It can potentially be the most controversial question or could be the simplest thing to answer. The depth in that answer can give waaaay more information to a coach than you could possible know. From ambiguity to discipline, indoors/outdoors to no answer at all, grab a piece of paper and answer this seemingly straightforward question:
What grade do you climb?
Now let’s set aside the efficacy of climbing grades, if they’re a useful measure for us or whether we should grade climbs at all! That’s discussed elsewhere. Let us work on the assumption that grades ARE a useful metric measure of any climber’s ability. Otherwise, the whole article falls apart. If you can’t reconcile that for the purposes of this article, probably best to sack it off now.
A Quick Note Before We Begin
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The 80% Rule
Different people have different standards when it comes to giving a grade for their climbing ability. I had one friend years ago who flat out refused to give me a single grade. It became some incredibly convoluted and complex matrix of every possible variable.
In one way, more detail can be useful but it does get to the point where it becomes untenable. So let’s simplify things. To do that, we’re going to apply a simple rule:
In any given setting, what grade could you reliably climb 80% of the climbs?
So if the wall/crag* has 10 climbs at 6a/7a/8a, could you probably complete 8 of them? Be honest with yourself here but don’t put yourself down either. Not sure? Go try it on your next climbing session (after having warmed up as normal).
The next thing we’re looking for are different types of grade. Let’s dig into some of the detail there.
*climbing indoors and outdoors, for most climbers, are very different. While we don’t want to complicate things too much, having a separate matrix for these two variables would make a lot of sense
Different Types of Grade
In my mind, there are several different grades that are important to know. Some will be obvious, others are a subtle variation on what we already have. None of this is groundbreaking, merely a slight shift in how we consider how hard we climb.
Flash Grade
The concept of a ‘flash grade’ – where a flash is climbing a route or boulder problem on the first attempt – is fairly well understood. Basically, it is how hard can you flash consistently, applying the 80% rule.
Having a good Flash Grade mainly relies on two aspects:
- The ability to effectively route read and gather information before setting off
- The ability to handle pressure of only having one shot
Adam Ondra is possibly the biggest exponent of flashing climbs (at time of writing), trying to push himself to the limits on climbs like Lexicon E11 7a. Yet flashing climbs isn’t the domain of pros alone, it is something that we can all strive for and a style of climbing that can be quite insightful about our potential weaknesses.
Session Grade
The ‘Session Grade’ is the one that may be new to you. Here, I’m asking how hard you could consistently climb if the climb were only available to you on a single visit. You may have as many attempts as you like, your session can be as long as you like but leave the climb and that’s it done.
It is subtly different to the other two grades. While there is less emphasis on route reading in this case, there still remains a time limit and thus, pressure to perform before we run out of time or energy.
This one is particularly relevant to me as I travel often for climbing and work. I’m happy to call in to a wall in Southampton while I’m down on the South coast but I’m certainly not heading back any time soon. Or as much as I’d love to head back to Sweden for another weekend, it’s not really that feasible. Knowing how hard I can climb on that one day means I can maximise the time I have.
Project Grade
This is often the response that I get from people when I ask their climbing grade; especially outdoor climbers, whose projects do not generally get taken down. Generally, how hard can you climb if you go back time and again.
Now obviously, this creates a time issue, as someone could rightly say that their performance will alter over time. Give me ten years to refine it and yeah, maybe I could indeed climb Burden of Dreams (I can’t, I won’t, it’s hyperbole for effect). There is an element of common sense that needs to go with this one, with some hypotheticals too.
If you need a little more guidance, think of it as ‘if every aspect of you stayed the same indefinitely but you could relive the same day like Groundhog Day on any given route, what grade would you be completing?’ Try not to take this one too seriously, we’re applying the 80% Rule and giving a rough idea. We’ll see why it matters below.
With a Project Grade, we are moving quite far away from route reading as a necessary skill. Pressure remains, albeit now shifted slightly, but we have now introduced the idea of resilience being a major factor. Do we have the mental strength to keep going back, time and again, seeing failure far more than success? Can we really wait for the delayed gratification that we may never succeed?
A Handy Matrix For You
I’ve taken those three types of climbing grade and chucked them in a table with three different disciplines merely as a starting point. We could – nay should – adjust it to work for us. Remember this is not a fixed idea, this is fluid and designed to provide us more information about our climbing performance.
What To Do With This Information?
Well, we can infer quite a lot from these three grades. It’s all to do with the difference between them.
- If there is little to no difference between your three grades, I would suggest that you may have an opportunity to try and push that Project Grade, learning to come back to climbs and giving it a little bit more effort or picking up on the nuance of the route.
- Alternatively, a small difference between Flash Grade and Session Grade could infer that we lack analytical skills to be able to adjust from one attempt to the next; perhaps too much emotional involvement, a lack of willingness to adjust or even too much variety in our problem solving.
- For route climbers, small differences may suggest a lack of fitness to be able to try climbs repeatedly, or even poor tactical judgements at selecting the right climbs to attempt
- A particularly big difference between flash and other grades may suggest we lack the ability to be able to effectively make decisions on a route before we start, either through poor route reading, inability to handle the extra pressure or for another reason.
- A low flash grade could potentially demonstrate a lack of dedication and concentration, especially if flash attempts often result in little slips or dropping moves one completes on the next attempt relatively easily
The inferences are indeed too many to list (I started thinking about it and it quickly spiraled). The key is that these differences PROVIDE A QUESTION; something we can analyse in order to be able to highlight areas for further improvement.
There is no simple answer here. I’d love to go ‘this difference means this’ but it is far too nuanced for that. If you really want to dig into this, get in touch and arrange a session. For now, have a look at your own matrix and see if it brings up any big discrepancies that you can develop moving forwards.
My Personal Grades
I’d also love to provide a nice, neat little idea of what differences you are looking for in your climbing but again, it’s not quite as simple as that. As above, the reasons for any big/small differences are so broad, it would be almost impossible to have a simple formula.
What I am willing to do is give you some data related to me. Remember this isn’t saying I am perfect, it is giving a rough idea of one climber; a case study, not a generalisation. For some context, I am incredibly well rounded across all styles, wall angles and any other variables. I climb at multiple venues regularly and these figures generally hold true every time.
- Flash Grade: V6/7a
- Session Grade: V8/7b
- Project Grade: V9/7c
Again, obviously, there are very many variables to remember but applying the 80% Rule, this generally holds true for me, indoors, most of the time.
What it does mean, though, is that on any given visit to any climbing venue, I have some guidance on which climbs present appropriate and realistic challenge.
Summary
Personally – both as a climber and as a pro coach – I’m a massive fan of climbing grades. They provide us with a wealth of information; both in terms of our climbing performance and how much stock we place in them.
At the end of the day, a grade is simply a measure of roughly how hard we can climb. We can think of it as cold hard data; a metric (albeit a flawed one, but the best we have available) to give us more information about our performance.
Again, in another article, I highlighted how our climbing grade can tell us about our style preferences and therefore, our strengths, weaknesses and consistency when presented with variety; something I’ve built on here with the 80% Rule. Here, I’ve discussed how our climbing grade across different time frames can provide us with more regarding the approach we take in our climbing.
Knowing whether our grade dramatically changes when presented with different time frames can tell us so much about our route reading skills, ability to handle pressure and our mental and physical resilience. It might even help you to understand how to unlock that next level.