The Subjectivity of Rock Climbing Grades

Route setters and first ascenders (those who first climbed/established outdoor routes or boulders) are humans with their strengths, weaknesses, and biases. Don’t forget that when you’re cursing a climb for feeling too hard compared to the other two you just climbed, even though the plastic tag has the same grade or the guidebook lists them all at V5. The same grade will inevitably feel different within the same gym, across gyms, between setters, at different crags, and outdoor climbs. Thus, despite grading scales touted as objective, standardized measures, rock climbing grades are inherently subjective and will always be subjective.

Overall, the modern climbing community is doing a better job 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. A rock climber can refer to a specific climb as “sandbagged” when its stated grade feels noticeably more challenging than the climber thought. On the flip side, given the stated grade, they’ll call a climb “soft” if it feels significantly more straightforward than expected.

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 grade. “Sandbagged” and “soft” are terms of relativity that highlight the subjectivity of rock climbing grading systems.

What Influences the Subjectivity of Grades?

Many factors impact how a climber feels about a specific boulder or rope climb. Some are related to individuals' uniqueness, while others stem from the sport’s evolution.

Individual Influences

●     The height of a climber can make specific climbs feel easier. For example, if you can reach past the crux (most challenging move) of a climb, then it will feel easier than intended. Likewise, some moves are more manageable if you can scrunch into a small box (the space between your hands and feet).

●     A climber’s anatomy and physical strengths will make certain hold types and movements easier to use. Strong fingers and good technique make challenging crimpy and vertical climbs easier than slopey overhung ones, even if the latter has a lower grade.

Sport Influences

●     You have to climb a lot to understand grades. As new rock climbing gyms emerge, route setters hired may have yet to gain years of experience or may favor specific climbing styles. That will reflect in their climbs and may lead to discrepancies between the perceived difficulty of two climbs in a climbing gym.

●     In the world of outdoor climbing, grades at the sport's limits are fluid. As the best climbers unlock new difficulties, old climbs can be downgraded. Or, once other pro climbers try the latest, hardest-developed climbs, they may downgrade the difficulty relative to other challenging routes or boulders they’ve sent.

Ways Rock Climbing Gyms are Acknowledging the Subjectivity of Grades and Creating Encouraging Climbing Spaces

An experienced rock climber could walk up to a climbing wall without any indication of difficulty and assess which paths and holds make for a more straightforward ascent than others. But that’s a learned skill, and many recreational rock climbers appreciate having delineated paths with some degree of structure. And, it’s not necessarily wrong to have a system that marks off easy vs. moderate vs. challenging climbs. Because rock gym sets change frequently, knowing where your general abilities lie is helpful to the recreational rock climber. As climbers progress, saying they can climb harder-rated routes is empowering and can instill self-confidence. 

However, some rating systems successfully distinguish between difficulties without strict numerical cutoffs. Rock gyms globally have gotten pretty creative, and in many situations, it’s working. You’ll hear less debate about whether a boulder was a V3 or V4 and more discussion of the intriguing movements and holds on a climb. Two such 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 range of grades. Each range will consist of 2-3 grades. The color scale system is excellent because it allows the ranges to overlap. For example, yellow tags may range from V2-V4, orange tags from V4-V6, and red tags V6-V8 so that each higher difficulty tag includes a grade from the lower.

●     Community Consensus

Some gyms adopt this system for rope climbing, with a range of grades under which the setters feel the climb could fall. The gym will leave a piece of paper or blank tag by the start hold of the climb, and then as people try it, they can mark off which grade they thought the difficulty corresponded to or write in an entirely different grade. Not only does this system encourage a range of grades, but it also highlights how the perceived difficulty of a climb varies between climbers!

The climbing community isn’t perfect, but more and more climbers and gyms are stepping forward and redefining climbing standards and goals. Maybe it’s route setters focusing on creating fun, exciting movements and sequences on climbs or gyms adopting sliding grading scales. Or, it’s climbers sharing goals they’ve set that do not focus on sending a specific grade but instead on increasing their finger strength, climbing on more pinches, or trying more climbs with dynos. The possibilities are endless when you acknowledge that rock climbing grades are subjective and take the bigger picture of what the sport can offer. If you agree that rock climbing grades are subjective, share your thoughts below! Or, ask any lingering questions and share any feedback you’d like!