Help UK Indoor Climbing Grades???

Question

Can you please explain to me how the climbing grading system works.

For example is a 5a or 5c easier?

Does the number describe the difficulty of the whole climb and the letter the hardest point? Or is it something totally different?

Thank you

Answer 1

Its similar to bullet points in a document. the Number is its main grade, and the letter its subgrade i.e. a grade 5 route can be broken down into more accurate grading using lettering - 5a being the easiest, 5d being the hardes.

The higher the number and letter the harder the climb. they take into consideration the size and number of holds, plus how awkward they are to reach.

:)

Answer 2

The climb gets harder the higher the number - 1 is easier than 5. It also gets harder the higher the letter - A is easier than C.

For example, 1C is easier then 2A, which is easier then 2C etc...

Answer 3

5a is easier than a 5c, 6a is harder than 5c. The number indicates the major rating and the letters indicate additional (finer) rated difficulty. The scale is below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climbing_gr...

The rating on a route is always indicated for the "crux" - the most difficult part of the climb. There may be only one 5c move on the entire route, but it is still rated as a 5c. Sometimes they will use a one to five star rating to indicate the consistency of a climb, especially in the YDS rating system:

5.9, 1 Star - Much of the climb is easier, but there is a 5.9 move at the crux

5.9, 5 Star - Almost every move on the climb is 5.9, consistent and harder

Good Luck

Answer 4

I'm sure you'll have understood by now from the other answerers, but the letters are just to split each number into separate sub categories. There are also pluses and minuses to split even each number up, depending on which wall you go to. for instance, the most that it could go is:

3A-

3A

3A+

3B-

3B

3B+

etc. although realistically, the As Bs and Cs are only used once you get to grade 6 or so, because there isn't too much splitting up a grade 3 so much as the route-setters find them so easy. Minuses aren't used a huge amount either, so most walls would go something like:

3

4

4+

5

5+

6a

6a+

6b

6b+

6c

6c+

7a

7a+

and it is quite rare to go beyond that!

From this system it is impossible to say whether the entire climb would be at the grade stated, or whether it's really just one move. The Yosemite Decimal System that Tahoe speaks about sounds good with its star system to denote this, I didn't know that before reading this question!