Rating climbs is probably the most subjective part of climbing. You can visit gyms around the world and no two rating scales are the same. This presents a problem when trying to decide on a proper classification of climbs for Climb Iowa. Some gyms even make up their own scale. Some gyms classify them as easy, medium, and hard. Some don’t rate the climbs at all. Here at Climb Iowa, we want climbers to get an idea of what they can expect outside. Climb Iowa will be using the Yosemite Decimal Scale (YDS). This is the preferred rating scale used in the United States today.

To make sense of the YDS scale, it requires a little explanation. The YDS is derived from the hiking scale. The hiking scale consists of different classes.

Class 1 Level hiking on easy terrain
Class 2 More hills and you might need to use your hands
Class 3 Scrambling. Hands will be needed for balance
Class 4 Easy climbing with exposure. A rope would be useful.
Class 5 Technical climbing with a rope. Start of YDS scale.

The YDS scale starts when the hiking scale gets to Class 5. A climb will be marked with this type of rating: 5.7. The “5” represents the hiking scale, and the “7” represents how difficult the climb is. Currently, the scale starts at 5.0 and goes to 5.15b. The “b” is a sub-grade that starts at 5.10. There are sub-grades “a, b, c, d” that start at 5.10 and continue until the end of the scale. About five years ago, the scale ended at 5.14d, but now there are climbs in the world that are rated 5.15b, so the scale keeps moving as climbers break down the barriers.

This scale gradually gets harder as well. Climb Iowa will have climbs rated from about 5.5 – 5.13. 5.5 is like climbing a ladder. The handholds and footholds will be quite large and will be relatively close together. As you go through the scale, it gets exponentially more difficult. Don’t let this discourage you. It just means that there is always something to challenge you. Climbing is not a sport that you conquer in a year or even ten years. It is a sport you grow to love because it is always challenging you.

It is also important to understand that when climbs are rated, they are an approximation of what the first few climbers felt the rating should be. Even outside, this system is not very consistent. A climb in Rocky Mountain National Park that is listed as a 5.8, might feel like a 5.11 in Horseshoe Canyon Ranch in Arkansas. Unfortunately, there is no way to make this system so it is without flaw. Please take the rating with a grain of salt, we will try to make the climbs consistent within our own climbing area: Climb Iowa.

Unfortunately, the U. S. system is not quite that simple. There is also a U.S. rating scale for boulder problems. It is referred to as the “V” or Vermin scale. This makes things a little bit more complicated. To make understanding ratings in our facility as easy as possible, we are going to rate every climb with YDS. If you would like to convert that to a rating scale of your liking, we have provided this chart so you can make the easy distinction to the other scales throughout the world.

CI Rating Chart

Yellow-Beginner | Blue-Intermediate | Purple-Advanced | Green-Expert

Yellow-Beginner | Blue-Intermediate | Purple-Advanced | Green-Expert