The Yosemite Decimal System

Five classes of climbing difficulty

Editorial comments on the YDS classes

I'm an old fart. I started climbing when everybody still used pitons. Back then, class 6 meant pitons were used for aid, class 5 meant pitons were used for protection, and class 4 meant you didn't need them but you still used a rope. But you could use trees or horns and still claim it was 4th class, so sometimes class 4 routes were pretty difficult - another branch of the game. Another description is that on a class 4 route, there is usually somebody in the group who is happy to lead everything without placing protection.

The "I would die if I fell" approach never made sense to me. I've done a lot of climbing that I call exposed 3rd where I surely would die if I fell off, but it was actually pretty easy because the holds were good and the rock was solid. Maybe I was just feeling good that day. Warm sun and a gentle breeze helps a lot.

The problem is that class 4 and class 5 are not different except in the degree to which the route scares people. You use a rope for both, you set protection for both, and most people think you need a dynamic climbing rope for both. Class 4 is basically 5.0, and Class 5 goes all the way up to 5.13. In fact, the distinction between class 3 and class 4 is hard to draw uniformly because it's mostly based on whether people think they need a belay or not (which includes how loose or how exposed or just basically how scary it seems). This decision may change with experience, and formerly class 4 routes may become class 3!

Trying to lump everything (size of holds, looseness of rock, exposure) into a single axis is, IMHO, not optimal. The Yosemite Decimal system excels at differentiating how hard various technical climbs are, but it often fails to accurately describe mountaineering climbs. If you take away the handrail on an outside stairway, it is fatally exposed but still only class 1 in either system. As you narrow the width of the stairs, at some point a rope is required for safety but you still don't need your hands.

The rating system varies with each climbers perception of climbing, based on their own personal abilities. What one climber thinks as being "hands required", may be "done with a stroller and inline skates" by another. Attitude certainly affects rating. From what I understand, 5.10 used to be 6.0. That is, a route that could only be done as "aided", became "technical" as improvements in equipment and technique evolved.

I don't think the original question was concerned with the difference between 5.9 and 5.10, but rather the difference between hiking/scrambling/climbing classifications of all number grades. IMO, I believe it is quite subjective. As one can see from the discussions here, everyone seems to have an opinion. Even guide and instruction books can't seem to agree (even among different editions of the same book). The business about exposure probably has little to do with the rating, as it appears we're talking difficulty, not risk of injury with a fall. As they say, you can drown as easily in 8 inches of water as in 8 feet, and you can kill yourself hitting your head on a rock if you fall down on a trail as easily as if you fall 1000 feet off a big wall. (Assuming you're as clumsy as I am and would actually fall down on a trail.)

"I'm not sure I can explain the difference between class 2 and class 3, but I know which peaks my dogs have climbed."

• Class 1: you fall, you're stupid.
• Class 2: you fall, you break your arm.
• Class 3: you fall, you break your leg.
• Class 4: you fall, you are almost dead (i.e., you can't breath and move your arms, legs, and head).
• Class 5: you fall, you are dead.

Quoting Tom Patey: "A solo climber: a man who falls alone. A roped team: climbers who fall together."

Subdivisions of class five climbing

"The experienced climber, having accomplished or attempted free climbs of varying degrees of difficulty in the YDS class 5 range, gains an understanding of the level of difficulty involved. To the beginner, however, these ratings are simply a set of numbers, understandably, easy if rated 5.0 and impossible if rated 5.13. To provide a slightly better understanding within the class for the beginner the following tongue-in-cheek description is provided:

5.0 to 5.4

There are two hand- and two footholds for every move; the holds become progressively smaller as the number increases.

5.5 to 5.6

The two hand- and two footholds are there, obvious to the experienced, but not necessarily so to the beginner.

5.7

The move is missing one hand- or foothold.

5.8

The move is missing two holds of the four, or missing only one but is very strenuous.

5.9

The move has only one reasonable hold which may be for either a foot or a hand.

5.10

No hand- or footholds. The choices are to pretend a hold is there, pray a lot, or go home.

5.11

After thorough inspection you conclude this move is obviously impossible; however, occasionally someone actually accomplishes it. Since there is nothing for a handhold, grab it with both hands.

5.12

The surface is as smooth as glass and vertical. No one has really ever made this move, although a few claim they have.

5.13

This is identical to 5.12 except it is located under overhanging rock."

Ratings are established on lead; the follower has a somewhat easier climb.

Don't believe every climbing rating

It can sometimes be helpful to know who rated the climb; since ratings are give by humans and not by computers, human frailties can be interjected into the system. For example, some climbers will intentionally underrate climbs so that those who follow later will be impressed. Fortunately most climbers do attempt to give accurate ratings, and by the time a route is in a guide book, enough people have made the climb to show the rating as a concensus of opinion. Also remember that ratings are given for ideal conditions; unfavorable conditions can cause considerable change in a climb's difficulty.

The Angeles Chapter Rating System

The European Climbing Scale

From: Karl Habermeier
To: gear@climber.org
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 17:00:08 -0400

That's in fact how the old European I to VI scale defined it:
  I:    Easy
  II:   Not difficult
  III:  Moderately difficult
  IV:   Difficult
  V:    Very difficult
  VI:   Extremely difficult

This is of course highly descriptive and informative. Grade I corresponds to
U.S. class 2-3, and Grade VI is about 5.9, with the rest of the ratings
falling somewhere in between. The scale has since of course been extended
upward to VII, VIII, IX, etc. corresponding to the higher U.S. difficulties
5.10 and up. No names have been given to most of these, as far as I know
(such as "super difficult".

But I agree with some of the earlier writers that defining class 4 is the
most trouble. At least one earlier Sierra guidebook rates the summit block
on Cathedral Peak as class 4. 

The Alaskan Climbing Scale

From: Steve Eckert
To: gear@climber.org
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 20:09:15 -0700

I prefer (but don't use because no one who climbs with me uses) the
Alaskan rating system, which doesn't pay any attention to anything
except the specific techniques needed:
   class 1: can be done with wheels (may still include boulder hopping!)
   class 2: can be done without using hands (maybe SHOULD, but don't HAVE TO)
   class 3: "climb as a child" - no counterforce, vertical pull with hands only
   class 4: real climbing with counterforce - stemming, laybacks, jams, etc
   class 5: weight is put on the rope - aid climbing
Note that only class 5 is defined by the use of a rope. In all other
cases it's up to the climber whether one is needed. Routes are described
as "loose class 3" or "exposed class 2", with modifiers to describe all
the things that get lumped into the one Yosemite number.