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Ozymandias trip report (on Supertopo)... 3-Apr-2017 At 11:11:27 AM jakob

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>>On 30/03/2017 IdratherbeclimbingM9 wrote:

>~> Make of it what you will; but I am of the opinion that deuce4 has downgraded
>it by calling it C3, as in my opinion 'C' grades are generally harder than
>the original USA 'A' grades and I was of the belief that Ozy/Direct generally
>equated to A3 for grade (but am not sure at this present time where I got
>that opinion from!!, though an old article in Rock Magazine on Ozy rings
>vague memory bells...).

So in the US system, "C" grades represent clean ascents, i.e. no hammer. If you are using nuts, cams, cam hooks, other hooks this is a clean ascent.

"A" represents aided ascents using a hammer and pitons, rurps, beaks, blades etc.

The number represents consequence of fall, not difficulty. C1/A1 is all pieces are fall rated, C2/A2 is there are occasional body weight only pieces, C3/A3 is multiple body weight in a row, fall would result in ripping 6-8 pieces and result in injury. C4/A4 is big falls and serious injury. C5/A5 is the controversial rating that a fall should result in death because the entire climb is basically body weight only pieces, some argue this even has to include the belay such that a true A5 fall should result in both the climber and belayer dying, others say this is "A6".

So, Duece4 by stating it was C3 was basically saying that he did it all clean without a hammer, and there were sections where there were sections of multiple body weight only placements (including camhooks cause you remove them), but where the falls would be safe.

I think M5 roughly converts over to around C3 ish.

http://www.bigwalls.net/climb/Ratings.html