To try to understand how sport climbing quotes are established in France (the system is different in most countries around the world and does not apply to mountaineering, traditional climbing or ice climbing routes), a distinction should be made between climbing on a cliff or on a wall with a rope (otherwise known as “difficulty”) and that of boulders to deal with the scoring system.
Degrees from 3 to 9
For this first case, the ratings range from 3 to 9 depending on the difficulty of the route. Why start at 3? Because the system is intended to qualify all access to the mountain, the numbers 1 and 2 are reserved for trails, again hierarchized by level of difficulty. It is only from graduation 3 that we start talking about climbing.
To this number, which is called the “degree”, are added the letters a, b or c to graduate the complexity of the path within each degree. One way to qualify the climbing you are about to achieve even more precisely. Then, to continue to be even more precise, the openers, specialists in the “creation” or the equipment of a climbing route, sometimes add a small “+” at the end of the combination to distinguish, for example. , a route in 6a of another a little more difficult, 6a +, but not hard enough to be rated 6b.
A different quotation for the block
Overall, the operation is generally the same, but with comparable difficulty between a route and a block, the degree of rating will not be the same. For example, a 6a in track is comparable in terms of technical difficulty to a 5A en bloc (we write the letter in capital letters when we talk about a boulder).
Suggested quotes, to be confirmed later
Offers ? Yes, because the rating is a subjective notion: it is the forerunners who propose the level of a route, then it is up to climbers who have tried the route to confirm or deny the proposal of its creator. For extreme routes, it is directly the first climbers to complete the route who propose a graduation, like very recently Alex Megos with the 9c “Bibliography”, with other potential repeaters responsible for confirming or proposing another rating.
And sometimes, these proposals are controversial, as for “No Kpote Only”, where some observers criticize Charles Albert for having deliberately modified an existing route to make it harder. “So, to sum up, no, Charles’ 9A is not an ‘eliminator’ (voluntarily refrain from using certain holds to make the block harder) and yes, it is indeed a boulder designed and climbed according to the rules of the art. On the other hand, is this the most logical and purest line? Everyone is free to form an opinion on the question ”, concluded the media Climb on this subject. Proof that in climbing, we do not take the subject of quotations lightly.
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