The Great Grade Debate

Grades. Nothing seems to rile climbers up more than a discussion of grades. Really it shouldn’t matter at all in the scheme of things, unless you need a way to compare yourself to other climbers. Personally, for that I use height, but I digress. We are human, and in an activity like climbing, we like to be able to objectively measure our progress, whether it be simply against our own personal achievements, or those of others. A few random thoughts on grades that I’ve pondered recently.

We spent time at the Gunks last month, which I hadn’t been back to in 10 years. I remember thinking back then the grades seemed pretty stout, and now with more perspective, I can confirm that they are indeed the stiffest I’ve experienced in the country. Generally, you could add two letter grades to everything to get its equivalent in the West. The biggest discrepancy I personally experienced was a “5.9” that would easily be 10c in Rifle. A friend who now lives there told us of a 10a that was solid 11c. Go figure.

There are likely several reasons for such major sandbagging, I think mostly the Gunks is just an old school area, and as such, the ratings have never really come in line with the rest of the world. Funny though, that people who live there go to Yosemite and think it’s soft. I thought it was the Yosemite Decimal System, but maybe we should rename it to the Gunks Decimal System. It’s not really a big deal once you figure out what is what, but I do think it does the climbers there a disservice, as many who think they can “only” climb 5.8 would find 5.10 sport routes across the country within their limit.

Closer to home, there are some newer routes in Rifle Mountain Park that were listed in the guidebook with completely erroneous grades. I’ve seen people who were hoping for a nice mellow experience step up and get the smackdown, because they thought they were getting on a 5.8 and instead it’s solid 10b, or a 5.9 that’s really 10c. Not a huge difference, but if you only climb 5.8, 10b is world’s harder, and these poor folks spend the rest of the day thinking they can’t even get up a 5.8 anymore. You should see the look in their eyes when I clue them into the reality of the situation.

And then there’s Indian Creek. A place where it all goes out the window, because the grade is completely dependent on the size of your hands. I love how my wife and I can have two completely different experiences on the very same route. It takes the idea of how routes can be different for every body type to the extreme, and makes you realize that it really is just all about having fun! You get thin hands there? No way, that’s heinous ring locks for me!!

Ultimately, it’s all just one aspect of a recreational activity that we are lucky to enjoy in the first place, and I can think of few things that matter less in this life than the grade of a route. But at the same time, there is some objectivity to it, so it is fun to try to dial in what a certain grade should feel like. I suppose these are debates we will have for as long as rock climbing is around. At least it’ll keep conversations around the campfire (and on the internet) lively at night.