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General Climbing Discussion

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French grade our sport climbs 12-Feb-2013 At 11:29:21 AM BA

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I know it doesn't work like this but ...

'7c+' implies "7" grades that have been subdivided into "3" further grades as shown by the "a", "b", and "c" giving 21 grades so far. These either have a "+", "-" or "nothing" giving a further "3" grades, meaning a total of 63 grades in total (7x3x3). Grading something 8b+ gives 72 grades. Grading something 9c- gives 81 grades.

As I say, I know it doesn't work like this, (what would a 1a- grade represent?) but it does imply that a French "grade" is equal to less than one half of a "Ewbank" grade. Either that or you just accept that French grades are non-linear and depending about what end of the scale you are talking about determines the change in degree of difficulty of each grade.

As Ewbank wrote in his guide:

"The English grading system has been abused in Australia since 1951. Without discussing the why’s and wherefores, I shall try to explain the revolutionary system here. There is no “mild” or “hard” subdivisions. (e.g. “mild” severe, “hard” very difficult). No inferior or superior subdivisions (Dolomites system). e.g. 5 ‘Inf’. 6 ‘Sup’, No letters (S. Africa) e.g. El, E2, A, G. The 'Tarquitze Rock Decimal System' (U.S.A)
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5.1 to 5.10, 6.1 to 6.6.

My head is spinning already.This system is the simplest used so far, to my knowledge, in the world, It also has a chance of working. None of the others are doing so too well at present. This system starts, it has no finish. There are no sub-divisions. Each grade has its own separate number.

Grading takes the following into consideration. Technical difficulty, exposure, length, quality of rock, protection and other smaller factors. As these are more or less all related to each other, I have rejected the idea of 3 or 4 grades, i.e. one for exposure, one for technical difficulty, one for protection etc. Instead the climb is given its one general grading, and if any of the other factors is outstanding, this is stated verbally in the short introduction to that climb."

Like Ewbank (and Simey), I can see no valid reason for sub-divisions in grading at all.