French Alpine Ratings for NW

[bigwalling]

Hey, just trying to understand this more. What would be some good examples for TD, TD+, EDs...

[NYC007]

lib ridge is said to be D

[tyree]

if you have the Alpine Select they have a list of peaks regionaly and around the world to give you an idea of what the ratings are about.

[chris]

Ty's right - check it out on page 19. The Dissappointment Cleaver (or the Ingraham Direct variation) is rated PD+.

I really like the French Alpine Grade system, and wish we would use it more here - I think it would better describe a lot of the glaciated climbs we have. Instead, we have multiple different, local grades that don't mean a thing to visitors with no way to compare them.

The Kiwi Alpine Grade system uses the same considerations as the French, but also includes the technical grade of the hardest pitch. So, a alpine wall that might be graded V 5.10- with a 16km aproach from the road here in the states might be graded in New Zealand as Grade 3(17).

[curtveld]

if you have the Alpine Select they have a list of peaks regionaly and around the world to give you an idea of what the ratings are about.

In the AS table, the french ratings track the standard roman numerals pretty closely: TD = V, D = IV, AD = III, etc. (high technical grades seems to bump the french grade up a bit). Makes me wonder why to switch to the french system, as McLane argues. In reply to the previous post, maybe either system work fine as long as the ratings get adjusted for consistency?

[Dru]

A V 5.10- would probably be Grade 5 or 6 (19) in New Zealand. Like some of the rock routes off the Fox Glacier. There aren't many Grade VIs in Kiwistan so N Am V is about the max, Kiwi 6 = TD+ and up Euro but only about Grade IV at the lower end in N Am grades..

[cj001f]

I think Modified Mt. Cook (Kiwi Scheme) is just a number w/+-. The rock grade is sometimes added for clarity. Follows is a brief summary:

 

Grade 1 - Easy scramble. Use of rope generally only for glacier travel.

 

Grade 2 - Steeper trickier sections may need a rope.

 

Grade 3 - Longer steeper sections generally. Use of technical equipment necessary. Ice climbs may require two tools.

 

Grade 4 - Technical climbing. Knowledge of how to place ice and rock gear quickly and efficiently a must. Involves a long day.

 

Grade 5 - Sustained technical climbing. May have vertical sections on ice.

 

Grade 6 - Multiple crux sections. Vertical ice may not have adequate protection. Good mental attitude and solid technique necessary. May require a bivvy on route and be a long way from civilisation.

 

A goodly number of Grade 6's are on the Balfour Face of Mt. Tasman. Here's the Alpinist notes w/pic

"Surreal Insomnia" (V WI6+, 600m) is an NZ grade 5 - line 1

 

http://www.alpinist.com/climbing-notes/note/10071/

[skykilo]

I remember Alpine Select called DNB Bear TD+.

[Dru]

The Alpine Select rating are debatable, as always. There are some notorious discrepancies - Joffre overgraded, Tantalus undergraded, etc.