Climbing grades

The UK system is made of two sub-grades, an adjective grade and a technical grade.
The adjective grade describes the overall difficulty of the climb taking into consideration how strenuous the route is, the amount of exposure and the availability of protection. The adjective grades are as follows:

Moderate (M), Very Difficult (VD), Hard Very Difficult HVD), Mild Severe (MS), Severe (S), Hard Severe (HS), Mild Very Severe (MVS), Very Severe (VS), Hard Very Severe (HVS) and Extremely Severe. The Extremely Severe grade is also broken down into 10 further sub grades
from E1 to E10.

The numerical technical grading describes the hardest(crux) move on the climb. If it is a multi pitch route then more than one technical grade will be given, one for each pitch. The technical grades are as follows:

4a, 4b, 4c, 5a, 5b, 5c, 6a, 6b, 6c, 7a, 7b, 7c ..... and onwards
These are combined to give the overall grade for the climb, the table below outlines the usual range of technical grades that you would expect to find combined with the different adjective grades:

Adjective Grade	Technical Grade	Adjective Grade	Technical Grade
M	N/A	E1	5a - 5c
D	N/A	E2	5b - 6a
VD	N/A	E3	5c - 6a
HVD	N/A	E4	6a - 6b
MS	N/A	E5	6a - 6c
S	4a - 4b	E6	6b - 6c
HS	4a - 4c	E7	6c - 7a
MVS	4a -4c	E8	6c - 7a
VS	4a - 4c	E9	7a - 7b
HVS	4c - 5b	E10	7a - 7b

Birchen Edge

3 ships

                                    hanging on for my life haha :)

                                      scary times but amazing

                                        Chimney at Birchen Edge

                                    me belayin marta on the traverse

16th-20th May i went to the RAF camp in Llanbedr.

Pictures at wales when at Barmouth Slabs!

the boys at Barmouth Slabs

                                    Jack climbing Barmouth Slabs

            me just tied a doubled figure of eight knot and a stopper knot

                                   thats me showing what i can do :)

                                   my first attempt at placing gear

                                           thats me leading

                                   me absailing Barmouth Slabs

                                   Craig climbing Barmouth Slabs

                                   me at the top of Barmouth Slabs

                                    thats me chillin on the rock :)

                                    me leading and grant climbing

                                     me and marta lookin good :)

On this residential we looked at lead climbing, placing gear, multi pitch climbing and also setting up an anchor at the top of a lead. When lead climbing the first climber goes up the rock placing the gear and then clipping into this on the way up, at the top of the climb that person then sets up an anchor and belays the second climber up. When multi pitching you can make a stance at a place up the rock which u think is a good stance  and belay each other up before setting off again.

I really enjoyed this residential as i learnt new skills and it was my first attempt at lead climbing outdoors and also placing the right gear :)

Pictures from Yarncliff Quarry and Dukes Quarry

                                                      its meee :)

climbing peeps!!

                                                  the gang!!

                                                    me absailing

                                                                

                                                me and marta

                                               jono on a roll :)

Climbing calls!

TAKING IN	A call from the leader that he is pulling up, hand over hand, with all of the slack rope between him and his second
THAT'S ME	A call from the second to indicate that all of the slack rope between him and the leader has been pulled up
CLIMB WHEN YOU ARE READY	Call from leader that comes only after he has put on his belay device, checked all knots, gates shut and done up, tight on belay, in line with belay, and is able to brake correctly
CLIMBING	Call from the second, before starting to climb, after this call, the second does not climb until the leader calls out “ok” or “climb on”
OK or CLIMB ON	Call from the leader to affirm he heard that the second is about to climb
TAKE IN	If the rope has not been taken in for some time, or slack rope has been introduced due to unclipping a runner, etc.
SLACK	Indicates that slack rope is needed, maybe to reverse a move or unclip a runner
TIGHT	This is called by the second, either when making an awkward move or when expecting to fall off
SAFE	A call from the leader to indicate that there is no possibility of him coming to harm. The leader will normally say 'safe' at the top of a route to the belayer out of courtesy.
YOU'RE OFF or OFF BELAY	Call from the second in response to the “safe” call from the leader
RUNNER ON	Call from the leader, to indicate that the first runner has been placed and the second must now be ready to hold a fall from a different direction
BELOW	This is a call from anyone who has accidentally dislodge a stone (e.g. from a crag or a route). This call must be shouted in full volume. Once this call is given, those below should not look up to avoid receiving an injury.
ROPE BELOW	This is a courtesy call when lowering or throwing out a rope, or when abseiling, top roping etc.

There are many types of equipment you can have when climbing:

Carabiners
Quickdraws
Harnessses
Belay devices
Rappel devices (descenders)
Ascenders
Figure eight
Slings

Protection equipment
Helmet, belay gloves, climbing shoes.

Miscellaneous equipment
chalk, chalk bag, haul bag, gear sling, bouldering mat, resin, nut tool, robe bag.

Training equipment
grip savers, finger board, campus board, bachar ladder.

Protection devices
nuts, hexes, tricams, spring-loaded caming devices.

These are the diffenrent types of climbing styles:

• -          Traditional Climbing
• -          Sport Climbing
• -          Big-Wall Climbing
• -          Aid-Climbing
• -          Free Climbing
• -          Free Soloing
• -          Bouldering

Thursday 3rd March. First day we started our climbing at Yarncliff Quarry. Really ejoyed it today apart from the cold wheather :) learnt some new things aswell such as how to do a figure of eight, and how to look at diiferent things on the rocks before rushin into climbing this way you will see different ways in climbing the rock . Ive also learnt the basic things on how you should wear a harness such as OPEN IS BAD and CLOSE IS GOOD! :) I cant wait for next week to come so i can learn new things and get stook in with it, but i think im going to have to treat myself to some climbing shoes. haha !!

10th march climbing at Dukes Quarry. Today we learnt how to absail which was quite scarey but amazingly good :) and how to set up ropes in the way in which myself and the rest of the group will be safe, when doin this we had to attached a sling around an anchor (a tree) attach a karribeaner and then a clove hitch with a stopper knot, then on the other anchor its a sling with a karribeaner then a clove hitch. attach your self so your safe then walk to the edge of the rock so the ropes are the same length, then apply the bunny ears with a karribeaner with a italian hitch and three or four half hitches. We also leant new knots such as:

• italian hitch
• bunny ears
• clove hitch
• threaded figure of eight
• stopper knot
• half hitch