Bouldering Grades
The table below should help compare bouldering grade systems around
the world. We also have a high quality
PDF version which you can download for free. There is a similar
table for Route Grades.
Table © ROCKFAX 2005, 2000
If you would like to reproduce this table
please contact ROCKFAX
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This table is a noble and honest attempt to tie all the various systems for grading boulder problems together into one big happy family. However visitors to and from these other areas will probably find that until they get used to the style of the problems and the intricacies of the local grading system, the accuracy of this table will be somewhat questionable.
Bouldering grades tend to measure the overall difficulty of a problem.
A problem one short move may get V3 and one with lots of easy moves
may also get V3. Hence it works in a similar way to the British 'E'
grade.
V GRADE - Developed in Hueco Tanks in texas, USA by John Sherman
('Verm' to his mates, hence the V). Gaining popularity world wide although
somewhat lacking in the lower grades. Recently this has been extended
by adding the + and - to the V0 grade and even further by Mick Ryan
in the Bishop area, by adding the VB grade ('Beginners'). This is the
system which ROCKFAX have used in the Yorkshire
Gritstone Bouldering guide and will be using for boulder problems
from now on.
B GRADE - The system adopted in Peak Bouldering is the Peak Bouldering grade. Developed by Allen Williams in order to extend the V grade into the easier grades. However it has now lost favour with most due to inconsistencies and the gradual adoption of the V grade.
FONT GRADE - The system used in Fontainebleau in France is popular
with many top climbers. It suffers from appearing to be the same as
the better known sport grade when in fact it is totally different. Also the actual difficulty of the problems in the lower grades varies wildly. This is due to them being part of colour-coded circuits which are meant to give a variety of difficulties. Please don't fall into the trap of thinking that the Font 5 problem you are about to attempt is actually going to be anything close to V1 or British 5b - it might be but it could also be 6b!
Traverses - It is often customary to give traverses a sport
route grade since the climbing is usually as long and as intensive.
This adds even more confusion to the Font system since a Font 7a problem
might be a 7c traverse!
BRITISH TECH GRADES - These are great for easy problems (less
than 5a). Above that they start to become too vague and in the higher
grades they are hopeless with 6c covering everything from V6 to V10.
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