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Grading Systems Compared

In an impossible attempt (for reasons to be outlined later) to publish a valid and correct comparison table, here is our effort. Before I start my rant on just why a table like this should be only used as a loose guide, and before you get all huffy because you thought you were a 5.13 guy but now only boulder V7 instead of V10, read this:

A practical guide to applying the V-system
Copyright 1998 John Sherman

V0 A problem you wouldn't admit to doing no matter how cool it was.
V1 A problem you would admit to doing, if it had loose holds, a death
landing, and your partner backed off of it.
V2 A problem, if cool enough, that you would recommend to others to
prove you're not a ratings snob.
V3 A problem you ruthlessly wire and incorporate into your warm-up
routine, in the hopes that visiting partners will struggle on it.
V4 A problem that might give you trouble, but "Hey, anything below V5 is
so easy I can't tell the difference."
V5 A problem, if you were to live in Boulder, Colorado, that you might
actually flash.
V6 A problem, if you were to live in Boulder, Colorado, that you would
expect your girlfriend to flash.
V7 A problem you fell on repeatedly, but really, you could have flashed
it.
V8 A problem you religiously avoid, because you're "saving it for the
flash."
V9 A problem you have no chance of flashing.
V10 A problem you knew you could have done, even though your spotter
took 10kg off for you, so you counted it anyway.
V11 A problem, if flashed, that you might get free shoes for, but only
if you fax the mags this month.
V12 A problem you would do if only your fingers were a bit smaller, your
reach a bit longer, your spotter more attentive, the weather more
amenable, your shoes not so blown out, your elbow not so sore from
training, the sun not in your eyes, and you didn't eat that funky
take-out Chinese the night before.
V13 A problem commensurate with your well-published abilities, that you
deserve credit for, even though you didn't do it, because as the mags
reported, "It was too humid."
V14 A problem only Fred Nicole could do, after you gave him the beta.

Now back to why these tables never really work:
The basic flaw or real truth of V-grading is it is area specific. What this means is the system was never envisioned to cross pollinate with the YDS, Font, J.T. or whatever. As Sherman said in the first Hueco guide: "The V rating system is an open ended system for grading boulder problems. It originated in Hueco Tanks." He went on to say, " Whether a problem is intimidating, scary, loose or has a bad landing has no effect on the V grade. Only the physical difficulty counts, that is the technicality of the moves combined with the demands on one's power and endurance." He added, "...the ratings are consensus of opinions of expert boulderers in excellent shape, or when lacking a consensus, my opinion of how hard it felt when I did it." A sample of boulder problems followed this advice and listed the standard problems for each V grade at Hueco, with a few from other areas thrown in to help those from out of town and clueless. Nowhere did it say that V4 was 5.12a or any other grade. So, when bouldering in the Bishop area, use our sample problems for each grade as your guide to how the area is graded. If you do one of our V4 standards and then do a problem that is easier, it is probably V3....if it is harder, it is probably V5. If it is 25 feet high and rated V0, that does not mean it will be easier than a sit down 5 footer graded V0...it should be just as hard...maybe right up to the last move. Bad landing? Who cares... V2 is still V2, whether you are landing on a lawn or Punji sticks.
Addendum: In the winter of 2000, a stack of Brits were here for an extended stay. They reworked the chart below to help out with the Font and Peak grades. These were no ordinary slackers, but guys and gals who have been pulling hard for years and have a great experience in all the areas and grades up to V11 or so. The thing that rang most true was this: If you are used to Hueco grades (ie: pulling hard, positive holds, power, steep) and go to the Font, chances are you will get your butt kicked. The Font is mostly slopers, not so steep, and requires technique. The Peak is somewhere in the middle, with power problems and slopers in the mix.

"Remember that grades are not a measuring stick for the size of your ego, they are merely a guide
to the routes that you may consider attempting. "
Dave Pegg, author of the Rifle Guide by RockFax Guidebooks.

"...Bollocks, Dave Pegg, and you know it. Grades are a measuring stick for the size of your ego they are also directly proportional to the amount of free gear some gullible company gives you and how often you get laid. "
Mick Ryan, publisher of the Rifle Guide by RockFax Guidebooks.

V grade	Y.D.S. grade	Font grade	Peak grade	Joshua Tree grade	B grade	Phoenix grade	Bishop Examples, others in parenthesis HR=Horsetooth, HT=Hueco, IR=Indian Rock JT=Joshua Tree, M=Morrison YNP=Yosemite
VB	5.6-5.9	5	B0-	5.6 - 5.9	B0-	P0	Jolly Beggar boulder, south face routes (Happies)
V0-	5.10a	5	B0	5.10-	B0	P1-	A Whispering Sea of Towering Trees, (Happies) Split Melon (Happies) Benny (Happies) (Round Room traverse, HT)
V0	5.10	5+	B0+	5.10	B0	P1	Point of Perfection (Club Med) Corner, (Happies) The Brown Wall (Happies)
V0+	5.10+	6a	B1-	5.10+	B0	P2	Fire Pit, (Sads) Gotta' Find A Truck, (Happies) The Persuit of WOW (Happies) (Betty Jo Yablonski, JT / WaterCourse Rt, IR
V1	5.11a	6b	B1	A-	B0	P3	Jah-Niece, (Lonelys) Musical Therapy (Club Med) Hole in my Heart, (Happies)
V2	5.11	6b-	B2	A	B0	P4	Santeria, (Lonelys) ChupaCabra, (Lonelys) Big Chicken, (Happies) Sunspots (Happies) (Stem Gem, JT)
V3	5.11+	6b	B3 B4-	A+	B0+	P5	Pottengers Wish List, (Happies) Bleached Bones (Happies) (White Rastafarian, JT / Mental Block HR / Bachar Cracker, Shiver Me Timbers, YNP)
V4	5.12a	6b+ 6c-	B4 B5	B-	B1-	P6	Nice Tooth (Lonelys) Ham is Sex (Neuroses) Big Chicken SD, (Happies) Serengeti, (Happies) (right Eliminator, HR)
V5	5.12	6c 6c+	B6	B	B1	P7	Groundwater (Happies) Rave (Happies) Hair Trigger (Happies) Action Figure (Happies) (All Washed Up, JT / 45degree wall, HT)
V6	5.12+	6c+ 7a	B7	B+	B1	P8	High Plains Drifter (BMilk) Every Color You Are (Happies) The Gleaner (Happies) (Planet X, Pumping Monzonite, JT / center El Murray, HT / Pinch Route, HR )
V7	5.13a	7a+	B8	C-	B1+	P8+/P9	Take the Force of the Blow (Happies) Come Together (Sads) Morning Dove White (Happies) (Caveman, Soar Eagle, JT / Cytogrinder, M)
V8	5.13	7b	B8+ B9-	C	B2-	P9+/P10-	Disco Diva (Happies) Fast Dance (Happies) (Midnight Lightning, YNP)
V9	5.13+	7b+	B9	C+	B2	P10	Cholos (Happies) Redrum (Happies) Sailor Coon (Sads) He Got Game (Happies) (Never Say Never, Eldo / The Force, YNP / Sex after Death, HT )
V10	5.14a	7c	B9+	D-	B2	P10+	Slow Dance (Happies) Beefcake (Sads) Stained Glass (BMilk) (Meathook, HR / Dominator, Thriller YNP)
V11	5.14b	7c+	B10	D	B2+	P11-	Slice and Dice (Sads) The Force (YNP)
V12	5.14c	8a	B11	D+	B3-	P11	Buttermilker (Bmilk)
V13	5.14d	8a+	B12	E-	B3-	P11+	Dominator (YNP) Superman (Cressbrook Crag X)
V14	5.15a	8b	B13	E	B3	P12-	Somewhere on GRANITE
V15	5.15b	8b+	B14	E+	B3+	P12	Somewhere on GRANITE

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