Editing Grade (climbing) (section)

==Free climbing{{anchor|Free climbing}}==
{{See also|List of grade milestones in rock climbing#Single-pitch routes|List of grade milestones in rock climbing#Multi-pitch routes}}
[[File:Adam Ondra climbing Silence 9c by PAVEL BLAZEK 2.jpg|thumb|[[Adam Ondra]] on the [[sport climbing]] route ''[[Silence (climb)|Silence]]'', the hardest free climbing route in the world and the [[List of grade milestones in rock climbing#Redpointed by men|first-ever]] at 9c (French), 5.15d (American YDS), and XII+ (UIAA).]]
The two main [[free climbing]] grading systems (which include the two main free climbing disciplines of [[sport climbing]] and [[traditional climbing]]) are the "French numerical system" and the "American YDS system".<ref name=CAI/>  The "UIAA scale" is still popular in Germany and across parts of Central Europe.<ref name=CAI/>  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.<ref name=CAI/>

The evolution of [[List of grade milestones in rock climbing#Single-pitch routes|grade milestones]] in traditional climbing, and latterly sport climbing (as it took over from traditional climbing as 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 (climb)|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 [[List of grade milestones in rock climbing#Redpointed by men|first-ever]] climb to have those grades in history.

===French numerical grade===
{{anchor|French numerical grade}}{{anchor|French sport grade|French}}
{{See also|Sport climbing#Grading}}
The French numerical system for free climbing 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).<ref name=CAI/>  The French system starts at 1 and closely aligns with the UIAA scale up to UIAA V+, which is French grade 5a, but thereafter begins to diverge.<ref name=CAI/><ref name=Rockfax/> The French grading system 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|comparison tables]].<ref name=CAI/><ref name=Rockfax/>

The French system is an open-ended scale that was at 9c in 2023 with ''[[Silence (climb)|Silence]]''.  The system is only focused on the technical demands of the hardest movement on the route.<ref name=CAI/> Unlike the American YDS system, there is no allowance for any risks in the route, and thus the French system is more closely aligned with [[sport climbing]] (i.e. where [[bolt (climbing)|pre-bolted]] protection removes some risk).<ref name=CAI/>  It is less common to find [[traditional climbing]] routes graded by the French system, and thus it is also called the '''French sport grade'''.<ref name=CAI/> To avoid confusion between French grades and the British E-grades, a lowercase "f" (for French) 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 grade|Font boulder grades]].<ref name=CAI/>

===American YDS grade{{anchor|Yosemite Decimal Grade}}===
{{main|Yosemite Decimal System}}
[[File:Alex Honnold El Capitan Free Solo 1.jpg|thumb|[[Alex Honnold]]'s 2017 [[free solo]] of ''[[Freerider (climb)|Freerider]]'' on [[El Capitan]] was the [[List of first ascents (sport climbing)#Free-soloed|first-ever]] big-wall free solo at the grade of 5.13a (American) or 7c+ (French)]]
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.<ref name=FoHGrading/> The class 5 portion of the class scale is a [[rock climbing]] classification system, while classes 1–4 are used for [[hiking]] and [[scrambling]].<ref name=FoHGrading/> Climbers use class "5" as a prefix, which is then followed by a [[full stop|period]] and a number that starts at 1 and counts up with increasing difficulty (e.g. 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, etc.).<ref name=Rockfax/> 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.,).<ref name=Rockfax/><ref name=FoHGrading/> The American YDS system is the dominant system in North America, and it and the French numerical system are the most dominant systems worldwide; beyond the easiest grades, they can be [[#Comparison tables|exactly aligned]].<ref name=CAI/><ref name=Rockfax/>

The American YDS system is an open-ended scale, with the current hardest climb being 5.15d, established by ''[[Silence (climb)|Silence]]'' in 2017. Like the French system, the numerical component of the American YDS system is focused on the hardest move on the route.<ref name=FoHGrading/> In 1980, Jim Erickson introduced an additional rating for [[traditional climbing]] routes where the level and quality of the [[climbing protection]] is assessed.<ref name=FoHGrading/> A suffix of "PG-13" (using the [[Motion Picture Association film rating system#From M to GP to PG|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).<ref name=FoHGrading/> A suffix of "[[Glossary of climbing terms#r/x|R]]" is added where protection is inadequate and any fall could risk serious injury, and "[[Glossary of climbing terms#x|X]]" for routes with little or no protection and where any fall could be very long and potentially fatal (i.e. also known as a "[[Glossary of climbing terms#chop route|chop route]]").<ref name=CAI/><ref name=FoHGrading/><ref name=Rockfax>{{cite web | website=Rockfax Publishing | url=https://rockfax.com/climbing-guides/grades/ | title=Grade Conversions: Alpine Grading System | accessdate=2 September 2023 |date=2022}}</ref>

American [[big wall climbing]] routes will often include the [[#American NCCS|NCCS]] grade (Levels I–VII) with the YDS grade (e.g. the ''[[Salathé Wall]]'' at 5.13b VI).<ref name=CAI/>

===UIAA scale{{anchor|UIAA}}===

The [[Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme|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.,).<ref name=CAI/><ref name=Rockfax/>  Initially, 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.<ref name=CAI/><ref name=FoHGrading>{{cite book | title=[[Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills]] | author=[[The Mountaineers (club)|The Mountaineers]] | date=October 2017 | edition=9th | chapter=Appendix A: Rating Systems | isbn=978-1-68051-004-1 | publisher=Quiller Publishing | pages=563–570}}</ref>

The UIAA scale is closely aligned with the French system up to Grade V+, which is French grade 5a, but thereafter begins to diverge, although the two can be reasonably aligned in [[#Comparison tables|comparison tables]].<ref name=CAI/><ref name=Rockfax/> The UIAA scale was at XII+ in 2023 with ''[[Silence (climb)|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.<ref name=CAI/><ref name=Rockfax/><ref name=ST/> The UIAA scale is also commonly found in the grading systems of [[alpine climbing]] routes, and particularly those that use the [[#International French adjectival system|French Alpine System]] (e.g. PD, D, TD, ED), where the UIAA scale is often used to grade the free climbing component.<ref name=CAI/><ref name=Ari3>{{cite web | website=Ari'sBaseCamp | url=http://ari.rdx.net/abc/pages/grade_rock.htm | title=Rock climbing grades| accessdate=7 September 2023 | date=2023 | first=Ari | last=Paulin }}</ref>

===British E-grade{{anchor|British}}{{anchor|British system}}===
{{See also|Traditional climbing#Grading}}
[[File:Clogwyn Du'r Arddu 2.jpg|thumb|The crag of [[Clogwyn Du'r Arddu]] in Wales with ''[[Indian Face]]'' (centre), which was the first-ever E9-graded route on the British system at E9 6c (British) or 5.13a X (American)]] 
The most complex grading system is the British E-grade system (or '''British trad grade'''),<ref name=Ari3/> which uses two separate open-ended grades for each route.<ref name=CL81/> This structure is particularly adapted to [[traditional climbing]] routes (which are more common in Britain), but it is still considered complex and unlike the [[#American YDS grade|American YDS system]] (which has the R/X labels for traditional climbing routes), never came into wider use for traditional climbing outside of Britain.<ref name=CL81/> Within Britain, the [[#French sport grade|French sport grade]] is more popular for British bolted sport climbing routes.<ref name=CL81>{{cite web | magazine=[[Climbing (magazine)|Climbing]] | url=https://www.climbing.com/people/how-british-trad-climbing-grades-work/ | title=Is the British E-Grade Broken? And Can an Algorithm Fix It? | first=Neil | last=Gresham | date=27 April 2023 | accessdate=2 September 2023}}</ref> As of April 2024, the highest consensus E-grade on a traditional route in Britain was on ''Lexicon'' (E11 7a) and on ''[[Rhapsody (climb)|Rhapsody]]'' (E11 7a), which are considered equivalent to American 5.14 R or French f8b+/f8c+.<ref>{{cite web | magazine=[[Climbing (magazine)|Climbing]] | url=https://www.climbing.com/news/james-pearson-bon-voyage-first-ascent/ | title=Did James Pearson Just Establish the World's Hardest Trad Route? | first=Stephen | last=Potter | date=9 February 2023 | accessdate=2 September 2023}}</ref> Outside of Britain, the [[Traditional climbing#Hardest routes|highest E-grade]] was ''Bon Voyage'' in Annot, France at E12, or 5.14d / 9a.<ref>{{cite web | magazine=[[Climbing (magazine)|Climbing]] | url=https://www.climbing.com/news/adam-ondra-repeats-bon-voyage/ | title=Adam Ondra Repeats 'Bon Voyage', Confirms World's Hardest Trad Grade | first=Owen | last=Clarke | date=21 February 2024 | accessdate= 18 April 2024}}</ref>

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".<ref name=BMCGrades/>  This adjectival grade uses the labels (starting from 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).<ref name=Rockfax/><ref name=BMCGrades/> After HVS, the label switches to E (extreme), but then rises as E1, E2, E3, E4, ... etc., in an open-ended scale.<ref name=Rockfax/><ref name=BMCGrades/>

The second grade is a "technical grade" that focuses on the hardest technical movement on the route. This technical grade has a very similar format to the [[#French numerical grade|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.,).<ref name=Rockfax/><ref name=BMCGrades>{{cite web | website=[[British Mountaineering Council]] | url=https://www.thebmc.co.uk/a-brief-explanation-of-uk-traditional-climbing-grades | title=A brief explanation of UK traditional climbing grades | date=28 February 2016 | accessdate=2 September 2023 | first=Niall | last=Grimes}}</ref> British climbers use the prefix "f" to distinguish French sport-grades from British technical grades, which is important as they are not equivalent (e.g. British 5c is f6b+).<ref name=CAI/>

The key to understanding the British E-grade system is the relationship between the two grades.<ref name=CAI/><ref name=Rockfax/><ref name=BMCGrades/> For each adjectival grade there is a ''typical'' technical grade for a standard route.<ref name=Rockfax/><ref name=BMCGrades/>  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.<ref name=Bath>{{cite book | title=High - Advanced Multi-Pitch Climbing | url=https://people.bath.ac.uk/dac33/high/17AppendixGrades.htm |  first2=David|last2=Coley | first1=Andy | last1=Kirkpatrick | author-link1=Andy Kirkpatrick | date=2015 | asin=B00UJG9DH6 | chapter=Chapter 17. Grading | access-date=3 September 2023}}</ref>  However, E5 6a would imply that 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).<ref name=Bath/> Similarly, E3 6a implies a well-protected route, while E2 or E1 6a would imply easily available [[Glossary of climbing terms#bomb-proof|bomb-proof]] protection.<ref name=Bath/>

===Other notable systems===

*{{anchor|Saxon}}German/Swiss '''Saxon scale''' (or '''Dresden scale''', or '''East German scale'''). Developed at the start of the 20th century for the emerging [[Saxon Switzerland climbing region]], it was gradually adopted by other climbing areas in the region, such as [[Bohemian Switzerland]], [[Bohemian Paradise]], [[Lusatian Mountains]], and the [[Zittau Mountains]]. While it uses Roman numerals, it is a separate system from the [[#UIAA scale|UIAA scale]]. As well as Roman numerals, the Saxon grades use the symbols "a", "b" and "c" for further refinement between numerals from grade VII onwards.  Unlike the [[#American YDS grade|American YDS]] and [[#French sport grade|French sport]] systems, the Saxon grading system is not purely focused on technical difficulties but is also based on "route length, the total psychological commitment, the placements distance, the risk, [and] the random stops";<ref name=CAI/> it is thus not directly comparable to other systems.<ref name=CAI/>
[[File:Punks Wall (29529972985).jpg|thumb|Climber on ''Punks in the Gym'', [[Mount Arapiles]], grade 32 (Ewbank) and the world's [[List of grade milestones in rock climbing#Redpointed by men|first-ever]] 8b+ (French), 5.14a (American) route.]]
*{{anchor|Ewbank}}Australia/New Zealand/South African '''Ewbank''' system. In 1967, Australian climber [[John Ewbank (climber)|John Ewbank]] created his scale as an alternative to the [[#British E-grade|British E-grade]], and it became the dominant system for Australia and New Zealand, and latterly for South Africa (with small local variations).  The system is open-ended and uses only Arabic numerals (i.e. no "a", "b", "c" or "+" and "−" refinements), starts a 1 (easiest), and continues upward.  Unlike many other systems (e.g. [[#American YDS grade|American YDS]] and [[#French sport grade|French sport]]), the Ewbank system is not solely based on the hardest technical movement on the route but also takes into account the exposure, length, quality of rock, availability of protection, and other factors.  Thus, a dangerous route with easier technical climbing might get the same grade as a safe route but with harder technical climbing.  The system relies on the [[climbing guidebook]], or word of mouth, to clarify the factors that influenced the grade.  For the strongest modern sport climbing routes, the Ewbank grade is largely a technical grade.<ref name=CAI/><ref name=Rockfax/>
* {{anchor|Scandinavian}}'''Scandinavian'''. Norway, Finland, and Sweden have scales that are numerically different (e.g. they don't align exactly), but in effect are very similar and can be aligned in [[#Comparison tables|comparison tables]]. Their scales are all open-ended, use Arabic numerals, and use "+" and "−" symbols for additional refinement between the numerals (e.g. −4, 4, 4+, −5, 5, 5+, 6−, 6, ... etc.,). Originally, the Scandinavian countries used the [[#UIAA scale|UIAA scale]] but its closed-end status at VI (up until 1985) led them to create their own systems, however, they align closely to the UIAA scale, particularly to grade IV.  While the UIAA scale is still used in Scandinavian countries, the [[#French sport grade|French sport grade]] is now more common for sport-climbing routes.<ref name=CAI/><ref name=Rockfax/>
* {{anchor|Brazil}}'''Brazilian technical scale'''. Climbing in the [[carioca]] dates from 1912 and the ascent of the "Dedo de Deus" (God's Finger) in the [[Serra dos Órgãos]]. Brazilian climbing has two grades, with the first being a numerical grade from 1 (easiest) to 8 (hardest) and giving the "overall" level of difficulty (akin to the [[#French Alpine System|UIAA Scale of Overall Difficulty]]). The second, the technical grade, which is the most in use, defines the technical difficulty of the hardest movements (or sequences of movements) and is an open-ended scale that starts with Roman numerals (and a "sup." for additional refinement between numerals), up to VIsup., which is roughly VII+ (UIAA) f6b+ (French) or 5.10d (American).  After VIsup., the system moves to Arabic numerals, starting at 7, and using the symbols "a", "b", and "c" for additional refinement between numerals (e.g. VI, VIsup, 7a, 7b, 7c, 8a, etc.,.).<ref name=CAI/>
* {{anchor|Polish}}Polish '''Cracow scale''' (or '''Kurtyka's scale'''). Up until the 1970s, the [[#UIAA scale|UIAA scale]] was used in the limestone climbing areas near [[Kraków]], where Polish sport climbing was developed, with Grade I (easiest) to Grade VI (hardest). As the climbing level grew, the UIAA scale became inadequate. Polish climber and alpinist [[Wojciech Kurtyka]] proposed an extension to the scale. Easier routes were described by the UIAA scale, and harder routes above Grade VI+ used Arabic numerals with a "+" refinement, so that after Grade VI+ came the new grades of: VI.1, VI.1+, VI.2, VI.2+, and so on.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://abcwspinania.info/home-page/hiden/historia|title=Historia wspinania na Jurze - ABCWSPINANIA.info|website=abcwspinania.info|language=pl-pl|access-date=18 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118081646/http://abcwspinania.info/home-page/hiden/historia|archive-date=18 November 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>
* '''Deep-water soloing''' grades.  A number of systems have been used to assign a "risk" grade for [[deep-water soloing]] routes (they typically use the French grading system or American YDS system for the technical challenge). Notable examples include the British [[Deep-water soloing#S-grades|S-grades]] (e.g. S0, S1, S2, S3), which covers the objective risk of the route including tides, under-water objects, height of any potential fall etc.<ref name=Robinson>{{cite book | title=Deep Water: Rockfax Guidebook to Deep Water Soloing | first=Mike | last=Robinson | date=2007 | isbn=978-1873341766 | publisher=Rockfax|page=14}}</ref>