The Subjectivity of Rock Climbing Grades
Route setters and first ascenders, who are the individuals responsible for first climbing or establishing outdoor routes or boulders, are, after all, human beings with their own unique strengths, weaknesses, and inherent biases. It's important to keep this in mind when you find yourself cursing a climb for feeling excessively difficult compared to the other two routes you just tackled, even though the plastic tag clearly displays the same grade or the guidebook lists them all at V5. The reality is that the same grade will inevitably feel different within the confines of the same gym, across different gyms, between various setters, at different crags, and on outdoor climbs. Therefore, despite grading scales being touted as objective, standardized measures, rock climbing grades are inherently subjective and will always remain subjective.
Overall, the modern climbing community is doing a commendable job of embracing the fact of subjectivity rather than defaulting to descriptions like “sandbagged” and “soft.”
● Quick Definition Break
If you aren’t familiar with the terms “sandbagged” and “soft,” here’s a quick breakdown to help you understand. A rock climber can refer to a specific climb as “sandbagged” when its stated grade feels noticeably more challenging than the climber initially thought it would be. This means that the difficulty level of the climb is underestimated, making it tougher than anticipated. On the flip side, given the stated grade, they’ll call a climb “soft” if it feels significantly more straightforward than expected. In this case, the climb is easier than the grade suggests, making it less challenging than the climber anticipated.
In both cases, the climber bases their perception of the climb’s difficulty relative to the given grade on their previous experiences climbing at that particular grade. These experiences shape their understanding and expectations, allowing them to assess whether a climb feels easier or harder than anticipated. The terms “sandbagged” and “soft” are terms of relativity that highlight the inherent subjectivity and variability of rock climbing grading systems. These terms emphasize how personal experiences and perceptions can influence how climbers interpret the difficulty of a route.
What Influences the Subjectivity of Grades?
Many factors significantly impact how a climber feels about a specific boulder or rope climb. Some of these factors are closely related to individuals' uniqueness, such as their personal experiences, physical abilities, and mental state. Meanwhile, other factors stem from the sport’s evolution, including changes in climbing techniques, equipment advancements, and new climbing routes.
Individual Influences
● The height of a climber can significantly influence how specific climbs feel, often making them seem easier or more challenging depending on the situation. For example, if a climber is tall enough to reach past the crux, which is the most challenging move of a climb, then that particular climb will feel more straightforward than it was originally intended to be. This advantage allows the climber to bypass the difficulty that others might face. Likewise, some moves become more manageable if you can scrunch into a small box, which is the space between your hands and feet. Compressing your body this way can make certain positions and transitions much more achievable.
● A climber’s anatomy and physical strengths significantly determine how easily they can use certain hold types and execute specific movements. For instance, strong fingers and good technique can make tackling challenging crimpy and vertical climbs much easier than attempting slopey overhung ones. This is true even if the slopey overhung climbs are graded lower in difficulty. Combining physical attributes and technical skills can significantly influence a climber's ability to navigate different climbing routes effectively.
Sport Influences
● You have to climb a lot to understand grades truly and what they mean. As new rock climbing gyms continue to emerge and open up, the route setters they hire may not have years of experience under their belts or may have a preference for specific climbing styles. This will inevitably be reflected in the climbs they create and may lead to noticeable discrepancies between the perceived difficulty of two climbs within a climbing gym.
● In the ever-evolving world of outdoor climbing, the grades at the sport's limits are often fluid and subject to change. Older climbs can sometimes be downgraded as the most skilled and accomplished climbers continue to push the boundaries and unlock new levels of difficulty. This happens when these seasoned climbers, with their advanced skills and techniques, tackle the latest, hardest-developed climbs and then reassess the difficulty of previous routes. They may find that these older climbs are not as challenging as once thought, especially compared to other difficult routes or boulders they’ve successfully sent. As a result, the grading system remains dynamic, reflecting the ongoing progression and achievements within the climbing community.
Ways Rock Climbing Gyms are Acknowledging the Subjectivity of Grades and Creating Encouraging Climbing Spaces
An experienced rock climber with years of practice and familiarity could confidently walk up to a climbing wall without any immediate indication of difficulty and intuitively assess which paths and holds would make for a more straightforward ascent compared to others. This ability to evaluate the wall is a learned skill, honed over time, and many recreational rock climbers truly appreciate having delineated paths with some degree of structure to guide them. Having a system that marks off easy, moderate, and challenging climbs is not necessarily wrong or disadvantageous. Because rock gym sets change frequently, understanding where your general abilities lie is incredibly helpful to the recreational rock climber. As climbers progress in their skills, being able to say they can tackle harder-rated routes is empowering and can significantly instill self-confidence.
However, some rating systems have successfully distinguished between different difficulty levels without relying on strict numerical cutoffs. Rock gyms all around the globe have gotten pretty creative with their approaches, and in many situations, this creativity is proving to be effective. As a result, you'll hear less debate about whether a particular boulder problem was a V3 or a V4. Instead, a lively discussion will be about the intriguing movements and unique holds a climb offers. Two such innovative systems that rock climbing gyms are implementing are detailed below:
● Sliding Grade Scales
These usually take the form of grade ranges or colored tags, with each color representing a specific range of grades. Each range will typically consist of 2-3 grades. The color scale system is excellent because it overlaps the ranges, providing a seamless transition between difficulty levels. For example, yellow tags may range from V2-V4, orange tags might cover V4-V6, and red tags could span V6-V8, ensuring that each higher difficulty tag includes at least one grade from the lower range.
● Community Consensus
Some gyms have adopted this innovative rope climbing system, providing a range of grades under which the setters believe the climb could fall. The gym will typically leave a piece of paper or a blank tag by the start hold of the climb. As climbers attempt the route, they can mark off which grade they felt the difficulty corresponded to, or they can even write in an entirely different grade if they believe it fits better. This system not only encourages a diverse range of grades to be considered, but it also effectively highlights how the perceived difficulty of a climb can vary significantly between climbers!
The climbing community isn’t perfect, but it is undoubtedly evolving, with more and more climbers and gyms stepping forward and redefining climbing standards and goals in exciting and innovative ways. Maybe it’s route setters focusing on creating fun, exciting movements and sequences on climbs or gyms that adopt sliding grading scales to accommodate a broader range of abilities and experiences. Or, perhaps it’s climbers sharing goals they’ve set that do not focus solely on sending a specific grade but instead on increasing their finger strength, climbing on more pinches, or trying more climbs with dynamic movements like dynos. The possibilities are endless when you acknowledge that rock climbing grades are subjective and consider the bigger picture of what the sport can offer beyond just numbers. If you agree that rock climbing grades are subjective, please share your thoughts below! Or, ask any lingering questions and share any feedback you’d like!
