Grades
The usual system for rating a hiking, climbing or glacier trip's difficulty has two components. One rates how strenuous a trip is, and the other rates technical difficulty. The technical rating on this page is based on the Yosemite Decimal System, extended to include skiing.
For physical difficulty
| Class | Difficulty | Description |
|---|---|---|
| A | Easy | Up to 5 hours of travel per day |
| B | Moderate | 5 to 8 hours of travel per day |
| C | Hard | 8 to 12 hours of travel per day, heavy loads, etc |
| D | Extreme | More than 12 hours of travel per day, heavy loads, rough terrain, etc. |
For technical difficulty
| Class | Hiking/Climbing | Skiing | Glaciers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | on-trail hiking | trail skiing and only gentle slopes | no glacier travel |
| 2 | off trail hiking, rock scrambling. Extremely rugged (north shore) hiking trails may be included here. | skiing moderate slopes | straightforward glacier travel. |
| 3 | easy climbing (usually not roped, but pulling on handholds required), glacier travel in broken terrain | skiing sustained steep slopes (30 degrees) with sections that can be very steep (40 degrees) | glacier travel in broken terrain, bridged crevasses, icefalls, etc. |
| 4 | moderate climbing, usually with a rope and placing occaisional protection. | Difficult high mountain skiing. Sustained steep slopes combined with crevasse hazards, terrain traps, etc. | Belayed Ice climbing on steep ice slopes placing ice screws for protection |
| 5 | technical rock climbing. Difficulty is graded using the YDS system or other rating systems | extreme skiing, may involve rappels over cornices or cliffs | Technical ice climbing. Difficulty is graded using water ice gradings such as WI3, WI4, WI5, etc. |
| 6 | aid climbing |
Note about glacier travel: If a trip is rated Class 2 or Class 3, that does not necesarily mean that there will be glacier travel involved. Rather, if there is glacier travel then the Class 2 grade implies that it will be easy glacier travel.
Sometimes two technical difficulty grades are used, where a trip has a short difficult section but it mostly at the easier grade. (see Black Tusk Example Below)
Examples
- Black Tusk B2(3)
- Wedge Mountain North Arete C3
- Mount Baker, Coleman-Deming route B2
- Mount Seymour Hike A1
- Alpha Mountain, east ridge C3(5)
