Photo Credit: Bryn Sillorequez

Writings in this category discuss climbing grades, climbing styles, and types of climbing.

Listed by subcategory and alphabetically:

Climbing Grades

• Absolutely Hypothetical: Introducing the Graham Scale (By Jeff Smoot) - John Sherman, the father of the V-scale for bouldering, says, "Learn to mistrust rating systems and pity those who are slaves to them.” Jeff Smoot agrees with this sentiment and ponders the bouldering grading systems, ultimately proposing the Graham Scale. This tongue-in-cheek - or maybe not-so-tongue-in-cheek - piece gets you thinking about how climbing can be approached beyond being "slaves to the ratings."
• Top 10: Increase the Climbing Grade When... (by Stefani Dawn) - A climber ponders climbing grades and invents a new game…Increase the climbing grade when...
• WTF 5.7? (by Stefani Dawn) - Some climbing grades, more so than others, are simply unpredictable and can blind-side you.

Climbing Types (Top Rope, Sport, Traditional, Bouldering)

• Bouldering for Beginners: Fear of Falling (by Stephanie Bahnsen) - How do you overcome the fear of falling when bouldering? By learning how to fall correctly.
• Bouldering Grade Advancements (by Stephanie Bahnsen) - A few simple tips to climb a harder grade. But in our rush to improve, there are a couple realities that we often ignore...
  
• Bouldering: JTree Made Me Do It  (by Stefani Dawn) - The author has been rock climbing since 2007 and has intended to boulder, but other than an occasional gym session, never seemed to get around to it - until now -- "JTree made me do it."
  
• Trad Climbing is for Chicken Sh*#s (by Stefani Dawn) - A trad climber, who is on the lower end of the bravery scale, explains why trad climbing is good for those who get scared easily.