From nohorses@aol.com Wed May 21 16:42:17 EST 1997
Article: 32337 of rec.climbing
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From: nohorses@aol.com (NoHorses)
Newsgroups: rec.climbing
Subject: Re: Ratings?
Date: 11 May 1997 05:42:00 GMT
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  Class 1=   walking on a gentle terrain
  Class 2=   walking on rough terrain
  Class 3=   generally walking, but you may need hands for balance
  Class 4=   climbing, but not technically hard climbing
  Class 5=   free climbing.. generally with rope as a means of safety
    this class is subdivided. Originally meant to be a closed end from
5.0- 5.9. Developed first by Royal Robbins to augment the existing rating
system in the 1950's. 5.0 is the easiest, and the climbing gets harder as
the rating increases. 5.0- 5.7 are generally climbs that anyone can
complete( provided they are in relatively good shape). In the 1960's, the
advancing free climbing standards demanded a broader range of ratings, so
the 5.10 was invented to be the next harder grade after 5.9. Then came the
5.11. About this time, Jim Bridwell saw the need for a more specific
rating of the upper end of the scale. So he added letters after grades
harder than 5.9. So now we have the 5.10a, 5.10b, 5.10c, etc... A 5.10a is
an easy 5.10, and a 5.10d is a hard 5.10, with 5.10b and 5.10c being in
between. Currently the scale goes up to 5.14d.

   One problem though, is that this scale is only valid for lead climbing.
And it also only gives the rating for the hardest move on the climb. This
has led to the creation of other rating systems for bouldering.

  The Gill system uses the rating B1, B2, and B3
  B3=   only one person has ever done the boulder problem
  B2=   only a few people have ever done the boulder problem
  B1=   a very hard problem, yet has been done quite a few times

  The Vermin Scale uses    V0 through V15( currently)

  V0 is at the easy end of the scale( usually compared to a 5.10 in pure
difficulty
  V15 represents the hardest possible moves( currently)