Everything about The Yosemite Decimal System totally explained
The
Yosemite Decimal System is a numerical system for rating the difficulty of walks, hikes, and climbs, primarily used for
mountaineering in the
United States and
Canada. The rock climbing (5.x) portion of the scale is the primary
climb grading system used in the US and Canada.
The system was initially developed as the
Sierra Club grading system in the
1930s to rate hikes and climbs in the
Sierra Nevada range. Previously, hikes and climbs were described relative to others ("harder than X, but easier than Y"), but this made it difficult for those who hadn't done the other hikes or climbs to compare climbs, so the numerical grading system was developed to codify climbs on a single scale.
Currently, according to the climbing textbook, the system divides all hikes and climbs into five classes:
The increasing technical difficulty of Class 5 climbs led to the same relative-grading problem that had caused the initial development of the system; as a result, Class 5 was subdivided in the
1950s. Initially it was based on ten climbs of
Tahquitz Rock in
Idyllwild,
California, and ranged from "the Trough" at 5.0, a relatively modest technical climb, to "the Open Book" at 5.9, considered at the time the most difficult unaided climb humanly possible. This system was developed by members of the Rock Climbing Section of the Angeles Chapter of the
Sierra Club.
Advances in techniques and equipment since then have led to harder climbs being completed. The first such climb was given the rating 5.10; the second the rating 5.11. It was later determined that the 5.11 climb was much harder than 5.10, leaving many climbs of varying difficulty bunched up at 5.10. To solve this, the scale has been further subdivided above the 5.9 mark with a-d suffixes.
As of 2005, several climbs are widely agreed to be at the 5.15a difficulty.
Akira, by
Fred Rouhling, has been claimed as a 9b (
French grade) which translates to 5.15b.
Chilam Balam by
Bernabé Fernández was graded as 9b+/5.15c. Both are controversial.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Yosemite Decimal System'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://yosemite_decimal_system.totallyexplained.com">Yosemite Decimal System Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
