yatsek - Sep 22, 2016 1:51 am - Voted 10/10
RatingsAlthough the rock difficulty scale traditionally used in Polish guidebooks is said to be almost identical to the UIAA scale used in Slovakia, it does differ from the latter in that it - or at least its bottom, which I have investigated - seems to be tougher by half to one and a half degrees, which means that a Polish Tatra grade 0+ ('easy') can actually be an equivalent of a UIAA grade I, a Polish Tatra grade I ('a bit difficult') will often be like a UIAA grade II and so on.
So, according to Polish guidebooks, this route will be a grade 0+ or I while Slovak sources rate it as I or II.
I wonder what it seems like from a westerner's perspective, i.e. what your opinion is.
rgg - Sep 22, 2016 8:23 am - Hasn't voted
Re: RatingsIt was during my first visit to the area, and while I know that grades in one area are not necessarily equal to those in another, I didn't know anything about Slovak or Polish grades.
In my opinion, the UIAA grade for the bottom five meters of the Velický žl'ab is III, at least in the wet state that I found it. Normally a route is graded in the best possible conditions, but the last rain in the area had been three days ago, so I'm not sure if it's ever dry. If it had been, maybe I would rate it as II, but since it wasn't, I can't really tell. And being wet meant I had to be very careful with every hold before committing any weight to it. Even falling just a few meters could easily result in a broken bone if not worse, and landing on those big rocks at the bottom certainly wouldn't help either. If I would have had a rope and some pro, I would definitely have looked hard for a way to use it.
Shortly above those first meters, there were a few moves that I would rate as grade II (UIAA), but mostly it was (much) easier.
yatsek - Sep 22, 2016 10:49 am - Voted 10/10
Re: RatingsThanks very much for your opinion. It confirms my view that the Polish ratings, in spite of being said to follow the UIAA scale, are on average by half to one grade point tougher and thus actually misleading.
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