Grade conversion

Gyms in the US grade boulders on the V-scale. Gyms in the UK use the V-scale or the Font scale (short for Fontainebleau) [32]. Many other European gyms use Font. The table follows Mountain Project’s conversion, which matches Wikipedia’s table [338, 339]. The bands on the right come from 99Boulders [71].

Caveats.

• From V3 to V5, one V-grade covers two Font grades. V3 covers 6A and 6A+, V4 covers 6B and 6B+, and V5 covers 6C and 6C+. So your first V5 in a Font gym is a 6C. From about 7A up, the scales match almost one to one [71, 339].
• Charts disagree at the low end. At least one popular chart maps V2 to 6A/6A+, V3 to 6B and V4 to 6B+, up to a full Font grade harder than this table [340]. Wikipedia calls all such conversions “only ever indicative” [339].

Circuits and colours

Some walls group problems into circuits instead of grading each one: sets marked by one hold or tag colour, covering one grade or spanning two or three. The British Mountaineering Council’s example has purple for V0–V2 and yellow for V3–V5 [32]. Treat a circuit as a range. In a V3–V5 circuit, the problem you can’t do may be the V5, and the one you flash (climb first go) may be the V3. Chapter 2 explains how to calibrate yourself in a new gym.

This book’s grade tabs borrow their colours from the circuits at Boulders, a Danish gym chain, and an entry’s holds take the same colour as its tab. On a greyscale screen the tabs darken as the grade rises instead. Your gym’s colours will differ.