Topic summary
Climbing grade
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Grade (climbing).
International French Adjectival System
Whilst each IFAS grade can imply certain grades of rock, ice, or mixed climbing difficulties, the UIAA warns against assuming an IFAS grade always aligns with specific rock and ice climbing grades. This is because the overall objective dangers can vary dramatically on alpine routes with similar technical rock and ice climbing grades. For example, the famous 1,800-metre 1938 Heckmair Route on the north face of the Eiger has an IFAS ED2-grade even though the technical rock climbing challenge is only at UIAA VI− and the technical ice climbing challenge is at 60 degrees (which is a WI-4 grade), which are more typically associated with an IFAS D-grade; this is due to the exceptional length and serious dangers of the route. Some guidebooks have still attempted to list the implied technical rock and ice climbing grades that are normally associated with each IPAS grade.