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From: eli@cvl.UUCP (Eli Liang)
Newsgroups: net.rec
Subject: Re: Rock-climb rating systems (LONG ARTICLE)
Message-ID: <776@cvl.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 27-Aug-85 14:46:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: cvl.776
Posted: Tue Aug 27 14:46:00 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 29-Aug-85 20:58:44 EDT
References: <831@utcs.UUCP>
Organization: Computer Vision Lab, U. of Maryland, College Park
Lines: 157

> 
> Anybody out there into rock-climbing
> of some form?
> 
> I want to know something:
> What is the basis for the "North American" (?) 
> rating system of climbs, which goes 5.1,5.2....5.14 (I believe).
> Also, who started it?
> 
> Finally, what other systems are there?
> 
> Can anybody fill me in?
> -- 
> Jon 'Big J' Alexander, U. of Toronto Comp. Serv.
> Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
> ...!{decvax}!utzoo!utcs!jon
>     {ihnp4 }
> BITNET: jon@utoronto

I'm glad to find another person interested in rock climbing on the net.  This
is the first article I've seen on the net expressing any interest in it.
(Where are all those ultra-mod Yosemite climbers?  Got to be some out there!)
For those of you net denizens who know nothing about rock/mountain climbing but
are interested in it, read on.  This gives me a chance write about my favorite
sport/hobby (among many others).  For those who do climb or those who have no
interest, skip the rest of this article.

     The American rating system for climbs has two parts -- class and grade.
lass 1's are route can walk up, class 2's are routes are rough sorts of
off-trail places one can still walk up with little trouble, class 3's are
routes that require some handholds and footholds, going up steeper grades of
terrain (real rough trails!).  Falling here might result in twisted ankles and
bruised shins, maybe even a broken bone.  Third class also refers to the method
by which a climber climbs.  One will sometimes hear about climbers doing a
particular class 5.x climb third class.  This means they did it unrope.
Class 4's are have smaller footholds and handholds and go over steeper terrain.
Falling can be fatal so ropes are often used.

     Class 5's are the more technical climbs.  These have often tiny footholds
and handholds and require the use of special climbing technicals such as
chimneying, laybacking, mantling, etc.  Ropes are used for belaying unless
one is good/bold enough to free solo.  Class 5's are subdivided into 5.0 to
5.13 subclasses.  5.0 begin a beginner's climb to 5.13 which challenge the
best rock climber's in the world.  This rating system was started many, many
years ago in Yosemite National Park to rate the climbs there.  At that time,
the scale was from 5.0 to 5.9 and ranked a couple "reference" climbs.  Since
then, the scale as been exported elsewhere and references have got a bit
tenuous.  Climbers get a "feel" of the system and then rate new climbs based
on personal experience.  Also, the sport has been developing and a couple
more subclasses have been tacked on, 5.10, 5.11, 5.12, and 5.13.  The gap in
difficulty between subclasses tends to widen out here and these subclasses
(9 through 13) are sometimes subdivided further into a, b, c, and d.  So a
5.10d is more difficult (in someone's opinion) than a 5.10a.  Since 5.13 is
the highest commonly accepted class, sometimes they indicate a extremely
difficult climb by a 5.13+.  So when one hears that Jerry Moffat, a world
class British climber, has "flashed" (climbed on sight without a single fall)
"The Phoenix" (a route in Yosemite) which is 5.13+, one can't but help being
impressed.

     Class A's (or previously known as class 6's) are direct aid climbs
(as opposed to class 1-5 which are all free climbs -- using the rope only as
safety equipment and not for support).  Direct aid climbs require the use of
aids which the climber uses for support and vary from rappel/ascent ropes,
jumars, entriers, bolts anchors, pitons, ice screws (on alpine routes), chocks,
friends, etc.  In aid climbing, the climber slowly shifts his climbing aids
up the climb and climbs in that slow and methodical manner.  Class A's are
also subdivided into 6 subclasses which rate the difficulty of the direct aid
climb.  Class A1 indicate a easy climb where pitons or chocks can be easily
inserted securely in wellformed cracks.  An A6 would be one where the
placement of these is difficult and the chance of a piton or chock pulling
out when a climber puts his weight on it is extremely high.

     Grades are assigned to a climb according to overall difficulty and number
of pitches which a climb requires.  Grades I and II are easy and require
between a couple minutes and a few hours.  Grades III and IV are of moderate
difficulty and length and require up to a "long day" (up to 18 hours).  Grades
V and VI require much more persistence and several days.  An example of a
well-known and very popular Grade VI route is the Salathe Wall of El Capitan in
Yosemite.  It is a Grade VI, class 5.10, and A3 route.  It goes 36 or more
pitches up 2900 feet and takes up to 5 or 6 days.

     There are several ways which climbers climb.  Bouldering is popular and
a sport of its own right.  Here, the climbs are short (mainly traverses) and
close to the ground so they are done third class.  One can try to solve a
wide variety of climbing problems in bouldering without the hassle of the
belaying and worry of falling.  Many climbers boulder for practice.
     Then too, a climber can top-rope.  Most beginners start this way.  The
rope passes up from the belayer down below, through a carabiner attached by an
anchor above the climb, back down to the climber.  If the climber should fall,
he doesn't fall far as that the rope is not very slack.  Many Grade I climbs 
may be done by top-roping.

     Most climbers do lead climbing.  In lead climbing, there are typically
two climbers, a leader and a follower.  The rope passes between the leader and
the follower.  The leader climbs above the follower (who acts as the belayer)
putting in protections as he goes.  The rope passes through carabiners attached
to these protections, so if the leader takes a fall 20 feet above the last
protection he places, he falls a minimum of 40 feet, before the rope catches
him (assuming that the force doesn't yank out that last protection).  After
the leader has climbed to a reasonably safe place, he begins to belay the
follower who then climbs up removing the protections the leader has placed
as he climbs up.  Similar to top-roping, if the follower falls, he falls a
few feet at most (unless the leader fell asleep belaying :-)  After he has
the follower reaches the level of the leader, they might switch off, and
whomever is to be the leader this time, continues up.  The fear of a traumatic
leader fall scare many beginners into putting off lead climbing, some
indefinitely.  Most climbers can follow harder climbs than they can lead.
A climber might be able to follow a 5.8 climb but only lead a 5.5.

     Many climbers do soloing.  In soloing can be free or self-belayed.  In
the self-belayed sort of soloing, the climber climbs by himself but uses 
rope and a self-belay system so that if he falls, its non-fatal.  Many climbers
find themselves free soloing something sometime in their climbing careers.
Others do it constantly because they enjoy the discipline and the feel of
it.  This is a dangerous sport and requires great mental discipline.  In free
soloing, the climber climbs unroped.  Since the the rock is very unforgiving of
mistakes, the free solo'er must always be aware of his limits and climb
conservatively.  He must have a good feel for down climbing, making sure he
never climbs himself into a corner.  The great irony of free soloing, to
paraphase Royal Robbins, the great American climber, is keeping ones head about
one.  If one climbs above ones ability or confidence, one may die as a direct
result of the fear of dying.  Still, very few free solo'ers have been killed
free soloing so the slates are pretty clean.

     Casual climbers often hit a wall at around climbing 5.9 (following that
is, most find it difficult to lead more than a 5.8) or doing a Grade IV in a
long day.  To climb higher classed and graded climbs requires more training and
mental/physical discipline than most of us are willing to commit to climbing.

     To wrap it up, there are other systems of rating climbs.  Most notable
are the British and the Australian system.  Of the two, the Australian is
the most interesting (and most logical, more so than the American rating
system).  In the British system, climbs are rated from Grade 1 to 7c and
the British grade 7c being about equivalent to the American class 5.12d.  In
the Australian system, climbs are rated on a scale from 1 to 29.  This covers
the whole range of American class 1's through 5's.  Australian grade 29 is
about equivalent to the American class 5.12d too.

     If I've gotten a little carried away with the subject, I appologize.
I've sort of deviated from the main question of the article this is a followup
for.  But for those of you who didn't know anything about climbing, I hope
this has been informative.  For those interested in learning how to climb,
many climbing schools exist and many university and colleges offer climbing
courses for credit.  Or just grab a book (_Basic_Rockcraft_ by Royal Robbins
or _Learning_to_Climb_ (?) by Michael Loughman, Sierra Club, are good choices)
and a partner and hit a nearby climbing area.

have fun,

-eli
-- 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eli Liang  ---
        University of Maryland Computer Vision Lab, (301) 454-4526
        ARPA: liang@cvl, liang@lemuria, eli@mit-mc, eli@mit-prep
        CSNET: liang@cvl  UUCP: {seismo,allegra,brl-bmd}!umcp-cs!cvl!liang