It makes sense that some climbs are harder than others, but what do all the numbers and letters mean? Understanding the difficulty ratings for climbs can seem confusing. This guide aims to explain the climbing grades used in American rock climbing.
Grading systems are used by climbers to communicate the difficulty of a route for future attempts. If you are climbing in a gym or outside, it is helpful to understand these ratings and know which climbs are within your ability level.
Grading the difficulty of climbing routes is highly subjective. Difficulty grades are traditionally set by the first person to climb the route—also known as the first ascensionist. The grade is influenced by their skill level, experience, ego, and the difficulty standards of the time. Routes established during certain periods or by certain individuals can have harder or softer grades than other comparable climbs.
Different grading systems are used throughout the world. The American climbing community uses the Yosemite Decimal System (YDS).
Class 1: Walking on a trail
Class 2: Easy scrambling that may require using a hand occasionally, little potential danger
Class 3: Harder scrambling requiring hands more often, some exposure with potential danger
Class 4: Hard scrambling using hands for stability, high exposure with high potential danger
Class 5: Vertical climbing, most parties use ropes
Within Class 5, climbs are graded further based on their difficulty with a decimal value following the five.
Currently, the hardest route ever completed is Silence—named by Adam Ondra after he climbed it in 2017 and gave it a grade of 5.15d. This climb remains unrepeated as of February 2023.
Climbers use the commitment grade scale to tell how long a route should take to climb. Like difficulty grades, these ratings are subjective and determined by the climber that established a route.
Grade I: Less than half a day of technical (5th class) roped climbing
Grade II: Half a day or less of roped climbing
Grade III: Most of the day roped climbing
Grade IV: Full day of roped climbing
Grade V: Typically requires an overnight on the route
Grade VI: Two or more days of hard climbing
These grades are really helpful for a climbing party’s decision-making process when considering which route to climb on a given day. For example, if a party knows they tend to be a bit slow and the forecast calls for thunderstorms in the afternoon, then they may not have time to climb and descend a Grade II route safely.
Grade I
The phrase, “bouldering” refers to climbing on short, highly technical rock features without ropes. Bouldering routes are called “problems,” and they’re usually close to the ground. Spotters and/or crash pads offer fall protection.
Bouldering is the most accessible form of climbing because it doesn’t require a rope, a ton of gear, or a partner. American climbing uses the V-scale to grade the difficulty of bouldering problems. The scale starts at V0 for beginners and climbs to V1, V2, V3, etc.—all the way up to the current limit of difficulty at V16.
Climbing can be a very fun and fulfilling activity. Whether you’re in a gym or exploring Utah’s many outdoor climbing areas, having an understanding of climbing grades will help you find the perfect route. Climbing is an activity with serious risk; and you are responsible for deciding what routes you climb. If you’re interested in learning more by climbing with a professional guide, then check out our guided climbing tours below.