Rock Climbing Grading System

Rock Climbing Grading Systems Have You Confused?

Don’t worry we are here to help you understand the rock climbing grading system.

First things first. Remember that we climb because we like to rock climb not beacuse we can climb a certain grade.

Now don’t get us wrong we love to push ourselves to reach new grades and to break past our climbing barriers/plateaus.

But and this is a big but, we first and foremost believe that you should climb for yourself. Don’t worry so much about the grades you can climb.

Just focus on having fun, learning new things, enjoying nature, pushing your limits, and creating experiences with your friends.

Ok now that that is off our chest… back to the rock climbing rating systems.

You see in rock climbing climbers give a climbing grade to a route that attempts to assess how difficult and dangerous that route is.

There are a number of factors that contribute to the difficulty of a climb.

• Technical difficulty of the moves

  
  

• Strength and stamina required

  
  

• How difficult is it to protect the climber




Rock Climbing Rating Systems USA UK Tech UK Adj French UIAA Australian 5.5 VD 5.6 4a S 5.7 4b HS 5.8 4b VS 5a 6- 16 5.9 5a HVS 5b 6 17 5.10a E1 5c 6+ 18 5.10b 5b 6a 19 5.10c E2 7- 20 5.10d 5c 6b 7 21 5.11a E3 7+ 22 5.11b 6c 23 5.11c 6a E4 8- 24 5.11d 7a 8 25 5.12a E5 8+ 26 5.12b 6b 7b 8 25 5.12c E6 9- 27 5.12d 6c 7c 9 28 5.13a E7 9+ 29 5.13b 8a 5.13c 7a 10- 30 5.13d E8 8b 10 31 5.14a 10+ 32 5.14b 7b 8c 5.14c E9 11- 33 5.14d 7c 9a 11 5.15

For bouldering the most common is John Sherman’s V-grading system and the Fontainebleau scale. I have also compared them to the U.S. decimal scale because some indoor climbing gyms use this scale for their bouldering as well as their rope climbing.

Bouldering Grading System V-Grade Fontainebleau USA V0 3 5.10a V1 4-/4+ 5.10c V2 5-/5/5+ 5.11a V3 6a/6b 5.11b V4 6c/6c+ 5.11c/d V5 7a 5.12a V6 7a+ 5.12c V7 7b 5.12d/13a V8 7b+ 5.13b V9 7c 5.13c V10 7c+ 5.14a V11 8a 5.14b V12 8a+ 5.14c V13 8b 5.14d V14 8b+ 5.15 V15 8c 5.15a V16




It should be noted that all grading systems are not exact and are open to interpretation. Always use caution and when climbing in a new area. It is best to start with a few routes below your usual climbing ability. This will allow you to get a feel for that area so that you can judge what routes to climb.