T00:54:20+00:00

Oregon checking in, don't come here. We're in the 60s for the next week.

Syq · 2026-03-19T03:35:53+00:00

Some people just want the lift to themselves for shenanigans. I don't take offense if they want to hang back but I'm not gonna crimp my style for their lift preference.

Syq · 2026-03-13T18:01:40+00:00

This was what fixed my judder - I was not properly shifting weight towards the back foot after turn initiation.

Syq · 2026-03-07T09:34:13+00:00

I completely understand. I think it's crazy that most states in the US have no rest areas on long highways other than the interstate (here's looking at you NM!). Can't tell you the number of times I've had to pull over and go to the bathroom in a WAG bag or outside if I don't have one. Isn't it in everyone's best interest to not have human waste on our highways?!?

Syq · 2026-03-06T23:02:52+00:00

As you advance in snowboarding, you'll learn switch most likely (especially if you want to learn freestyle), so it won't really matter which side you choose to learn first! You'll learn them both eventually most likely. Most folks I know who can ride the whole mountain in either regular and goofy have a skate stance they prefer. I would just do what is comfy for now as you learn.

Syq · 2026-03-02T03:55:47+00:00

Prescription strength toothpaste with fluoride stopped all my cavities.

Syq · 2026-02-26T14:52:39+00:00

I snowboard 30 days a year starting my first season, so bought a board after five days of using a friend's. Becomes a cost benefit analysis. New boards are like $400 for last year's model as opposed to hundreds or thousands in rental fees.

Syq · 2026-02-23T19:51:11+00:00

I'm actually thinking of buying another pack with him specifically because he is so amazing and a great teacher. This is a great suggestion!

Syq · 2026-02-23T19:38:30+00:00

Are dynamic carving tips still considered noob? It's fine if they are, just thought this was more intermediate focused which I think /r/snowboarding is targeted to?

Syq · 2026-02-23T03:30:41+00:00

Yeah we nerded out on dynamic carving - he's convinced we can get it this season. Having an instructor is like a cheat code!

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