How to do a VARP review

You must have already asked yourself how we create VARP reviews, what are our criteria and processes. Although they may sometimes seem subjective, don't worry, there is logic behind each review and the criteria we set. We try to approach the review with a strict perspective and go to it at least once every six months, so that we know whether some points from our assessment have changed. It is necessary to point out that we visit every reviewed wall regularly, spending long hours on it, not only on boulders but also on ropes.

The final score can always be easily read from the wall's point rating. To allocate points, we use 8 predefined categories, the sum of which can reach 100 points.

Boulder

Boulder is a certain foundation of every good wall. The gap in the final score can be up to 20 points. The most important question for us is the number of climbing profiles, the quality of the routes, the cleanliness of the holds, the safety of the climbing, the accuracy of the difficulty and, finally, the feeling of the boulder itself. We are looking for 4 profiles – slab, vertical, ceiling and overhang. The quality of the routes means the impression of climbing, the style (technical or strength), the possibility to "bypass the beta", the space given to the boulder and so on are important. Cleanliness is measured mainly on holds, steps and with the help of dustiness of the air in the space. After all, we all know the very unpleasant feeling of greasy grips and slippery steps. Safety is then determined at the landing site. We find out whether it covers a sufficient area, another criterion is the possibility of finding extra mats and spaciousness.

Climbing profiles	Slab, vertical, overhang, ceiling	4 Points
Road quality	"Beta", grips, height differences, technique vs strength, creativity	5 Points
Assessment of problems	Fit rating, recognizable, accurate	3 Points
Purity	Catches, steps, air, everything around	3 Points
Safety	Landing pad, mats, firm holds, clarity, place	5 Points

Rope

The rope is the second attraction of every climbing center. When evaluating, we use the same criteria as for the already mentioned boulder. Evaluating sports routes usually takes us a long time, after all it takes a while to climb hafo routes on a rope. On the rope, we usually look for a textured wall (ala rock) and joint. We love to see properly graded routes in all styles, including beginner-friendly top rope and self-winding. During the evaluation, we place considerable emphasis on safety, the quality of the express trains, their wear and tear, and also on the landing site. If it is softened, whether or not it has extra mats and so on. The maximum possible points is again 20.

Climbing profiles	Slab, vertical, overhang, joint, "rock"	4 Points
Road quality	"Beta", grips, technique vs strength, creativity	5 Points
Assessment of problems	Fit rating, recognizable, accurate	3 Points
Purity	Catches, steps, air, everything around	3 Points
Safety	Landing area, belaying, visibility, place, abseiling	5 Points

Personnel

In our reviews, we also take into account the attitude of the staff, we consider it one of the important parts of the artificial wall experience. We know what it's like to go somewhere that looks like a tongue in a shoe. It should be mentioned that on the largest walls in Prague - BigWall, Hudy, Ruzyna and OFF  – the staff is always practically perfect. You may ask why we haven't given 10/10 to the staff anywhere yet? Because everywhere we've been so far is really pleasant. But we reserve 10/10 for that one "WOW" moment, which is bound to happen sooner or later.

Prices

Unfortunately, the price category is a bit subjective. What do we like to see? A clearly understandable price list that we don't have to figure out. Prices that are not subject to arrival time and correspond to what we find on the wall. We take into account the Multisport card, ZTP, student discounts, children and whether everything is updated and searchable on the wall's website. At the same time, we also take into account the possibility of payment by card, the deposit system and, above all, whether the own price list is followed!

Purity

As you can probably read from the previous text, cleanliness plays a role. The question is the greasiness of holds and steps, the availability of brushes, the dirtiness of the ground, mats and the concentration of the mage in the air are all points we look at. At the same time, the cleanliness of the toilets and showers, changing rooms, bar and sitting area also figure here. The cleanliness of the sinks and the availability of soap, toiletries, etc. is very important to us (especially those with glasses and contact lenses)!

Boulder	Catches, air, ground	3 Points
Rope	Catches, ropes, ground	3 Points
Background	in general	1 Point
WC/Showers	Toilets, showers, everything around	3 Points

Background

We see the background as one of the things that most people don't notice until something is missing. For the VARP review, we are mainly concerned with things for exercise and everything related to fitness training for climbing. Campus, hangboards, spray wall, bars and a place to warm up are popular with us. In addition, it is about the presence / easy finding of showers and toilets, changing room facilities and then the bar and things available on it. When we can simply buy an espresso and a baguette and warm up on the trapeze or campus, we are satisfied.

Trapeze	Yes No	1 Point
Campus	Yes No	1 Point
Spray wall	Yes No	1 Point
Hangboard	Yes No	1 Point
"Reheater"	Yes No	1 Point
WC	Do they exist?	1 Points
Locker rooms	How are they doing?	2 Point
Bar	Food Drink	2 Points

Availability for children

As far as accessibility for children is concerned, we are not yet very proficient, as we do not have any. But we are thinking of you who do. What are we looking for here when we solve it for the review? If the children have somewhere to "sew" when they are not climbing. If they have something to climb, not only on a rope but also on a boulder. Is the hall safe for them, or if they don't have a section specifically for themselves. For the last time, we find out if parents have anything to do while they are waiting for their little ones.

Availability of public transport

The last criterion we look at in the VARP review is availability. It's more than great if we don't have to change trains 14 times and then walk 2 km. Chasing us outside is a prerogative that only nature has. It's quite simple for the walls. There are points for each connection and type of connection, up to a total of 10. Train, metro, tram and bus are what we are looking for. We also take into account whether the place can be reached on foot or by bicycle. In short, the rule here is that the more, the better.

A little bit of humanity

However, our reviews are not just the result of tables and adding up points. We are human and we try to approach it as best we can. That's why we always keep a certain "wiggle room" for our personal impressions and feelings. This is also the reason why we visit the walls in more people and at least 3 times before we write a review. It is important for us to climb properly, chat with climbers, try bouldering and rope, have something to eat and have a good chat about the hall. At the same time, we don't always have a good day and climbing goes well. For this reason, we include this "human element" in the review. Each of us prefers something different and it would be barbaric to claim that our opinion is the best. So don't be shy and write to us if you don't agree with us. We'd love to hear your arguments, and even better, we'll climb the wall with you to see exactly what you're talking about!

So contact us on Facebook, IG or email. They are connected here or you can go through IG below. 🙂

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