Journal · Grades
Climbing grades explained
The app logs six grade systems: Font and V-Scale for boulders; French, YDS, British and UK Trad for routes. Spin the wheel to see the same level in the other systems of the same kind of climb. Checked 29 October 2026.
The levels are the app's own grade table. Between boulder grades and route grades there is no reliable conversion, so the wheel does not cross over. Inside one kind of climb, read a match as rough: the same climb can sit a grade apart between gyms, areas and styles.
Grade Pyramid
17 levels, the app's own grade table. Tap a band to jump.
How climbing grades work
A grade is an agreed opinion of how hard a climb is. The first person up proposes it, everyone after argues, and the number settles. It sorts climbs. It does not measure you.
- Boulders and routes use different scales. A boulder grade rates the hardest few moves. A route grade rates the whole climb, pump included. A Font 6A boulder and a French 6a route are different climbs: there is no reliable conversion between boulder grades and route grades.
- Capital letters are boulders. 6A, 7C+ are Font boulder grades. 6a, 7c+ are French route grades.
- Indoor grades are the wall's call. Each wall sets its own, and they drift as setters change.
- Style shifts a grade. Slab, roof and crimp climbs at the same number suit different bodies. Your logbook shows which suit you.
The six systems
Font
Bouldering. From Fontainebleau in France. Small steps, capital letters, a plus. The UK and European standard.
4 · 5+ · 6A · 6C · 7A · 8CV-Scale
Bouldering. From Hueco Tanks in the USA. Bigger steps, no letters, so one V often covers two Font grades. Gym standard worldwide.
VB · V0 · V3 · V6 · V10 · V15French
Routes. The world's sport-climbing scale and the one on most UK indoor lead walls. Lower case, a plus. Rates the whole route.
4a · 5c · 6a · 7a · 8a · 9aYDS
Routes. The Yosemite Decimal System, the American route scale. You will meet it in videos and charts. The app offers it for sport and trad.
5.6 · 5.9 · 5.10a · 5.12a · 5.13a · 5.15aBritish
Routes, sport and trad. The technical grade only: how hard the hardest move is. A number and a lower-case letter.
3c · 4a · 4c · 5a · 5b · 6aUK Trad
Trad. The adjectival grade: the whole experience of the climb. In order: M Moderate, D Difficult, VD Very Difficult, S Severe, HS Hard Severe, VS Very Severe, HVS Hard Very Severe, then E1 upward (Extremely Severe). The BMC list also has Hard Diff (HD) and Hard Very Difficult (HVD); the app does not offer those two.
M · VD · S · VS · HVS · E1 · E3Reading a trad pair. A trad route carries two grades, one from UK Trad and one from British, such as VS 4c or E1 5b. Technical grade higher than usual for the E number means a safe route with one hard move. Lower than usual means bold: easier moves, poor gear, a fall that hurts. E1 5c is safe and hard. E3 5b is run-out.
UK wall colours
Most UK bouldering walls tag problems by colour, not number. Each colour is a band of Font grades, and the key is posted by the desk. There is no national standard: one wall's blue is another wall's black, and the bands shift.
- Photograph the key on your first visit.
- Log the band, not a guess. If blue is 6A to 6B, a blue is a blue.
- Move up when the next colour feels like this one did, not when you tick one problem.
- Never compare colours across walls. Compare your Font band.
Logging grades
A grade on its own is a number. In a logbook it is a trend. After a couple of months your pyramid shows: many climbs at the base, fewer at each step, one or two at the top that took everything. That shows what to try next.
- Log the grade as given. "Felt like 6C" goes in the notes.
- Log the attempts. A flash and a two-week project are different stories.
- Keep the system with the climb. A V4 stays a V4. Convert when you compare, not when you record.
The Summit Social logs six systems: Font and V-Scale for boulders; French, YDS, British and UK Trad for routes. Pick the system per climb; the app saves the grade with the system you picked. It saves with no signal and syncs later. Logging is free, 15 climb saves a month on the free plan, and your history never expires. The app is in closed testing. Ask for a test link.
Questions
What is a V grade?
A bouldering grade on the V-scale, VB then V0 upward. It rates the problem's difficulty, not its height. Standard in North America and many gyms.
What is 7a in V grade?
7a is a French route grade, so it has no V grade: there is no reliable conversion between route grades and boulder grades. If you meant Font 7A, the boulder grade, it sits at V6 in the app's grade table. Tap it in the wheel above.
Are indoor grades the same as outdoor?
No. Indoor grades are the setter's call, so a wall's 6B can differ from a 6B on rock. Many UK walls use colour circuits instead of numbers.
What do the colours mean at a UK wall?
Each wall sets its own colour bands, usually a range of Font grades, posted on a key by the desk. No national standard. Colours do not compare across walls.
Which grade systems does The Summit Social log?
Six. Font and V-Scale for bouldering. French, YDS and British for sport. UK Trad, British and YDS for trad. Pick the system per climb; the app saves the grade with the system you picked.
The Summit Social. We climb, we log, we built the app for our own Saturdays. If your wall or guidebook disagrees with the wheel, trust it over us. Last checked 29 October 2026.
Sources
Font and V-scale: the BMC, Indoor climbing grades explained (Fontainebleau in France; the V-scale from John Sherman's 1991 Hueco Tanks guidebook). Read 14 October 2026.
French on indoor lead walls: the same BMC page. British trad as two grades, and YDS as the American scale: Wikipedia, Grade (climbing), read 14 October 2026; the BMC, UK traditional climbing grades, read 14 October 2026.
The wheel's levels: the app's own grade table, checked 29 October 2026. The labels it shows are the ones the app's grade picker offers. The UK Trad names, Moderate to Hard Very Severe and Extremely Severe: the BMC page on UK traditional climbing grades above, read 29 October 2026.