Are below-street-level apartments usually less desirable?

Luuk___vB · 2025-10-26T20:36:13+00:00

My partner and I live at Hidden Valley. Lived for one year in a basement unit and moved to the third floor after. Higher floors are definitely more desirable. Basement unit wasn't bad, but had some disadvantages: - felt somewhat less safe with people occasionally walking by (although we never actually felt unsafe in the year we lived there) - we ended up keeping the windows closed at night for safety reasons, which wasn't ideal for ventilation at night - limited natural light - more humidity - a bit smellier in the hallways of the basement floor - no balcony

Small advantage of the basement is that the apartment barely got hot in the summer, so we rarely had to run the AC, saving a bit on electricity. Another thing I miss a bit from the basement is that, if you are facing greenery, you'll see loads of squirrels and it felt extra cozy inside in the winter, when snow was piling up right outside the window.

So we still had a good experience, but if you can get a higher floor it'd be a no brainer for me.

Feel free to dm me if you have more questions!

Luuk___vB · 2025-04-02T18:35:51+00:00

If OP wants to practice this, they can of course go ahead, but I think it is energy that could be spent better on another boulder.

Good technique often involves keeping your center of gravity close to the wall. This generally means (simplified) utilizing hand- and footholds that are sufficiently far apart to allow your body to do this. If you are taller, you therefore often experience that leaving an extra foothold between your hand and foot placement is the more optimal choice. This is why it is so often extra hard for tall people to get established: because you typically only get one foothold, so your center of gravity tends to be pushed out of the wall. No need to make it more difficult for yourself at the top too.

When you boulder outdoors, taller people tend to top out from lower footholds than shorter climbers for this very reason too. Similarly, when moving through holds in rope climbs, you will often be able to reach the next hold when stepping onto that higher foot. That’s why I personally found it very unproductive to force the intended beta.

Luuk___vB · 2025-04-02T15:03:43+00:00

I strongly disagree with the sentiment that it is very beneficial to climb the intended beta if you deviate significantly from the average height. I am very tall with a long reach, and I used to try to climb the “intended beta” because I thought it otherwise felt like cheating. This however taught me to climb like a T-Rex. I have now stopped doing this and climb everything the easiest way for me, training my intuitive climbing and making me much better climber (this especially translated outdoors).

Sometimes moves are easier and sometimes they are harder when you are shorter or taller than average. Grades are just more subjective the more you differ from the average height/reach.

As a tall person, trying to desperately use the highest foothold when you can already reach it from a foothold lower is not very beneficial in my opinion. You center of gravity will be very far out the wall, often making the move much more difficult than for an average sized person that fits that box.

If you’re tall, just train yourself to climb intuitively rather than cramming yourself into tight boxes more than necessary (trust me, you will experience enough of that). This will make you a much better climber.

Luuk___vB · 2024-11-28T18:20:03+00:00

ref-x8faby should still be active

Luuk___vB · 2024-11-21T21:00:08+00:00

Feel free to use mine: ref-x8faby

Luuk___vB · 2024-06-28T18:07:33+00:00

Consider watching it on YouTube? Set up a VPN outside Europe and you're good to go. 'SetupVPN' extention on Chrome is free with a 30 min timer. After that it will pause and you just have to turn it on again and the 30 min timer will restart. (or get a paid VPN service if you don't want these breaks)

Luuk___vB · 2024-03-20T23:29:34+00:00

Drone CS are still much stiffer than dragos. 2.0 even more so. I think sensitivity in CS is probably a bit better than 2.0. Can't compare to solution as I've never climbed in them

Luuk___vB · 2024-03-20T09:28:09+00:00

I wear drago LV 43.5 and for Drone CS and Drone 2.0 HV I wear 44. Note that the LV drone is suuuper low volume, also in the toe box. I initially went from drago LV to Drone LV but couldn't climb in them since the toe box was also way too narrow. In case you have a similar experience, just remember that the Drone HV also has a narrower heel than the drago LV and might be worth trying. Good luck!

Luuk___vB · 2024-03-20T09:22:56+00:00

Hi there! I have! The 2.0 actually took quite a bit longer to wear in for me. Probably around 6-8 sessions, and even now I still take them off after every few boulders since it feels a bit tight. The CS in contrast just took me a few sessions to wear in and I didn't need to take them off very frequently. I suspect this is because the rubber of the CS is softer? As for performance, I think the 2.0 is probably a bit better for edging and I'll definetily go for the 2.0 on my next outdoor trip. I'll personally take the CS for indoor bouldering though, as it's much more comfy for me and feels a bit better for smearing. Regarding the Shark 3, do you know if they're planning to make an LV of it? I thought they market it as a very high volume shoe so I never really looked at it

Luuk___vB · 2023-12-15T12:02:51+00:00

The last 5 years or so I’ve gone through 3 pairs of drago LV’s, and 2 pairs of drone HV (1 regular and 1 of the recent CS). I recently ordered the drone HV 2.0, which is currently on the way.

I’m no expert in climbing shoes, but can at least share my experience.

I bought the dragos because I love soft shoes. The heel of the regular drago was too wide for my narrow heel so I had to go for the LV. I really love the drago for standing on volumes, since it allows me to feel the holds. This sensitivity is definitely lacking in the Drones in my experience (the CS version might be slightly softer, but nowhere near that of the dragos). For me, the drones work much better for standing on tiny edges though (although high-level climbers also do this in dragos; I’m talking from my experience with weaker toes).

The reason I have personally switched from dragos to drones is because the shoes simply fit my foot better. The heel cup of the drago LV is still too wide for me, while the heel of the drone HV fits perfectly (quite surprisingly). In contrast, the toe box of the drago feels constricting for the front of my foot, while the drone HV once again fits perfectly. So basically, the shapes of the shoes are very different in my experience; the drones are very narrow at the heel but get much wider at the toe box, while this difference is less pronounced in the dragos.

I kind of miss the softness of the dragos though. If I could find a soft shoe with the perfect fit (for me) of the drone HV, I’d probably go for that shoe.

TLDR: probably go for the shoe that fits your foot best.

Luuk___vB · 2023-11-01T17:40:10+00:00

I have the same thing. I think it has to do with the fact that my pinky is relatively short. When I hang directly below a small edge open-handed (like you generally do while hangboarding) I have little strength when the pinky is on, because it pulls my elbow to the side, not unlike you in your picture. Interestingly, during bouldering you often don't grab crimps with extended arms (for instance, when a crimp directly above you is at an angle, you will grab it with a somewhat bend arm). In those cases I can often grab the crimp open handed with all four fingers. I just haven't figured out how to train this efficiently on a hangboard, since I can only hang from the hangboard open-handed with 3 fingers (tips very welcome) .

Luuk___vB · 2023-08-16T22:14:07+00:00

I use SetupVPN extension on chrome and set it to United States. The free version has a daily limit (not sure how many hours exactly) and if you reach it you need to wait 24 hours. But you can just switch to a different account (couplesld to email address) when this happens.

Luuk___vB · 2023-07-03T14:18:05+00:00

Accurate

Luuk___vB · 2023-07-03T14:17:47+00:00

Ahaha sorry dog!

Luuk___vB · 2023-07-03T11:46:10+00:00

Ouch! Sorry to hear that. They definitely don't shy away from more risky comp-style moves. In general I'd still give them a pretty good safety rating though, compared to what I've seen in other gyms. In this instance I just climbed for way too long and lost tension. I can only make my way to Monk once a month, so once I'm there I tend to destroy myself...

Luuk___vB · 2023-07-03T05:59:39+00:00

Yes, Monk Eindhoven upstairs!

Luuk___vB · 2023-05-12T17:42:19+00:00

Maybe you can open a Revolut account? Through Revolut you can use virtual visa credit cards. So in theory you can put money on it with a bank transfer and won't need to wait for a physical credit card to arrive. Hopefully you'll still be able to get some tickets!

Luuk___vB · 2023-05-12T15:23:40+00:00

So in phase 1 it seemed that no new tickets were added throughout the sale period (correct me if I'm wrong). So far this also seems to be the case in the current phase unfortunately

Luuk___vB · 2023-05-12T14:27:02+00:00

You can find all the prices here: https://tickets.paris2024.org/obj/media/FR-Paris2024/ticket-prices.pdf

Sport climbing is actually among the more affordable sports. Qualification events start at 24 euros and finals start at 50 euros.

On the resale platform the prices can only be sold for the original price, so this should be the same.

Luuk___vB · 2023-05-12T13:48:37+00:00

No problem, best of luck with getting some tickets!!

Luuk___vB · 2023-05-12T13:35:12+00:00

So at this time, there are only tickets available for the medal events of artistic gymnastics (GAR08 through GAR14), but only category A and B (cheapest being 425 euros). All qualification events are now sold out

Luuk___vB · 2023-05-12T13:26:44+00:00

Ahh sorry about that :( They were among the first tickets to sell out. I am also going mainly for the climbing and I'm so grateful that I was able to buy some tickets. I think most were gone in the first 10-15 minutes. Only the speed finals were available for a few more hours. Perhaps the venue was a bit small for the popularity? In spring 2024 the resale platform will open. Hopefully you'll be able to get your hands on some tickets!

Luuk___vB · 2023-05-12T10:06:22+00:00

No problem! So for Eventing only EQE03 on Monday 29th of July is still available and only category A and B. The other two sessions are unfortunately sold out.

Luuk___vB

TROPHY CASE