Grade (climbing)

The first ascensionist can suggest a grade, but it will be amended to reflect the consensus view of subsequent ascents.

The International French Adjectival System (IFAS, e.g.TD+)–which is identical to the "UIAA Scale of Overall Difficulty" (e.g. I–VI)–is used to grade the "overall" risk and difficulty of mountain routes (with the gradient of the snow/ice fields) (e.g. the 1938 Heckmair Route on the Eiger is graded: ED2 (IFAS), VI− (UIAA), A0 (A-grade), WI4 (WI-grade), 60° slope).

The UIAA also incorporated proposals made in 1943 by Lucien Devies [fr] and the Groupe de Haute Montagne [fr] on a broader "Scale of Global Assessment" for alpine climbing (the French Alpine System), and created the "UIAA Scale of Overall Difficulty" by assigning Roman numerals I–VI to the six adjectival levels (e.g. F, PD, AD, D, TD, and ED) of the French system.

[6] Climbers use class "5" as a prefix, which is then followed by a decimal point and a number that starts at 1 and counts up with increasing difficulty (e.g. 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, etc.).

[3][4] The American YDS system is an open-ended scale, with the current hardest climb being 5.15d, established by Silence in 2017.

[4] A suffix of "PG-13" (using the American cinema classification system) denotes the climbing protection is adequate, and if properly placed a fall will be short (in practice, the "PG-13" is usually omitted as it is considered the default).

[2][3][7] The UIAA scale is also commonly found in the grading systems of alpine climbing routes, and particularly those that use the French Alpine System (e.g. PD, D, TD, ED), where the UIAA scale is often used to grade the free climbing component.

[9] As of April 2024, the highest consensus E-grade on a traditional route in Britain was on Lexicon (E11 7a) and on Rhapsody (E11 7a), which are considered equivalent to American 5.14 R or French f8b+/f8c+.

For example, the entry-level Font-grade 4 / V-grade V0 is equivalent to the free climbing grades of 6a to 6a+ (French), VI to VII− (UIAA), and 5.9 to 5.10c (American YDS), depending on what table is used.

The Font-scale has no regard to any risk and is purely focused on the technical difficulty of the movements.

[2][16] The V-grade (short for "Vermin" or "Verm", and also known as the "Hueco" scale) was first published in 1991 by American bouldering pioneer John "Verm" Sherman in his climbing guidebook, Hueco Tanks Climbing and Bouldering Guide.

[16] The V-scale is an open-ended scale that starts at V0 (although a slightly easier "VB" has been used for beginners), and increases in single-digit steps (i.e. V5, V6, V7), and was at V17 in 2023 with Burden of Dreams.

The V-scale doesn't consider risk and is purely focused on the technical difficulty of the movements.

[2][26] The grades were less concerned with the physical demands of the route (although there was some mention), and risk was only introduced later with A5.

[24][26] In the 1990s, Yosemite aid climbers created what they called a "new wave" aid grading system that expanded the range of the original UIAA system to A6 (they had already re-defined parts of the UIAA system), and introduced an intermediate "+" grade from A2 onwards for specific tricky or strenuous sections, and gave more detailed definitions at each grading level than the original A-grades.

[27][28] In Yosemite, an "F" suffix is placed after the "C" if fixed gear (e.g. bolts) is required to go clean (or hammerless).

[26] The most dominant system internationally for ice climbing is the WI-grade, while the most dominant international system for mixed climbing is the M-grade (with the Scottish Winter grade also notable given the unique nature of Scottish mixed routes).

[30][29] WI-grades try to take some account of the difficulty of placing protection on the route but, as with M-grades, are more focused on the technical and physical challenge of the route, and are thus more akin to the French and American YDS free climbing systems, although as with the American YDS system, an "R/X" suffix is sometimes used alongside the WI-grade to grade additional risks.

[30][29] The WI-grade is for "hard ice"; steep snow slopes, which are encountered frequently on alpine climbing routes, are not explicitly graded but instead, their steepest angle (approximate figure or a range) is quoted (e.g. 60–70 degree slope).

[30][32] In his 1996 book, Ice World, mixed climbing pioneer Jeff Lowe ranked his new M-grades to the level of physical exertion needed on a free rock climb; for example, Lowe estimated that M8 was equivalent to 5.12 (American YDS).

[29] Other authors have tried to align M-grades with rock climbing grades,[4][33] and now equate M8 to 5.10/5.11, however, there is some variation and no consensus that such comparisons are valid.

Mixed climbing in Scotland is known as "Scottish Winter climbing" and uses a dual-grading system – similar to the British E-grade – with a Roman numeral denoting the "overall" difficulty (e.g. technical challenge, length, and the level of boldness/physicality/stamina required).

[32] A second Arabic number grades the technical difficulty of the hardest move on the route.

[3][4][28] Later, a + (pronounced Sup for supérieur) or a − (pronounced Inf for inférieur) was used to indicate if a particular climb is at the lower or upper end of that grade (e.g., a climb slightly harder than "PD+" might be "AD−"), and the specific degree of the snow slopes was added (e.g. 60 degrees).

For example, the famous 1,800-metre 1938 Heckmair Route on the north face of the Eiger has an IFAS ED2-grade even though the rock climbing is only at UIAA VI− and the ice climbing at 60 degrees (or WI-4 grade), which is more typically associated with an IFAS D-grade; this is due to the exceptional length and serious dangers of the route.

[2][3] Some guidebooks have still attempted to list the implied rock and ice climbing grades at each IPAS level.

[27][28] The NCCS was popular for a period on American big wall climbing routes, however, advancements in techniques and the ability for climbers to complete big wall routes in hours that historically took days (or weeks), made the NCCS less useful; it is still often quoted on American big wall routes (although it is often confused as being the UIAA scale).

[4] The system was developed by Boyd N. Everett Jr. in 1966, for the particular challenges of Alaskan climbing,[2] and rarely appears outside of the region.

[27][28] A summary of the levels from Alaska: A Climbing Guide (2001) is:[27][28][36] A plus (+) may be added to indicate somewhat higher difficulty.

[28][27][40] While most systems do not perfectly align, especially at the lower (or easier) grades, above the level of circa 5.12a (American YDS), f7a+ (French), VIII+, the sport climbing becomes the dominant free-climbing format and most grades closely align;[2][3] the exception being the traditional climbing focused British E-grade system.