International Climbing Grades: Everything You Need to Know

Traveling to another country? Want to avoid sandbagging yourself? Hint: 5.8 and 8a are very different…

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(Photo: Matteo Agnoloni/Getty)

Yosemite Decimal System

The Yosemite Decimal System (YDS) evolved from a rating system that was originally designed to give hikers and scramblers a clear rating of difficulty from off-trail walking to hands-on rock climbing. Class 1 referred to a flat or slightly uneven walk, while Class 5 described a steep, challenging rock climb that should only be attempted with a rope and protection. Climbers eventually added a decimal to Class 5 ratings (5.8, 5.9) to better describe the difficulty of climbing within. Be aware: up until the early 1960s, the highest formal Class 5 grade was 5.9. This does not mean climbers in 1950 were unable to climb harder than that! They simply hadn’t thought of a way to express difficulty beyond 5.9. As a result, some “5.9” climbs first done in the ‘50s are being retroactively graded 5.10 or even 5.11.

Nowadays, climbers use double-digit decimal grades to illustrate higher difficulty (5.10), and often add a letter from a-d for even further clarity (5.10a, 5.10b). The YDS is an open-ended grading system and currently tops out at 5.15d.

North American Commitment Grade

North American Commitment Grades take into account both the crux technical difficulties of a climb and its seriousness and/or remoteness. For example: El Capitan’s Free Rider (5.13a; 3,000ft), in the very accessible Yosemite Valley, and the North Howser Tower’s All Along the Watchtower (5.12-; 3,000ft), in the far less accessible Bugaboos, both receive “Grade VI” commitment. The former is more technically difficult while the latter is overall a more serious endeavor due to the alpine environment, lack of fixed anchors, and complex approach and descent.

• I/II: Half a day for the fifth class portion of the route.
• III: Most of a day of fifth class climbing.
• IV: A full day of fifth class climbing.
• V: Can only be done in a day if climbing very quickly with intention. Otherwise, it requires a bivouac on route.
• VI: Two-plus days of climbing, or speed-climbing tactics.
• VII: Remote walls, typically Himalayan. The largest routes on Earth.

French Alpine System

Like the North American Commitment Grade, the French Alpine System presents a grade which factors in the route’s overall “seriousness”; everything from the length and difficulty of the approach, the crux climbing, complexity of descent, objective hazard, altitude, and commitment level (i.e. how easy is it to rappel the route?).

• F: Facile/easy. Rocky scrambling or low-angle snow slopes and simple glacier travel.
• PD: Peu Difficile/a little difficult. Some technical climbing (rock scrambling or easy ice climbing) and possibly complex glacier travel.
• AD: Assez Difficile/fairly hard. Steeper rock or ice climbing, or long snow/ice slopes above 50 degrees.
• D: Difficile/difficult. Sustained, challenging rock/ice/snow climbing.
• TD: Très Difficile/very difficult. A long route, sometimes remote, with mainly technical climbing and perhaps poor protection or objective hazard.
• ED: Extrêmement difficile/extremely difficult. Often graded as ED1, ED2, ED3, these are the most serious alpine climbs imaginable with constant technical climbing from start to finish.

Aid Grades

Note: when the aid grade begins with a “C” (i.e. C2), that means the route can be climbed “cleanly” (without a piton hammer) to avoid damaging the rock with your hammer’s blows.

• A1: Simple aid. Every piece is solid and is easy to place.
• A2: Moderate aid. Every piece is solid, but it may be difficult to place (i.e. a clever nut placement, or a blind piton).
• A2+: Some pieces may not be trustworthy and could fail under bodyweight. Up to 10-meter fall potential. Clean falls.
• A3: Difficult aid. Many bodyweight-only placements in a row. Up to 15-meter fall potential.
• A3+: A3 difficulties but with dangerous fall potential (a ledge, or possible swing).
• A4: Hard, committing aid. Up to a 30-meter ledge-fall potential.
• A4+: Even more serious; more bodyweight placements that are even harder to sniff out.
• A5: Extreme aid. A full pitch of bodyweight-only placements.

Mixed Grades (M-Grade)

These routes are climbed using crampons and ice tools on rock features as well as on ice. When Mixed Grades were first introduced, it was all but a given that a “mixed” pitch would involve ice climbing—usually a hanging dagger—at some point. As mixed climbing has become more popular, the subset of “sport drytooling” has gained traction too: climbing bare rock, with ice climbing equipment, but with no actual ice in sight. These routes are prefaced with a “D” instead of “M.”

As a general rule in the more moderate M Grades, to ascertain how a mixed pitch will relate to a rock pitch, you can add four numbers to the Mixed Grade to get a comparable YDS grade (i.e. M4 = 5.8).

• M1-3: Easy. Low angle. A 5.7 climbing experience.
• M4: Slabby to vertical with some technical dry tooling.
• M5: Low angle dry tooling with brief overhangs, or sustained vertical dry tooling.
• M6: Vertical to overhanging with difficult dry tooling, or tenuous, insecure pick holds.
• M7: Overhanging, powerful, and technical dry tooling.
• M8: Large overhangs requiring powerful and technical dry tooling. Longer sections of sustained dry tooling.
• M9: Either continuously slightly overhanging with marginal or technical holds, or a juggy roof of several body lengths.
• M10: At least 10 meters of horizontal rock or 30 meters of overhanging dry tooling with powerful moves and few rests.
• M11-15: A ropelength of overhanging gymnastic climbing, or sustained cave climbing.

Water Ice and Alpine Ice Grades

Water ice grades are highly dynamic and a given route’s grade can change week to week and even day to day. In contrast, alpine ice does not form seasonally—it is glacial ice that exists year round—and as a result it is typically far denser, and predictable.

The WI acronym implies seasonal water ice while AI implies Alpine Ice and is typically easier than a WI grade with the same number (AI5 = WI4).

• WI1: Low angle ice. With good crampon balance, no tools are required.
• WI2: Sustained 60 degree ice with steeper bulges.
• WI3: Sustained 70 degree ice with possible long bulges of 80-90 degrees; reasonable rests and good stances for placing screws.
• WI4: Sustained 80 degree ice with sections of 90 degree ice broken up by rests.
• WI5: A ropelength of 85-90 degree ice offering infrequent stances to rest. Or a shorter pitch of thin or rotten ice with poor protection.
• WI6: A ropelength of 90 degree ice with no rests, or a shorter pitch even more overhanging/tricky than WI5.
• WI6+: A ropelength of overhanging ice with no rests, or a shorter pitch even more overhanging/tricky than WI6.
• WI7: A controversial grade. Many ice climbers don’t believe WI7 really “exists.” However, a WI7 would theoretically be even more extreme than WI6: constantly overhanging, unstable ice columns/daggers, solid protection is nearly impossible to find.

Alaska Grades

Alaska Grades are, unsurprisingly, never applied outside of Alaska, but are nevertheless a popular grading choice in the area. Alaska Grades aim to encompass both the technical difficulties of a route in addition to the inherent remoteness and challenging weather (storms, extreme cold) that Alaska is known for.

• 1: A simple, glaciated mountaineering route.
• 2: Still non-technical, but climbers may be exposed to altitude, poor weather, and exposed walking/scrambling. (Think: Denali’s standard route: the West Buttress.)
• 3: Some technical climbing, but not sustained.
• 4: More technical climbing, often multiple pitches in a row. Potentially still straightforward to bail from.
• 5: Sustained technical climbing. Retreat would be difficult from high on the route.
• 6: Sustained technical climbing for thousands of vertical feet—good luck bailing. The hardest routes in Alaska.

Scottish Winter Grades

Like Alaska Grades, Scottish Winter Grades are region-specific. Scottish Winter Grades are often expressed with both a Roman numeral as well as an Arabic number. The Roman numeral provides an overall grade, and on routes below IV most climbers will just use that. Above IV, climbs will often receive a second, technical grade (the Arabic number) which describes the crux section. For North Americans unfamiliar with this system, a good rule of thumb is to subtract one from the Scottish Grade’s Arabic number to get the M-grade equivalent. For example: IX 9 is relatively well-protected M8 mixed climbing. IX 8 is more dangerous/runout M7.

• I: Snow gullies and low-angle rock ridges.
• II: Steeper gullies where two ice tools will likely be required for upward progress. Beware of steep cornice exits.
• III: Moderate rock routes, ice gullies, or steeper rock buttresses.
• IV: 60-70 degree ice with short, vertical steps; longer pitches up to 70 degrees; or mixed routes climbed with ice tools.
• V: Sustained ice to 80 degrees or mixed climbs with continuous technical moves. Protection may not always be solid.
• VI: Vertical ice and/or sustained, technical mixed routes.
• VII: Like VI, but longer, harder sections of technical climbing, and less frequent protection.
• VIII-XII: The hardest routes in Scotland.

Russian Grades

Note: the Roman numeral grades are UIAA technical ratings (see graph above).

• 1B: Hiking and scrambling, with a short, simple section of roped climbing.
• 2A: Several pitches of easy roped climbing.
• 2B: A multi-pitch route with II+ or III climbing.
• 3A: A multi-pitch route with one or more pitches of III climbing.
• 3B: A multi-pitch route with one or more pitches of III+/IV climbing. A full day.
• 4A: A full-day route with IV+ climbing.
• 4B: A full-day route with sustained IV+ climbing, or a section of V+.
• 5A: A long, technical route that may require 1-3 days to complete. Multiple pitches of V climbing.
• 5B: A long route that takes, at minimum, two days to complete. Some VI+ climbing.
• 6A and 6B: Multi-day routes with VI or harder climbing.