Aid climbing grades reddit. Grades can help you to push yourself, but unless you're a professional climber, it's dumb to focus on 'pushing grades'. 10a and 5. In addition, there are separate grading systems for ice climbing, mixed climbing, drytooling, aid climbing, scrambling, bouldering and so on - it's a mess. As for the ratings, the first climber (First Ascent) will propose a grade, and later climbers will confirm or adjust it as they perceive is appropriate. Watching videos of other people climbing its hard to tell the actual difficulty. However, with bouldering, I feel so much weaker and still struggle on some V2s and V3s at the bouldering gym. 10 votes, 65 comments. The main use of assigning route difficulty is to help other climbers judge whether it is suitable for their level. In the 1990s, the traditional A-grade system for rating aid climbing routes was expanded at Yosemite into a more detailed "new wave" system, and with the development and growth in clean aid climbing, the A-grade system became the C-grade system. Our team of climbers helps break down nuanced differences between options, examining key considerations like climbing comfort, ladder stability, ease of top-stepping, and durability. Do you consider aid climbing to be more or less physical than free climbing in regards to pumping you out? I'm under the assumption that it's going to more gear problem solving and less physical, which would be better for my elbows. If it gets big then it’s just gonna create a whole new bunch of ethics/access problems when people who don’t know any better or don’t give a shit start drytooling on climbing crags Jul 23, 2025 · Find rock climbing routes, photos, and guides for every state, along with experiences and advice from fellow climbers. I see you want to get on Lurking Fear. Learn about climbing and bouldering ratings, including how route difficulty is measured and the difference between a rating and a grade. grades you can climb? I mean, I Index : SummitPost. Free soloing is free climbing without a rope to protect you. 11a is the same as the 5. Whilst the grading system is supposed to bring a universal measure it is largely subjective. Climbing outdoors, the grade is only a tiny part of the experience, and to focus solely on climbing the hardest grades possible at a crag is incredibly limiting, and, imo, leads to disrespectful behavior. In this post we break down them all. Well sure, but I'm trying to avoid death and injury. Im curious what everyone’s climbing progression/timeline has been like? How quickly did you progress from V1 to V2, and then V2 to V3 etc (not limited to bouldering grades). 11s. Aid climbing is when you use ladders, cams, slings, etc to ascend a route. I have some ex-partners that don't climb on gear anymore because they've taken MASSIVE whippers from pushing grades too early. Free Climbing Aid Climbing Grades Hey! By the way… this page contains affiliate links. 4M subscribers in the climbing community. We've been letting our climbing community weigh in on routes, but climbing grades are aid. Climbing finger strength is not the same as hangboard strength. At my local wall the average grade is probably around 6A. Learn about the Yosemite and French grading systems and how the two compare. 10b) the same as the jumps between whole numbers in the lower grades (like a 5. Well, I can climb sevens, maybe an eight or two at boulder lab and I can climb v4 benchmarks ish on a hard board (grasshopper or moon), make of that what you will. Tl;dr you can definitely do it. 10a to a 5. So if you make a purchase after clicking one at no cost to you we may earn a small commission. I consider myself an intermediate climber, not because of the grades but because when I attempt project level things it makes me realize I have so much gap in terms of technique and tactics. Feb 23, 2022 · The Basics A “big-wall climb” is just an overgrown rock route, but complicated by aid climbing and the need to haul a bag. When top roping I can usually completely a 10d in one try, but outside a 5. A question for those who climb at Blochaus (particularly in Sydney, but also Melbourne and Canberra). What grade ranges do you think the colours match up with? No grade moralising. 10 trad climber Valley plus knowing how to aid gets you up most of the classic walls in good style and you're still able to enjoy some absolutely fantastic big wall free climbing still. There's so many that people use. The latter is much safer than the former. 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. I think aid climbing means using artificial things put into the rock that you can step on or pull on right? I would prefer to not go that route. A huge uncertainty is how “accurately” the boulders in your area are graded and what type of boulders you are climbing. The grade system grades the level of danger involved. The scope of this article is to define the A1 to A5 system of grading individual aid pitches. These tips may take years off your learning curve. on the other hand, i think the french system, which is more holistic, reflects actual climbing performance for a particular bouldering grade better than the US system There's so much more to rope/system management with big wall climbing than with multipitch that it can likely be the difference between success and failure. I think mid 7s is where a lot of people plateau without some sort of focussed training unless they have access to amazing route setting and plenty of top class outdoor climbing. What do you do with free pitches? Most aid routes I’ve seen have a few free pitches. When a route has a "tandem" grade (a free and aid grade) it means that the route contains 5. Thanks for sharing. If you're interested in grade chasing I suggest getting into board climbing and/or outdoors. Here are some tips to help you make short work of longer, harder climbs. This is broadly broken up into sport climbing and trad climbing. Why bother with trad climbing if you don't like the problem solving part when you can just clip bolts and focus on the part that only matters to you? Been sending a few greens as of late at urban climb Collingwood. 12b, the same as whole numbers… Those aid falls are bewildering. But what goes into climbing grades, and why do they so often involve so many letters and numbers? Climbing is rife with technical jargon, and trying to decode the abbreviations can seem daunting. Shoes are probably one of the most important part of climbing, and cumulatively any climber should've spent the most money on… There are so many variables that comparing gyms 'grade' is nearly impossible. Practicing aid will certainly help, but you need to get to the valley if you want to climb El Cap. I do certainly understand that old school trad mentality of never calling take and just keep going until you either ascend or fall. I’ve been eyeballing some solo aid in the future, I’ve come to understand the systems well but I have a very basic question. Aid Climbing Trad Climbing Terminology Cam (or Camming Device) Gear Placements Hex Nut Offwidth Pitch Pro Rack Runout Sharp End Tricam Trad Climbing Grades and Difficulty May 20, 2024 · We used them on aid-intensive walls, on light and fast alpine missions, and in support of big wall free climbing ascents. If the second is free climbing slowly the it is possible to belay and haul at the same time using guide mode and some backup knots Your point about gym climbing encouraging bad tactics and habits is spot on. Aid climbing might seem like cheating to some people, but truly difficult aid routes can be extremely physically demanding. Changes in the rock face (loss of holds to erosion, for example), will change the grade. I analysed 4 million climbing ascents to answers some common questions that are asked in climbing. 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. Most of those people its super confusing because at certain points the french bouldering and climbing grades are similar, but at both ends they diverge pretty significantly. 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. You’ll need some special gear, as well as new techniques. 10, for example between 5. 1. 8 to 5. Would rather just climb the rock as is. 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. I've been climbing for about 2-3 years and in the last year I really fell in love with the sport and started climbing twice a week. 4K votes, 77 comments. 9 I might take a fall or two. 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. That said, try and get on as many cracks as you can and you may be able to lead a high enough grade by september that you can save yourself a few extra pitches of aiding. Most of these seem fairly straightforward, but in practice can be incredibly 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. Basically any time you use something other than your own body strength and technique. This allows you to exactly dial in the amount of weight that you are putting on your fingers and watch your progression systematically. Every big wall you've ever heard of went on aid before it went free. 10b, or 5. V6 is the best grade in climbing. That being said, if none of them are racking brass nuts, that could be indicative that they are not needed for the area, but also may play into what grades they are climbing. 3M subscribers in the climbing community. That’s when I thought, isn’t all the time I spend trying to become a better climber just another form of aid? How can I climb hard but not get stronger? Like, I want to climb v17 one day, but I want to do that by not cheating and training hard. Trad climbing isnt big wall climbing. While grades are usually applied fairly consistently across a climbing area, there are often perceived differences between grading at different climbing areas. This means that the hardest hiking grades (T5 or T6) involve extremely exposed terrain while the easiest mountaineering grade (F) is a glacier walk. May 1, 2022 · What Is Trad Climbing? Origin of Trad Climbing Notable Climbers (Now and Then) Historical Figures from Climbing's Golden Age Famous Climbers from the 2000s to Present Differences Between Trad and Sport Climbing Trad vs. Rock climbing grades are a means of estimating the difficulty of a climb. 12b trad (which tend to be completely different types of climbing) you're still going to aid a decent number of pitches. 8 to a 5. Never compromise on safety; always build bombproof anchors. 12. Comparatively, Most finals WC problems for men are about 2D or 3D. 2K votes, 154 comments. Dry tooling mixes ice climbing and rock climbing technique, along with a few moves that are completely unique to the sport How much does cutting weight improve your climbing? After spending two years of climbing and doing consistent weighted pull ups I'm at a point where my climbing improvements have seemed to plateau and I think it's due to my weight. 41 Question What's the Highest your gym grades? (self. Tip 2: Prioritize Grades or Gear When it comes to pushing your limits, prioritize either grades or gear, but not both. The only way to "cheat" in alpine climbing is to lie about what you did. Unless you're freeing 5. I hear a lot about this or that being aid, and how climbers should avoid it. Unsure of the grades on them but love seeing my progression 🤗 anyone know what the grade of this would be? May 29, 2020 · New to trad climbing? Our Beginner's Guide to Trad Climbing breaks down everything you need to know to get started trad climbing today. We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. No one is requiring you to do every climb of a grade and no one is preventing you from using aid features to set your own climb. Just curious about the skill and strength transfer from indoor/board climbing to outdoors. If you can climb a 3Q in a Japanese gym you should be able to climb around V4 or V5 somewhere else in the world. Could anyone who also climbs at these gyms give me a rough rundown of how the colours relate to the V scale? But you'd look at the grades they put up and see a far cry from modern strongmen. Have you climbed multipitch before? What about you leading every single pitch? 13 votes, 24 comments. Is the difference in difficulty between letter grades after 5. For women its about 1D to 2D. Have you ever aid climbed before? Your goal as stated right here is literally impossible without serious modification. Feb 26, 2023 · Find rock climbing routes, photos, and guides for every state, along with experiences and advice from fellow climbers. The grade can't account for your strengths, weaknesses, body type, ape index or experience. In the last 3 months I've started to sport/lead climb outdoors more often than I boulder and I found that I'm a fair bit better at lead/sport than I am at Everything you need to know about Big Wall climbing in Yosemite. org : Climbing, hiking, mountaineeringIndex is a granite climbing area renowned for its traditional and aid climbing located approximately 1 hour northeast of Seattle in the Sky Valley along highway 2. Thanks for Jan 28, 2022 · The Font System Grades Vary by Climbing Area and Age Gym Climbing Grades vs. The routes at Index are spread out over a dozen or so cliffs ranging in height from 70 feet to over 700 feet. Outdoor Climbing Grades Grading Systems for Other Styles of Climbing Big-wall and Aid Climbing Aid Climbing Ratings Aid Climbing Scale Big Wall Ratings National Climbing Classification System (NCCS) Commitment Grades Ice Climbing Ratings Mixed Climbing Climbing Grade Sep 28, 2012 · A bit of aid climbing is the key to keeping difficulties within your grade and moving quickly up whatever terrain you encounter. What do you all think about using points of aid on technical alpine routes? Do you consider it takes something away from the difficultly, or causes it to not count? Asking here because I've heard so many different opinions on this. You have probably become attuned to the setters style at you home gym and you I'm climbing well below your route grades, so still have a ways to go. Is anyone else in the same 43 votes, 132 comments. . For example for slab climbing body strength usually matters very little. My local gym is fairly small so I spent most of my time bouldering. 121 votes, 67 comments. First a note on the overall grading system of a particular big-wall climb. 10 you start adding letters a-d to the end of the grade, but are the jumps between grades (say 5. The main reason to climb V10+ is so you can climb V6 faster and do more of them in a day. Many areas in the world have developed different systems. There are a Jan 6, 2024 · Climbing is an amazing sport, but the grading can be confusing. The surprise of getting a hard move that you never would have tried because of the grade can lead to a huge confidence boom. 10s and send/project 5. Just use your known terms and maybe ask, you'll catch up very fast and will find youserlf using a mixture in no time Some people from my college placed in beginner climbing like v2-3, I placed in intermediate climbing v5-6, and a couple buddies placed in advanced climbing v8-9. You can definitely aid, and thats what 99 percent of people do on El Cap, regardless of the route. In aid climbing, you place gear (like trad climbing) and then you use cloth ladders, called aiders or etriers, to put your body weight on the gear and move upwards until you can place another piece of gear. Does Using Aid Count as Aid? I started to plateau on week two so I started jumaring up all the routes in my gym. That's 100% not going to happen in two years. I'm going to hazard a guess that you don't have any 9B+ boulders and I would be really amazed if you have genuine 9b+ sport routes as well. I'm a rock climber, but I still quite like gym climbing, and I find it hard to throttle myself in the gym. Practice building big wall anchors, practice hauling, practice aid climbing, and practice jugging the rope. Ensure you place gear early on the route. This area offers easy access with the parking lot located only a Unjerk. I spend a lot of time here and even if your not climbing I swear just being in the valley makes you a better climbing. Said another way, at any given time if I looked at the people ascending el capitan would most of them be free climbing or aid… 1. a6 = you fall, you die. 7 free climbing with C2 aid climbing. Aid climbing is still not for the faint of Climbing any route free on El Cap will be pretty difficult. In your opinion what is a more realistic timeframe? 28 votes, 31 comments. I have had many mentors recommend that being an on-sight mid-5. I’ve been climbing about a year and a half, however for the past ~5 months I haven’t been going as much as I used to just being busy with school (college student) and work. If you are a real training nut the best way to perform the exercises is with a scale under your feet. The other side of climbing is aid climbing. In Switzerland, the difference is that for hiking you don’t need a rope for safety while for mountaineering you do. In part because aid climbing protection can be difficult to remove. Plus one system might not represent climbing types from other regions. I've nevr climbed the nose but I've been up a few other walls including Lurking Fear on the captain and it just takes time. IMO, the best problems are in the V5-7 range, so being a solid V6 climber is ideal. Climbs will settle into a grade as consensus builds. 9), or are the jumps 1/4 the size (so from a 5. I drew every route, every feature, every named pitch on El Cap. They also did a ton of aid climbing on their classic routes, which we might scoff at today but was standard practice at the time. Share Add a Comment Sort by: Top Open comment sort options Best Top New Controversial Old Q&A tradmaster9000 • May 31, 2020 · Everything you need to know about climbing grades in one place. And yes we are scared of falling. I understand a lot of this comes down to experience, and as I spend more time outside those numbers will probably merge. Clean Aid Climbing Aid Climbing vs. I'd love to hear your feedback :) Big wall climbing is a science and an art. A million reasons why they're more like a Gordie Howe figure than a Gretzky. Hard crimp boulders often require pushing down with one hand while pulling with another, or wide outside the shoulder strength, or messed up inside the shoulder crosses. Reddit's rock climbing training community. Grade 1 can take few weeks and grade 2 can take around 4-8 weeks. It's a very weird feeling climbing with mexicans and only knowing the terms in spanish, but climbers everywhere are very laid back. It’s colour coded but with no reference at all to any of the more formal grading scales. When she reaches the anchor, she ties in and fixes (ties off) the lead Mixed Climbing To understand the grading system, it’s important to first understand what mixed climbing is. So I have been wondering, when the grade system gets to a 5. Yeah aid climbing is an entirely different beast. Alternatively, the route goes entirely free at 5. In the UK, the difference between scrambling and hiking is similar: if you use your 423 votes, 135 comments. 9)? If the jumps between single letters are the Mar 8, 2024 · A summary of various tricks and tips to aid climb more efficiently, also known as “just about everything I wish I knew when I started aid climbing”. However, always Difficulty classification in mountaineering and climbing: learn about grading systems and levels to prepare for your adventures with safety and confidence. Aug 30, 2021 · Simply put, rock climbing grades describe the difficulty of a route. Just need to get some ropes set up in the bouldering area so I can send V7 (V13 in your gym). Dec 1, 2020 · What Is Aid Climbing? Aid Climbing Gear: A Detailed Buying Guide History of Aid Climbing: Fixed Aid Climbing vs. As a climber transitions from gym/sport crag climbing to outdoor climbing it is vital that they understand the different grading systems in use and that the letters or numbers following the YDS grade are just as important as the YDS grade. On relatively easy grades do you continue to attempt to aid it or just nut up and climb it? I suppose it spooks me to do rope soloing but after a few pitches it doesn’t matter I climb at one of the Climbing Hangar gyms (UK) and have never been able to get the grading system totally straight. bouldering) submitted 10 months ago by Doggosareamazing522 My gym goes all the way up to V11, but I've seen a good chunk of people saying that their gym only goes to about V8 Free climbing is climbing with a rope to protect yourself, and climbing with only your body to get you up. 2. Aid climbing gear tips and tricks? I'm trying to get more efficient at aid climbing, I'd really like to climb El Capitan next year via some route or another. Case in point: yesterday I went to the gym on a "rest day", without a plan except to have fun, and ended up climbing about 50 boulder problems, including five in the hardest circuit (which is way too taxing for V∞ Just kidding. So that's my vision. Aid climbing, though more cumbersome and complex than free climbing, is an essential technique for a climber's ability to climb, to ascend the vertical and overhanging. Many of the world's best climbers exclusively climb on purposefully set aid terrain and many crags with spray walls allow you to set purposefully as well. So don't worry about 62 votes, 93 comments. I read Big-Wall Climbing, by Jared Ogden to get started, and also read lots of material on internet forums, including Chris McNamara's How to Big Wall Climb. The home of Climbing on reddit. Alright, so I'm a little confused. Aid climbing, it's all about the problem solving. SuperTopo offers the world's best big wall rock climbing and mountaineering route information for Yosemite National Park in both online downloadable format and in printed books In sport climbing and bouldering, it's all about the physical act of climbing. It's a really good idea to talk with other trad climbers in your area to gather insight and of multiple opinions about this. My upper body is very strong but my body weight isn't anywhere near close to "lean", I'm 5'10" 175lbs ~20bmi. In Japan, gyms are graded harder or equal to real boulders in the surrounding areas. Work on problems above your grade so if you can't ignore the grade choose stuff harder than what you feel you can send. Hangboarding only trains force in one direction, while climbing require three dimensional strength, even on crimps. Dedicated to increasing all our knowledge about how to better improve at our sport. But in your personal experience, how do climbing grades indoor compare to climbing grades outdoor? I am not sure tbh, I climb at a relatively high grade level in sport climbing and yet I am way below that level in bouldering. 12a and 5. If you say you made the summit, but had to aid on your gear a bit, then everyone will congratulate your effort. ;) I don't want to assume my placements are good without more experience. It's really helped my climbing progression. Logistics play a huge part! If you have experience with trad climbing, it will certainly be easier, but you really have to study the ideas and techniques behind how everything works. At which grade did you start to plateau? When did you start seriously training? A lot of the grades are historical and routed in the local climbing cultures, which developed independently from each other in different regions of the world. Mixed climbing is a discipline where you use both dry rock and ice to climb a route, relying on your crampons and ice tools to gain purchase on either surface. In trad climbing it's a combination of physical climbing and problem solving. The basic procedure goes like this: The leader climbs up the first pitch, free and/ or with aid, trailing a second rope (the haul line). My friend's really stoked on the Shield, but that would require a lot of practice and knowledge of aid techniques, both clean and hammer. Its a difficulty suggestion without the context of you. I started climbing before the dedicated PAS gizmos (loops sewn together) became a thing, and people used their daisy chains all the time for single pitch, instead of fiddling with slings. Months of work, all on a single gigapixel image. If you say you free climbed a route, but you actually aided on the crux, then that is unethical. I definitely prefer top roping, and can flash some 5. It's often laughed at by the majority of the climbing community, but you can't really compare it to free climbing. ixyu ntflm wgwtfu xucvf myapnada lhmp wjgaqpa keef jnogkw rgdcwm