Free french climbing grades to v scale reddit Read now! Google "climbing grade conversion chart". 9/10 is generally considered moderate or intermediate climbing. 9+ climbs in the U. As rock climbing areas proliferated and the sport gained momentum, a national climbing classification system sprouted in various regions, each tailored to the unique terrains and challenges they presented. 12 Climbers mainly use two rating systems for rope climbing, according to geographical location: FRENCH scale and YDS. ” Sep 25, 2023 路 The inception of climbing grades was fueled by the need to communicate the technical difficulty of a climb. So this is the only experience I have so far with grades. Feb 14, 2024 路 Understanding Bouldering Grades Bouldering grades stand as a universal metric, offering climbers a standardized means to assess the difficulty of boulder problems, whether encountered outdoors in natural landscapes or within the controlled environments of climbing gyms. . Apr 26, 2021 路 This data includes most user's logged routes, as well as related information such as grade, style of ascent, etc. Recently, my gym changed their boulder grading scale. The most rewarding aspects often come from personal improvement, community connection, and the joy of movement. I am creating a list of countries and what grading scale they use for both routes and boulder problems. Quickly convert climbing grades between different systems: French, YDS, UIAA, and more. Learn about climbing and bouldering ratings, including how route difficulty is measured and the difference between a rating and a grade. The Rockfax grade tables offer a flexible and accurate comparison from the main world grading systems to the unique British Trad Grade and UK Tech Grade. sport climbing since they're so completely different! Reply reply more repliesMore repliesMore replies Hi r/climbing, I would like your help. On another note, why does everyone want to convert V grades to YDS? I've never understood that. Convert North American climbing grades to UK and European scales, and compare bouldering V-grades to roped climbs. Changing 8b+ Font grades to the V scale—for instance, translating 8b+ to V14—serves United States climbers. Rock climbing grades I'm from Germany and my local Gym uses a scale from 1-7. I think his conclusion that the plus grades actually cover a narrower range of difficulty is probably mistaken though. If you combine that with stiff grades in one area in particular Got riled up from another post about grading, so want some data to feed my curiosity. But the Font grades on the Rockfax grade chart match up differently to the V grades than the 'French' grades on the rockclimbing. I get that its good to have a reference so you know what you'll have a good shot at sending or whatever, but its never apples to apples. that said don't stress to much about grades, every gym will grade climbs differently, even if they use the same scale. Been sending a few greens as of late at urban climb Collingwood. Basically, as climbers get stronger, they tend to get more specialized and more morphologically constrained, so grades make less sense because the "average" climber on the grade has a less "average" distribution of skills. Overall I think while circuit grading is moving in a better direction for grading indoor climbing than trying to rely on a scale that was created and established specifically for outdoor climbing, I think a new style of grading should be created for indoor climbing. The quotes in the URL are fucking up reddit's hyperlinking so just copy and paste. But v (x+1) boulders count as 2 v (x), v (x+2) count as 3 v (x), etc. ) with + and – to indicate grades which just push the boundary for difficulty. Grade (climbing) Action Directe was a major milestone in free climbing grades when Wolfgang Güllich freed it in 1991 at 9a (French), 5. Once the setter provides a preliminary grade to a climb, various climbers then test it to decide upon an appropriate final grade. Learn your grades and apply them to your climbing and problem setting. It’s colour coded but with no reference at all to any of the more formal grading scales. Bouldering grades and bouldering grades conversion charts for the popular V-Scale and Font-Scale bouldering grades. For example, one route is rated AD (Fairly Difficult). 9/easy jugs in many areas (joe's valley, red rocks, etc. 14d (American YDS), XI (UIAA). Jan 28, 2022 路 Our converter below enables easy climbing grade conversion between the world’s five most popular grading systems for free climbing. In b-pump ogikubo, I got shut down by half the Blues, and couldn't climbing anything beyond that. Then it would be easier to compare sport climbing and bouldering grades. Unsure of the grades on them but love seeing my progression 馃 anyone know what the grade of this would be? While understanding the V-scale is valuable, remember that climbing's true essence extends beyond grades. Dec 9, 2024 路 Learn the ins and outs of climbing grades with our comprehensive guide! Understand the differences between systems, how they measure difficulty, and what they mean for climbers of all levels. The conversions are just wack too. On this one, they've stuck 5a on the line between 5. Feb 9, 2024 路 Bouldering grades can either be the bane of your existence or can push you to climb harder. What grade ranges do you think the colours match up with? No grade moralising. I'm not sure that one grade should not fit into four different colors. Reply reply jamiebelgrade • VB Reply reply More replies golf_ST • I compiled some bouldering-specific grading charts, cos on the internet there's loads for climbing but none for bouldering grades. I know it's going to depend on which crags you're climbing at, but I've done quite a bit of climbing in quite a few different countries and have always found that 5a lines up pretty well I was wondering where people (on average) max out on their grade. The gym claims it was an effort to reduce the amount of overlap of grades. Hey all, New climber here looking for some Kilterboard recommendations. The colors are nice because they tell you how the free climbing grades roughly correspond to the bouldering grades below. Jan 31, 2025 路 This ensures its calculations reflect real-world climbing experiences. Why?? Don't agree that there should only be one scale, though. Could anyone who also climbs at these gyms give me a rough rundown of how the colours relate to the V scale? I climb at RP grades between sport climbing and bouldering of athletes who do both also would be interesting. I am worried about going to an area in Spain where I can't climb much due to the grades; friends are all set to go and I am looking for reassurance that I will have plenty of routes to pick from for two weeks. Mar 24, 2022 路 The V-grades and French Fontainebleau grades that are today’s gold standards took time to disseminate, with other scales proposed along the way. A mint is a 2-3 (font) which is too easy for v-scale, but often called VB for V-Beginner. So for instance if a route is basically just a V4 boulder problem then the Based off my experience climbing 5 or 6 V grades below my max, I imagine for someone like Daniel Wood the difference between V10 and V11 isn't any much more than the difference between V6 and V7. Most gyms make their grades super soft compared to outdoors when they use the V scale, so that beginner climbers dont want to get discouraged (which I understand). Gyms in smaller areas, or small gyms in large areas that have a high percentage of outdoor climbers, tend to line up earlier in the grading scale. My Gym does its own grading system (level 1 through 6 with 3 decimals to differentiate within a grade. Maybe with filters only including more than 10 in either discipline in the last 2 years or so. Get help comparing bouldering, sport, and trad climbing grades. What are your thoughts or opinions on this system? With every grade the holds get harder and the techniques coincide with climbing strength, like upside down knee bars. Hard agree on the Font scale. as hard as it's supposed to be. 8 and 5. Jan 28, 2022 路 Qu'est-ce qu'un niveau d'escalade ? Les grades d'escalade décrivent la difficulté objective d'une escalade et sont organisés en systèmes de grades basés sur le style d'escalade et la région. For alpine climbing/mountaineering and big wall climbing, you'll also see grade levels in roman numerals which represent the typical length of time it takes to complete a route. What's the difference between bouldering grades? The Font Scale, V Scale, what else? We explain everything in our review. It is now the dominant system for sport climbing grades worldwide outside of North America Oct 23, 2023 路 Climbing Grades Compared to Bouldering Grades The V-scale, used for bouldering, and the Yosemite Decimal System (YDS), used for route climbing, represent two distinct grading systems tailored to their specific forms of climbing. Bouldering grades: V scale and french grade conversion? Can someone help me get straightened out with the conversion from the v scale to the french (Font) scale? Pretty much agreed with this. I'm starting to plan some climbing to the Cordillera Blanca, and while looking at different routes on SummitPost, I am seeing the french rating system. 11 intermediate Reply reply More replies allosaurusfromsd • Reply reply takeahikehike • FWIW V5 and V6 are usually said to correlate with 5. Why are 6A and 6A+ both V3? Same for V4, V5 and V8. Master ratings! Apr 27, 2025 路 Key Takeaways Climbing grade systems, including the V scale and French grading scale, help categorize the difficulty of bouldering and sport climbing routes nationwide. More specifically they were color coded by difficulty, but each color corresponded with a single V-grade. In fact, it was John Gill’s B-system, advanced over a half-century ago as Gill devoted himself almost exclusively to bouldering, that set the stage for today’s popular, open-ended V-system. I am not entirely sure what grading system that is (I assume British? or a variation of the french/font system?) but anytime I try to convert that to the v-scale, to get a comparison to other users, I am a bit confused, because I always and up at a VB/v0 grade for myself. Now climbing 6B/6C boulders and sometimes even almost a full 7A sport climb. This grade is predominately seen on outdoor sport climbing routes, particularly in Europe. That's pretty much it, and it also doesn't particularly matter. I've been climbing since November at my college gym and am basically at a V4/V5 level and same with one of my friends that I climb with. Find rock climbing routes, photos, and guides for every state, along with experiences and advice from fellow climbers. Comparing these scales is somewhat akin to comparing sprinting to a marathon; while both are running, the skills and attributes required are quite different Ask your setters, most likely if they are climbing outdoors they know how the inside grade relates to the outside. Few recreational climbers will reach V8. Definitely should be a different scale for bouldering vs. UIAA climbing grades are used in Germany and large parts of Eastern Europe where the system is mainly used to grade sport climbing routes. Sep 19, 2025 路 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. 10 range, and sometimes harder. It is a big gap from the perspective of the V10 climber, but is it really a big gap for the V16 climber? YDS en the French scales seems to start at a random point because we know now that the lower grades are 'to easy' and can't really be counted in the modern climbing world. For example: South Africa, Brazil, Finnish, Swedish. Their grading system is based on the color of the tape: Yellow - v0-v1, Red - v1-v2, Blue, v2-v3, etc. that are actually in the hard 5. Has anyone here climbed in this Tokyo gym? I was in the area and decided to give it a go. Jun 5, 2023 路 If you have done any climbing, either in the gym or outside, you will most likely have run into the concept of climbing grades. Bouldering is a bit different than some other forms of rock climbing and it has its own grades, the V-scale, for defining the difficulty of the climb. Grades, especially gym grades, are relative and set up to encourage new climbers Most gyms don't set a grade harder than V10 or easier than V beginner I think one thing that gym grades (and thus gym climbing) can offer is a much more reasonable beginner scale compared to outdoors. Rockax conversion tables indicate 6a is a 10b. I cant find any referance to a grading system like that, it might be one they made up for the gym. Same thing for "French to yds" for roped routes. S. if a route boils down to just a single boulder problem (roped bouldering, something quite common where I live) then the grade of that boulder problem determines how low the route can be graded. If you have an account on theCrag, you can set your preferred grade system for major gear styles on your profile page, allowing you to look at any climbing area worldwide in the grade system you are most used to. Top 5 International Climbing Grade Rating Systems If you’re climbing abroad, you should be familiar with other systems, including the French grading system, the UIAA grading system, and a handful of 469 votes, 211 comments. I use a kind of a weird scale: To be a V (x) climber, you have to climb xV (x) boulders outside. Click on this link to see other systems for measuring difficulties in climbing. And yes we are scared of falling. As a result, there are quite a few 5. Climbing grades are inherently subjective [1] - they are the opinion of one or a few climbers, often the first ascentionist or the author (s) of a guidebook. Mar 31, 2017 路 The UIAA system uses Roman numerals (IV, V, VI etc. Newer boulders in the higher grades (around 6b and up) and less popular areas have a more common grading, while older parcours boulders up to 6a might feel pretty sandbagged to climbers who are used to gym climbing. Think about how often you go climbing with a buddy and work on the same problem but get punted on different moves. A V2 is a 6a which is groen. 4M subscribers in the climbing community. Or climb on a system board with known grade relationships. The chart is referring to outdoor grades. The French use this system for most things (apart from bouldering, for which they use the Font scale, and big Alpine routes, for which they use the UIAA scale, and mixed sport climbing, for which they use the M scale) and the British use it for sport climbing, where seriousness isn't a factor. Done done and done. Bouldering grade VS Sport Grade (and what to expect) Stumbled across this article and found it quite useful/interesting as I'm a sport climber who basically uses bouldering as a tool to get stronger. These are averages as every climbing gym is different but I went to some major climbing gyms (Innsbruck). Familiarise yourself with the differences. Example 3. The home of Climbing on reddit. Confused by YDS, French, UIAA sport climbing grades? Our global comparison gives a clear understanding for international climbs. I was going to say that the two French scales here in the UK are distinguished - There's French (Fr) for routes and Font for bouldering. Apr 29, 2024 路 The most common free climbing grade systems are the French scale and the Yosemite Decimal System or YDS. com link. Both use a number and letter combination and rate climbs in ascending difficulty. e. Basically the Font scale has 6 grades to play with and doesn't need to soften the bottom of the scale to account for new people since they can just set stuff at those grades and keep 6A etc. In my gym I have been told that an gym v7 is equivalent to an outside v7 most of the time. Being able to consistently climb a color circuit makes me feel like I am actually climbing at least the lower end of the grade range. The people I know who progress pretty quickly at lower grades on rope split time between bouldering and roped climbing-- progressively shifting towards more bouldering as a percentage of training as their roped climbing grades have gone up. If you do a search for "font to hueco", you'll get a ton of charts and stuff. Oct 24, 2017 路 Find rock climbing routes, photos, and guides for every state, along with experiences and advice from fellow climbers. Bouldering grades are graded using different systems across different regions. 1. g. Does anyone have anymore that could be added? (disclaimer to say grading can be rly subjective and qualitative so I did the best I could!!) Apr 27, 2025 路 Frequently Asked Questions What does 8a+ mean in climbing grades? What does 8a+ mean in climbing grades? It indicates a very high degree of difficulty, often only achievable by the most experienced or professional climbers. your best bet will be to ask the gym staff, they might be able to point you in the right direction. 10+ and there are still plenty of things graded like that in Joshua tree, or the buttermilks. So to be a v10 climber, you need to send 10 v10s, or 8 v10s and 1 v11, or 7 v10s and 1 v12. Someone in r/climbing put plateauing into perspective for me: “if your flash grade becomes close to or exactly your max grade, you need to project more and focus on strength training on off days. Jun 23, 2024 路 Whether you are navigating the V-scale in the United States or tackling the iconic Fontainebleau grades in France, having a solid grasp of bouldering grades can enhance your climbing experience and help you set appropriate goals. The French grading system rose to prominence in Europe during the 1970s and 1980s, coinciding with the rapid evolution of sport climbing. I don't think you can realistically compare isolated campusing on the v-scale like that. This bouldering grades comparison table is designed to help climbers convert from Hueco to French and back to French to V-Scale. 9+. After finding this data, the question immediately popped into my head – is there data that provides evidence that a climber's route climbing grade and bouldering grade are correlated? Go climb outside. Oct 15, 2021 路 Whether rock climbing, mountaineering, or another climbing practice, climbing grades correspond to the difficulty and danger level of a designated area. They both started at 1, that being easy scrables. Learn about the Yosemite and French grading systems and how the two compare. Is that true? Just wondering for anyone who climbs at a boulder lab gym in Australia, I know it can be difficult/inaccurate to make grading comparisons, especially because it varies from gym to gym, but what would be the rough comparison from boulder lab's 1-9 rankings compared to the V rankings in America? Convert bouldering grades between Font, V-scale, Japanese Ky奴/Dan, and Australian Ewbank systems with this mobile-friendly tool. 10 or higher in the U. 9 was simply given 5. 3 or 2. Use Rab’s interactive tool to understand global climbing difficulty scales and plan your next route with confidence. If you are outside the USA or know about the scales used outside the USA can you post the country and the scale used for both routes and boulder problems? Thanks! Might be a bit of a long shot asking this here but might as well. Note: The tool can take a few seconds to appear below. Mar 17, 2012 路 Indoor rock climbing gyms have two types of rock climbing available, bouldering and sport climbing. You can get very good at campusing without actually being great at bouldering and vice versa. General timelines indicate that from bouldering day one, getting to V4 can take a year, V5 two years, V6 three years, and five years to V7. That's when they started I’m not sure if this is a bouldering system or a sport climbing system as the gym has both and I’ve not checked if the high wall has a separate system. Reply reply eshlow • A question for those who climb at Blochaus (particularly in Sydney, but also Melbourne and Canberra). I live in Europe, I started climbing in January 2019 (10 months). I climb at one of the Climbing Hangar gyms (UK) and have never been able to get the grading system totally straight. I met this guy the other day who is easily doing the V8's in the gym who has been climbing since September! That seems crazy to me, so I guess my question is: is there like a normal scale for how long you've been climbing vs. Previously, each boulder had a tag indicating what the boulder was rated, either v0-v1, v1-v2, ect. TL;DR V0 is We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. I like to use a conversion chart like this as more of an lower limit for a route grade. The chart below shows a conversion between the Fontainebleau bouldering scale and the french climbing scale. The grades at this gym were all on the V-scale. YDS ran up to 5, with 5 being the hardest moves known at that point. What I'd really like to see is a 3-axis graph, with french sport grades on the left and V grades on the right. Before the convention of having grades of 5. , 5. I was reading and watching a lot about the V5/V6 plateau that most intermediate climbers hit, and I was expecting this to be around the 6b on the french scale. I got to boulder at the gym in Fukuoka for a day ("Rally grass" is how the pronunciation sounded to me, don't know the Japanese spelling of it, but I very highly recommend it to anyone). Speaking about rock climbing grades, there are not only the systems listed above but also other difficulty rating systems. I've been to many different gyms, and, on average, I would say I am a solid v5 climber. It was developed by European climbers to create a clear and progressive scale for the increasingly difficult sport routes being established, particularly in France. Each scale brings its My point being I don't think soft gym grades are doing a disservice to climbers, if anything I think the fear of outdoor climbing being harder probably inhibits more people from performing better than the soft grades. Gyms in larger metro areas (in my experience) tend to not line up with outdoor grades until V7 or later. That's it. The higher the grade, the longer it takes to get to the next one. What do these grades translate to in V-grade and British system? I've always found that the French grading system doesn't really have a 1-to-1 translation to Yosemite decimal system. If your gym uses a color scheme for grading, what are the… For trad climbing, 5. I have found there is a dramatic increase in difficulty when you go outdoors, I can climb every V4 and most V5's I encounter indoors but outdoors I can't get more than a few moves on a V4. Easily convert climbing grades across systems like YDS, French, UIAA, British, and more. 9 and have pushed 6a to 10b. Mar 25, 2024 路 Learn how to convert climbing grades, common challenges, and resources for accurate conversions. To my surprise V5 converts to 7b and V6 to 7c in the french scale. 1). Apr 27, 2025 路 There are several rock climbing grade systems, each with its own history and regional use, but we will also cover the bouldering grades V scale and French (Font), including this 5c to V scale conversion that helps illustrate the relationship between the systems. Climbing Grades Indoors vs Outdoors I was just wondering what people's thoughts are on how hard routes are graded outdoors versus indoors. I climbed in two separate countries pre- and post- injury, and am trying to satisfy my curiosity with numbers about whether I've come back to around my pre-injury levels. Climbing grading systems are an integral component of our sport. Additionally, the tool bridges different grading systems—such as the French scale, the Yosemite Decimal System (YDS), the V-scale, and the Fontainebleau—using correspondence tables. How does 8a+ convert to the V-scale? 8a+ on the French sport scale is Mar 17, 2023 路 Confusingly, both bouldering and french climbing grades use the same numerical system to grade climbing routes and boulder problems. I dont even really get the comparison between different areas. May 16, 2022 路 Climbing gyms grade their routes through route setters using V-scale for bouldering, the YDS scale, and the French System for other forms of climbing. But as climbers techniques evolved they needed higher grades for harder routes. While grades are usually applied fairly consistently across a climbing area, there are often perceived differences between grading at different climbing areas. May 31, 2020 路 Everything you need to know about climbing grades in one place. Hey all, the gym I go to uses a C grading system (C1 - C8) I'm rather new to bouldering/climbing (currently at C3) and I can't find anyone else using a C grading system. In outdoor settings, two prominent grading scales, the V Scale and Font Scale, take center stage. All of the way to v8-v9 Now, they have changed their rating system to v0-2, v3-v5, and v6-v8. Free, fast, and easy-to-use climbing grade converter. V0 has changed to become more synonymous with 5. how easy is it to rappel the route?). I was wondering if anyone here has experience with both French and YDS and can provde feedback on grade 6 routes. ) presumably so that bouldering areas have more of a lower end as opposed to having YDS grades in the guide like Jtree and Bishop have. Thanks. My home gym grades v0-2, v1-3, v2-4 etc. I'm not surprised to see that grade called out in Europe, although gym or sport climbing would probably consider 5. Very humbling Plus grades in the Font and French route systems are - in theory at least - full grades of about the same width as YDS letter grades, so this isn't what the u/spearit is describing. V2 can span V3--V5 gym grade (debatable, and in any case outside rather than indoors would be the definition: this might be true in the context of the gym the chart has been made for, though) towards higher grades gym vs The YDS also includes ratings for mountaineering and other types of climbing, but these are expressed in a different format than the rock climbing grades, using Roman numerals and other symbols. Outdoor bouldering ramps up really fast, to the point where there are crags where even the V0s require at least a year of experience to send. It's why gyms originally created VB's since real V0 tends to be too tough for people on their first day. 9 was consisted the top of the list, and anything harder than 5. I. In the past V0 was supposed to be comparable to 5. Often you can't judge how hard a move is without actually trying it, because micro changes in a foothold could change how much strength one needs to do the move. grades you can climb? I mean, I Convert a climbing grade with easeTo convert grades, enter the grade into the input, select the grade system (french, yosemite, v-scale) and hit "convert" Grading around the world Hello! I've started climbing around a year ago in China - They use the V grades here and routes are sometimes also set by other Asian route setters from Japan/Korea. So I was wondering if anyone has or knows about any conversion charts so I can get a better understanding of where I am at and difficulties of climbs on a more universal grading system. I don't understand your chart either, but the points it is trying to convey are: gym grades start easier than boulders outside outside the grades have wider variability, e. vqin jdnbz zpys ogru dacqx iyik vcw udkalf ahamw aypv jgkx gcljch orrlk rvh ruuwd