The base of the Velický žl'ab is the crux of the route

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The base of the Velický žl'ab is the crux of the route

The base of the Velický žl'ab is the crux of the route

The start of this couloir is the crux of the whole route. It's just 5 meters or so that are pretty much vertical. At the top is a short, somewhat rusty chain that you can grab or clip in. Higher up it's easier, mostly much easier in fact. I read somewhere that it's UIAA grade III, but most references I found say grade II. There are enough holds alright, and if it was dry, it would be easy. However, water is constantly trickling down this couloir, and so the rocks are wet and slippery. The rest of the route was dry, fortunately. 25 Aug 2016.
rgg
on Sep 21, 2016 11:16 am
Image Type(s): Alpine Climbing,  Informational,  Water
Image ID: 983218

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yatsek

yatsek - Sep 22, 2016 1:51 am - Voted 10/10

Ratings

Although 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

rgg - Sep 22, 2016 8:23 am - Hasn't voted

Re: Ratings

It 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

yatsek - Sep 22, 2016 10:49 am - Voted 10/10

Re: Ratings

Thanks 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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