climbing grades.

Free Climbing

Origin of Climbing Grades

Ewbank system – Australian System

The Ewbank system, used in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, was developed in the mid 1960s by John Ewbank. (Ewbank also developed an open ended “M” system for aid climbing.) The numerical Ewbank system is open-ended, starting from 1, which you can (at least in theory) walk up, up to 34 (as of 2004).
While the Ewbank system was originally intended to simply grade the hardest individual move on a climb, the current practice is to take all factors into account, and the grade in modern Australian and New Zealand guidebooks makes no attempt to distinguish between different types of difficulty - strenuousness, exposure, technical difficulty, protection - simply to grade a climb as an overall experience. Thus a poorly protected and strenuous but technically easy climb with no move harder than about 14 might be graded 17, while another climb that is well-protected and offers good rests but has a couple of very difficult moves around 19 or 20 might also be a 17. The common factor is that, to safely lead either climb, you need a certain level of competence. Thus, the Ewbank system is not applied consistently through Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, i.e., a South African 17 is not equivalent to an Australian 17.

Yosemite Decimal System – American System

The Yosemite Decimal System originated in the USA and quickly spread to Canada and the rest of the Americas.
The system consists of five classes. Class 1 is walking with a very low chance of injury and a falls not fatal. Classes 2 and 3 are steeper scrambling with increased exposure and a greater chance of severe injury but falls are not always fatal. Class 4 can involve short steep sections where the use of a rope is recommended and un-roped falls could be fatal. Class 5 is considered true rock climbing and is predominantly on vertical or near vertical rock and requires skill and a rope to proceed safely. Un-roped falls will result in severe injuries or fatalities.
In theory grade 6 exists and would be used to grade aid climbing where progress is made by climbing directly on equipment placed in or on the rock and not the rock itself. However, the A (aid) rating system is used instead. (see Aid Climbing)

The original intention was that the classes would be further subdivided decimally, so that a route graded 4.5 would be a scramble halfway between 4 and 5, and 5.10 would be the hardest rock climbs. However, increasing standards have meant that climbs graded 5.10 in the 1960s are now only of medium difficulty, so rather than regrade all climbs each time standards improve, Letters were introduced for climbs above 5.10. Grades at 5.10 and above would be further subdivided by adding a letter "a" (easiest), "b", "c" or "d" (hardest) the difference between letter grades is the same as the difference between number grades that are below 5.10. For example: Going from a 5.12a to a 5.12b is just a difficult as going from a 5.7 to a 5.8.

Initially, the consensus was that a climb's difficulty should not progress beyond 5.10. Once 5.10d was reached, however, 5.11 was added because continuation of letter grades seemed impractical. A formula was established that each subsequent number grade would also use the letter grade; for example, 5.11a, 5.11b. 5.11c, 5.11d, 5.12a, 5.12b…

As of 2004, it is generally accepted that the hardest currently climbable routes are at grade 5.15a.
The Yosemite system considers only the technical difficulty of the climb from the point of view physical requirements as well as the complexity of the move itself. The grade is based on the hardest or most difficult move on the route. For example a route that consisted mainly of 5.7 moves but has one 5.12a move would be graded 5.12a. A climb of continuous 5.11b move would in the true sense of the system be 5.11b. As well a 5.10a slab route, 5.10a face climbing route and 5.10a overhanging route should all have the same degree of technical difficulty.

However the grading system has evolved over the years to incorporate how sustained or strenuous a climb is. The above example of a climb of consisting of continuous 5.11b moves would in all likelihood be graded harder than 5.11b to take into consideration the strenuousness of performing move after move of 5.11b. The end result is specific climbing areas tend to adjust the grading system to take into account the nature of the area often using benchmark or reference climbs to compare new routes. Climbers often find ratings will vary plus or minus 1 to 2 grades from area to area.

The rating system does not rate the nature or difficulty of the protection available on the climb nor the frequency or difficulty of clipping pre-placed protection such as bolts or pitons. Some guidebooks add symbols such as G, PG, R, and X:

• G - Good, solid protection ground up
• PG - Pretty good, few sections of poor or non-existent placements
• R - Runout, some protection placements may be very far apart
• X - No protection, extremely dangerous.

British grading system

The British grading system for traditional climbs has (in theory) two parts: the adjectival grade and the technical grade. (Sport climbing in Britain uses the French grading system, often prefixed with the letter "F".)
The adjectival grade attempts to assess the overall difficulty of the climb taking into account all factors, for a climber leading the route on sight in traditional style. In the early 20th century it ran Easy, Moderate, Difficult, but increasing standards have several times lead to extra grades being added at the top. The adjectival grades are as follows:

• Easy (rarely used)
• Moderate (M)
• Difficult (D, or 'Diff')
• Very Difficult (VD, or 'VDiff')
• Severe (S)
• Hard Severe(HS)
• Very Severe (VS)
• Hard Very Severe (HVS)
• Extremely Severe (XS or E1, E2, E3, ...)

The Extremely Severe grade is subdivided in an open-ended fashion into E1 (easiest) then E2, E3 and so on. As of 2004 the hardest climbs are graded E10, but many climbers consider such high grades provisional as the climbs have not yet been climbed by anyone on sight. As of 2004, the hardest confirmed grade is E8.
Some guidebooks make finer distinctions by adding the prefix "Mild" or "Hard" (thus, Hard Very Difficult and Mild Severe lie between Very Difficult and Severe).

The technical grade attempts to assess only the technical climbing difficulty of the hardest move or moves on the route without regard to the danger of the move or the stamina required if there are several such moves in a row. Technical grades are open-ended, starting at 1 and subdivided into "a", "b" and "c", but you are unlikely to see any mention of them below 4a. As of 2004, the hardest climbs are around 7b.

Usually the technical grade increases with the adjectival grade but a hard technical move very near the ground (that is, notionally safe) may not raise the standard of the adjectival grade very much. VS 4c might be a typical grade for a route. VS 4a would usually indicate very poor protection (easy moves, but no gear), VS 5b would usually indicate the crux move was the first move or very well protected. On multi-pitch routes it is usual to give the overall climb an adjectival grade and each pitch a separate technical grade (such as HS 4b, 4a).

UIAA

The UIAA grading system is an ill-fated attempt at international standardization. It is used mostly in Western Germany and Austria and also Switzerland (mostly for alpine routes; the French grading system is more typical for sport climbing). Using Roman numerals, it was originally intended to run from I (easiest) to X (hardest), but as with all other grading systems, improvements to climbing standards have led to the system being open-ended. An optional + or - may be used to further differentiate difficulty. As of 2004, the hardest climbs are XII-.

Ice climbing

Ice climbing has a number of grading systems. The WI numeric scale measures the difficulty of routes on water ice; the M scale measures the difficulty of mixed climbs combining ice and rock. The WI scale currently spans grades from 1-7, and M climbs have recently surfaced graded M14.

Mountaineering

Alpine mountaireering routes are usually graded based on all of their different aspects, as they can be very diverse. Thus, a mountain route may be graded 5.6 (rock difficulty), A2 (Aid Difficulty), WI3 (Ice climbing difficulty), M5 (Mixed climbing difficulty), 70 degrees (Steepness), 4000ft. (Length), VI (commitment level), and many other factors.

There are different systems in the mountains around the world, one of them being the Alaskan grading system. Climbs range from grade 1-6, and factor in difficulty, length, and commitment. The hardest, longest routes are Alaskan grade 6.

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