Grades
Climbing Grades, Compared
V scale, Yosemite Decimal System, French sport, UIAA, and Fontainebleau, lined up on the IRCRA reporting scale.
A V grade and a 5.10 are not two names for the same climb. V grades and Fontainebleau grades describe boulder problems. YDS, French sport grades, and UIAA grades describe routes. The converter below uses one published comparison, the IRCRA reporting scale, and it shows when a grade sits on more than one row.
Key takeaways
- The International Rock Climbing Research Association scale comes from Draper and colleagues, Sports Technology, 2016. It gives researchers one integer per grade.
- On that table, V0 is Font 4 and IRCRA 12. V6 is Font 7A and IRCRA 20. V15 is Font 8C and IRCRA 31.
- UIAA says comparisons between grading systems should be treated as indicative rather than exact, because the scales grew up in different climbing traditions.
- French 6a is a route grade. Font 6A is a boulder grade. The letters look alike and the climbs are not the same.
UIAA puts it this way on its rock climbing grades page: "Comparisons between grading systems should therefore be treated as indicative rather than exact." The scales document also says it would be a mistake to confuse boulder grades with route grades, and that its own boulder-to-route table is only indicative.
Grade converter
Choose a system and a grade. The result lists every IRCRA row that contains it. Empty boulder cells mean that row has no V or Font grade in the table.
IRCRA reporting table
Rows follow Draper et al. 2016 as encoded in the public IRCRA grade table that implements that position statement. Font grades are shown in the usual uppercase boulder style. French sport grades stay lowercase.
| IRCRA | V | Font | YDS | French | UIAA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5.1 | 1 | I | ||
| 2 | 5.2 | 2 | II | ||
| 3 | 5.3 | 2+ | III | ||
| 4 | 5.4 | 3- | III+ | ||
| 5 | 5.5 | 3 | IV | ||
| 6 | 5.6 | 3+ | V- | ||
| 7 | 5.7 | 4 | V | ||
| 8 | 5.8 | 4+ | V+ | ||
| 9 | VB | under 2 | 5.9 | 5 | VI- |
| 10 | 5.10a | 5+ | VI | ||
| 11 | V0- | 3 | 5.10b | 6a | VI+ |
| 12 | V0 | 4 | 5.10c | 6a+ | VII- |
| 13 | V0+ | 4+ | 5.10d | 6b | VII |
| 14 | V1 | 5 | 5.11a | 6b+ | VII |
| 15 | V2 | 5+ | 5.11b | 6c | VIII- |
| 16 | V2 | 6A | 5.11c | 6c+ | VIII- |
| 17 | V3 | 6B | 5.11d | 7a | VIII |
| 18 | V4 | 6B+ | 5.12a | 7a+ | VIII+ |
| 19 | V5 | 6C | 5.12b | 7b | IX- |
| 20 | V6 | 7A | 5.12c | 7b+ | IX- |
| 21 | V7 | 7A+ | 5.12d | 7c | IX |
| 22 | V8 | 7B | 5.13a | 7c+ | IX+ |
| 23 | V8 | 7B+ | 5.13b | 8a | X- |
| 24 | V9 | 7C | 5.13c | 8a+ | X |
| 25 | V10 | 7C+ | 5.13d | 8b | X |
| 26 | V11 | 8A | 5.14a | 8b+ | X+ |
| 27 | V12 | 8A+ | 5.14b | 8c | XI- |
| 28 | V13 | 8B | 5.14c | 8c+ | XI |
| 29 | V14 | 8B+ | 5.14d | 9a | XI+ |
| 30 | V14 | 8B+ | 5.15a | 9a+ | XI+ |
| 31 | V15 | 8C | 5.15b | 9b | XII- |
| 32 | V16 | 8C+ | 5.15c | 9b+ | XII |
What each system is for
YDS is the American route grade. The UIAA scales document says it rates the hardest passage and does not, by itself, describe protection, exposure, or how long the pitch is. Grades such as 5.10 are split into a, b, c, and d.
French sport grades (5, 6a, 6a+, 7b, and so on) are the grades most European sport routes use. UIAA grades use Roman numerals. UIAA says the scale became official in 1967, the seventh grade was recognized in 1978, and the scale was opened upward in 1985.
The V scale is the American boulder grade, starting at V0 and open at the top. Fontainebleau grades (3, 4, 6A, 7B+) are the boulder grades used at Fontainebleau and in many gyms outside the US. A plus sign is a step inside the grade, not a different system.
Parents running into these tags at a gym can start with Getting Started and the gym directory. Families at USA Climbing meets can use the 2026-27 youth calendar for dates. Meet grades are set by the routesetters for that event. They are not the same as a gym tag chart.
Frequently asked questions
Is a French 6a the same as Font 6A?
No. French sport grades rate rope routes. Fontainebleau grades rate boulder problems, and they reuse similar letters. The UIAA scales document says Font grades are narrower than wall grades and should not be confused with them. Pick French for a route and Font for a boulder.
What does the converter actually match?
It uses the IRCRA reporting scale from Draper and colleagues, 2016. Each row lines up a YDS grade, a French grade, a UIAA grade, and, where the table has them, a V grade and a Font grade. If a grade sits on two rows, the converter shows both rows instead of hiding one.
Can I treat a V6 as a 5.12 route?
On the IRCRA table, V6 shares a row with YDS 5.12c, French 7b+, UIAA IX-, and Font 7A. That row is a research comparison so studies can use one number. A boulder and a route ask for different endurance. UIAA says cross-system comparisons are indicative, not exact.
Why do gym charts disagree by a letter?
Gyms, guidebooks, and federations built their own tables. IRCRA gave each scale the same number of steps so researchers could convert them. A gym poster may put 5.10a next to French 6a, while this table puts 5.10a next to French 5+. Both are published comparisons. Name which chart you mean.
Which grade will my child see at a US gym?
Most US bouldering gyms tag problems with V grades. Rope gyms usually tag routes with YDS, such as 5.9 or 5.10a. French grades show up on some sport routes and in European gyms. Font grades show up in Fontainebleau and in gyms that set in that system. The tag on the wall is the one that counts.
Sources
- Draper, N., Giles, D., Schöffl, V., and colleagues. Comparative grading scales, statistical analyses, climber descriptors and ability grouping: IRCRA position statement. Sports Technology, 2016.
- IRCRA, Reporting Grades in Climbing Research
- UIAA, Rock Climbing grades
- UIAA scales of difficulty in climbing (Mandelli and Angriman, CAI translation)
Table checked against the IRCRA reporting rows on October 13, 2026. Last updated October 13, 2026.