Rock Climbing Grading – A Complete Breakdown
Rock climbers, more specifically boulderers, grade routes in three different ways:
- A Color Scheme.
- Font Scale.
- V-Scale.
It’s essential to know the key for all three to prevent injury, or worse, boredom! We have all been a beginner at one point, so we know it can get confusing. Therefore, we’ve strategically divided each heading into readable chunks:
What Are The Rock Climbing Color Levels
If you have ever been to a climbing gym, you would have noticed the walls have different colored grips. This isn’t for decoration; each rock has a color representing the skill level needed to climb that specific route.
Every index is unique to the gym, meaning there is no universal standard for what color represents what difficulty. Rather, a route setter will determine the difficulty of every climb and allocate the rocks a color at random. Unlike other grading systems, there is no standard guide to stick to.
While the key is local to the individual gym, most will follow a certain pattern. The rule of thumb tends to be that lighter rocks are easier to climb, while the darker ones are more challenging. This is the trend, but there are no regulations or set rules for bouldering centers to stick to.
It’s important to locate and clarify the key before climbing. An illustration of what a bouldering key will look like is as follows:
| Color | Difficulty Level |
|---|---|
| Blue | Beginner |
| Yellow | Experienced |
| Green | Advanced |
| Red | Professional |
| Black | Expert |
In the example above, a blue rock represents the most straightforward climb yellow, green, and red follow in increasing toughness. Lastly, black is the most challenging route to climb.
Important
The Font Scale, V-Scale, and rock colors are 3 different ways of measuring climbing difficulty. While Font Scale and V-Scale are universal, the rock color key is different at different bouldering gyms.
Some climbs, mainly outdoor ones, don’t have a rock color key. Instead, they mark the wall as V5 or 6C climb. Especially for beginners, this can get confusing.
Font Scale And V-Scale Grading
How well do you understand the universal bouldering grading systems? Does this make sense to you:
Make sense? If so, great! It’s probably all the information you need and you can return to climbing!
But, if it looks intimidating, that isn’t a problem either… you aren’t alone. We are here to clarify what the Font Scale and V-Scale are, and how they are used to judge the difficulty of a climb.
What Is The Font (Fontainebleau) Climbing Scale
First things first. 80% of people reading this want to know how their skill level compares to the font scale. So, that’s what is below. But, what’s more important is knowing something else…
| Skill Level | Font Scale |
|---|---|
| Beginner | 4-5+ |
| Intermediate | 6A-7A+ |
| Skilled | 7B-7C+ |
| Pro | 8A-8B+ |
| The 1% | 9A-9B |
If you approach a wall and it has a sign saying “Font Scale 4” next to it, you know it’s a beginner level and won’t be too challenging. Most people understand this. Here is what you must know:
Essential Facts About The Font Scale:
- The Font Scale is open-ended. But. It’s rare to find climbs less than 4 or more than 9B.
- The greater the number, the more difficult the climb is.
- A ‘+’ is a harder than without. For example, a 7+ is harder than a 7.
- A number change has a larger skill gap than a letter change. E.g. the jump from a font scale 4 to 5 is bigger than an 8A to an 8B.
- The closer the letter is to the start of the alphabet, the easier the climb. For example, 6A is easier than 6B
Quiz yourself: What’s more difficult 8B or 8A+?
The font scale (also recognized as the Fontainebleau grading system)has a rich origin story. Fontainebleau is a bouldering forest location in France that has been a popular destination for climbers since the early 20th century. Hence, it’s a shortened name!
Sources also suggest the grading scale was established in Europe and Asia “decades” before the V Scale was introduced in the United States.
Did You Know? The system originally began with a simple numeric scale, but as climbing styles, techniques, and safety considerations became more nuanced, the addition of letters to the numeric grades provided a more comprehensive assessment.
What Is The V-Scale In Climbing
Just like we did with the Font Scale, most people only care about where they sit on the list of comparisons. So, here you go:
| Skill Level | V-Scale |
|---|---|
| Beginner | V0-V2 |
| Intermediate | V3-V7 |
| Skilled | V8-V10 |
| Pro | V11-V14 |
| Top Tier | V15-V17 |
Not all climbs will have the above. There are three exceptions which you must be aware of:
- Some climbs don’t meet the traditional grading standard. For example, they will be marked as “V-scary, V-beautiful or V-fun.” In this case, the climb has a theme/ unique route.
- “V-B” stands for “basic” or “beginner” and is essentially a V-0 or easier.
- Some climbs have a + or a – next to the climb. In order of difficulty, an example would be “V7- , V7 , V7+.”
Like font scale, the grading is open – meaning the scale goes to infinity. But, as it currently stands, the hardest climbs are labeled as V17. At the end of the day, you need to remember something very basic: The higher the number, the more challenging the climb will be.
Remember
The V-Scale and Font Scale are globally recognized, but it’s still subjective to the route setter. While someone views a route as a V5, it may be a V4+ to another climber.
It doesn’t end there.
People in the climbing industry are extremely passionate. To sound like you know what you’re on about, it’s good to equip yourself with a few facts for conversation starters.
- If you spend the day climbing, for example, V12s, the chances are the difficulty won’t be constant. There are “hard v12s” and “soft V12s” which offer variety to your climb.
- The V stands for “Vermin.” John “Vermin” Sherman and his mates created the V-scale in a Texas bouldering area, Hueco Tanks, in 1991.
Is The V-Scale Or Font Scale Better
Unfortunately, this question is phrased wrong. Why? Put Simply:
They are both as accurate and recognized as each other.
The more accurate question would be, should you use the V-Scale or the Font Scale grading system? The answer to this is simple:
The V-scale is the ruling scale in North America, whereas the Font Scale is the go-to in European countries.
So, don’t focus on which is better because comparing the two is almost identical. Instead, consider your location and which grading scale is more dominant.
How Difficulty Is Determined In Indoor Climbing
The solidity of the climb is either determined by an individual or a census – depending on the gym’s policy.
They ascend the route several times before concluding what color/scale to assign the route. If they are unsure, they can ask other route setters to give their opinion on the climb and reach a mutual middle ground.
For a census, it’s easier said than done as people rarely agree – it’s so opinionated! Hence, some climbing centers prefer one route setter to determine the complexity.
The factors determining the difficulty between each route include:
- Rock size: the smaller the rock, the harder it is to grip, meaning a lot more finger strength and balance are needed to climb.
- Rock shape: certain rocks will fit around your hand easier than others. Climbers find it harder when rocks are too small or too large.
- Route Reading: Rocks placed far away from one other make route planning less obvious. Without experience, this can make the climb confusing.
- Flexibility: Certain routes require holds that put your body in a compromised position! Without flexibility and expertise, this will increase the complexity of the climb.
- Smearing: Extra tough climbs may require smearing (placing your foot directly on the wall without a benefit of a rock). This skill takes time to learn and can’t be done without prior experience.
- Length of the climb: Easier climbs may only place rocks halfway up the wall to reduce the length of the climb.
Regardless of the criteria above, grading the hurdle of each climb is still relative, and the standardization of route-setting grading is beyond being “well established.” As a result, we recommend the following:
Tip: Attempt different graded climbs as someone’s opinion on the climb doesn’t guarantee accuracy in its difficulty.
How To Use Colored Climbing Walls
The rock color you begin with shouldn’t be the route you stick with, instead a starting point you work from.
The colors on the wall should be used to give structure and organization within your climbing session. As an example, start the session on red rocks; slowly work your way down to yellow rocks, then finish the session on black rocks.
This structure allows you to pace yourself appropriately through each workout. It is up to the climber how they structure their climbing session; some examples could be:
- Climb tough routes, then gradually get more manageable through the day
- Climb straightforward routes, then gradually get more challenging during the session.
- Start and finish on harder walls but climb easier ones in between.
- Climb moderate walls throughout the day.
What Rock Grade Should You Use
Firstly consider how much bouldering experience you have. Gyms build routes for both beginners and experts. It goes without saying that the more experience you have, the more challenging graded rocks you should attempt. Finding the specific color/grade requires experimental climbing and intuition, so try various rocks until it feel right.
The point you feel like you’ve outgrown a particular rock color/ grade occurs when:
- Each climb within this color is effortless
- You are unsatisfied after a climbing session.
- There is no adrenaline or challenge in the climb.
If you feel one of the bullet points above, it signifies to move on to the next difficulty. Otherwise, indoor climbing will become dull and repetitive. Besides, you shouldn’t wait until you reach one of the points above and instead constantly experiment with different difficulties. We recommend this because:
- It will accelerate progression because most climbers will begin below their capability. By experimenting with varying difficulties, you will likely shock yourself with your body’s ability.
- Climbing becomes unpredictable as you aren’t sure if you can reach the top wall, or not. This uncertainty makes climbing much more fun because you escape your comfort zone each session.
- Improves technique as challenging yourself forces you to alter your climb slightly differently each time. As a result, you become a more versatile climber.
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