Ice Climbing Ratings
Because of the ever-changing nature of ice, it can be difficult to pin an exact rating on a climb like you can with rock routes. Climbs often get easier with traffic, as footholds become larger and pick placements more obvious. Temperature greatly affects your experience. Plastic ice makes it feel easy, while hard, cold ice will have you swinging all day to get a good stick. The following grade scale is good for getting a rough idea of what to expect on a given pitch.
WI 1 – Not really a practical grade, think walking on low angled ice in a stream bed or something of that nature.
WI 2 – Ice up to 60 degrees in steepness. Good terrain for beginners to learn on.
WI 3 – Generally between 70 and 80 degrees, perhaps with a few small vertical steps.
WI 4 – More sustained ice of up to 85 degrees, may include short vertical stretches separated by good stances.
WI 5 – A steep and strenous pitch of vertical ice, with occassional rests. May also include good, thin ice.
WI 6 – Think vertical ice for a long ways. No rests here, better bring your guns and a solid head. Sometimes pro is not very good either on these pitches.
WI 7 – Steep ice with dubious protection, very strenous. There are only a handful of routes in Colorado that have been called WI 7.
Mixed Climbing Grades
Mixed grades roughly translate to rock grades, since you are using features that don’t change like ice does, though some folks prefer not to intermingle the two systems.
M1 – 5.5 – Low angled slabs, occasionally might use hands for balance.
M2 – 5.6 – Slabby, with good foot and handholds.
M3 – 5.7 – Can still use your hands to negotiate steep sections.
M4 – 5.8 – Some technical dry tooling required.
M5 – 5.9 – Steeper with sustained sections of dry tooling.
M6 – 5.10 – Vertical to overhanging, much dry tooling.
M7 – 5.11 – Steep and strenuous, with short hard sections.
M8 – 5.11+ – You may encounter short streatches of nearly horizontal roof climbing.
M9 – 5.12- – Either a very steep roof for a ways, or less steep but very technical.
M10 – 5.12 – Expect big horizontal roofs, or a long pitch of steep dry tooling.
M11 – 5.12+ – Even bigger roofs and more gymnastic climbing than M10.
M12 – 5.13- – More sustained and difficult climbing than M11.
Know of any others? Let us know.