From looking at other mountains in the world, one can see that there are other rating systems than the YDS. For example, on the Matterhorn there are routes that are rated "D", "AD+", and "AD-", and even "UIAA III-".

Wikipedia has a page on climbing rating systems, with a chart that corresponds from one rating on a given system to another system and the equivalent rating.


I don't see the ratings given on the Matterhorn routes in this chart and am wonder if perhaps the ratings are less than a YDS 5.0 equivalent, or if there is another reason. If you know what the ratings above correspond to in the YDS, what is it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_(climbing)#Free_climbing_ratings_comparison_table

http://www.summitpost.org/fact-sheet/17 ... facts.html

The F, D, AD, etc. used by UIAA are the same "overall" rating for climbs as are NCCS Grades in the USA.

UIAA "Grades" of I, II, III, etc. are individual pitch ratings as are Class 4, 5.2, 5.7, etc. in the YDS system.

I'm not familiar with YDS but from the descriptions I've read, UIAA I is more like YDS class 3/low 4, II is about class 4 (maybe low 5) and III is about 5.1-5.4 (?) ... it's all approximate.

kamil wrote:I'm not familiar with YDS but from the descriptions I've read, UIAA I is more like YDS class 3, II is about class 4 and III is low 5 (5.0-5.4?)... it's all approximate.

That is correct, the UIAA grades only address climbing with the use of hands whereas YDS Class 1 is basically trail walking and Class 2 is rough off trail walking.

Fred Spicker wrote:http://www.summitpost.org/fact-sheet/173430/handy-alpine-grade-facts.html

The F, D, AD, etc. used by UIAA are the same "overall" rating for climbs as are NCCS Grades in the USA.

UIAA "Grades" of I, II, III, etc. are individual pitch ratings as are Class 4, 5.2, 5.7, etc. in the YDS system.

F, D, AD, etc UIAA and USA Grades I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII. grade overall difficulty, length and average time to complete

UIAA grades, I, II, III etc and YDS Class 4, 5.7 etc are individual pitch ratings and are used to rate multi pitch and alpine climbs, IE. Liberty Crack. Grade V, 5.10 C2

Buckaroo wrote:

Fred Spicker wrote:http://www.summitpost.org/fact-sheet/173430/handy-alpine-grade-facts.html

The F, D, AD, etc. used by UIAA are the same "overall" rating for climbs as are NCCS Grades in the USA.

UIAA "Grades" of I, II, III, etc. are individual pitch ratings as are Class 4, 5.2, 5.7, etc. in the YDS system.

F, D, AD, etc UIAA and USA Grades I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII. grade overall difficulty, length and average time to complete

UIAA grades, I, II, III etc and YDS Class 4, 5.7 etc are individual pitch ratings and are used to rate multi pitch and alpine climbs, IE. Liberty Crack. Grade V, 5.10 C2

Is that not what I said??

Fred Spicker wrote:
Is that not what I said??

Pretty much...

I just expounded a little and added that the YDS applies to routes not just individual pitches

An article on the overall alpine grade used in the Alps was published on camptocamp.org : http://www.camptocamp.org/articles/188413/en

It details how the grade is built on the basis of the maximum technical difficulty of a route (be it on rock, snow, ice, mixed or even aid) with a weighting applied to take into account committment, rock quality, complexity and difficulty of approaches and descents etc. The article gives detailed examples of how a route got graded.