RATING SYSTEMS FOR MOUNTAINEERING AND CLIMBING

CLIMBERS HAVE FOUND IT DESIRABLE TO BE ABLE CONVEY THE DIFFICULTY OF A CLIMB BY REFERRING TO A STANDARD RATING SYSTEM. THE SEVERAL CLASSIFICATIONS SYSTEMS DEVELOPED ALL HAVE THE SAME OBJECTIVE:EVALUATION OF CLIMBING ROUTES BY A SIMPLE UNIVERSALLY RECOGNIZED RATING SYSTEM. MOUNTAINEERS USE A SYSTEM WHEREIN THERE ARE SIX CLASSES NUMBERED FROM 1 TO AND AN A CLASS FOR AID CLIMBING.CLASS 5 (FREE CLIMBING)HAS BEEN SUBDIVIDED INTO DECIMALS(THE YOSEMITE DECIMAL SYSTEM)FROM 5.0 TO 5.14 TO MORE PRECISELY DEFINE THE DIFFICULTY OF FREE CLIMBING. CLASS A LIKEWISE HAS BEEN SUBDIVDED,FROM A1 TO A5 BY THIS RATING SYSTEM A VALUE IS ASSIGNED TO A CLIMB BASED ON THE MOST DIFFICULT MOVE(AS IN THE YOSEMITE SYSTEM ALSO). IF THE SINGLE MOST DIFFICULT MOVE ON A CLIMB IS 5.9 ON ONLY ONE OF THE PITCHES, IT IS A CLASS 5.9 CLIMB. IF IT ALSO HAS AN A2 AID MOVE, THE CLIMB IS A 5.9-A2 THESE CLIMBING RATINGS ARE DESCRIBED BRIEFLY AS FOLLOWS:

• CLASS 1 - CROSS COUNTRY HIKING, HANDS NOT NEEDED.
• CLASS 2 - SCRAMBLING, HANDS HELPFUL, ROAP NOT NEEDED BUT PROBABLY CARRIES TO ASSURE PARTY SAFTY
• CLASS 3 - EASY CLIMBING, SCRAMBLING WITH USE OF HANDS, ELEMENTARY CLIMBING TECHNIQUE HELPFUL. ROPE SHOULD BE AVAILABLE AND MAY NEEDED BY AN INEXPERIENCED CLIMBER.
• CLASS 4 - ROPED CLIMBING WITH BELAYING. BELAYS MAY BE ANCHORED USING EITHER NATURAL ANCHORS OR CLIMBING HARDWARE. SOME MOVES MAY BE DIFFICULT.
• CLASS - 5 ROPED CLIMBING,REQUIRING PROTECTION SUCH AS RUNNERS, ARTIFICIAL CHOCKS, AND CAMS, AS WELL AS USEING BELAYS AT ALL TIMES
• CLASS A - ROPED CLIMBING WITH AN ARTIFICIAL ASSIST SUCH AS USEING ASSENDERS OR SLINGS TO MAKE UPWARD PROGRESS ON THE ROPE.

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