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80-472: Many climbing routes have a grade that reflects the technical difficulty—and in some cases the risks and commitment level—of the route. The first ascensionist can suggest a grade, but it will be amended to reflect the consensus view of subsequent ascents. While many countries with a strong tradition of climbing developed grading systems, a small number of grading systems have become internationally dominant for each type of climbing, which has contributed to

160-527: 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.). At 5.10, the system adds the letters "a", "b", "c", and "d" as further refinements between levels, and the scale continues upward (e.g. 5.10a, 5.10b, 5.10c, 5.10d, 5.11a, 5.11b, etc.,). The American YDS system is the dominant system in North America, and it and the French numerical system are

240-623: A mountain peak is often called the normal route ( French : voie normale ; German : Normalweg ) in mountaineering. Traditionally, in many countries, the person who made the first ascent of a route was allowed to name it (in France, the naming rights go to whoever first bolted the route); this concept of "naming ownership" by the first ascensionist led to inertia with regard to the changing of problematic names including route names that were vulgar or had racial, sexual, colonial, discriminatory or other, slurs, tropes or stereotyping. In 2020,

320-673: A " chop route "). American big wall climbing routes will often include the NCCS grade (Levels I–VII) with the YDS grade (e.g. the Salathé Wall at 5.13b VI). The UIAA scale (or UIAA Scale of Difficulty) for free climbing was developed from the original "Welzenbach scale" in 1967 and uses the Roman numerals of that scale with "+" and "−" symbols for refinement between numerals after Grade III (i.e. III, IV−, IV, IV+, V−, V, V+ etc.,). Initially,

400-547: A "+" and "−" to refine each level. 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

480-513: A boulder route (e.g. the SDS of Dreamtime is graded well above the standing start version). Alpine and big wall climbers often seek to link established routes together in a larger enchainment (or "link-up") route (e.g. the notable Moonwalk Traverse of the entire Cerro Chaltén Group in Patagonia ). The straightforward and frequently used (and usually easiest and often the original) route up

560-456: A climbing route has been established, variations may be added, a typical one being a more "direct" line (e.g. a direct start or direct finish) of the original route, also called a direttissima in alpine climbing, and thus not avoiding the difficult obstacles that the original route went around (e.g. a roof or an overhang, or a section with minimal holds). Boulder climbers might add a harder sit start "SS" (or sit-down-start, "SDS") variation to

640-410: A falling bodyweight) versus "bombproof placements" on a given pitch. 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. 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

720-404: A long-term debate in the climbing world on the use of permanently fixed in-situ climbing protection (e.g. such as bolts or pitons ) on climbing routes. Such protection is not to provide aid (i.e. it is not aid-climbing per se), but to increase the safety of the route. Climbers call routes that have such protection, " sport climbing routes " (i.e. there is no risk, so it is purely a sport). In

800-528: A range) is quoted (e.g. 60–70 degree slope). WI-grade is for "seasonal" hard ice; an AI prefix is used instead for "alpine ice", which is year-round and usually firmer, more stable, making AI-grade routes slightly easier than WI routes. In 2010, ice climbers began to put up new ice routes at Helmcken Falls in Canada that had unique characteristics. Unlike the sheerest WI7 ice routes, these routes were significantly overhanging like extreme M-graded routes. This

880-627: A route (or make a route more climbable), by cutting or expanding handholds, which is also known as chipping . Such acts have at times caused controversy (e.g. Fred Rouhling 's Akira and Hugh ), but at other times has not (e.g. Antoine Le Menestrel  [ fr ] 's famous Buoux route, La Rose et la Vampire ). A 2022 survey by Climbing showed climbers were largely against manufacturing routes on natural outdoor rock on public lands, but were less negative on private lands (or on routes in quarries); they were willing to allow "cleaning" of routes (which some consider manufacturing), and also

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960-455: A route is established, variations can be created (e.g. directessimas , sit starts , or enchainments ), and climbers will try to improve the "style" in which the route is climbed (e.g. minimizing aid climbing or other supports such as oxygen or fixed ropes ). Some climbers limit the in-situ protection (e.g. greenpointing ), or even free solo the route. Others seek to set speed climbing records on routes. The ascent of ever-harder routes

1040-546: A route. It is not uncommon for a new A5 route in Yosemite to become a "beaten-out A3+ route" due to the effect of repeated hammering of cracks (which widens them), and to the build-up of permanent in-situ aid climbing equipment. The original "UIAA Scale of Difficulty in Aided Climbing" system went from A0 to A5 and focused on the number and quality of "bodyweight placements" (i.e. can only take static bodyweight and not

1120-457: 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. The V-scale is the dominant scale in North America, and it and the Font scale are the most dominant systems worldwide; beyond the easiest grades,

1200-460: A very similar format to the French sport grade , being an Arabic number that starts at 4 and uses the additional "a", "b", and "c" symbols for refinement between the numbers (unlike the French grades, it does not also use the "+" refinement, and simply goes: 4a, 4b, 4c, 5a, 5b, 5c, 6a, ... etc.,). British climbers use the prefix "f" to distinguish French sport-grades from British technical grades, which

1280-515: Is Adam Ondra describing his 2017 redpoint of Silence , the first-ever free climb in the world to carry a grade of 9c (French), 5.15d (American), XII+ (UIAA): The climb is about 45m long, the first 20m are about 8b [French sport] climbing with a couple of really really good knee-bars. Then comes the crux boulder problem, 10 moves of 8C [French boulder]. And when I say 8C boulder problem, I really mean it. ... I reckon just linking 8C [French boulder] into 8B [French boulder] into 7C [French boulder]

1360-402: Is a 9b+ [French] sport climb, I'm pretty sure about that. In addition, boulder routes that connected various boulder problems into a single longer bouldering route have been graded as if they were sport climbs. A notable example is the 2004 boulder route The Wheel of Life , which is graded V15  (8C) as a boulder route, but also f9a (5.14d) as a sport climbing route. The Font-grade (from

1440-502: Is an integral key part of the history of climbing, and each type of climbing has notable routes that set major new milestones . There are ongoing debates amongst climbers about routes including the naming of routes, the creation of new routes by artificially altering the surface (e.g. chipping in rock climbing), the role of completely artificial indoor routes (e.g. The Project ), the level and maintenance of in-situ protection on routes (e.g. providing permanent bolted protection anchors) and

1520-423: Is closer to f7c). 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 . Legend is that his publisher would not print the book without some kind of rating of his 900 routes. The V-scale is an open-ended scale that starts at V0 (although

1600-505: Is important as they are not equivalent (e.g. British 5c is f6b+). The secret to understanding the British E-grade system is the relationship between the two grades. For each adjectival grade there is a typical technical grade for a standard route. For example, E4 is often associated with 6a, so E4 6a means the route has a normal level of risk and other related factors for its technical level of 6a. However, E5 6a would imply that

1680-639: Is increasingly common to use a D-grade to indicate dry-tooling . Some M-graded routes in "dry" areas (i.e. places like the American Rockies, but not Scotland), are more of a combination of a WI-graded ice route with a D-graded dry-tooling route. The most dominant ice climbing system is the WI (for "water ice") grading system. WI-grades broadly equate to the mixed climbing M-grades from WI1 up to WI6/WI7, but after M6/M7, mixed climbs become overhanging, which ice does not. WI-grades try to take some account of

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1760-471: 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). A second Arabic number grades the technical difficulty of the hardest move on the route. A climb graded (VI, 6) means the difficulty of the hardest move

1840-474: Is no allowance for any risks in the route, and thus the French system is more closely aligned with sport climbing (i.e. where pre-bolted protection removes some risk). It is less common to find traditional climbing routes graded by the French system, and thus it is also called the French sport grade . To avoid confusion between French grades and the British E-grades, a lowercase "f" (for French)

1920-622: Is placed after the "C" if fixed gear (e.g. bolts) is required to go clean (or hammerless). 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). Where a route has no ice, and not even the "thin ice coating" common on Scottish Winter routes, it

2000-522: Is similar to an M6; but that an onsight of a Scottish VIII, 8 using traditional climbing protection, would be similar in difficulty to a bolted sport climbing M8. The most important grading system in mountaineering is the International French Adjectival System (IFAS) (or French Alpine System, FAS), which is also effectively the "UIAA Scale of Overall Difficulty" (they are the same, only differing in labels), and which

2080-552: Is some variation and no consensus that such comparisons are valid. When mixed climbing is done as pure dry-tooling , which is ice climbing on bare rock with no ice section, the M-grade is usually replaced by a "D" grade prefix (but all other aspects of the two systems are identical). The most extreme dry-tooling route in 2023 is Parallel World (D16) in the "Tomorrow's World Cave" in the Dolomites . Mixed climbing in Scotland

2160-417: Is sometimes called projecting a route (i.e. the route becomes a "project"). When a climber does climb the route on their first attempt without any falls and without any prior knowledge of how to climb the route (which is called beta ), it is known as an onsight ; where the climber had prior beta on the route, it is known as a flash . Alpine climbers distinguish whether the ascent was made in summer or in

2240-415: Is standard for the overall grade, whereas a climb graded (VI, 8) denotes the hardest move is above the overall grade. This dual grade is needed as Scottish winter climbs use traditional climbing protection, placing greater strains on the climber. British climber Ian Parnell wrote in his guide to Scottish winter climbing that Scottish grades are almost two levels above M-grades, and thus a Scottish (VIII, 8)

2320-462: Is still common (e.g. The Nose on El Capitan is graded '5.9 (American) C2 (aid)' with aid, but an extremely difficult '5.14a (American)' without any aid; guidebooks will mark such routes as '5.9 & C2 (5.14a)', with the no-aid/fully free option in brackets. The grade of an aid climbing route can change materially over time due to improvements in aid equipment but also due to the impact of repeated ascents that subsequent aid climbing teams make to

2400-533: Is the dominant system in Europe, and it and the American YDS system are the most dominant systems worldwide; beyond the easiest grades, the two systems can be almost exactly aligned in comparison tables . The French system is an open-ended scale that was at 9c in 2023 with Silence . The system is only focused on the technical demands of the hardest movement on the route. Unlike the American YDS system, there

2480-495: Is the main focus of the lower-risk activity of sport climbing . The American system adds an R/X suffix to traditional climbing routes to reflect the additional risks of climbing protection . Notable traditional climbing systems include the British E-grade system (e.g. E4 6a). In bouldering (i.e. rock climbing on short routes), the most widely used systems are the American V-scale (or "Hueco") system (e.g. V14), and

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2560-449: Is used as a prefix (e.g. f6a+); this should not be confused with the use of the capitalized "F" or "fb" prefix in Font boulder grades . The American YDS (or 'Yosemite Decimal System') was developed independently by climbers at Tahquitz Peak who adapted the class 5 rating of Sierra Club Class 1–5 system in the 1950s. As a result, the system has a "5" as its prefix which is then followed by

2640-401: Is used in all forms of alpine climbing around the world. Climbing route There are definitions as to what is a valid ascent of a route (e.g. the redpoint in rock climbing), and the class or style of ascent (e.g. onsighted , flashed ). The coveted first ascent (FA), first free ascent (FFA), and first female free ascent (FFFA), are usually recorded for important routes. After

2720-649: The American YDS system (which has the R/X labels for traditional climbing routes), never came into wider use for traditional climbing outside of Britain. Within Britain, the French sport grade is more popular for British bolted sport climbing routes. 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+. Outside of Britain,

2800-601: The French Alpine System (e.g. PD, D, TD, ED), where the UIAA scale is often used to grade the free climbing component. The most complex grading system is the British E-grade system (or British trad grade ), which uses two separate open-ended grades for each route. This structure is particularly adapted to traditional climbing routes (which are more common in Britain), but it is still considered complex and unlike

2880-474: The highest consensus E-grade was Bon Voyage in Annot, France at E12, or 5.14d / 9a. The first grade is an "adjectival grade" that covers the overall difficulty of the route and takes into account the: "seriousness, sustainedness, technical difficulty, exposure, strenuousness, rock quality, and any other less tangible aspects which lend difficulty to a pitch". This adjectival grade uses the labels (starting from

2960-417: The " Fontainebleau climbing area ") is one of the oldest boulder grading systems whose origins can be traced back to at least 1960 with Michel Libert's L'Abbatoir at Fontainebleau. The Font-scale is an open-ended scale that starts at 1 and increases in single-digit steps but uses a "+" for additional refinement between steps; from grade 6 it introduces a capitalized "A", "B" and "C" for further refinement, and

3040-599: The "French numerical system" and the "American YDS system". The "UIAA scale" is still popular in Germany and across parts of Central Europe. Many countries with a history of free climbing have also developed their own free climbing grading systems including the British E-grade system and the Australia/New Zealand "Ewbank" system. The evolution of grade milestones in traditional climbing, and latterly sport climbing (as it took over from traditional climbing as

3120-459: The 1980s and 1990s in the US, this debate became so heated that it was known as the "bolt wars", with climbers bolt chopping (i.e. removing in-situ protection) on routes they considered to be traditional-only routes (i.e. no in-situ protection). While all indoor climbing routes are bolted sport routes, the use of bolts in the outdoor natural environment raised environmental considerations, which led to

3200-494: The D-grade prefix (e.g. D8 instead of M8). In mountaineering and alpine climbing , the greater complexity of routes requires several grades to reflect the difficulties of the various rock, ice, and mixed climbing challenges. 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

3280-432: The French "Font" system (e.g. 8C+). The Font system often attaches an "F" prefix to further distinguish it from French sport climbing grades, which itself uses an "f" prefix (e.g. F8C+ vs. f8c+). It is increasingly common for sport climbing rock routes to describe their hardest technical movements in terms of their boulder grade (e.g. an f7a sport climbing route being described as having a V6 crux ). In aid climbing (i.e.

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3360-605: The French Font-grade and the American V-grade systems. Beyond the easiest grades, the two systems can be almost exactly aligned in comparison tables . For people who have little experience with outdoor climbing, it is also noted that boulder grades on indoor climbing walls tend to feel softer than the equivalent outdoor grades up until about V10 / Font 7C+ (since people climbing at that level generally have plenty of outdoor experience). As of September 2023,

3440-483: The French system. The UIAA also incorporated a "Scale of Difficulty in Aided Climbing" for aid routes with the levels: A1, A2, A3, A4, and (later) A5. In 1978, the UIAA added the VII (seventh grade) to its "UIAA scale", implying that the scale was open-ended, a concept formally adopted in 1985. By the 1980s, French guides had customized the "UIAA scale" beyond V+ with the letters "a", "b", and c" (e.g. V+, VIa, VIb, etc.). At

3520-435: The UIAA scale was closed-ended and went from Grade I (easiest) up to Grade VI (hardest), where it stopped. In 1978, the "seventh grade" was added—though climbers had been climbing at that level for years—and by 1985 it was formally made into an open-ended scale that went beyond Grade VII. The UIAA scale is closely aligned with the French system up to Grade V+, which is French grade 6a, but thereafter begins to diverge, although

3600-416: 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. When the original or the "new wave" aid climbs can be ascended without the use of a hammer (for pitons or copperheads), the "A" suffix is replaced by a "C" to denote "clean climbing". In Yosemite, an "F" suffix

3680-419: The aim of creating the world's hardest sport climbing route at circa. 5.15d  (9c); it was later deconstructed having never been fully ascended, despite attempts by some of the world's best climbers, including Adam Ondra , Stefano Ghisolfi , and Alex Megos . Since then, other "Project-type" routes have been created on other climbing walls, with the goal of being the world's hardest route. There has been

3760-426: The best publishing practices to avoid harm caused by discriminatory or oppressive route names". Many climbing guidebook publishers and route databases introduced policies to redact inappropriate route names, including the largest online databases, theCrag.com , and MountainProject.com (who had redacted 6,000 names in the first year). Some climbers have physically altered the natural rock surface to "construct"

3840-474: The climbing community more directly confronted the issue of problematic names. In June 2020, climbing author Andrew Bisharat wrote in Rock & Ice that "routes belong to us all. That should include their names" in regard to changing problematic names. At the same time, Duane Raleigh, the editor of Rock & Ice , stepped down from his post recognizing some problematic names that he had given his own routes in

3920-462: The development of the clean climbing movement. Other objections to pre-bolted protection highlighted the effect that such protection had on the very nature and challenge of a climbing route. In 1971, Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner wrote a famous essay called The Murder of the Impossible (which was believed to have been inspired by the 400-bolt Compressor Route ), challenging that

4000-550: 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. 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

4080-496: The easiest and level I the hardest; as more difficult climbs were made, the grades of level 0 and level 00 were added. In 1923, German mountaineer Willo Welzenbach  [ de ] compressed the scale and reversed the order so level 00 became level IV–V, and it became popular in the Alps. In 1967, the "Welzenbach scale" formally became the "UIAA scale" for rock climbing (or "UIAA Scale of Difficulty") with Roman numerals I–VI, and

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4160-408: The easiest): M (moderate), D (difficult), VD (very difficult), HVD (hard very difficult), S (severe), HS (hard severe), VS (very severe), and HVS (hard very severe). After HVS, the label switches to E (extreme), but then rises as E1, E2, E3, E4, ... etc., in an open-ended scale. The second grade is a "technical grade" that focuses on the hardest technical movement on the route. This technical grade has

4240-458: The end of the 1980s, French climbing guidebook author Francois Labande  [ fr ] published the "French numerical scale", which replaced the UIAA Roman numerals with Arabic numerals, and where French 6a equaled UIAA VI+. The two scales were summarised as "Plaisir Grades" and aligned in a UIAA table where French grades 1–6a aligned with "UIAA scale" grades I–VI+; beyond that level,

4320-432: 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. This confusion is amplified by the tendency for modern sport-climbers to describe the crux moves on their routes in terms of their bouldering grades – their routes are effectively a series of connected boulder problems. For example, here

4400-573: The ethical issue of retro-bolting (e.g. turning traditional climbing routes into safer sport climbing bolted routes). Climbing routes are usually chronicled in a climbing guidebook , a climbing journal (e.g. the American Alpine Journal or the Himalayan Journal ), and/or in an online route database (e.g. theCrag.com or MountainProject.com ), where the key details of the route are listed, which generally include

4480-409: The following: Climbers will often differentiate climbing routes by the general types of challenges they present. Four of the main types of challenges are: The definition of what is classed as a valid ascent of a climbing route is a redpoint . Many routes may not be climbed on the first attempt, and will require days (and in some cases, years) of attempts; when a climber undertakes such a task, it

4560-428: The grade. In ice climbing , the most widely used grading system is the WI ("water ice") system (e.g. WI6) and the identical AI ("alpine ice") system (e.g. AI6). The related sport of mixed climbing (i.e. ice and dry-tool climbing) uses the M-grade system (e.g. M8), with other notable mixed grading systems including the Scottish Winter system (e.g. Grade VII). Pure dry-tooling routes (i.e. ice tools with no ice) use

4640-622: 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 related "commitment grade" systems include the notable American National Climbing Classification System (e.g. I–VI). In 1894, the Austrian mountaineer Fritz Benesch  [ de ] introduced the first known climbing grading system, which he introduced to rock climbing. The "Benesch scale" had seven levels of difficulty, with level VII

4720-572: The hardest bouldering route in the world is Burden of Dreams in Lappnor in Finland, which is graded 9A (Font) and V17 (V-grade/Hueco), and was the first-ever boulder to reach those grades. The Font-grade system is easily confused with the French sport grade and the British E-grade systems as they use similar symbols, however, boulder grades are very different from free climbing grades and they start at much harder technical levels. For example,

4800-426: The ice climbing WI grades, up to M6, but they then diverge as mixed routes can become very overhanging and eventually turn into roofs (ice is not normally overhanging, aside from Helmecken Falls routes). M-grades do not take into account the "danger" of the route (i.e. how good is the protection in the event of a fall) as they are mostly pre-bolted routes; they, therefore, focus on the technical and physical challenge of

4880-586: The level and quality of the climbing protection is assessed. 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). A suffix of " R " is added where protection is inadequate and any fall could risk serious injury, and " X " for routes with little or no protection and where any fall could be very long and potentially fatal (i.e. also known as

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4960-625: The main focus of the leading free climbers), is an important part of the history of rock climbing . As of September 2023, the hardest free climb in the world is the sport climbing route Silence which is in the Hanshelleren Cave , in Flatanger Municipality , Norway; the severely overhanging Silence is graded 9c (French), 5.15d (American YDS), and XII+ (UIAA), and is the first-ever climb to have those grades in history. The French numerical system for free climbing

5040-480: The more difficult winter season (e.g. it was not until 2021 that K2 was climbed in winter). Climbers will also seek to improve the "style" in which a route is climbed. A route that uses a lot of aid climbing will be reclimbed with less and less aid until it is eventually " free climbed " (i.e. using no aid, either as a sport or a traditional climb). Greenpointing refers to the process of even removing any existing in-situ sport climbing protection bolts to ascend

5120-401: The most dominant systems worldwide; beyond the easiest grades, they can be exactly aligned . The American YDS system is an open-ended scale that was at 5.15d in 2023 with Silence . Like the French system, the numerical component of the American YDS system is focused on the hardest move on the route. In 1980, Jim Erickson introduced an additional rating for traditional climbing routes where

5200-608: The opposite of free climbing), the most widely used system is the A-grade system (e.g. A3+), which was recalibrated in the 1990s as the "new wave" system from the legacy A-grade system. For "clean aid climbing" (i.e. aid climbing equipment is used but only where the equipment is temporary and not permanently hammered into the rock), the most common system is the C-system (e.g. C3+). Aid climbing grades take time to stabilize as successive repeats of aid climbing routes can materially reduce

5280-472: The past. The debate intensified, reaching national media attention in countries around the world, and was described as climbing's "#MeToo" moment. In 2021, the American Alpine Club created the "Climb United" initiative to bring magazine editors, guidebook publishers and database managers, and other climbing community leaders together to create principles for naming routes that would "Build

5360-459: The repairing of routes (e.g. gluing back broken holds). In contrast, indoor climbing is done on completely artificially manufactured sport climbing routes on climbing walls , as is competition climbing where a route setter manufactures a completely new route for each stage of the competition. In 2017, Black Diamond Equipment launched "The Project" on an indoor climbing wall in Sweden, with

5440-491: The risk is higher (i.e. closer to an American YDS "R"), while E6 6a would imply a very significant risk (i.e. like the American YDS R/X), and a rare E7 6a would be effectively no protection (i.e. a full American YDS "X", or essentially a free solo route). Similarly, E3 6a implies a well-protected route, while E2 or E1 6a would imply easily available bomb-proof protection. The two main boulder grading systems are

5520-430: The route as a cleaner traditional climb. Alpine climbers seek to complete established high-altitude " expedition style " routes in alpine style with no supplemental oxygen or any fixed ropes , and even alone . Free solo climbers seek to ascend a route with no protection equipment whatsoever (e.g. as in the 2018 film, Free Solo ). Some big wall climbers set speed records on routes (e.g. The Nose ). When

5600-567: The route, and is thus more akin to the French and American free climbing rock grades, although as with the American system, the " R/X " suffix is used for danger. 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). Other authors have tried to align M-grades with rock climbing grades, and now equate M8 to 5.10/5.11, however, there

5680-509: The six adjectival grades of the French Alpine System (to avoid confusion with the "UIAA scale") and dominated alpine climbing grading, while the UIAA "Scale of Difficulty in Aided Climbing" – amended and expanded in Yosemite in the 1990s as "new-wave" grades – dominated aid grading. The two main free climbing grading systems (which include the two main free climbing disciplines of sport climbing and traditional climbing ) are

5760-467: The standardization of grades worldwide. Over the years, grades have consistently risen in all forms of climbing, helped by improvements in climbing technique and equipment . In free climbing (i.e. climbing rock routes with no aid), the most widely used grading systems are the French numerical or sport system (e.g. f7c+), the American YDS system (e.g. 5.13a), and latterly the UIAA scale (e.g. IX+). These systems are focused on technical difficulty, which

5840-418: The two can be reasonably aligned in comparison tables . The UIAA scale was at XII+ in 2023 with Silence , which is French 9c. While the French system became the dominant scale in Europe, the UIAA scale is still popular in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. The UIAA scale is also commonly found in the grading systems of alpine climbing routes, and particularly those that use

5920-473: The two systems can be almost exactly aligned in comparison tables . The main aid climbing systems are the A-grade (usually the "new wave" version) and the C-grade systems. While aid climbing is less popular as a standalone pursuit, aid techniques remain important in big wall climbing and alpine climbing, where the level of difficulties can vary significantly on long routes, and thus the use of aid in places

6000-603: The two systems diverged and for example, French 7a+ equates to UIAA grade VIII and French 9a equates to UIAA grade XI. In America, a version of the Welzenbach Scale was introduced for rock climbing in 1937 by the Sierra Club , which in the 1950s was further adapted into the Yosemite Decimal System that added a decimal place to the class 5 grade (e.g. 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, etc.), and which by the 1960s

6080-470: The use of such protection was diminishing the nature of mountaineering, saying of such climbers: "he carries his courage in his rucksack, in the form of bolts and equipment". Such concerns also relate to the debate on retro-bolting of traditional climbing routes, which is the conversion into safer sport climbing routes, but that also fundamentally alters the nature of the route challenge. Lucien Devies Too Many Requests If you report this error to

6160-460: Was again amended to introduce the letters "a", "b", "c", and "d" after 5.9 to further refine the levels (e.g. 5.9, 5.10a, 5.10b, 5.10c, etc.). While individual countries developed their own rock climbing grading systems, the American system, French system, and latterly the "UIAA scale" became popular internationally (with the American and French dominating sport climbing). The UIAA "Scale of Overall Assessment" dropped its six Roman numbers in favor of

6240-413: Was at 9A in 2023 with Burden of Dreams . The Font-scale has no regard to any risk and is purely focused on the technical difficulty of the movements. The Font-scale is distinguished from the French sport grade by using capitalized letters (i.e. Font 6C+ vs. f6c+), and also the use of "Fb" or capital "F" (for "Font") as a prefix. The distinction is important as the scales are very different (i.e. Fb6C+

6320-451: Was developed from the UIAA scale in the 1980s but uses Arabic numbers instead of the UIAA scale's Roman numerals, and also uses the letters "a", "b" and "c" and the "+" symbol to give additional refinement between the numbers (whereas the UIAA uses only the "−" and "+" symbols). The French system starts at 1 and closely aligns with the UIAA scale up to UIAA V+, which is French grade 6a, but thereafter begins to diverge. The French grading system

6400-428: Was due to the intense spray from the waterfall, which covered the overhanging routes in ice so that there was little dry-tooling (i.e. all the movement was on hard ice). The routes were bolted like M-grade climbs and the result was a series of new WI-graded routes that laid claim as the "world's hardest ice routes"; by 2020, they reached WI13 with Mission to Mars . The grading of mixed climbing routes approximates

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