jon@utcs.UUCP (Jon Alexander) (08/15/85)
Anybody out there into rock-climbing
of some form?
I want to know something:
What is the basis for the "North American" (?)
rating system of climbs, which goes 5.1,5.2....5.14 (I believe).
Also, who started it?
Finally, what other systems are there?
Can anybody fill me in?
--
Jon 'Big J' Alexander, U. of Toronto Comp. Serv.
Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
...!{decvax}!utzoo!utcs!jon
{ihnp4 }
BITNET: jon@utorontorgo@druxj.UUCP (OlsenRG) (08/26/85)
> What is the rock climbing rating system which > rates climbs from 5.1 to 5.14? The rating system you refer to is known as the Yosemite Decimal System. It is part of a system for rating hikes and climbs which goes as follows: Class 1 Walking 2 Trail hiking 3 Climbing unroped, but hands are needed 4 Roped climbing, but leader does not put in protection between belays. 5 Roped climbing, leader places protection between belays. 6 Aid climbing. Class 5 (free climbing; i.e. using only the rock to make progress and your equipment solely to protect you in case you fall) was originally subdivided from 5.0 to 5.9 to cover the range of difficulty at the time the system was first used (early 50's). As climbers began doing harder and harder free climbs, the upper end of the scale was extended to include 5.10, 5.11, 5.12 and 5.13. Noone has yet done a 5.14 climb. These ratings can also modified by a - or + to indicate a climb which is in the lower or upper end of a particular rating; e.g 5.8-, 5.9+. Climbs in the 5.10 to 5.13 range are also divided into four subcategories with a,b,c,d: e.g. 5.10a is "easy" 5.10 (same as 5.10-) 5.11d is "hard" 5.11 (same as 5.11+). Many countries have their own rating systems - English, French, German, Australian, Czech, to name a few. Mountain magazine and various climbing guidebooks often show a table comparing the various rating systems. Ratings are a consensus of the opinions of many climbers, and there are variations from one climbing area to another. The perceived difficulty of a particular move will vary from climber to climber depending on height, what kind of moves you are good (or bad) at, how sticky your climbing shoes are, how hung over or scared you are, how well you figure out the best way of doing the move, etc. About all you can say is that if a move is rated 5.7, you will probably find it to be (for you) anywhere from 5.6 to 5.8, but you can be pretty sure it is not 5.5 or 5.9. Ron Olsen
eli@cvl.UUCP (Eli Liang) (08/27/85)
> > Anybody out there into rock-climbing > of some form? > > I want to know something: > What is the basis for the "North American" (?) > rating system of climbs, which goes 5.1,5.2....5.14 (I believe). > Also, who started it? > > Finally, what other systems are there? > > Can anybody fill me in? > -- > Jon 'Big J' Alexander, U. of Toronto Comp. Serv. > Toronto, Ontario, CANADA > ...!{decvax}!utzoo!utcs!jon > {ihnp4 } > BITNET: jon@utoronto I'm glad to find another person interested in rock climbing on the net. This is the first article I've seen on the net expressing any interest in it. (Where are all those ultra-mod Yosemite climbers? Got to be some out there!) For those of you net denizens who know nothing about rock/mountain climbing but are interested in it, read on. This gives me a chance write about my favorite sport/hobby (among many others). For those who do climb or those who have no interest, skip the rest of this article. The American rating system for climbs has two parts -- class and grade. lass 1's are route can walk up, class 2's are routes are rough sorts of off-trail places one can still walk up with little trouble, class 3's are routes that require some handholds and footholds, going up steeper grades of terrain (real rough trails!). Falling here might result in twisted ankles and bruised shins, maybe even a broken bone. Third class also refers to the method by which a climber climbs. One will sometimes hear about climbers doing a particular class 5.x climb third class. This means they did it unrope. Class 4's are have smaller footholds and handholds and go over steeper terrain. Falling can be fatal so ropes are often used. Class 5's are the more technical climbs. These have often tiny footholds and handholds and require the use of special climbing technicals such as chimneying, laybacking, mantling, etc. Ropes are used for belaying unless one is good/bold enough to free solo. Class 5's are subdivided into 5.0 to 5.13 subclasses. 5.0 begin a beginner's climb to 5.13 which challenge the best rock climber's in the world. This rating system was started many, many years ago in Yosemite National Park to rate the climbs there. At that time, the scale was from 5.0 to 5.9 and ranked a couple "reference" climbs. Since then, the scale as been exported elsewhere and references have got a bit tenuous. Climbers get a "feel" of the system and then rate new climbs based on personal experience. Also, the sport has been developing and a couple more subclasses have been tacked on, 5.10, 5.11, 5.12, and 5.13. The gap in difficulty between subclasses tends to widen out here and these subclasses (9 through 13) are sometimes subdivided further into a, b, c, and d. So a 5.10d is more difficult (in someone's opinion) than a 5.10a. Since 5.13 is the highest commonly accepted class, sometimes they indicate a extremely difficult climb by a 5.13+. So when one hears that Jerry Moffat, a world class British climber, has "flashed" (climbed on sight without a single fall) "The Phoenix" (a route in Yosemite) which is 5.13+, one can't but help being impressed. Class A's (or previously known as class 6's) are direct aid climbs (as opposed to class 1-5 which are all free climbs -- using the rope only as safety equipment and not for support). Direct aid climbs require the use of aids which the climber uses for support and vary from rappel/ascent ropes, jumars, entriers, bolts anchors, pitons, ice screws (on alpine routes), chocks, friends, etc. In aid climbing, the climber slowly shifts his climbing aids up the climb and climbs in that slow and methodical manner. Class A's are also subdivided into 6 subclasses which rate the difficulty of the direct aid climb. Class A1 indicate a easy climb where pitons or chocks can be easily inserted securely in wellformed cracks. An A6 would be one where the placement of these is difficult and the chance of a piton or chock pulling out when a climber puts his weight on it is extremely high. Grades are assigned to a climb according to overall difficulty and number of pitches which a climb requires. Grades I and II are easy and require between a couple minutes and a few hours. Grades III and IV are of moderate difficulty and length and require up to a "long day" (up to 18 hours). Grades V and VI require much more persistence and several days. An example of a well-known and very popular Grade VI route is the Salathe Wall of El Capitan in Yosemite. It is a Grade VI, class 5.10, and A3 route. It goes 36 or more pitches up 2900 feet and takes up to 5 or 6 days. There are several ways which climbers climb. Bouldering is popular and a sport of its own right. Here, the climbs are short (mainly traverses) and close to the ground so they are done third class. One can try to solve a wide variety of climbing problems in bouldering without the hassle of the belaying and worry of falling. Many climbers boulder for practice. Then too, a climber can top-rope. Most beginners start this way. The rope passes up from the belayer down below, through a carabiner attached by an anchor above the climb, back down to the climber. If the climber should fall, he doesn't fall far as that the rope is not very slack. Many Grade I climbs may be done by top-roping. Most climbers do lead climbing. In lead climbing, there are typically two climbers, a leader and a follower. The rope passes between the leader and the follower. The leader climbs above the follower (who acts as the belayer) putting in protections as he goes. The rope passes through carabiners attached to these protections, so if the leader takes a fall 20 feet above the last protection he places, he falls a minimum of 40 feet, before the rope catches him (assuming that the force doesn't yank out that last protection). After the leader has climbed to a reasonably safe place, he begins to belay the follower who then climbs up removing the protections the leader has placed as he climbs up. Similar to top-roping, if the follower falls, he falls a few feet at most (unless the leader fell asleep belaying :-) After he has the follower reaches the level of the leader, they might switch off, and whomever is to be the leader this time, continues up. The fear of a traumatic leader fall scare many beginners into putting off lead climbing, some indefinitely. Most climbers can follow harder climbs than they can lead. A climber might be able to follow a 5.8 climb but only lead a 5.5. Many climbers do soloing. In soloing can be free or self-belayed. In the self-belayed sort of soloing, the climber climbs by himself but uses rope and a self-belay system so that if he falls, its non-fatal. Many climbers find themselves free soloing something sometime in their climbing careers. Others do it constantly because they enjoy the discipline and the feel of it. This is a dangerous sport and requires great mental discipline. In free soloing, the climber climbs unroped. Since the the rock is very unforgiving of mistakes, the free solo'er must always be aware of his limits and climb conservatively. He must have a good feel for down climbing, making sure he never climbs himself into a corner. The great irony of free soloing, to paraphase Royal Robbins, the great American climber, is keeping ones head about one. If one climbs above ones ability or confidence, one may die as a direct result of the fear of dying. Still, very few free solo'ers have been killed free soloing so the slates are pretty clean. Casual climbers often hit a wall at around climbing 5.9 (following that is, most find it difficult to lead more than a 5.8) or doing a Grade IV in a long day. To climb higher classed and graded climbs requires more training and mental/physical discipline than most of us are willing to commit to climbing. To wrap it up, there are other systems of rating climbs. Most notable are the British and the Australian system. Of the two, the Australian is the most interesting (and most logical, more so than the American rating system). In the British system, climbs are rated from Grade 1 to 7c and the British grade 7c being about equivalent to the American class 5.12d. In the Australian system, climbs are rated on a scale from 1 to 29. This covers the whole range of American class 1's through 5's. Australian grade 29 is about equivalent to the American class 5.12d too. If I've gotten a little carried away with the subject, I appologize. I've sort of deviated from the main question of the article this is a followup for. But for those of you who didn't know anything about climbing, I hope this has been informative. For those interested in learning how to climb, many climbing schools exist and many university and colleges offer climbing courses for credit. Or just grab a book (_Basic_Rockcraft_ by Royal Robbins or _Learning_to_Climb_ (?) by Michael Loughman, Sierra Club, are good choices) and a partner and hit a nearby climbing area. have fun, -eli -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eli Liang --- University of Maryland Computer Vision Lab, (301) 454-4526 ARPA: liang@cvl, liang@lemuria, eli@mit-mc, eli@mit-prep CSNET: liang@cvl UUCP: {seismo,allegra,brl-bmd}!umcp-cs!cvl!liang
eugene@ames.UUCP (Eugene Miya) (08/30/85)
I will post this again, since our news feed went down, and I got a request. > What is the basis for the "North American" (?) > rating system of climbs, which goes 5.1,5.2....5.14 (I believe). > Also, who started it? > > Finally, what other systems are there? > > Can anybody fill me in? > -- > Jon 'Big J' Alexander, U. of Toronto Comp. Serv. Hum, Just got back from Lover's Leap. There are three basic systems in use (in NA) with several local systems. The basic systems are the Decimal System which you refer, the NCCS (National Climbing Classification System) developed by the American Alpine Club, and the UIAA [international]. Local systems include a system for rating ice climbs [tenuous], the open ended Australian system which I now believe goes from 1 to 31 (generally thought to be the best rating system: good granularity and open ended), and two European systems: English using Roman numerals and +s and -s for difficulty. The alpine system (French) uses descriptors like D, TD, ED with -s and +s. These rating systems only rate the hardest individual move over a climb or a pitch on a lead (top roping does not quite count). [Obviously, hardest move is a problem, consider sustained problems]. It's mostly subjective, but it has objective elements in it. You notice the size of holds on 5.7s tend to be about the same size where every you go (roughly). Exposure should not be taken into account, only 'technical' difficulty (subjective). The UIAA also has a system of grading overall difficulties of climbs. It goes from I to VII. A IV is a major one day climb with significant technical difficulties. A VI is a multiday technical climb such as an El Cap Route. Problem: how to grade a climb after a 'freak' ascent: Henry Barber's 2 1/2 hour ascent of Sentinel rock [normally a two day climb for most] or the 10 hours ascent of the Nose on El Cap [normally a 3-5 day climb]. The basis for the Decimal system, also known in some areas as the Sierra Club system [not appropriate] or Yosemite Decimal System [YDS] was from Alpine Guides in Europe who just rated their 'walks' from 1-5. I use walk because this is what climbs consisted of around 1890 when this system 'sprung' into use. Aroung 1950, near Los Angeles, CA, it became clear that class 5 in particular was inappropriately partitioned. Class 6 was added prior to this time to describe obvious artificial aids. People suggested dividing 5th class climbing into ten subclasses. The principal people behind this were Royal Robbins [a teenager at the time] and probably the first to climb a 5.9 and Chuck Wilts [at Caltech]. Ten? We have ten fingers and toes, our numbers systems are based on 10. So began the decimal system 1-5.0-5.9. 6 was temporarily divided from 6.0 and 6.9 but was replaced with the A1-A6 classification from the UIAA [early copies of the Yosemite Climbers guide show it fractions of 6]. The problems arose around 1959-1964 when people were clearly doing climbs harder than 5.9 thru skill, trickery, and technology. Chuck Pratt is generally credited with doing the first 5.10. [I think Crack of Doom at Elephant Rock in Yosemite.] You will notice what appears to be a California slant. This is because during the period from the late 1950s thru the 1960s, the good weather of Yosemite Valley, the technology developed by Yvon Chouinard [mass produced hard steel pitons], and so forth pushed climbing beyond what it was conceived. True, the English had developed jamming [counterforce climbing techniques] in the early 1950s by Joe Brown, and ice climbing thru John Cummingham [sp], but this was california's time to shine. Between 1964-1966 there were climbs clearly beyond 5.10, one in Yosemite and one in Colorado which vied for the first 5.11. People began thinking about the possibility of 5.12 shortly. This issue was briefly side tracked when it was argued there were a great variation in 5.10s. Around this time it was 'proposed' in a Mountain article to break 5.10 into 5.10a-5.10d and 5.11 into 5.11a and 5.11b [Now to 5.11d]. 5.12 was added in the late 1970s [I've only seen my first 5.12 a month ago: a woman (!) climbing a 35 foot overhang roof (horizontal) split by a handjam, she peeled off three times while I was watching, each time putting in another piece, each time getting pulled back into the belay stance (I've off alpine climbing for the most part).] 5.13s were added recently. I've yet to hear of a 5.14 yet. Consistency was a problem during the 1960s. In Colorado, many ratings were 2 points off their CA ratings CO 5.9 was a CA 5.7 [worse case] and this has pretty much been corrected. Asides: I used to climb with an English fellow who is a UCSB physicist who has several articles on climbing. It's interesting to hear his European rating of pitches on say the East Face of Mount Whitney (our variant 5.6) (TD+) [he wanted to do popular routes]. Supercomputers are rated from Class 1-6 [why not 5 or 10?]. I suspect that the physicists who did this were climbers. I know Edward Teller was a climber as a young man before losing his foot. I asked two of the people responsible for rating supercomputers if we had entered class 7 yet [one Y and one N]. Where are these systems going? Climbs are being done which are physically impossible for people of certain size or proportion: squeeze chimneys (ies) and superwide chims, or long reaches. Some climbs are not even climbs, but long jumps followed by fast friction moves [otherwise certain death]. Only time can tell how far these rating system are going to go. You pretty much have climb continously to climb a 5.12 standard or higher and they are the only ones who can rate these climbs. [My brother in law climbs 5.11 consistently. I could climb a few 5.10abs at my peak.] These systems break down with ice climbs, alpine climbs, and superalpine climbs as done in Pakistan right now. Sources: many but only indirect. There is a date but famous Sierra Club publication from the 1940 entitled Belaying the Leader, the Climbers Guide to Tahquitz Rock (Wilts), Climbing in NA by Chris Jones, Climb by Dudley Chelton and Bob Godfrey, one book which escapes me now. Numerous other books by Blackshaw, March, Rabbitface (sic), Robbins. The Freedom of the Hills text and the Sierra Club's Learning to Climb texts are okay. But remember, you have to go out climbing. Ignore books by Casewit, Ullman (to a degree) waste of time. It is probably possible to reach Wilts via the net, but I suspect he doesn't really respond to Email. People sources: C. Wilts, Y. Chouinard, J. Dozier, J. Cardy, D. Chelton, J. Harlan, III, many others. This is obviously short, it doesn't cover fine points. If you need more info, send me mail. If I can't answer it, I will forward hardcopy to people who can. --eugene Formerly with the GPIW. Now Yosemite has been. --eugene miya NASA Ames Research Center {hplabs,ihnp4,dual,hao,decwrl,allegra}!ames!aurora!eugene emiya@ames-vmsb