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Tabla de Grados de Dificultad
Tabla de Grados de Dificultad
Seriousness
Rating:
These often
modify the
technical grades
when protection
is difficult.
R: Poor
protection with
potential for a
long fall and
some injury.
X: A fall would
likely result in
serious injury or
death.
Most climbs in the American Alpine Journal are described with an alphabet soup of difficul-
ty ratings. The de facto grading system in the AAJ is a combination of the American systems
described below. If a different system is used, it will generally be identified by its nationality
or region. The grading systems described here are condensed and updated from detailed
descriptions in the 1999 AAJ, pages 477-484.
Ratings in the AAJ use the following sequence, as relevant to the climb and supplied by the
climbers: commitment, rock, aid, mixed, ice, snow.
Only direct experience can fully convey the meaning of each grade, which in any case varies
widely from region to region. The following descriptions crudely approximate reality, albeit
without any of the sweat, pain, fear, and joy involved with the actual climbing.
M1-3: Easy. Low angle; usually no tools. same number. Canadians often drop the WI
M4: Slabby to vertical with some technical symbol and hyphenate the technical grade
dry tooling. after the Canadian commitment grade’s
M5: Some sustained vertical dry tooling. Roman numeral (example: II-5).
M6: Vertical to overhanging with difficult WI1: Low angle ice; no tools required.
dry tooling. WI2: Consistent 60º ice with possible
M7: Overhanging; powerful and technical bulges; good protection.
dry tooling; less than 10m of hard climbing. WI3: Sustained 70º with possible long
M8: Some nearly horizontal overhangs bulges of 80º-90º; reasonable rests and good
requiring very powerful and technical dry stances for placing screws.
tooling; bouldery or longer cruxes than M7. WI4: Continuous 80º ice fairly long sections
M9: Either continuously vertical or slightly of 90º ice broken up by occasional rests.
overhanging with marginal or technical WI5: Long and strenuous, with a rope-
holds, or a juggy roof of 2 to 3 body lengths. length of 85º-90º ice offering few good rests;
M10: At least 10 meters of horizontal rock or a shorter pitch of thin or bad ice with
or 30 meters of overhanging dry tooling protection that’s difficult to place.
with powerful moves and no rests. WI6: A full ropelength of near-90º ice with
M11: A ropelength of overhanging gymnas- no rests, or a shorter pitch even more tenu-
tic climbing, or up to 15 meters of roof. ous than WI 5. Highly technical.
M12: M11 with bouldery, dynamic moves WI7: As above, but on thin poorly bonded
and tenuous technical holds. ice or long, overhanging poorly adhered
columns. Protection is impossible or very
Water Ice and Alpine Ice Grades: difficult to place and of dubious quality.
WI8: Under discussion.
Ice climbing ratings are highly variable by
region and are still evolving. The following Snow:
descriptions approximate the average systems.
The WI acronym implies seasonal ice; AI is Snow is often described by its steepest angle
often substituted for year-around Alpine Ice (ex.: 70º) or by a range approximating its
and may be easier than a WI grade with the steepest angle (ex.: 70º-80º).