REFERENCE
Bouldering grades, my translation
📌 TL;DR / Quick Summary <div style="background: rgba(0,0,0,0.3); border: 1px dashed rgba(255,255,255,0.2); padding: 15px; border-radius: 8px; color: rgba(255,255,255,0.7); margin-bottom: 30px;"> What each Font grade means at Chalkline, to me, in words rather than numbers. First written on a napkin on 10 September 2022, six months into 🪁 Bouldering, when I kept asking Caleb Ostrow what a 5+ was and he kept saying harder than a 5. Typed up for this vault in January and corrected once, on 7 December, the morning after the 6B. </div>
🛠️ Instructions / Core Material
| Font grade | What it is, in my words | How long it takes me |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | A ladder with opinions. | Once, while talking |
| 4 | A ladder that has thought about it. Warm-up. | Once |
| 4+ | The first grade where I look before I pull on. | Once, usually |
| 5 | A pleasant question with one answer. | One or two goes |
| 5+ | Same question, asked faster. Where I do my twenty on a volume Saturday. | Two or three goes |
| 6A | A conversation. The problem says something, I say something back, and by the third go we agree. | A session, most weeks |
| 6A+ | A conversation with somebody who interrupts. | One or two sessions |
| 6B | An argument. It has a position and it does not care about mine. | Four sessions, so far once |
| 6B+ | Other people's argument. I watch. | Not yet |
| 6C and up | Caleb's business. | No |
The translation rules I actually use
- A grade is a description of how many ideas the problem needs, not how strong I have to be. A 5 needs one idea. A 6A needs two and they have to happen in the right order.
- On a slab, add half a grade for nerves. On the overhang, add half a grade for my arms. In the cave, add a whole one.
- The first go tells me the grade. The second go tells me whether it is my kind of grade.
⚠️ Key Warnings / Constraints
- This is one wall and one set of setters. Dario Conti grades hard on slabs and kindly on anything with a heel hook.
- Outdoors none of it applies. My first route at Sarn Ridge was a 3 on paper and felt like a 5+.
- The 6B line was not yet until 6 December 2025. The goal it belonged to is 🎯 Climb a 6B indoors and one route on real rock, and the six months in the middle of it were spent two grades down, on slabs, learning to use my feet.
🔗 Related Entities & Resources
- 🪁 Bouldering: the hobby these words describe.
- 🎯 Climb a 6B indoors and one route on real rock: the goal that hung on one line of the table.
- Caleb Ostrow: the original, unhelpful source.