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1 GETTING STARTED

Understanding guidebooks and grades can be one of the most daunting aspects of going out climbing. If you can decipher ‘guidebook speak’, and have an idea of how the grading system works, you will have mastered one of the hardest parts of your day at the crag! It takes time to learn how to relate the descriptions and drawings in the guidebook to the rock in front of you, but a little time and perseverance will pay dividends.

Understanding Guidebooks

One of the joys of a good guidebook is that you can sit at home and work out in advance almost every detail of the route that you are going to climb. You’ll know where to park, how to get to the crag and how long the climb will take. There’ll be information about the different sections, which routes are where and the relevant grades. There will probably be a ‘topo’, a topographical diagram of the cliff with lines depicting the route. Descents are also regularly described when not obvious, as will key crag features such as prominent trees, rock features and the like. Most guidebooks will also contain a number of inspiring photographs, designed to make you want to rush out there and get going!

An assortment of guidebooks

A typical guidebook will cover a number of crags in a geographical area, the clue being in the title: ‘Swanage and Portland’ or ‘The Ogwen Valley’, for example. Decide where you want to go, then find a copy of the relevant guidebook in a climbing shop or via the Internet. Inside the book cover there will often be a rough sketch map of the area with the crags marked, along with any relevant towns or other features. The first few pages will contain a general description of the site, access, history and so on. The crags will then be listed, either alphabetically or grouped by location. Each chapter will detail where the crag is, how to get there and where to park, plus a bit about its character and any access issues.

The routes will be listed in a logical manner, although this section may be a little confusing at first. On a small single-pitch crag the climbs will commonly be described starting from either right or left, or perhaps from an obvious feature such as a huge oak tree in the centre. Anything else noteworthy on the crag will be mentioned, and this can help you get your bearings. For instance, there may be a large corner and a route description telling you to start ‘3 metres to the right’, leaving no doubt as to where the climb is.

Where crags have a number of buttresses, these will often be described in the sequence in which you approach them from the parking and access point. A time may be given for the walk to each section (although this tends to be very subjective). Obvious features will be mentioned, and the topos will also usually give a clue as how the sections relate to each other.

Multi-pitch crags should be looked at from a different aspect (literally). With a single-pitch route you can probably get all the information you need by standing at the bottom and looking up it. A crag with a series of long routes on it will, by definition, be high, so stop some distance from it and, using the guidebook and your own observations, pick out relevant features. Chimneys, crack lines, overhangs and similar formations should all be discernible from a distance, and you can then relate these to the description of your chosen route in the book.

Choice of Route

You will probably have decided, well before arriving at the venue, which route or routes you intend to do. An ideal route on a single-pitch crag – if one exists – will include the following features:

 Ease of access.

 Flat, clean base at the bottom of the climb.

 Safe and suitable gearing-up area.

 No mass of people queuing to get on it.

 Should look appealing.

 Rock will be dry and the weather lovely.

 Opportunity for ground anchors.

 Plenty of cracks and so on for gear placements.

 Selection of good anchors at the top.

 Belay position for the leader will allow good line of sight and communication with the second.

 No objective danger, such as loose rocks.

 Descent will be a simple walk off.

 Many similarly perfect routes very near by.

Perhaps there aren’t that many routes like this around – but you will be surprised just how many of these criteria can be met at a good venue.

A lot of guidebook compilers will use a star rating, often ranging from one to three. These are only applied to those routes that, in the opinion of the author, merit special mention. Although this is a good way to highlight climbs that might be worth seeking out, bear in mind that this is the author’s idea of a good route, which may not be the same as yours. Also, a route with no stars is not necessarily a poor climb, and may suit your particular style or aspirations perfectly. Conversely, a three-star route may not impress you in the slightest. Use this system as a guideline; at the end of the day deciding what to climb will be down to you.

Note

The first ascensionist names and grades the route. The grade will usually be about right and will be accepted straight away by other climbers. However, sometimes routes have been under- or over-graded at the outset, seeming harder or easier than you thought. Such discrepancies will be corrected over time, and subsequent guidebooks will show the revised grade.

Finding Your Route

As mentioned above, obvious features such as chimneys, trees and so on will be used as reference points when locating a particular route. However, if you are still having trouble finding a climb, use the information at the start of the route description to help. For instance, it may be graded at ‘V. Diff’ (see Grades), at the easier end of the scale. If the piece of rock you are looking at is smooth and devoid of any holds you are obviously in the wrong place. Use the length of the route – normally given at the start of the description – to help. If the climb is described as being 5m, but the section of rock you are looking at goes up for 30m, that again must be the wrong one.

Check the route description too. A blank-looking slab in front of you with the route line being described as ‘take the obvious chimney’ should set off alarm bells.

The top of the appropriately named ‘Gorse Route’!

The name of the route can sometimes help. Titles such as ‘Classic Crack’ or ‘First Corner’ are obvious indicators. Be aware, though, that the person who first named them may have had a warped sense of humour, and called a route ‘slab climb’ when it is in fact a greasy chimney. Not very common – but misleading nonetheless.

Grades

You need to have a little climbing under your belt before you can start to get an appreciation of what the grading system means and at which level you are comfortable climbing. It seems to be a mass of letters and numbers at first, but will make sense to you before too long. The table below gives an indication of how these figures fit together.

UK SERIOUSNESS	UK TECHNICAL
Easy	–
Moderate	–
Difficult	3a
Very Difficult	3a, 3b
Hard Very Difficult	3b, 3c
Mild Severe	3c, 4a
Severe	4a, 4b
Hard Severe	4, 4b, 4c
Mild Very Severe	4b, 4c
Very Severe	4b, 4c, 5a
Hard Very Severe	5a, 5b
E1	5a, 5b, 5c
E2	5b, 5c, 6a
E3	5c, 6a, 6b
E4	6b, 6c
E5	6b, 6c
E6	6c, 7a
E7	6c, 7a, 7b
E8	6c, 7a, 7b, 7c
E9	7a, 7b, 7c, 8a
E10	7b, 7c, 8a
E11	7b, 7c, 8a etc

The left-hand column shows how ‘serious’ a climb is going to be; it can be used as an indicator as to how much protection there is on the route and how sustained it is. This is sometimes known as the ‘adjectival’ grade. The right-hand column shows the technical grade, which indicates the difficulty of the hardest move or sequence of moves. Combining these two together will give a lot of information about a climb. Note that routes below ‘Difficult’ standard, and often those below ‘Severe’ standard, are not often given a technical grading as it is felt that the adjectival grade gives enough information at that level.

As you progress through the grades you will need to know how they fit together. Each of the higher grades, from ‘Severe’ upwards, has a ‘benchmark’ grade. This is a degree of seriousness and technical difficulty that can be seen to be an average given that level of climbing. These benchmarks are given in bold type on the table above.

For instance, Very Severe (VS) 4c is a benchmark grade, where the seriousness and the technical difficulty are what you would expect at that level of climbing. However, there can be considerable variation within this. An example would be a route graded at VS 5a. This means that the technical grade is harder than the benchmark, with the seriousness being a little less than you would normally associate with a 5a route. Thus you would expect the climb to be quite tricky but with good protection. Conversely, a VS 4b route would have no very hard moves, but the seriousness would be as for a route that was trickier. The climb, therefore, would not be too difficult to ascend, but may not have as much protection as you would normally expect at that grade.

‘Pink wall’, VS 5a, Pass of Ballater – steep but well protected

Note

Anyone starting to climb outdoors after a few sessions on a climbing wall will find that the grades feel different to those used in doors. As a general guideline, indoor grades, which are based on French sport grades, tend to be about two steps ‘up’ from the UK outdoor grades. Thus, a climbing wall grade 5 would be about 4a outside.

Where to Start?

As already mentioned, you will probably only start to get an idea of how the grading system works after climbing a few routes. You may find the following useful to get you up and running.

 Easy The UK grading system starts here. This level of climb will be one with a great number of large holds, quite possibly set back at an amenable angle. It will present little difficulty to anyone keen to get on with climbing, but will still present the possibility of a fall, so ropework and gear placement skills will be paramount. My daughter seconded her first proper rock climb at the grade of ‘Easy’ when she was four years old. However, that is not to say that the grade is a doddle, and great care should be exercised at all times.

 Moderate This is the next grade up, and will be a little trickier. It should present few problems to a keen and sensible group, but may be quite steep, albeit on large holds. A number of classic mountain routes will be at this grade.

 Diff and V. Diff The top grades that most people getting into climbing will want to try. They cover a variety of route types – chimneys, slabs, corners and so on – with the route being a bit steeper than for the last two grades, and the holds requiring a little more thought prior to being used.

To recap, I suggest that you start out with the lowest possible grade of climb and see how that feels. You can easily work your way up on to harder levels. It’s best to start with something too easy than too hard. If you have a bad experience early on you could be put off climbing altogether.

Getting to the route can be more exciting than the actual climbing!