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In this book sport routes are given
sport grades and traditionally
protected routes are given trad (or
British) grades. Deep water solos may
have a trad grade or a sport grade,
depending on whether the route is a
bolted route or not, but they will also
have an S-grade (see page 40). The
grade table attempts to compare the
main grading systems.
Sport Grade
A sport grade is simply a measure of
how hard it is going to be to get up a
certain bit of rock. It does not attempt
to define how difficult the hardest
move is, or how scary the route is.
The routes in this book are graded
for a first try by the easiest method,
hence on-sights can seem harder if
you miss the correct sequence.
Trad Grade
Trad climbing is where protection is
placed whilst climbing (nuts and cams
etc.) and there are usually no bolts
to clip. The trad grading-system is
divided into two parts;
The adjectival grade (Diff, VDiff,
Severe (S), Hard Severe (HS), Very
Severe (VS), Hard Very Severe
(HVS), E1…E10).
This gives an
overall picture of the route including
how well protected it is, how sustained
and an indication of the level of
difficulty of the whole route.
The technical grade (4a, 4b, 4c,
5a…7a).
This refers to the difficulty
of the hardest single move, or short
section, on a route.
Colour-coding
The trad and sport routes are all given a colour-coded dot corresponding to a difficulty band.
Green Routes
- Everything at grade
Severe
and under, and
4+
and under for sport routes.
Good routes to kick off your climbing career.
Orange Routes
-
HS
to
HVS
inclusive, and
5
to
6a+
for sport routes. General ticking routes for
those with more experience, a large range of excellent routes is available across this band.
Red Routes
-
E1
to
E3
inclusive, and
6b
to
7a
for sport routes. For the experienced and keen
climber. Anyone operating at this level can expect to enjoy some of the best climbing in the book.
Black Routes
-
E4
and above, and
7a+
and above for sport routes. The hard stuff! Have a go
at some major national testpieces, plus you can do all the red, orange and green routes as well.
Can't be better than that!
Swanage
Lulworth
Portland
38
Grades
Dors t Climbing
Grades